Al-Qutb al-Kamil Moulay Abdellah Sharif Wazzani al-Yalmahi al-Idrissi al-Hassani (d. 1089/1674)

Before long, the small town of Wazzan became the most important Sufi centre in Morocco. The Great Pole, Abu Mohammed Mawlana Abdellah ibn Ibrahim ibn Moussa al-Alami al-Yalmahi al-Idrissi al-Hassani ("Moulay Abdellah Sharif", 1005-89/1592-1674), a disciple of Shaykh Sidi Ali ibn Ahmed Karfiti as-Sarsari (d. 1027/1612) of the school of the Patron Saint of Marrakech,  Sidi Mohammed ibn Sulayman al-Jazouli (d. 869/1454), is the first known Sufi to have establish a large Shadhilite brotherhood in the region, but it is normally named after one of two his grandchildren who succeeded him; the poles: Moulay Tuhami (d. 1127/1712) and Moulay Tayyeb (d. 1181/1766). They and subsequent shaykhs pushed the order throughout Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia as far away as Egypt, Mali, and even Mecca itself. The order is alternatively called the Tuhama or Tayyebiya in those regions. At the height of their power in the first half of the nineteenth century, the order might have been able to claim upwards of three million followers.  

Moulay Abdellah Sharif, the founding saint of the order, was of noble parentage. As his name indicates, he was a descendent of the Holy Prophet (sg. sharif, pl. shurafa. shortened to sharfa in dialect). He was born in Tazrout, between Chouen and Asilah, ten kilometres southern the sanctuary of his famed ancestor Moulay Abdessalam ibn Mashish (d. 622/1207). This great thir­teenth century saint was known as the Sultan Jbala, and the Qutb (the "Pole" or "Axis") of Western Islam. Through both his paternal and maternal line Abdellah was also descended from Moulay Idriss (d. 791). A sharif has a high status anywhere in the Islamic World, but this is very marked in the Maghreb. Here, the descendents of Moulay Idriss, a great grandson of the Holy Prophet are particularly revered among the Prophet's family. This goes back to the 780's, when Moulay Idriss set up an independent state in defiance of the Abbasids. Saint and ruler, his dynasty is credited with estab­lishing Islam in much of Morocco.

Later, and in particular from the fifteenth and sixteenth century onwards, the Idrissid family became the object of widespread veneration, and their members, the numbers of whom increased, played important social roles both as propagators of Islam, and also as middlemen between the bedouin tribes when conflicts arose. Since Moulay Idriss was a descendent of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him), so could Moulay Abdellah make the claim. He too was a sharif, honoured member of the Prophet's family. The title was incorporated into his name, so that when coupled with the initial honorific "Moulay," usually glossed as "lord" or "master," his name means something like "my lord slave-of-God, the noble". The same sort of emphasis is expressed in his lineage.

“Moulay Abdellah, therefore, enjoyed throughout the Islamic world, the general respect which followers of the Prophet have for his descendents, while, in Morocco, he enjoyed the special veneration given to direct descendents of Moulay 'Idriss I, and, further, in the Jebala, he enjoyed the special local reverence which the Jebalians had for the descendants of the family of Moulay Abdessalam ibn Mashish.”

As Moulay Abdellah was a product of the marriage of Moulay Abdessalam’s daughter and nephew, the Shurafa’ of Wazzan made an even higher claim: inhabitants of Wazzan could too be assured of salvation. Wazzan then came to have another name: Dar Damana, "The House of Guarantee". Anyone buried in Wazzan was to be granted salvation. Wazzan's very ground had become sacred. In an epistle on Moroccan Shurafa’, the author Ahmed Shibani gives an account of how Wazzan came to be known as Dar Damana,

Moulay Abdessalam had a daughter, whom he wished to marry to his nephew, Moulay Mohammed, son of Moulay Yemleh. The girl, who was very proud, refused to marry her cousin till she had received a guarantee that the children to be born of the marriage should furnish the Sharif-baraka for the future — the Sharif, that is, to whom the ancestral benediction would de­scend, and who would, therefore, reap the temporal benefits which accrued. She further demanded that their preeminence over all the other Shurafa’ of Morocco should be acknowledge in advance. Her father had to promise and guaranteed her the spiritual heritage she sought to secure for her offspring. Thereafter the marriage was concluded. The relationship of Moulay Abdellah Sharif connects him with this far-sighted ances­tress, and in this way the house of Wazzan obtained the title, by which it is always known...   

Moulay Abdellah had secured distinguished status through his ancestry. But he also earned it. After studying at both Tetuan and Fez, he became the servant to another saint, the Sharif Sidi Ali ibn Ahmed al-Lanjari al-Idrissi al-Hassani (d. 1027/1612) of Jabel Sarsar, near Qsar al-Kbir, then considered the Qutb of his region. The latter is tied to the author of  Sidi Mohammed ibn Sulyamna al-Jazouli (d. 869/1454) through Sidi Isa ibn al-Hassan al-Misbahi (d. 964/1549), Sidi Mohammed ibn Ali al-Harwi Zamrani, Sidi Abdellah Ghazwani (d. 935/1520), and Sidi Abdellaziz Tabba'a (d. 914/1499). For his sincerity and devotion, Sidi Ali ibn Ahmed awarded him the Sirr and baraka. He had attached himself to the Shaykh whose garden he cultivated. One day he was asked to bring sweet pomegranates. He was unable to do so, saying that in the more than a year that he had worked in the orchard, he had not tasted a single fruit. Therefore, he could not distinguish between those trees which yielded sweet fruit and those which did not. Upon hearing this, Sidi Ali ibn Ahmed had no choice but to award the Sirr (divine secret).

