Moroccans still venerate marabouts

05/10/2007

Though not customary for most Muslims, the tradition of marabouts, or saints, and intercessory prayer continues to be observed in Morocco. People seeking healing, aid or enlightenment visit the tombs of such notables to gather in prayer.

By Sarah Touahri for Magharebia in Rabat -- 05/10/07

[Getty Images] Pilgrims visit the tomb of Sidi Mohamed Ben Aissa, known as Sheikh El Kamel, at his mausoleum in Meknes.

Morocco's marabouts, or "saints", still occupy a special place in the lives of many Moroccans. The temples that house the marabouts' tombs are found in all regions of the Cherifian Kingdom and continue to be visited en masse, by young and old alike. Although it is not customary in Islam to pray to these saints, the ancestral practice still holds sway for those who come to pray or seek a favour.

The marabouts – also called walis, cherifs or saints – are usually buried in small chapels. Inside the marabout’s tomb, you will always find the same scene: pilgrims – both men and women – sitting around the tomb while others cover their heads with the holy man’s flag and remain motionless, as though confessing their sins.

While there are innumerable marabouts’ tombs in Morocco, those that are well known draw masses of visitors. Sidi Belyout in Casablanca, situated at the heart of the economic capital, is one example.

The entrance to the marabout's dome is sculpted with arabesques. A palm tree has grown there and a hole had to be made in the roof to accommodate it. The woman who guards the tomb and sells candles to the visitors said, "These people come to make their intercession to God. Each has their own worries. They pray and God answers their prayers."

Many of the visitors which flock to Sidi Belyout are girls who come to reveal their troubles to the wali. Khadija B., 36, lives in Casablanca's old medina. "I believe that these saints really do bring good fortune," she said. "When I was still little, my mother took me all over Casablanca to meditate at the tombs of the various saints. Each week, I come to Sidi Belyout, where I meet several women. If I stay away too long, the holy man comes to see me in my dreams to tell me I must visit him."

Khadija is not the only faithful visitor to the marabout. "In fact, it’s a sort of spiritual relief," said Ilham Boughaba, a law student. "After my weekly visit, I feel peace in my inner being and I can then go about my normal business in total peace. Over time, my visits have become an essential part of my routine."

[Getty Images] In many cases, the marabout plays the role of a psychiatrist.

The marabouts graves are also a regular meeting place. The poor come flocking in every Friday to eat the couscous served by benefactors and annual festivals, such as the moussem, continue to attract hundreds of thousands of people. In addition to praying and requesting blessings, the moussem also provides an opportunity to meet up with friends and family who live far away. Some people take advantage of the event to find a husband or wife for their unmarried children.

Those who come to meditate at the saints' temples harbour a thousand and one hopes and implore the marabout for luck. "If I go to the marabout, it’s so that he will act as a go-between for me and God," said El Hajja Tamou, who is in her sixties and has been visiting Morocco's walis since her earliest childhood. "I know he’s just a human being like we are, but he’s a cherif."

Tamou's "consultation" changes according to what she hopes to get out of it and her requests change from visit to visit. "I beg them that my husband will not remarry, that my son will get himself a good job, and that my thirty-five-year-old daughter will find a husband," she declared, with her eyes full of hope. In Morocco, each marabout is believed to have a particular area of influence which sets him apart from the others, Tamou said. Each saint is judged on his "miracles" and mystic stories about him. It is this wondrous aspect alone which is capable of providing satisfaction for a certain category of people whose cultural nourishment clearly comes from the imaginary world.

Sociologist Jamil Maaroug explains to Magharebia that in many cases, the marabout plays the role of a psychiatrist. Faced with expensive psychiatric care services, some people prefer to take their loved ones who are suffering from mental illness to the saints. The best-known example in Morocco is that of Bouya Omar in Kalâat Seraghna, where dozens of mentally ill people are chained up, waiting for the marabout’s luck to heal them.

Dr. Driss Moussaoui spoke of the myth of Bouya Omar, or the "spirit trainer", as he is known; he said it also exists in Greece. "At the time, the mentally ill were locked up in the basements of hospitals, waiting for Asclepios, the god of medicine, to appear to them in a dream and give them the key to free them from their illness," he said. "This has nothing to do with religion, nor with Morocco. It’s something which has come to us from the Mediterranean region, where different civilisations have met, each with its beliefs which live on in one way or another."

Moussaoui also said that today, people often resort to a combination of both traditional methods and modern medicine. "Although some patients go to a psychiatrist, they continue to call on the skills of a traditional healer, and use traditional methods of dealing with psychological trouble, [which include] pilgrimages to marabouts and trances... This can have a beneficial effect for people affected by mild disturbances and who believe in the virtues of the saints, but for others, this is not the case," he said.

The practice of seeking blessings from marabouts seems far from disappearing in the short term. In his book Rites and Secrets of Casablanca's Marabouts, Dr. Akhmisse Mustapha stresses that people still turn to and are addicted to some incomprehensible practices. The country's elite condemns them and religion fights them; but nothing can get rid of them. "They will continue for years to come because this is in fact the product of a deep-rooted aspect of childhood: the holiness with which the marabout is identified. The wali remains a haven of peace for the suffering soul which can find none," he explained.