Lalla Aziza, Tamghart Taxatart n'Iseksawn,

[Camaron'N'IstIgliwa]

Sacred Refuge:
The Power of a
Muslim
Female Saint
by M. Elaine Combs-Schilling

Lala 'Aziza, "Our Lady of Goodness," was one of the Moroccan awliya', a Qur'anic term often translated as "saints" but more literally meaning "friends of God." Her tomb is a place of sanctity in the High Atlas Mountains in the South. We have a document written by a renowned religious scholar, Ibn Qunfudh, who saw her in 1362 and recorded the event in some detail. (The book of his journeys in Morocco is entitled Uns al-faqir wa 'izz al-haqir, "the Convivial Company of the Wandering Poor and the Honorable Strength of the Contemptible." It can be found in the Royal Archives in Rabat.)
While in Fez to participate in the internationally famous intellectual life of al-Qarawiyyan University , Ibn Qunfudh heard of 'Aziza of Seksawa, a remarkable figure of faith, and traveled to the mountains to meet her. He wrote:
I saw, in the farthest part of Morocco, on the edge of Seksawa, near the Deren mountains… 'Aziza the woman of Seksawa. She blessed me with her goodness. I studied with her awhile. I saw her reconcile a conflict between two great groups of people in the region… She was a teacher and had a number of followers, both men and women; they were involved in worship and in search for the divine… 'Aziza was eloquent in her speech, in her knowledge of the Qur'an and Arabic.... People were always crowded around her. I never saw her but that she was doing good. She is filled with God's generosity (Ibn Qunfudh 1375:57).
In the same document Ibn Qunfudh describes an encounter between 'Aziza and al-Hintati, the governor of Marrakesh and the most powerful general in southern Morocco at the time. Al-Hintati was engaged in a battle to bring the whole of southern Morocco under his control. He had conquered local regions one by one and forced them into supplying him with taxes and conscripts for his army.
Al-Hintati set out with 6,000 men to conquer Seksawa When his forces drew near the mountains, 'Aziza met them. As locals tell it, 'Aziza walked out of the safety of the foothills and onto the harsh Marrakesh plains and stood-alone- before the great general and his army, She confronted al-Hinlati with her words and his own faith. She spoke of God's demands for justice, the pull of the good, the wrong of harming God's creation.
The general was overwhelmed by her. He later described the event to Ibn Qunfudh:
O religious teacher! This one-she is a wonder. She answered me before I could ask anything of her. She knew what was going on inside of me ... my internal thinking, my ideas. I as not able to counter her argument, to reject her requests. I have never witnessed a more penetrating proof than that which she used against me (Ibn Qunfudh 1375:57).
'Aziza talked the general out of his conquest. She convinced him to leave the people of Seksawa unharmed. He marched his army back to Marrakesh, and she returned to the mountains.
'Aziza's confrontation with al-Hintati has been told and retold for generations. It is told still in the high mountains: the story of a woman who dared to stand up to a general and his army, armed only with her faith.
When 'Aziza died, the Seksawa built a tomb for her. For over six hundred years, it has, served as one of Morocco's many hurum places of sanctuary, beauty, and prayer. Down through the centuries people have sought refuge there, people fleeing the excesses of central power or local conflicts, people falsely accused of crimes, people who have done great harm (Muhammad himself established hurum in Mecca and Medina.) Hurum may not be violated even by the king. There all violence is forbidden: no blood can be shed, not even an insect can be killed, nor any leaf or branch broken. The people associated with these holy places feed those who have taken shelter there and attempt to resolve each conflict.
Even in the colonial era (the mid-1930s through the mid-1950s for Seksawa), 'Aziza's sanctuary was effective. Eight Seksawa men fled there when the colonial army conscripted them. They were protected. Finally the regional French official agreed to let the men go, so sobered was he by the popular rallying around the tomb.
The saint's space has also been a place for mediating relations between female and male. For centuries Seksawa women have held rights beyond those of women in adjoining territories outside the reach of the female saint. For instance, Seksawa women have held a work right equal to that of a man (that is, a right to equal pay for equal work, as in the gathering of almonds or olives); equal divorce rights; and rights to half of the goods acquired since marriage if a divorce should take place. On the eve of Prophet Muhammad's birthday, Seksawa women gather in the community's holiest place, 'Aziza's tomb, and sing poetry in praise of God and Muhammad. Men celebrate along with them, but they are located further away from the center of sanctity, a reversal of what happens in many places in Morocco on the Prophet's birthday, where men are spatially central to the celebrations and women are peripheral.
The tomb of Lala 'Aziza is a remarkable center of peace. Today as before, the Seksawa can turn to 'Aziza's remembrance and find there sustenance and breadth.



Prof. M. Elaine Combs-Schilling is chair of the Department of Anthropology, Columbia University, and author of Sacred Performances: Islam, Sexuality, and Sacrifice (New York: Columbia University Press, 1989).

Taghbalut: http://forusa.org/interfaith

[Camaron'N'IstIgliwa]

Lalla Aziza


Cette sainte protège les chasseurs et les aèdes berbères. Son mausolée est dans la montagne des Seksawa à une journée de marche de l’Assif al Mal. Celui qui veut apprendre des chants et des poésies va faire une visite pieuse à ce sanctuaire. Il y sacrifie un coq ou un bouc noir et passe la nuit à côté du tombeau de la sainte. Il pose son tambourin ou son violon sur le catafalque et mange des raisins secs en les prenant avec la pointe d’une aiguille. Si la sainte daigne lui accorder l’inspiration poétique, l’aspirant aède éprouve une certaine sensation comme si les fourmis lui descendaient dans le gosier. A l’aube il part (litt. : la sainte le renvoie), (avec l’aide de Lalla Aziza) il est devenu poète et chanteur. Quant aux chasseurs, (pour obtenir l’habileté cynégétique) ils posent leur fusil sur le tombeau et pratiquent les mêmes rites que les aèdes.

Taghbalut: www.mondeberbere.com