by Geoff | Oct 18, 2019 | Chefchaouen, Morocco, Sufi, Zaouia
Zaouia, Zawiya (Arabic “corner”), zâwiya, is a Maghrebi and West African term for an Islamic religious school or monastery, roughly corresponding to the Eastern term “madrassa”. The zawiya often contains a pool, and sometimes a fountain. The...
by Geoff | Oct 18, 2019 | Aisha Qandisha, Hamadcha, Meknes, Morocco, Sufi
Walls, town And port, Refuge From death, Gray sea Where breaks The wind All sleeps. In the plain Is born a sound. It is the breathing Of the night. It roars Like a soul That a flame Always follows. The higher voice Seems a shiver. Of a leaping dwarf It is the...
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...
by Geoff | Jun 6, 2019 | Meknes, Morocco, Sufi
Late on my final afternoon in Meknes in early June 2019 I decided to investigate an interesting religious building I had seen whilst travelling to the holy pilgrimage town of Moulay Idriss Zerhoun by bus several days earlier. This building was situated next to a...