Moulay Abdellah's story can be seen as similar to, if not representative of, how other Moroccan saints are described achieving the Sirr. Hagiography provides a more dramatic instance of what can be construed as working with the niya (good intention), although hagiography does not provide the term. Hagiography describes another Idrissid sharif, Sidi al-Hassan al-Yusi, who went to serve the contemporary Sufi Shaykh Sidi Mhammed ben Nasir Dar'i (d. 1085/1674),

When, the story goes, al-Yusi arrived at Tamagurt, the desert-edge oasis where ibn Nasir was teaching, he found the old man critically ill with a loathsome disease, perhaps, from the sound of it, smallpox. The shaykh called his students to him, one by one, and asked them to wash his nightshirt. But each was so repelled by the sickness, so disgusted by his and the nightshirt's appearance, as well as afraid for his own health, that he refused to do it, or indeed to come any more into the shaykh's presence...

Lyusi volunteered.

...he took it to a spring where he rinsed it and, wringing it out, drank the foul water thus produced. He returned to the shaykh, his eyes aflame, not with illness, for he did not fall sick, but as though he had drunk a powerful wine. Thus all knew that al-Yusi was not, or anyway not any longer, an ordinary man.  

When his shaykh died, Moulay Abdellah established his own retreat (khalwa) at the tribe Sharka. In a fourteen-months-seclusion, he busied himself with setting prayer upon his grandfather the Chosen (peace and blessing be upon him). Sidi Abdelkabir ‘Aliwat, the then “sole servant” of Moulay Abdellah stated that whenever he entered on his master he found him standing and invoking this litany, “Oh Lord! Shower your prayers upon our Master Mohammed, the Messenger, the Illiterate, and upon his Family and Companions, and send him salutations.” In 1028/1613, the Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him) authorized Moulay Abdellah Sharif in a wakeful state to found his own zawiya. He began to teach, and attracted a following which grew large. Hagiographers report that more than a thousand supplicants might visit him on a given day. By the end of his life his Zawiya was well established. There were five hundred well-trained disciples to pass on his teachings including Sidi Qacem ben Rahmun (d. 1249/1834) and Sidi al-Haj Mohammed al-Khayyat (d. 1115/1700) of Fez. In addition to his teaching, it is recorded of Moulay Abdellah that he devoted himself to agriculture, to gardening, and to caring for his livestock, prospering in all his efforts. While emphasizing his generosity and noting that Moulay Abdellah reciprocated with the requisite hospitality, it is also acknowledged that the pilgrims brought gifts (Futu’hat).

It is interesting to note the initial karama that materialized the authority of Moulay Abdellah al-Sharif to the locals. The Shaykh was teaching the Quran in l-Guezruf, a village on the border between the Masmouda and Ghazoua tribes. With the small remuneration given him, he was able to buy a cow. Without his knowledge the villagers slaughtered his cow for a communal feast. All who participated paid for their share of the animal with a price greater than their piece was actually worth, so that a greater sum would be raised than if the cow had been sold outright. Although Moulay Abdellah was offered more money than the cow was worth, he remained furious. Instead of accepting the money, he reclaimed the skin and the bones of the animal, and ordered it to live again. It did. Moulay Abdellah then turned his baraka against the cows of the village. He cursed them so that their milk will never cream.

According to the hagiography, Moulay Abdellah then went to reside near the hamlet of Miqal, just east of Wazzan.

“Moulay Abdellah went to live... as a hermit near the village of Miqal, on the east side of jabal Bouhlal [the small mountain upon which Wazzan rests]. The inhabitants were not overimpressed with his studious and religious life, and did not refrain from offering petty annoyances as occasion presented. All of this was borne with an exemplary patience and fortitude, until one day they killed Moulay Abdellah's cow [presumably, to cook and eat once again], at which he was furious. He loaded the people with maledictions. At the same time the cow was miraculously resuscitated, upon which the villagers begged him to remain, apologizing for their misbehavior in the most penitent form; but Moulay Abdellah had made his plans and left on the villagers a curse, to the effect that their milk should never cream. To this day no Miqal can make butter, as no cream is to be gathered from the milk of Miqal.”      

The tradition cited in hagiography also relates the killing of Moulay Abdellah's cow in Miqal, a second time for yet another communal feast. Surely the repetition is significant, emphasizing the saint's power and how he must be respected in relations of exchange. But as recounted the events in Miqal serve not only to reinforce Moulay Abdellah's authority but extend it, beautifully building upon the earlier episode. For before the saint revives the poor creature yet again, he complains bitterly to the villagers, seemingly wanting restitution. They respond "Take from us Bouhlal," as if it belonged to no one (or everyone). The Miqalis meant for him to have nothing at all. But Moulay Abdellah took them at their word. The saint had the notaries draw up a legal document which gave him, in exchange for his cow, a territory about six kilometers long and one in width. This is the land upon which Wazzan traditionally stood. Townspeople often credit Moulay Abdellah with the building of Wazzan's first and principal mosque, and with establishing the town itself. Although both Wazzan and the mosque that took his name existed before his arrival, he had succeeded in transforming Wazzan from a collection of mud huts (dechra) into a place of worship.

Much of Moulay Abdellah Sharif’s success may have stemmed from the choice of his locale. Located at the juncture of the Gharb and the Rif he could attract followers from both areas. His ties affiliated him with the Rif but the region already had its saints, especially the dominant Zawiya of Moulay Abdessalam. The North had also been declining economically since the beginning of the fifteenth century as a result of Iberian predations. It was therefore better to locate the Zawiya on the southern edge of his influence. Here he could still draw upon his spiritual ancestry and simultaneously attract pilgrims who were on their way to visit Moulay Abdessalam. He could also tap the richer Gharb tribesmen. Those in the vicinity of Wazzan were at a distance from Moulay Bouselham (d. 343/923) to the west and Sidi Qacem (d. 1666) to the south, and thus more open to another influence.

