Sidi Ahmed Ou Moussa
سيدي أحمد أو موسى
Personal
Born1460
Ida Ou Semlal, Morocco
Died1563
Sidi Ahmed Ou Moussa, Morocco
Resting placeSidi Ahmed Ou Moussa, Morocco
ReligionIslam
NationalityMoroccan
SectSufi

Sidi Ahmed Ou Moussa, also spelled Sidi Ahmad u Musa (1460 - 1563)[1] was a marabout, Muslim saint and spiritual leader of Tazerwalt in the Sous region of Morocco.[2]

Biography

Sidi Ahmed Ou Moussa Al Jazouli Al Semlali was born in the mid-15th century around 1460 in Bou Merouan, a small town in Ida Ou Semlal in the Anti-Atlas mountains.[2] His father is Sidi Moussa and mother is Lalla Taounnout which makes him a descendant of Sidi Zouzal Jazouli.[1]

Young, he moved to Marrakech to study Islam before extensively travelling to the places such as the Orient for a long period of time. In 1521, he returned to Ilmatene, a small town in the Sous before settling in Tazerwalt.[3] He founded the Tazerwalt dynasty where he established an Islamic zawiya and attracted hundreds of followers to receive his religious mystical teachings.[4]

Sidi Ahmed maintained good relations with the ruling Saadian dynasty and was able to use his religious standing to carve out an enclave of power within the Saadian state. Following his death in 1563, his grave became a pilgrimage site, and his offspring inherited much of the wealth and status he had acquired as a spiritual leader. His grandson Bu-Dmia continued as the emir of Tazerwalt, a short lived dynasty centered in Iligh before its fall to the Alaouites.[4]

Legacy

Mausoleum and grave of Sidi Ahmed ou Moussa

After his death in 1563, a mausoleum was built in the zawiya and remains as a pilgrimage site in the village of Sidi Ahmed Ou Moussa, which shares his name.[5]

Since the early 20th century, his name has been associated with groups of acrobatic entertainers called Oulad Sidi Ahmed ou Moussa,[6] and the yearly pilgrimage (or moussem).[3][7][8] They are mentioned by George Borrow in The Zincali.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Justinard (Colonel.), Léopold-Victor (1933). Archives marocaines. Documents et renseignements de la direction des affaires indigènes (section sociologique). Volume XXIX. Notes sur l'histoire du Sous au XVIe siècle. I. Sidi Ahmed ou Moussa. II. Carnet d'un lieutenant à El Mansour, par le lieutenant-colonel Justinard (in French). H. Champion.
  2. 1 2 France, PASS Technologie, 26, rue Louis Braille, 75012 Paris. "Moussem Sidi Ahmed Ou Moussa". Femmes et hommes de la commune d’Ighrem. (in French). Retrieved 2020-03-28.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. 1 2 "SIDI AHMED O MOUSSA". tazeroualtti (in French). Retrieved 2020-03-28.
  4. 1 2 The Early state in African perspective : culture, power, and division of labor. Eisenstadt, S. N. (Shmuel Noah), 1923-2010., Abitbol, Michel., Chazan, Naomi, 1946-, Universiṭah ha-ʻIvrit bi-Yerushalayim. Leiden: E.J. Brill. 1988. ISBN 90-04-08355-3. OCLC 16354172.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  5. ↑ "Sidi Ahmed-Ou-Moussa, un défenseur de la paix". Aujourd'hui le Maroc (in French). Retrieved 2020-03-28.
  6. ↑ Escher, Anton (1998). "Les acrobates marocains dans les cirques allemands". Migrations internationales entre le Maghreb et l'Europe (in French) – via academia.edu.
  7. ↑ Simour, Lhoussain (2020-01-02). "The other history of cultural encounters through performance revisited: shifting discourses on Moroccan acrobatic entertainers in nineteenth-century America". Cultural Studies. 34 (1): 70–94. doi:10.1080/09502386.2018.1564779. ISSN 0950-2386.
  8. ↑ "Dons Royaux au Moussem Sidi Hmad Ou Moussa". Libération (in French). Retrieved 2020-03-28.
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