Living in Fes, even if it is supposed to be for a long period, constantly leaves you with a sense of the tourist panic. Meaning, " I've got to see this, got to see that..." and sometimes the significance of the ground i'm walking on just overwhelms me. Like the other day when I went to pray the sundown prayer in the old city inside of an old madrasa that has been rennovated. Afterwards i was reading this book, Fes from Bab to Bab which featured the mosque i prayed in and mentioned that Ibn Khaldoun who is considered to be the "founder of Sociology" taught there.
And then today I found out the the graveyard I walk past near my house, contains the grave of Abu Bakr Ibn Al-Arabi, the great religious scholar. I could go on and on about the history that I walk past daily. Its overwhelming and makes you feel as if you have to take the maximum advantage of your time here, which i guess is just a good mindset to have in general.
Fes is a special city. I people throw around the phrase , " religious and spiritual capital" a lot when referring to it, but it is true, even with all of the changes and confusion modernity has brought, there is a core to this city that remains full of Light. Alhamdulilah.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Monday, September 17, 2007
Spirituality vs.Money in Ramadan
Hike of prices of basic commodities spoil spirituality of Ramadan in Morocco
REL-MOROCCO-RAMADAN Hike of prices of basic commodities spoil spirituality of Ramadan in Morocco
By Mustafa Al-Soufi (news feature with photos) RABAT, Sept 14 (KUNA) --
Moroccans observed the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan as of today (Friday) with citizens expressing hope the prevailing spirituality of the holy month would help in narrowing disarrays among Muslims worldwide.Abdel Aziz Quraish, a citizen, expressed hope in remarks to KUNA that the nation would brush aside discords and join hands to stand up to the enormous challenges facing Muslims in the globe.Fatima Al-Zahi, a teacher, called on the occasion for activating joint action among the Muslim nations and "making the month an opportunity for unity and unification of the Muslims' ranks." A student, named Al-Shami Wild Al-Arabia, said the Moroccans during this month intensify spiritual and religious services and rituals.Moroccans, ahead of the advent of the month, clean up their houses, decorate them and shop on various necessities and sweets.Although the month brings with it an air of unearthly sentiments, merchants hike prices of commodities, taking advantage of the high demand.Fatimah Tirori, an employee, said the hike of the prices of the basic products constituted an additional financial burden on low-income families. Al-Arabi Mirati, a driver, urged the merchants to have mercy on the poor and refrain from increasing the prices of the basic products.The Moroccans turn generally much more active after the sunset fast-breaking. Many attend the lengthy Al-Taraweeh prayers at mosques after the regular night prayers, others smoke hubble-bubble at popular cafes or gather at the internet-service stores. (end) sf.rkKUNA 141353 Sep 07NNNN
From the Kuwaiti News Agency
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Day 3 in the Medina and there wasn't supposed to be a day 3
So it is not quite Ramadan yet here in Morocco, although I believe other places are fasting today. No moon was sighted here and so Morocco will begin the fast tomorrow. We all had our "last lunches" today.
Yesterday was another old medina focused day, and it is really quite amazing how different one's worldview changes by going inside a walled city.
We were offered a look at the medina from the lens of restoration of its old houses and buildings. It was a highly informative, inspiring, and of course challenging tour. There are houses in the medina that are hundreds of years old and need to be restored as historical monuments. Unfortunately, some of the people who live in these houses or who buy them are not concerned with history, but more with making money on an investment or making their places look more " modern". I wish I could take you all into one of the houses I saw yesterday with the intricately laid tile, and fountains and terraces. It is just amazing that (rich) people lived in such beauty daily.
And it is probably this appreciation for the lifestyle behind the architecture that influenced my decision to live in a part of the old city. The choice was between an old city "masriyya" or a brand new condo in the " ville nouvelle" (french for new city).
It is funny that I would come all the way to Morocco to live in a "masriyya" which means "egyptian house," I don't know why that type of house got that name, but i will attempt to find out. My apartment will actually be in Fes Jedid, which is the "newer" part of the old city, meaning it was built in the 13th century. It is what Moroccans call a " hayy sha'bee" meaning regular ol' folk live there. Few people of wealth, but many people of substance.
My place also happens to be close to the Mellah, the old Jewish quarter of the old city where one can still find a few preserved synagogues. Most of the Moroccan Jewish population left for France, Montreal or Israel, and now Muslim Moroccans inhabit their old apartments. I am also really close to one of the royal palaces of the king.