Just as Wazzan's location was interstitial religiously, so it was politically. At the level of local politics, Moulay Abdellah must have been well informed. He located his Zawiya not so much in any one of the tribes but at the border of several. The Zawiya could then act not only as mediator between the sultan and the tribes, but also between the tribes themselves. He had thus chosen the site for his Zawiya well, simultaneously transforming Wazzan into a political entity as well as a spiritual refuge. Isolated from the inroads of the Christians and having carved out a niche for itself both with the sultanate and the locals, the Zawiya could develop in peace. Still, it would expand to a degree that is doubtful he could have imagined.

The Tayyebiya of northern Morocco in many respects seem similar to the Nasiriya in the south, in that they stood between the traditional image of the maraboutic local order and the scholarly, urban centres, but they were important differences. The Tayyibi family were sharifs and drew much authority from their sharifian descent, while the Nasiris only could claim descent from one of the companions of the Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him). They also worked within a larger urban environment, Wazzan, which they came to dominate. Like the Nasiriya, the Tayyebiya functioned as middlemen between the bedouin and the central authorities.

Moulay Abdellah Sharif strongly discouraged disciples from seeking guidance from a number of different shaykhs, urging them to lay their heads on one rather than a number of thresholds. He placed great stress on performing obligatory prayers and assigned a secondary place to superogatory prayers and litanies. In 1089/1574 he died at Wazzan, and his tomb became a centre of pilgrimage in Morocco. In the history of Moroccan Sufism, there has hardly been any saint whose offspring have involved themselves in mystical work as keenly as the descendents of Sidi Abdellah Sharif Wazzani: Moulay Mohammed ibn Sidi Abdellah Wazzani (d. 1120/1705), Moulay Tuhami ibn Mohammed Wazzani, Moulay Tayyeb ibn Mohammed Wazzani, Sidi Ahmed ibn Tayyeb Wazzani (d. 1195/1780), Sidi Ali ibn Ahmed Wazzani (d. 1226/1811), Moulay al-Arbi ibn Ali Wazzani (d. 1266/1851), Moulay Abdessalam ibn Arbi Wazzani (d. 1310/1895), and Moulay al-Makki b. Mohammed b. Abdellah Wazzani. A consciousness of mission and regenerate society in the light of Islamic Law motivated their activities.

Despite the fame of Moulay Abdellah, his two grandsons, Moulay Thami ibn Mohammed (d. 1127/1721) and Moulay Tayyeb ibn Mohammed (d. 1181/1766), may have surpassed him. Successive Shaykhs of the Zawiya, the brothers were also considered amongst the greatest saints of their day. About Moulay Abdellah's son and successor Moulay Mohammed (d. 1120/1705) we know little except that he constructed the shrine of his father. After him the Shaykhs of the Wazzani order were repeatedly considered to be amongst the holiest men in Morocco. They pursued their father's mission with such enthusiasm that sources credit them with having enrolled much of Morocco. Moulay Abdellah had firmly estab­lished the Zawiya in the Gharb and the Rif. His grandsons expanded it throughout Morocco, Algeria, southward into West Africa, and still further eastward, as far as Mecca itself. Each took a separate direction. Moulay Thami travelled north­ward into the Rif, through Morocco to the southern o ases, and yet further south into the Sahara, reaching the Touab of northern Senegal. Moulay Tayyeb went in a northeastern direc­tion, to Oran in Algeria, further east into Tunisia and Libya.

Moulay Tuhami revived the spiritual glory of his grandfather. The Shaykh founded many zawiyas that can describe everything from a mosque to expansive complexes with residential quarters and storage facilities. Like his father Moulay Tuhami was influenced by the career of the fifteenth-century Sufi Sidi Mohammed al-Jazouli (d. 869/1454) and his sharifian doctrine of sainthood. The way of Moulay Tuhami in many ways inherited aspects of Jazulite Sufi developments, including organizational structure, emphasizing a social activism mixed with an emphasis on spiritual renown and scholarly accomplishment. At the end of his life, the headquarter zawiya of Wazzan had become imperative to people's everyday lives as sources of spiritual power, protection and sustenance.

The order came to be known by their names. In Morocco it was Touhama, in Algeria, the Tayyebiyya. The order continued to expand as lodges grew throughout the Islamic world. This may not be farfetched. One contemporary chronicler states that the order received visitors and pilgrims from through­out the eastern portion of the Islamic world, as well as letters written by religious authorities (faqihs) in Egypt, Syria, and Iraq. They recognized the validity of its saints and asked for their blessing. Followers made donations to the local lodges, some of which flowed back to the mother Zawiya, and the ideal was to visit the saints of Wazzan and give offerings directly.

Moulay Tayyeb had a special responsibility toward the reform of contemporary society. Contemporary of Moulay Ahmed Sqalli (d. 1177/1762), the Shaykh broadcasted his spiritual teaching through muqaddams and advanced scholars such as Sidi Mohammed at-Tawdi ibn Souda (d. 1209/1794). Moulay Tayyeb sought to initiate Mawlana al-Qutb al-Maktum, Sidna Shaykh, Abil Abbas Ahmed ibn Mohammed Tijani (d. 1230/1815) upon his visit to Wazzan. He further authorized him to initiate others, although Sidna Shaykh Tijani never did exercise this privilege, for tow reasons: firstly, he was engrossed in his own spiritual self-development, and secondly, he was not sure of his exact position in the spiritual hierarchy at the time.  

The way in which Moulay Tayyeb and his followers narrated their spiritual experiences publicly in letters and treaties and tried to grasp the depth of the ocean of mystic experience was loaded with serious implications and could lead to intellectual mayhem and perplexity. What saved the Tuhamiya from this eventuality was (a) their repeated and persistent emphasis on the adherence to the Sunna of the Prophet, and (b) the order’s open guarantee of salvation to adherents and followers. This guarantee may be reflected in two statements attributed to Moulay Abdellah: "Our house is like Noah's Ark; whoever enters is saved," and "All the sources have dried up and there remains only Wazzan to which all the peoples from the East and West will come to drink." Wazzan then came to have another name: Dar Damana, "The House of Guarantee". Gifts were bequeathed to the Shurafa’ so that the giver could be buried near the saints, a practice which occasionally continues to occur. Wazzan's very ground had become sacred.

