Morocco Day 6 - Fes
Today was a truly fascinating day. We started out going to the building attached to the Qaraouiyine Mosque, one of the most famous mosques in the world, where there is a library and a school for training imams. We were attending a symposium where we would be learning from some Moroccan scholars, and the Imam of the Qaraouiyine Mosque about Ramadan and the spirituality of this particular holy season. We were taken through a truly labyrinthine path through the Old City of Fez to get to the building. The passageways are cobblestoned, narrow and in some places rather dark. Not to mention you have to frequently make way for donkeys laden with huge parcels or metal drums, or men pushing carts laden with goods, or folks on mopeds. You really need eyes behind your head to survive! There are shops all through the streets of the Old City - this is where the souk of Fez is found and it is truly like stepping into a time machine into a far distant past. We passed by men pounding copper pots and then rows of shops selling textiles and clothing, and then leather goods. When we got to the building we were escorted through a narrow door, up tiled steps and into a majestic meeting room with huge wooden tables and chairs with leather seats. We're told when Prince Charles visited Morocco a few years ago he held meetings in that room! We spent almost two hours with several Moroccan scholars of religion, the Imam and a Fez city official. They told us all about Ramadan and then we had some time for Q&A. We were a bit surprised when our Moroccan hosts seemed to bring things to a close a bit earlier than we expected. There had been a flurry of animated Arabic conversation which we later learned arose because the Imam said he wanted to take us into the mosque. His colleagues were, apparently, shocked that he actually wanted to take us inside the mosque. They kept saying something to the effect, "You mean you want to show them the outside of the mosque" and he was adamant that he wanted to take us INSIDE the mosque. To do that, he ordered that the mosque remain closed until he told them to open it (they were getting ready to open it for noonday prayers) and we were taken into the main area of the mosque. He gave us a complete tour including the inside, the courtyard, where the fountain and wudu stations are found and up to the second floor where the old library is found. The manuscripts that used to be in that library, thousands of them dating back to the late 8th/early 9th century have now been moved to another room in the complex, which we visited after lunch. The mosque is absolutely gorgeous. Truly Moroccan with complexly carved wood and stone with Arabic calligraphy, gorgeous rugs, the courtyard all tiled. Truly stunning. Our leader, Imam Bashar was thrilled that we got to see the mosque, because Moroccans are very strict about not letting non-Muslims into mosques, ever. The Imam who invited us really put his foot down with his colleagues who were stunned by his desire to show us the interior of the mosque but we were really glad that he ruled the day. There is a university affiliated with the mosque and a series of mederesas, schools to education boys also all located near the mosque. Indeed, the entire medina, or market area wraps around the mosque, which has 14 entrances. As you wend your way through the narrow alleyways and winding lanes you keep coming upon yet another entrance to the mosque. The wooden structure inside the mosque where the imam stands to deliver the Friday sermon is over 1000 years old. It is beautiful, dark carved wood, just really stunning.
After our tour of the mosque we made our way back out of the Old City and returned to the hotel for lunch. After lunch a smaller group of us returned to the Old City where the Imam served as our tour guide, walking us all through the medina. He took us into several medresas, schools, some of which are undergoing considerable refurbishing. They all look much like the mosque in terms of tile, intricate carved wood and stone with calligraphy from the Qur'an all over the walls. The walk through the Old City was just a feast for the senses. The sounds of people banging out copper pots and others calling out to sell their wares, going down lanes that first are all full of copper and silver goods, then clothing, then scarves, then textiles, the leather skins, various food stalls (even though the Muslims are fasting they purchase the foods for the festive Iftar by late afternoon). We stopped in a koutoubia, a pre-kindergarten class where a teacher was working with a group of very young children teaching them to recite verses from the Qur'an. I don't think they quite knew what to make of us Americans barging into their class unannounced! We were taken back to the library in the University area next to the mosque and into the manuscript room where the archivist let us look at a 9th century Qur'an, a 12th century New Testament (in Arabic) and a 12th century medical text, also in Arabic, that is the only extant copy of what was in its time the major medical textbook of the Arab world. Apparently, all the medical information in the book is in the form of poetry so that medical students could memorize it. Scholars are having a hard time translating it because the 12th century Arabic lettering is different enough from modern Arabic to pose some challenges.
The Imam asked what we wanted to shop for in the Old City and he and his sidekick took us to certain shops and served as bargaining intermediaries as we made purchases. A couple of my male colleagues followed my lead from the other day and bought abayahs to wear as albs for church. We had a great time with them trying those on and the Moroccan men chiming in - lots of animated conversation!! Having the imam there to make sure we got a good price helped too!
By 5:15 we made our way out of the Old City and headed back to the hotel. At 6:45 we were out the door again, this time to the home of another famous Imam here in Morocco, who is known worldwide for his recitation of the Qur'an. He lives in a truly elegant home, tiled, with a first floor that has two spacious salons for guests to congregate, a fountain in the entrance hall...the works. We had a sumptuous Iftar meal with tons of food. We broke the fast at sundown with the dates and water, and then the Muslims got up to pray in a small corner of the first floor where we were having the Iftar meal. Then we proceeded to enjoy all the typical Moroccan Iftar foods, of which there are many - the hareira soup, breads, pancakes, pizza-style breads, fried eggs with lamb, boiled eggs, lots of sweets made from honey, croissants and sweet breads of every kind and variety. The table were elegantly set and so crowded you could barely move without knocking something over! After we finished the meal we rested for a bit, and then accompanied our hosts out to the street near the local mosque for the night prayer. It was quite a sight to observe the entire neighborhood making their way to the mosque. Because absolutely everyone attends, there isn't enough room inside the mosque so hundreds and hundreds of them pray right out on the street leading to the mosque. We stood back and observed. It was really impressive to watch them all doing the night prayers, listening to the chanting of the Qur'an over the loudspeaker and watching them all in their Ramadan finery - most of them were wearing traditional Moroccan garb, both men and women. Very small children accompany their parents to these prayers - it is truly a communal event of some magnitude and it goes on every night for 30 days.
Then we returned to our host's home and a group of Sufi chanters arrived to regale us with their chant. We listened to them for about 45 minutes. It was beautiful and mesmerizing, although VERY LOUD, as they used microphones and a speaker system that could have been heard throughout the entire neighborhood and we were right in the same room with them. My ears were ringing by the time we left. We also had the treat of having the son of our host, who is himself a trained Qur'anic reciter do a recitation from the Qur'an for us. We finally left there to return to the hotel at 11:00. As we were driving back, the nightly festivities were in full swing, with people out on the streets dancing, singing, enjoying food in the cafes, children playing in the fountains. I remarked that this experience of Ramadan in Morocco is like Lent during the day and Mardi Gras after sundown! So it is now almost 12:30 and I must turn in. Another early morning tomorrow as we leave Fez and return to Rabat for the second day of our academic symposium.
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