Fez, Morocco

After three full days of wandering around the medina, Fez has lost some (but certainly not all!) of its charm. I hired a guide named Muhammad on Sunday morning, explained to him that I was interested in religion not shopping, and set off. Muhammad reluctantly showed me the Jewish quarter of Fez (the mellah), and he grudgingly pointed out a mosque here and there. Clearly, there would have been much more to be gained (i.e. commision) if I had been more interested in shopping and less interested in religion.

But soon Muhammad came to appreciate that my interest in Islam was something slightly more than a tourist's passing fascination, and we had a fairly satisfying conversation about Islam in Morocco. There was one humorous exchange early in our conversation when I was asking him about Islamic religious law (shari'a) and he thought I was talking about spaghetti (sharia), leaving us both somewhat baffled, until we realized the source of our misunderstanding (namely, my bad Arabic pronunciation).

As it turns out, it is indeed illegal for non-Muslims to enter mosques and shrines in Morocco. This was a law introduced by the French to enforce some semblance of "respect" for the local population, but it has been maintained (and enforced) by the independent Moroccan government. That said, we did not enter any mosques or shrines, but I was certainly encouraged to stand on the threshholds of their doorways and take photographs.

Madrassas (theological universities) are a different story. We visited the Medersa el-Attarine (founded in 1325 by Abu Said), the Medersa as-Seffarine (the oldest madrassa in Fez, built in 1280), and a third, smaller madrassa off the Place an-Nejjarine.

But the favorite part of my day with Muhammad was visiting the tomb-shrines (zawiya) of Fez's two most important saints (wali): Moulay Idriss II and Sidi Ahmed Tijani. Moulay Idriss II was the founder of Fez and the second ruler of Morocco's first imperial dynasty (in other words, he was a important political leader). His zawiya is a very important pilgrimage destination in Morocco, and crowds of Moroccan women were lined up to present votive candles in front of his tomb, while the religious fraternity (tariqa) associated with his zawiya practiced their mantra-like chanting (dhikr) in the couryard of the adjoining mosque. When Muhammad saw how delighted I was with this scene, he finally offered to take me to the zawiya of Fez's most important Sufi (mystic) saint: Ahmed Tijani (Muhammad had scoffed at Sufism early in our conversation, calling it "superstition" and "witchcraft", but now he seemed somewhat more tolerant of their practices). I couldn't see very much from the doorway of the Zawiya Tijani, but there were some interesting ritual design elements on the outside, including a cage built into the zawiya wall for women to place candles to help them get pregnant, and a brass plate with four blunt spikes around which one places their right hand while placing the left hand on their heart and making a wish. (Muhammad did this with great sincerity.)

Again, seeing my delight, he took me to the shop of his friend, Sidi Abdul, a Berber herbalist and a practicing member of the Tijaniya tariqa (the mystical fraternity dedicated to the teachings of Ahmed Tijani). He was a nice enough fellow (self-righteous as all get-out, but I have come to expect this from people who fervently practice any religion), and we spoke at length about the dhikr of the Tijaniya tariqa (he was very excited that I knew one of their chants from time I had spent with the Chistiya tariqa in India). In the end I bought a small bottle of myrrh oil from him, because he said it would ward off the evil eye and please the angels that surround me (and also because I felt guilty for taking up half his afternoon with my questions). So now I have two souvenirs from this trip, and they both happen to be small glass bottles filled with liquids. Somehow I've got to adjust my purchasing habits.

Encouraged by my apparent willingness to shop, Muhammad took me to the startling, stinking tanneries of Fez (see photo) and then to a rug dealer (in spite of the fact that I had specifically said No rug dealers!!). The rugs were beautiful, but by virtue of the fact that I honestly did not want to buy anything, I found myself inadvertantly haggling with the shop owner. The most beautiful rug I saw had a beginning asking price of 6000 US dollars. By the time I left the shop, he had dropped the price to 1700 US dollars. He was sorely disappointed that I did not buy, but after further thought and useful conversations with friends and family, I'm glad I resisted the temptation.

On Monday, I returned to the medina alone, feeling much more confident in my navigation skills and much more comfortable with Moroccan city life. In spite of my self-satisfaction, the touts and hustlers were all over me, much more than they had been over the weekend. It got a little irritating, but I managed to lose them in the narrow winding streets of the souqs. I went back to the mellah (the Jewish quarter) and visited the old Jewish cemetary and the Ibn Danan Synagogue. I also visited the Belghazi Museum before paying return visits to the Zawiya Moulay Idriss II and Sidi Ahmed Tijani. I ended the day by visiting a tiny elementary school deep in the narrow alleys of the medina (the teacher, who couldn't have been more than 18 years old herself, asked me to marry her, but I politely declined) and then relaxing with my two old friends at the mint tea shop.

Today (Tuesday) I am taking care of some business (buying my plane ticket to Egypt and arranging my meeting schedule at Muhammad V University in Rabat) and relaxing in the (all male) cafés of the Ville Nouvelle.

Bessalama!

(Photo by Eric: Tanning hides yellow with saffron, Fez, Morocco)