According to townspeople, it was Moulay Thami who en­sured that the religious status he had attained would con­tinue for his descendants. Indeed, he guaranteed them the highest privilege possible — Paradise. This occurred at a well only a few yards away from his sanctuary. He lowered his pail for water to perform the obligatory ablutions before prayer, only to pull up a bucketful of silver. Dis­daining the coin, he again lowered for water. Silver ap­peared this time also. Once more he ignored the silver and continued to draw for water, saying, "My God, I care not for the riches of this world, it is your gifts which sustain me." His reward was Heaven. It was promised to him and to all of his descendants, forever. The Shurafa’ made an even higher claim, for the promise was ex­tended to include those who became attached to the order. They too could be assured of salvation.

There are no walls around Wazzan. Protected by its baraka, Wazzan was open to all. Something greater is suggested by Wazzan's lack of walls — the idea that the territory or community that it could embrace was boundless. As with other religious centers in Morocco, it could serve as sanctuary (‘horm) or more properly the ground or area over which the right of sanctuary ex­tends for anyone seeking asylum, whether from the sultan or from private quarrel. But whereas such protection was often limited only to the confines of a saint's tomb, in Wazzan it was the entire town that was horm.

The Shurafa’ actively extended the horm from the Zawiya to the rest of the town, it is also possible that the horm was to be further expanded. Hagiographers record the story of the great sultan Moulay Sulayman's (1792-1822) attempt to marry a daughter of Moulay Tayyeb,

"When the Sultan entered the nuptial chamber, he found the young sharifa transformed into a savage lioness, and he found it wiser to load her with the richest of presents and send her back incontinently to her relations. He gave his word that the terri­tory surrounding each camping-place at which she stopped should become the property of this recalcitrant damsel, and that the Zawiya should have the right of sanctuary over the whole course of her last day's journey."

It is clear that the Shurafa’ felt that within their sanctity lay the capability for expanding their domininion and simultaneously sanctifying it. To this day many Wazzanis think the earth up on which they tread is sacred. When people outside Wazzan hear mention of the town they will touch their right hand to their forehead and then to their lips as if as "they were kissing the siyyad" (i.e. Moulay Thami). Simultaneously, they ask for a blessing in the name of Dar Damana.

Wazzan can be seen as lying between the area that the sultan controlled and the inroads of the Christians. Removed both from the coast and from the powers of central Morocco, the Zawiya could develop in a favoured spot relatively isolated from the troubles going on around it. Its location at the edge of the Rif also placed it within an area which the central government tried to control but found relatively inaccessible because of the hills and mountains. The north­ern tribes proved consistently troublesome for the sultans, often beyond the grasp of their authority. Thus the Wazzanis were in the position to be both accessible and useful to the court. Being a small population in the foothills it is unlikely that they could have offered much resistance, at least not initially. They certainly could not have offered a serious threat to the force of Moulay Ismail, who must have seen the advantages of letting them survive and thus chose not to destroy them as he had others.

The sharifian ruling Alawi dynasty, who are themselves the product of Sufi activism like their predecessors the Almoravids and Almohads were not always favourably disposed towards the heads of orders as they challenged their legitimacy as the true leaders of the faithful, to which Alawi leaders responded with force. In 1668, Sultan Moulay Rashid forced the leaders of the Dilaiya into exile in Fez and destroyed the zawiya of Sidi Ahmed ou Moussa of Tazrerwalt in 1670, the centre of one of the most powerful religious families south of the Atlas mountains. He also repeatedly threatened Sidi Ahmed Ibn Nasir Dar'i  (d. 1129/1714), though he did not live long enough to carry out these threats. In the seventeenth century, the Sultan Moulay Ismail who extended the borders of Morocco south to Ghana and Ivory Coast proceeded against Moulay Tuhami. Sidi Mohammed ibn Jaafar Kattani (d. 1345/1930) reports in Salwat al-anfas that a saint from Fez called Sidi al-Haj Mohammed al-Khayyat (d. 1115/1700), a disciple of Moulay Abdellah Sharif, appeared after his death to the Sultan to prevent the further maltreatment of the Wazzaniya order:

The Sultan Moulay Ismail issued a search order for Moulay Tuhami. Moulay Tuhami however came from Wazzan to Meknes (the residence of the Sultan) and there entered the Green Mosque, so that the people feared for his safety. When, one morning, the Sultan had just breakfast, the Shaykh al-Khayyat stepped into the bay with a sharp sword in his hand, held it over the Sultan's head, and said: 'if a single hair of my Shaykh' son is harmed, I shall cut you in pieces with this!' The Sultan asked: "Who are you? And he replied: 'Al-Khayyat'. The Sultan asked further: 'And who is the son of your Shaykh?' He replied: 'Moulay Tuhami who even now is in the Green Mosque.' Thereupon he disappeared. The Sultan stood up and called for the guards on the doors; they maintained, however, that no one had got past them. Everyone in the castle said the same: no one had seen the man with the sword. The Sultan became angry, called for his horse, and wanted to ride to the mosque. But the horse went backwards and would on no account allow itself to be driven forwards. At that the Sultan had Moulay Tuhami informed that he could returned home, with God's peace. The Sultan called for Abdellah ar-Rusi, the governor of Fez, and asked him: 'Is there in your city a man named al-Khayyat?' 'Yes' replied ar-Rusi, he is buried in the Zrabtana district and is called the lord of the valley.'

The Wazzanis came to act as both intermediaries and advisors to the sultans, initially with regard to the tribes of the north. As the Wazzani Zawiya grew in numbers and influence, the Shurafa’ acted on behalf of the sultans in a variety of places, including Algeria. In 1840, for instance, the Sultan Moulay Abderrahman (d. 1274/1859), fearing that the French would attach the Touat to Algeria, charged the Wazzani Shaykh Sidi al-Haj al-Arbi (d. 1266/1851) by formal decree (dahir) to administer it for him.