I could go on and on, but I won't.
Although not related to what I have written above, check out this article in the Washington Post about Morocco's elections that just passed. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/11/AR2007091102082.html
Yesterday was another old medina focused day, and it is really quite amazing how different one's worldview changes by going inside a walled city.
We were offered a look at the medina from the lens of restoration of its old houses and buildings. It was a highly informative, inspiring, and of course challenging tour. There are houses in the medina that are hundreds of years old and need to be restored as historical monuments. Unfortunately, some of the people who live in these houses or who buy them are not concerned with history, but more with making money on an investment or making their places look more " modern". I wish I could take you all into one of the houses I saw yesterday with the intricately laid tile, and fountains and terraces. It is just amazing that (rich) people lived in such beauty daily.
And it is probably this appreciation for the lifestyle behind the architecture that influenced my decision to live in a part of the old city. The choice was between an old city "masriyya" or a brand new condo in the " ville nouvelle" (french for new city).
It is funny that I would come all the way to Morocco to live in a "masriyya" which means "egyptian house," I don't know why that type of house got that name, but i will attempt to find out. My apartment will actually be in Fes Jedid, which is the "newer" part of the old city, meaning it was built in the 13th century. It is what Moroccans call a " hayy sha'bee" meaning regular ol' folk live there. Few people of wealth, but many people of substance.
My place also happens to be close to the Mellah, the old Jewish quarter of the old city where one can still find a few preserved synagogues. Most of the Moroccan Jewish population left for France, Montreal or Israel, and now Muslim Moroccans inhabit their old apartments. I am also really close to one of the royal palaces of the king.
I could go on and on, but I won't.
Although not related to what I have written above, check out this article in the Washington Post about Morocco's elections that just passed. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/11/AR2007091102082.html
Monday, September 10, 2007
Day Two
Old city of Fes
2nd day in a row of Medina meandering. This time with a tour guide and so we look like all the other groups of Spanish, French and Japanese tourists with their heads stretched upwards and their fingers on their digital cameras. I don't have a camera and don't want to be in any pictures so I offer to take pictures for everybody else.
This is the third official tour of the Medina I have taken ( and believe it or not I have actually given one, remember Brenneis?). An "official tour" means having an official tour guide with a real laminated badge and not a " faux guide" that everybody cautions you against. This was a tour for students , meaning a lot of emphasis on history and meaning and not on carpet shops. I was really impressed by the content. Although we hit some of the staple tourist places, for example the tanneries , the guide took care to explain the spiritual and social significance of the architecture and decoration to an extent i had never heard before.
And as for the Qarawiyin, all of its doors were in fact, closed. The tour guide said that the rehab was only supposed to be 2 years ( and not four like I had heard before) and that those two years had passed and so any moment now, it should be re-opened. He estimates 2-3 months. I have had to deal with the disappointment of knowing I will not be able to make the Tarawih, or night prayers of Ramadan in that beautiful mosque.
The smells of Ramadan are everywhere, from the flower-water scented honey that is used on special Ramadan sweets to the scent of burned flour used to make another staple Moroccans break their fast with called Selou or Sfuf, depending on what region you are in.
Moroccans are already starting to congratulate each other on the coming of the month of fasting and inner inspection. They say, "Awashir Mabrook!, " and so I say it to you all too - AWASHIR MABROOK, have a Blessed Ramadan!
2nd day in a row of Medina meandering. This time with a tour guide and so we look like all the other groups of Spanish, French and Japanese tourists with their heads stretched upwards and their fingers on their digital cameras. I don't have a camera and don't want to be in any pictures so I offer to take pictures for everybody else.
This is the third official tour of the Medina I have taken ( and believe it or not I have actually given one, remember Brenneis?). An "official tour" means having an official tour guide with a real laminated badge and not a " faux guide" that everybody cautions you against. This was a tour for students , meaning a lot of emphasis on history and meaning and not on carpet shops. I was really impressed by the content. Although we hit some of the staple tourist places, for example the tanneries , the guide took care to explain the spiritual and social significance of the architecture and decoration to an extent i had never heard before.
And as for the Qarawiyin, all of its doors were in fact, closed. The tour guide said that the rehab was only supposed to be 2 years ( and not four like I had heard before) and that those two years had passed and so any moment now, it should be re-opened. He estimates 2-3 months. I have had to deal with the disappointment of knowing I will not be able to make the Tarawih, or night prayers of Ramadan in that beautiful mosque.
