by Geoff | Dec 5, 2019 | Aisha Qandisha, Gnaoua, Hamadcha, Meknes, Morocco, Shrine, Sufi, Zaouia
You know that you have arrived at the correct destination when the hotel proprietor seriously enquires whether you would like to sacrifice a sheep the following day in the grotto of Lalla Aisha. I had arrived at possibly the strangest place yet on my travels...
by Geoff | Dec 3, 2019 | Gnaoua, Marabout, Morocco, Shrine, Sufi, Zaouia
Article taken from here Entering the Sufi Spiritual World of North Africa Sufi Brotherhoods and Trance Ceremonies in the Maghreb This zawiya is in Souk Ahras in East of Algeria, sometimes people call the zawiya a marabout – they really mean the saint....
by Geoff | Dec 1, 2019 | Cemetery, Dâr Damânah, Emily Keene, Morocco, Ouezzane, Tangier
Several weeks ago I wrote a blog post regarding Emily Keane, the Sharifa of Ouezzane, an English woman who, in a remarkable story, married one of the most powerful and spiritual men in Morocco. The post can be read here. Her husband was the Sharif of Ouezzane, ...
by Geoff | Nov 26, 2019 | Marabout, Morocco, Shrine, Sufi
Had Dra is famous for its Sunday souk, one of the largest in Morocco. It is also locally renowned for the zaouia of Sidi Ali Ben Mâachou, a part of a fascinating mosque and madrassa complex where the 40 day Regraga pilgrimage comes to an end every spring time....
by Geoff | Nov 25, 2019 | Essaouira, Marabout, Shrine, Zaouia
The annual pilgrimage around the locality of Essaouira every spring is called ‘ Regraga’, a name which also describes the group of Chorfa ( a darija word denoting noble religious leaders descending from the Prophet Mohamed otherwise known as Sharif ) who...
by Geoff | Nov 23, 2019 | Essaouira, Marabout, Morocco, Shrine, Sufi
I Am He Whom I Love I am He whom I love, and He whom I love is I: We are two spirits dwelling in one body. If thou seest me, thou seest Him, And if thou seest Him, thou seest us both. Hussein Ibn Mansur Al Hallaj On the bus recently from Casablanca I was...