The Wazzanis has as expected attained grants from the ruling sultans in return for political favors. Thus, the Wazzani lineage was able to translate spiritual status into enormous wealth, its Shaykhs possessing considerable land holdings. The sharifs of Wazzan possessed entire villages, which they had been granted by the sultans. The lands granted the Shaykhs by the sultans also showed that they had been able to translate their spiritual stature into political influence. The rulers came to rely on the Wazzanis. Because of the religious esteem in which they were held, they kept some order among the tribes of the north, who which had proved continually troublesome to the court at Fez. The Wazzani Shurafa’ were also used as political emissaries and ambassadors, initially with distant tribes and later with Europeans governments. At least occasionally they also acted as advisors to the sultans. Indeed, so powerful did the Wazzani Shaykhs become that they achieved virtual autonomy from the sultanate.

For their services the Shurafa’ at first received a yearly stipend, and then successive grants of land and the revenues from them. The land grants further tied the Shurafa’ to the sultan, for they were given from the areas which the makhzen controlled and could be revoked at any time. The sultans grew resentful of their dependency upon Wazzani influence. The land grants did not limit Wazzani power. Neither could any of their officials exercise author­ity over them, for as "cousins" to the sultans, the Shurafa’ were not subject to a pacha or governor. Only a qadi to act as judge, a mohtaseb to oversee commerce, and a khalifa to act as agent for the administering governor in Qsar al-Kbir were placed in Wazzan, and they had little effect. The power resided with those who had the baraka, especially the Shaykh of the order who was designated to inherit the blessing of the great saints before him and to dispense it to the pilgrims.

Moulay Ali ibn Hmed (d. 1226/1811) supported the sultan Sidi Mohammed ibn Abdellah (d. 1205/1790). He insisted on loyalty to the sultan and Sidi Mohammed ibn Abdellah used the order in his attacks on what was seen as non-orthodox orders. However, when his successor Moulay al-Yazid died in 1792, the order intervened forcefully in Moroccan politics. There were three contenders for the succession, Moulay Hicham in the south, Moulay Maslama in the north, Moulay Abderrahman in the Suss, and Moulay Sulayman in Fez. Maslama had his support in the Tetouan-Tangier area, but set up his headquarters in Wazzan. Shaykh Sidi Ali ibn Ahmed supported his claim, and was instrumental in extending his cause over much of northern Morocco. In return, the head of the order gained considerable influence over Maslama and was perhaps the real power behind the throne; Moulay Tuhami ibn al-Hassan Wazzani became minister to Maslama.

The pretension did not last long, as Moulay Sulayman (d. 1237/1822) was launched as a compromise candidate between the warring contenders and was able to have his accession accepted. Less than two months, after his proclamations as sultan, Maslama resigned his claims to the throne, due to the dwindling support. Shaykh Sidi Ali Wazzani swung to the side of the victor, but although Moulay Sulayman, later, used him as a mediator with northern tribes, there were a number of rivalries between them caused by the sultan’s attempts to reduce the independence of the order in Wazzan.

That being the case, the Sultan Moulay Sulayman tried to appoint his own choice to be shaykh when Sidi Ali ibn Hmed died (d. 1811). He wanted Sidi Ali's son Tuhami to head the order. Moulay Tuhami was considered bookish, more com­fortable with religious scholarship than with active leader­ship. In response, Sidi Ali's other son, Hajj al-Arbi al-Wazzani (d. 1850), effectively divorced himself from this decision and established his own position of power by building his own mosque and house to receive the visitors of the Zawiya. Sidi al-Hajj Abdessalam was indeed considered such as object of marked respect and veneration that when he made the pilgrimage to Mecca, the worshippers left the Kaabah to prostrate themselves before him.

Moulay Sulayman also took away some concessions Sultan Sidi Mohammed had given to the order, like the right to appoint the qadi of Wazzan. When a revolt later broke out in Fez, Shaykh Moulay al-Arbi thus supported the claims of the rebels. Mawlay Sulayman’s rule was further characterized by ferment, unrest and plagues. Moroccan chroniclers portray rebellions and revolutions in dark terms. The sultan launched an expedition against Meknes in 1212/1797; in 1214/1799 he fought the recal­citrant Ait Yammurj in 1215/1800 he undertook the campaign of Sus. A year later, he faced the Tadla in­surrection, because of the scarcity of grain. In 1216/ 1801 he also battled the Ait Umalu, Ban Muiayr, Zammur Ait Idrisen and the Gerwan in the Dukkala and the Haouz. He headed in 1217/1802 a Mahalla in the Rif as well as around Fez against the Hayyana. A year later he led one against the Ait Idrisen. Most of these revolts were induced by inter-tribal rivalries, sedentaries vs. nomads. In 1222/1807 Moulay Sulayman launched another Mahalla on the coastal areas and unleashed the Ait Idrisen against the Gerwan. Two years later, it was the turn of the Ait Umalu, Ibn Khayran, Sama'alla and Wardigha.

The rulers of Morocco had hence come to rely upon the Wazzanis as a check on the unruly northern tribes, and as both their advisors and intermediaries in other areas as well. So much so that Wazzanis could claim they boasted to the sultans, "We shall never rule Morocco, but without us you would not rule". The same sentiment may be seen in the fact that a Wazzani sharif held the stirrup of the sultan as part of his instal­lation into office. He would do so when the Sultan first arrived in the Gharb, which had become part of the heartland of Wazzani influence. He would then summon to his side the head of the house of Wazzan, who holds the stirrup whilst the Prince mounts his horse with all due solemnity. As this was considered an honor, the gesture may also be seen as an expression of the symbiotic relationship which developed.