The smells of Ramadan are everywhere, from the flower-water scented honey that is used on special Ramadan sweets to the scent of burned flour used to make another staple Moroccans break their fast with called Selou or Sfuf, depending on what region you are in.
Moroccans are already starting to congratulate each other on the coming of the month of fasting and inner inspection. They say, "Awashir Mabrook!, " and so I say it to you all too - AWASHIR MABROOK, have a Blessed Ramadan!
Sunday, September 9, 2007
2 days in the Medina: Day One
In the old city (medina) of Fes
It was Friday in Fes and about the only thing on my mind was getting to the Qarawiyin mosque for prayer or atleast just to see it. I had heard numerous conflicting reports about its state. All agreed that some part of the mosque which is said to have housed the oldest continious university in the world, was closed for rennovation. It had been closed for 2 years already. One person told me that it would be closed for 2 more years, another said that only part of it was closed but that a small place for prayer was still accessible.
Anyway, a friend and I set out to confirm or deny all of the "information" we had received. We hurriedly took a cab to the doors of the old city and set off by foot in a direction that i was not sure was actually the right way so I asked a woman on the road for directions. She offered to take us most of the way. Enroute however we heard the imam begin the Friday khutba ( sermon) at a mosque near to us and so opted for praying at this closer mosque and going by the Qarawiyin on our way back. As it happens, the mosque we were "settling for" happened to be the Andalusian mosque that was built by the sister of Fatima as-Sulami , the woman who built the Qarawiyin in some kind of pious competition.
The mosque was crowded but we managed to find a place upstairs and catch a good portion of the khutba and prayer. Afterwards we were encircled by a group of women who recognised our foreignness- maybe not mine so much but that of my fair-skinned ,green eyed friend. One question led to another and we ended up at a womans house for lunch. She was a divorced woman with a daughter in France and an adult son at home. The conversation centered around 1) the possibility of my friend marrying her son and 2) the delapidated conditions of the medina, how houses had just fallen in on people, and how many foreigners were coming in and buying the old riads. It is a touchy subject - people want to see the medina restored, but think the government should be the major body behind it and not people with no tie or committment to Moroccan culture and religious traditions.
We spent so much time with our friend from the mosque that we ran out of time to go by the Qarawiyin , leaving the speculation about its state to continue for another day. But not to worry, we had a guided tour of the medina planned for the next day.
It was Friday in Fes and about the only thing on my mind was getting to the Qarawiyin mosque for prayer or atleast just to see it. I had heard numerous conflicting reports about its state. All agreed that some part of the mosque which is said to have housed the oldest continious university in the world, was closed for rennovation. It had been closed for 2 years already. One person told me that it would be closed for 2 more years, another said that only part of it was closed but that a small place for prayer was still accessible.
Anyway, a friend and I set out to confirm or deny all of the "information" we had received. We hurriedly took a cab to the doors of the old city and set off by foot in a direction that i was not sure was actually the right way so I asked a woman on the road for directions. She offered to take us most of the way. Enroute however we heard the imam begin the Friday khutba ( sermon) at a mosque near to us and so opted for praying at this closer mosque and going by the Qarawiyin on our way back. As it happens, the mosque we were "settling for" happened to be the Andalusian mosque that was built by the sister of Fatima as-Sulami , the woman who built the Qarawiyin in some kind of pious competition.
The mosque was crowded but we managed to find a place upstairs and catch a good portion of the khutba and prayer. Afterwards we were encircled by a group of women who recognised our foreignness- maybe not mine so much but that of my fair-skinned ,green eyed friend. One question led to another and we ended up at a womans house for lunch. She was a divorced woman with a daughter in France and an adult son at home. The conversation centered around 1) the possibility of my friend marrying her son and 2) the delapidated conditions of the medina, how houses had just fallen in on people, and how many foreigners were coming in and buying the old riads. It is a touchy subject - people want to see the medina restored, but think the government should be the major body behind it and not people with no tie or committment to Moroccan culture and religious traditions.
We spent so much time with our friend from the mosque that we ran out of time to go by the Qarawiyin , leaving the speculation about its state to continue for another day. But not to worry, we had a guided tour of the medina planned for the next day.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Apartments and Elections
Fes
After a three hour drive in which everyone slept we arrived in Fes- the apple of my eye.
