Marabouts in Morocco : how to explain the vigour of maraboutic practices today in the Cherifian Kingdom?

Résumé du document

The term "marabout" comes from the deformation of the Arabic term murabit. The murabit is a disciple who receives the religious teachings of a master of in a ribat. Their necropolises are often located on what used to be the old major caravan routes, where they represented spaces of neutrality, and political refuge, and were also commercial places. The meaning of the word ?marabout' underwent an evolution over time. Today a marabout is a figure whose remarkable qualities lead to him being regarded as an intermediary of God on earth who is worshipped by people seeking mediation with God. Even now there are dozens of them that hold a particular place in the lives of the Moroccans, even though this cult of the saints is not considered acceptable in Islam. Today, in the places devoted to the practice of Islam in Morocco, thousands of shrines exist in addition to the mosque where Muslims usually gather, and are visited regularly by people with all kinds of motivations. We will look closely at these shrines in the body of this paper.

Extraits

[...] Marabouts in Morocco : how to explain the vigour of maraboutic practices today in the Cherifian Kingdom? The term “marabout” comes from the deformation of the Arabic term murabit. The murabit is the disciple who receives the religious teachings of a master that is established in a ribat. Their nercropolises are often located on what used to be the old major caravanner routes, where they represented spaces of neutrality, politcal refuge, and were also commercial places. The meaning of the word ‘marabout' underwent an evolution. [...]

[...] Westermarck, Ritual and belief in Morocco Stephen Smith, Des marabouts qui font de l'ombre aux islamistes, Le Monde http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/fr/features/awi/reportage/2007/1 0/01/reportage-01 : Les marabouts encore vénérés au Maroc, by Sarah Touahri, november 2007. Online on www.magharebia.com ibid. http://www.maroc- hebdo.press.ma/MHinternet/Archives_639/html_639/voyage.html, Voyage au bout de la folie, Majdouline Al Atouabi Stephen Smith, Des marabouts qui font de l'ombre aux islamistes, Le Monde Etienne, Bruno, ‘Magie et Thérapie à Casablanca', in Ch. Souriau Le Maghreb musulman en 1979. [...]

[...] He is reputed for his capacity to heal people suffering from mental disease.[6] Even though the rituals of exorcism performed there are worthy of the middle-ages, this marabout is very popular. More generally, it is common that people receiving modern medical treatments resort to the help of a marabout at the same time. People also use to consult the marabout before the creation of a business, or a difficult exam. Also, as we saw above, people can visit the marabouts just for meditation, in a spiritual approach. It appears then that marabouts still have their place in modern Morocco. [...]

[...] This does not mean that those who believe in the power of the marabouts are necessarily bad Muslims. Most of the time, those people practice a strict Islam, saying their diary prayers, going to the Mosque on Fridays, fasting and so on. But for them, and especially in Morocco, marabouts are a part of traditional practice of Islam and they reject the idea that they come from a mixture of Islamic and non-Islamic influences. When Eickelman led his study about maraboutic beliefs in the region of Boujad at the beginning of the 1970s, he found that these traditional beliefs were not followed and strongly disapproved by educated Muslims that associated them with ignorance, and charlatanism. [...]

[...] Actually those who question maraboutic practices today in Morocco, are more skeptical about the assessment of individual marabouts, rather than the ‘underlying conception of how the supernatural intevenes in the affairs of the world[10]'. Bibliography Books Ben-Ami, Issachar, Culte des saints et pélerinages Judéo-Musulmans au Maroc, Maisonneuve & Larose, Paris Eickelman, Dale Moroccan Islam, Modern Middle East Series Etienne, Bruno, ‘Magie et Thérapie à Casablanca', in Ch. Souriau Le Maghreb musulman en 1979. Paris, éditions du CNRS Geertz, Clifford, Islam Observed: Religious Development in Morocco and Indonesia Gellner, Ernest, Saints of the Atlas, Weidenfeld &Nicholson, London Websites http://www.itineranceplus.com/french/culturalmemo.asp?culturalID=29&ID=6&Cat ID=2, Marabouts and maraboutism in Morocco http://www.lagazettedumaroc.com/articles.php?r=7&sr=971&n=487&id_artl=11132, Le concept de maraboutisme au Maroc, Bouchra Bensaber http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/fr/features/awi/reportage/2007/1 0/01/reportage-01, Sarah Touahri, Moroccans still venerate marabouts, 05/10/2007 http://www.maroc- hebdo.press.ma/MHinternet/Archives_639/html_639/voyage.html: Voyage au bout de la folie, Majdouline Al Atouabi (about Bouya Omar) http://nadiayassine.net: website of the daughter of Abdessalam Yassine www.yassine.net: website of Abdessalam Yassine Articles Stephen Smith, Des marabouts qui font de l'ombre aux islamistes, Le Monde Geertz, Clifford, Islam Observed: Religious Development in Morocco and Indonesia Eickelman Eickelman, Dale Moroccan Islam, Modern Middle East Series p 158, qoting E. [...]