As with founding saints of other orders, Moulay Abdellah had established the basis of his lineage's fortunes. In the hagiography terms he had been able to transform his symbolic capital into economic capital. His descendents continued to develop the spiritual and economic capital of the order. It was two of his grandsons who increased the following of the order dramatically. Moulay Thami and Moulay Tayyeb actively proselytized throughout Morocco and Algeria, pushed into Tunisia and Libya, and even gained devotees in the Hijaz itself. They established local lodges through which to collect repeated offerings as well as requiring annual pilgrimages to the now famous mother Zawiya of Wazzan. With the tremendous amount of proceeds generated it is hardly surprising that the grandsons amassed fortunes far greater than that of their grandfather. The increase in wealth and followers is clearly indicative of the heightened status of the lineage. As their ancestor had before them, Moulay Thami and Moulay Tayyeb had planted the seeds of growing ascendancy, especially of the Shurafa’ over their followers.

One lodge far removed from Wazzan provides an excellent illustration. The Zawiya located in the Saharan oasis of Touat in southwestern Algeria was established by Moulay Thami in the eighteenth century. In 1840 Sultan Moulay Abderrahman, fearing that the French would attach the Touat to Algeria, charged the Wazzani shaykh Sidi al-Haj al-Arbi by formal decree (dahir) to administer it for him. Sidi al-Haj al-Arbi has also cooperated with the Makhzen in the conflict between the Sultan Moulay Abderrahman  and the Algerian leader Emir Abdellqadir (d. 1298/1883), many years later, where Moulay al-Arbi worked with the Sultan's forces to counter Emir Abdellqadir's influence. Moulay al-Arbi’s Algerian disciple, Sidi Bou Ma'aza of the Banu Khuwaydim tribe in the Shalif valley, was also involved in the itinerary. The Wazzanis were thus recognized by the sovereign as being able to collect tithes and tribute usually reserved for the sultan. But the Wazzanis had other claims upon them as well. Of course the Touatis were supposed to bring annual gifts to Wazzan. They offered money, grain, and brooms. Brooms were appropriate. As a part of their annual pilgrimage the Touatis had become expected to clean the city.

The Touatis had always contributed to the trousseau for the marriage of Wazzani Shaykhs. Hagiography recounts a Touati devotee working for the Wazzanis in Fez procured a Hausa slave woman as a concubine for Sidi al-Hajj al-Arbi Wazzani. She gave birth to the next shaykh of the order, Sidi al-Hajj Abdessalam Wazzani. Having helped to provide the heir for the holy lineage, the Touatis unfailing displays of loyalty to Sidi al-Hajj Abdessalam and his house. When al-Hajj Abdessalam’s daughter Lalla Hiba died prematurely, some two thousand Touatis were at her funeral, wanting to carry her coffin. They formed the personal bodyguard of the shaykh, accompanying him on all functions. For their efforts they too received a title — "The Slaves of the Holy Sanctuary of Wazzan” (Dar Damana).

With the local lodges came not only followers but lands. These could have been bought by the Shurafa’. But it is much more likely that they too were given. This is so for a number of reasons. Lands have long been given to the Shurafa’ by their clients and supplicants in exchange for the baraka, as they are today. People would will lands to the Zawiya, in the hopes of attaining Paradise. The properties would become part of the endowment (hbus) of the order, held in perpetuity, the proceeds being used for the benefit of the order and its caretakers.

The Wazzani zawiya reached its apogee in the second half of the nineteenth century, perhaps especially under al-Hajj Abdessalam. His British wife Emily Keene wrote of him, without elaborating, "He was left a large fortune by his father, and inherited two others, and was at one time one of the wealthiest men in Morocco." His wealth grew further through a practice he initiated. Al-Hajj Abdessalam was the first shaykh to visit the Zawiyas outside Wazzan to collect the offerings (ziara). He could collect more if he himself went, his spiritual presence requiring greater gifts than if others collected on his behalf. He would receive money, grains, beasts, and black slaves.

Having the chance of seeing the shaykh of Wazzan's holy order elicited extreme responses.

“So revered was the sharif of Wazzan’s baraka in Morocco that his appearance anywhere touched off scenes of hysterical devotion. Only with great difficulty could the hundred or so guards keep back the crowds which fought to touch him, prod him with sticks, even to pelt him with stones in the hope that some of the baraka would rub off on the rock, which would be kept as an amulet.”

Hagiographies describe how men would roll on the ground so as to be trod on by the horse of the sharif. Such displays of faith are quite a transformation from the lack of respect initially described for the original shaykh of the order. But by this time Wazzan had become one fief among many.

It is impossible to say exactly how many followers the Wazzanis had. Foreign diplomats from the second half of the nineteenth century were in consensus that more than one half and perhaps as many as three quarters of the Moroccan population were followers. One claimed "that it was not possible to find a single small fraction of a tribe, nor a single village where there were not followers of the order." Estimates ranged from a million and a half to more than three million throughout northwest Africa.

Whatever their number, all followers owed gifts to the Wazzani saints and Shurafa’. As well, all, or at least their representatives, would have been expected to make the annual pilgrimage to Wazzan and present their offerings. The significance of those who came to Wazzan, either as pilgrimage or with a specific request to a shaykh, cannot be overestimated. In addition to the tremendous land holdings, hagiographers state that the principle source of funds for the Zawiya were in fact the gifts brought by the faithful. The Touatis presentation was already noted. When the Fassis made their pilgrimage, on the other hand, they offered money, candles, wood, cakes, other prepared dishes, and a pair of babouches for each sharif and another for each sharifa."

However, as the power and influence of new Sufi orders grew, the Wazzanis fell out of favour with the court. The Wazzani order has continued to decline through the years, a sign that with modernization, saints and their lineages no longer have many of the special perquisites they once held.

