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...
by Geoff | Nov 23, 2019 | Essaouira, Marabout, Morocco, Shrine, Sufi, Zaouia
Below is a series of photographs documenting the zaouia and mausoleum of sufi Sidi Abdellah ben Ouasmine located in el Hanchane, a small town in Essaouira Province. Sidi Abdellah ben Ouasmin is the grandson of Sidi Ouasmin, the Sultan of Regraga, found near...
by Geoff | Nov 20, 2019 | Essaouira, Marabout, Morocco, Shrine, Sufi
Some 20 kilometres north of Essaouira is the small village of Moulay Bouzerktoun, named after the Marabout of the same name. His mausoleum/zaouia is part of a mosque complex founded on the top of a cliff looking over the Atlantic ocean. Little seems to be known...
by Geoff | Oct 23, 2019 | Marabout, Morocco, Shrine, Sufi
Walter Harris, the adventurer and author, in his 19th century travelogue ‘The Land of an African Sultan: Travels in Morocco’, described Ouezzane as “the most fanatical town that Europeans may visit”. Things may have become less frenetic...
by Geoff | Jun 27, 2019 | Essaouira, Marabout, Morocco, Shrine, Sufi
At the furthest southern edge of Essaouira a large marabout tomb is becoming increasingly suffocated by creeping modernity. Once isolated it is now hemmed in by a sewage works, a complex of roads, industrial buildings and several large modern houses. This cacophony of...