"Getting settled" which everyone thought would come so naturally for us once we arrived has been a little less simple than we thought. Renting an apartment here requires a lot more strategic thought than we had anticipated. We saw a few crappy places and then one beautiful place for which the owner asked for more money than i was paying back in the states. Go go globalization!
Elections are tomorrow and apparently the plan is for some political parties to spend the night making noise ( that i can here now as i type) and distributing flyers everywhere. Everyone is waiting to see how the "moderate Islamist" party does. I actually got a chance to speak with someone from the party while we were in Rabat, they seemed very confident.
People say that the weather is hot , but i have not really noticed.
I cannot yet adequately describe the beauty of this place that is not only seen, but felt. All the varieties of plants, trees and fruit trees and the call to prayer that starts as a light hum then blooms into your ears. We can see the old city and the green tiled roof of the Qarawiyin from our balcony. It is enough to just sit and be quiet and look at it.
On another note, I am pretty sure I have met my first undercover Christian missionary today. Proselytizing for another religion is illegal in Morocco , so people have to come here as "students," or English teachers or business people. It should be an interesting encounter considering my own religious proclivities. Also met some Brits with interesting stories, one retold quite shockingly of severe harassment by the authorities which made it impossible to visit a friend in southern Morocco because his friend had not sought "prior permission." This seems to be a big issue now, when foreigners are visiting Moroccans, and people seem more nervous than ever.
After a three hour drive in which everyone slept we arrived in Fes- the apple of my eye.
"Getting settled" which everyone thought would come so naturally for us once we arrived has been a little less simple than we thought. Renting an apartment here requires a lot more strategic thought than we had anticipated. We saw a few crappy places and then one beautiful place for which the owner asked for more money than i was paying back in the states. Go go globalization!
Elections are tomorrow and apparently the plan is for some political parties to spend the night making noise ( that i can here now as i type) and distributing flyers everywhere. Everyone is waiting to see how the "moderate Islamist" party does. I actually got a chance to speak with someone from the party while we were in Rabat, they seemed very confident.
People say that the weather is hot , but i have not really noticed.
I cannot yet adequately describe the beauty of this place that is not only seen, but felt. All the varieties of plants, trees and fruit trees and the call to prayer that starts as a light hum then blooms into your ears. We can see the old city and the green tiled roof of the Qarawiyin from our balcony. It is enough to just sit and be quiet and look at it.
On another note, I am pretty sure I have met my first undercover Christian missionary today. Proselytizing for another religion is illegal in Morocco , so people have to come here as "students," or English teachers or business people. It should be an interesting encounter considering my own religious proclivities. Also met some Brits with interesting stories, one retold quite shockingly of severe harassment by the authorities which made it impossible to visit a friend in southern Morocco because his friend had not sought "prior permission." This seems to be a big issue now, when foreigners are visiting Moroccans, and people seem more nervous than ever.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Rabat
Finally arrived peacefully in Casablanca yesterday. Everything seemed to be about to be going smoothly until for some unexplained reason, our baggage still had not come after an hour of waiting. Finally one guy lost his patience and went to the desk and started ranting in Arabic to the airline representative, in a show of solidarity, the 50 or so people waiting around the conveyer belt started clapping a very lively beat that one guy actually started dancing to. A few pieces came after that, but little did we know that even when we got our luggage we would be held up by officials because someone in our group brought a professional video camera and with elections being only a few days away, they were nervous about what would be filmed. God forbid that "free and fair" elections be taped.
Not to start with complaining, Morocco is still the country that has stolen my heart and God willing i will write more later . Typing on a non-qwerty keyboard is a task for a tired traveller. one more day here and then off to Fes........
Finally arrived peacefully in Casablanca yesterday. Everything seemed to be about to be going smoothly until for some unexplained reason, our baggage still had not come after an hour of waiting. Finally one guy lost his patience and went to the desk and started ranting in Arabic to the airline representative, in a show of solidarity, the 50 or so people waiting around the conveyer belt started clapping a very lively beat that one guy actually started dancing to. A few pieces came after that, but little did we know that even when we got our luggage we would be held up by officials because someone in our group brought a professional video camera and with elections being only a few days away, they were nervous about what would be filmed. God forbid that "free and fair" elections be taped.
Not to start with complaining, Morocco is still the country that has stolen my heart and God willing i will write more later . Typing on a non-qwerty keyboard is a task for a tired traveller. one more day here and then off to Fes........
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