The Shrines of Wazzan

Wazzan can neither be appreciated nor understood with­out knowledge of its past, and since the history of the town is inseparable from that of the zawiya. Travelers to the town are immediately struck by the presence of the zawyia. The bus station faces the central graveyard, and at the far edge of the graves stands one of the holiest and most im­pressive shrine complexes in Morocco. Since for many the shrines give the first impression of Wazzan, it is as if they establish an identity for the town . Rank, privilege, and power are clearly present.  Three saints lie within it, so that the mosque is also a sanctuary, distinguished like no other in Wazzan. In one chamber is Moulay Abdellah himself. With him is his son Ibrahim, a bachelor who died in battle. In another chamber is Moulay Aarbi, the original builder of dar nwar. Despite the presence of Moulay Arbi, the mosque is identified with Moulay Abdellah. It is called after him, and townspeople will say that he was its founder and that the town then grew up around it, even though there is evidence to the contrary. As with the statement about the number of siyyeds buried in Wazzan, such statements emphasize the identity of Wazzan with its holy lineage. Moroccan shrines are usually low, whitewashed buildings, a single floor with a green dome (qubba) on top and only large enough for a few people to get in. Such shrines dot the landscape and one can easily see them along a bus route. Larger shrines of more significant saints tend to be in urban areas, clustered around by numerous buildings which partially obscure them.

Doubly sanctified, the mosque/sanctuary is a means of organizing the religious life of Wazzan. As sanctuary it is of-ten the first shrine that is visited by pilgrims. Further, it temporally orders the celebration of Wazzan's various saints. Since Moulay Abdellah is the founder of the lineage, he is celebrated first. After him come the celebra­tions for Moulay Thami, then Moulay Tayyeb, and finally Sidi Ali ibn Hmed. As mosque it is traditionally where Wazzani-s congregate to spend the town's major religious holidays. For example, it is filled on the laylat al-qudr the twenty-sixth of Ramadan, when the Quran was first revealed to the Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him).

There are two sanctuaries which are larger than the others. One has an emerald green tiled roof. To the left of the graveyard there are two more large shrines. One is on a small hill also at the far edge of the graveyard. The other is where town and cemetery meet. On the right far edge of the graveyard is a ruin, which although not a shrine, is obviously a massive structure. Together, the sanctuaries and ruin seem to form a semicircle around the common graves. Smaller shrines, both with roofs and without, are also apparent. All are aged, yet they are still being frequented. The graveyard is further sanctified by a msella, "an open-air place for prayer", which consists of a standing wall with a mihrab to point the direction towards Mecca.

A shrine (siyyad. darih. or qubba for domed shrines) may be a group of stones which mark the grave of a holy man. He also may be referred to as a siyyad with wali and salih also being used. Except for a niche where one could burn a candle or a small formation of stones to mark and protect the grave, it might be little distinguished from that of any other believer buried before the introduction of headstones. Often there is a fruitless olive tree giving shade. Then there are the squat, white-domed shrines which dot the Moroccan land­scape. These mark the remains of more important saints, for the more important the saint, the more impressive his tomb. Such a shrine may have a caretaker (muaqaddam). He may claim descent from the saint or may simply have devoted himself to the upkeep of the sanctuary. In either case he accepts the offerings (money, grain, animals) given in exchange for the saint's blessing (baraka).

In addition to its domed shrines, the Wazzani complex has two saints further distinguished both by their architecture and their size. These belong to brothers. The smaller ones immediately next to them represent their descendants. The brothers were the grandsons of Moulay Abdellah Sherif (1597-1679).

Moulay Tayyeb is protected by a roof of emerald green tiles, as larger shrines, mosques, and government buildings often are. Such a sign of distinction is certainly merited. It is said that he could not travel without finding follow­ers ready to recognize his sanctity. His brother would deserve a similar architectural emblem, except the remains of Moulay Thami are covered by only sqaf, a roof of thatch. Even more so than the green tiles of Moulay Tayyeb, the thatched roof of Moulay Thami represents the power of the saint. It is said that the townspeople had tried to build a roof for Moulay Thami similar to that of his brother, but Moulay Thami wanted no such ostentation. The roof the towns­people built collapsed. They tried again, with the same result. Moulay Thami would cling to his humility even after death, and men could not alter his wish. The thatch remains as testament to his miracle working baraka.

The original name of the house in which Moulay Abdellah lived was dar sqaf which itself was a place of pilgrimage until the early part of this century. The name was then extended to include the quarter in the medina set aside for habitation by the Shurafa’ ("dar" being used in the sense of a collectivity based on shared descent), and the area has retained the name even today. The thatch thus signifies the line of descent from Moulay Abdellah to his grandson Moulay Thami, to their descendents, the ulad as-siyyad "children of the saint". This line of descent involves the inheritance of moral and spiritual qualities because the Shurafa’ claim to have inherited the baraka and the sanctity that goes with it. But since they have separated themselves from the townspeople since the days of their ancestors, the thatch attests to more than piety. It is a clear statement about the Shurafa’ in relation to the rest of the town. Indeed, it expresses the basic social distinction in Wazzan, that between the common people and the descendents of the saints, the Shurafa’, those who can trace their descent ultimately to the Prophet.

The various shrines around Moulay Thami and Moulay Tayyeb reinforce this same theme. All of the shrines, from the larger to the smallest, with roof or without, mark the remains of Shurafa’. Like their more famous ancestors, they possess the baraka and deserve special recognition in their burial. And this recognition further testifies to the spe­cial status of the lineage as a whole, including present day members and as opposed to the commoners who are without such a spiritual pedigree.

At the eastern edge of the graveyard lies a massive ruin. It also attests to the power of the order. Alternatively called the menzah ("balcony") or the qharsat sultan ("garden of the sultan") it was built by one of the shaykh's of the Zawiya, the Hajj 'Abdessalam (d. 1892), as both a summer and guest house. Both names are appropriate. Its terrace offered a fine view of the rolling plain and distant mountains. The garden it contained was given as a gift of marriage to a sultan by his Wazzani bride (i.e. Moulay Sulayman’s successor Sidi Abderrahman), then returned to the Shurafa’ when the marriage failed. Visitors to Wazzan at the turn of the century describe the edifice in rich detail.

It is a vast enclosure ... with plots of flowers and square patches of vegetables. The dwelling is a square building [two stories high], reached by an alley covered with vine-trellising. At the side is a pond, on which a vast pavilion opens.

The gardens contained fruit trees of all sorts, including lemons, oranges, and bananas, as well as strawberries, and meddler trees imported from Japan. Segonzac noted eucalyptus, poplars, and also roses, lilies, pansies and jasmine. Irrigation came by small canals from the pond, itself impressive. Stocked with fish, it was eighty meters long, forty wide, and nearly two meters deep. There was also an aqueduct leading to the shrine of Moulay Thami. Those visiting the siyyad could then perform ablutions before prayer. The garden and the pond have disappeared, but the remains of the aqueduct can still be seen today.

The minaret of Hajj al-'Arbi’s mosque remains Wazzan's most striking architectural feature. Though decaying, the octagonal, green-tiled minaret still shows the fine workman­ship of Andalusian craftsmen from Fez.

The house is immense. It was the first in Wazzan not to be built of stones and straw, but of bricks and mortar, with more than one floor and a terrace atop the roof. Subsequent Shaykhs continued to work on it. Three stories high, about seventy yards long, and almost half as wide, it is said that it has lodged 980 pilgrims at one time. Even if this were an exaggeration the house is larger than many hotels, and it is run much like one.

As the menzah had a garden within its walls, so has the shaykh's house, complete with exotic flowers and fruit trees (including Wazzan's only persimmon tree). It is called, dar nwar. "House of Flowers". It is the only house in Wazzan with such a symbol of refinement and luxu­ry. Indeed, the house owes its location to Hajj al-Arbi wanting to enjoy a house of splendor far from dar sqaf and the other Shurafa’. If that is correct another level of meaning is added to the structure, for it shows the shaykh seeking to simultaneously distin­guish and distance himself from his fellow Shurafa’.

As implied by their names, the dar nwar and the gharsa sultan have an intrinsic relationship. It is not simply that they represent sharifian grandeur. They are analogues of one another. Just as the gharsa sultan had the finest garden in Wazzan in its day, so does the dar nwar today. Residences for the Shaykhs, they served to honor and impress the guests of the order, and both showed the power of the Shurafa’ in relation to the sultans. They also point to a progression in the power of the Zawiya. Whereas the Shurafa’ had been content to reside in dar sqaf, the later Shaykhs developed the need and taste for more expansive quarters. Instead of emphasizing the humility of Moulay Thami, they displayed their largesse.

Their significance is further illustrated when in relationship to one another they are compared to Moulay Thami and dar sqaf. As with the first pair, dar nwar and the gharsa sultan attest to the basic division between the Shurafa’ and the non-Shurafa’, for it is the power and magnifi­cence of the Shurafa’ which is underscored. They are the ones acting as hosts, not Wazzan as a whole.  Also as with Moulay Thami and dar sqaf, one of the pair stands in the heart of the medina, while the other stands at the far edge of the central graveyard. This is interesting, for before the construction beyond the gharsa sultan the medina was circum­scribed by the central graveyard and its perimeter of shrines. Thus, the structures of the Zawiya would seem to encompass the entire life of the town.

To the western edge of the graveyard — so that the graves have major shrines as their perimeter — there is a large domed shrine on a small hillock. It belongs to Sidi Mohammed, the father of Moulay Thami and Moulay Tayyeb son of Moulay Abdellah and father of his famous grandsons. Behind it there is yet another though somewhat smaller shrine, that of Moulay Abdellqadir ibn Thami, who is thought especially effective in calming the insane. Coming back towards town where the graveyard meets the city there is another large domed shrine. This covers the remains of Sidi Ali ibn Hmed, grandson of Moulay Tayyeb. Within its enclosure is a grave of Lalla Zaynab ibn Taheer, a descendent of Moulay Tayyeb. Her grave acts as a convenient meeting point for the few Hamadsha Wazzan still possesses. Just across the street from Sidi Ali is another very small shrine. It marks the grave of a noted scholar, al-Allama Sidi Mohammed ibn Ahmed Rahhuni (d. 1230/1815), who enjoyed the patronage of Sidi Ali ibn Ahmed Wazzani and who in turn acted as a spiritual advisor and built up the library of the Zawiya. Because of his connection to Sidi Ali it was deemed appropriate to bury him next to his patron.

There are twenty-five shrines belonging to the Zawiya. To compare Wazzan with Boujad (close to Khribgha, southern Morocco), there are twenty-three shrines belonging to the Sharqawi, and three belong­ing to saints not affiliated with the order. Though scattered throughout Wazzan their placement is not random. They are set apart or somehow marked by their loca­tion so as to heighten their significance. They stand imposingly on hilltops,  (Si Tami ibn Mohammad ibn Abdellqadir ibn Thami), isolated in graveyards (Sidi Muhammad 'Abdul Qadr ibn Thami, in a separate hillside graveyard), or at the center of neighborhoods (Moulay Tayyeb ibn Abdellqadir ibn Thami in the middle-lowest of Luqshreen).(These can be located on the map of Wazzan.) Townspeople claim there are up to 96 saints buried in Wazzan, alone in Luqshreen.

Mosque and shrine of Moulay Abdellah Sherif (Sidi 1-Hajj 1-Aarbi is buried in a separate chamber within the complex.)

There are other shrines in and around Wazzan which do not mark descendents of the Wazzani lineage. Most represent saints who found their way to the town before the arrival of Moulay Abdellah al-Wazzani. Naturally, the sanctuaries of the Zawiya have preeminence, and as one would expect the other saints are not given the same distinction. Their shrines usually consist of only a formation of stones and are located in out of the way places, corners of the medina or on deserted hillsides. The notable exception is Sidi Buhdan, located on the edge of Luqshreen where the road from Wazzan proper joins its outlying quarter. Sidi Buhdan was originally from Jordan and became a fervent supporter of Moulay Thami. His reward was baraka and a qubba to mark him as a saint of Wazzan.