The symbol on the Berber
flag is the Tifinagh letter
‘yaz’, and symbolises a free
person ( amazigh ), the
Berbers’ name for
themselves.
Pride
Symbol
An incisive look at religious life on
opposite ends of the Muslim world,
anthropologist Clifford Geertz’s
groundbreaking Islam Observed:
Religious Development in Morocco
and Indonesia reveals complex
variations within the vast mosaic of
Islam.Key
Islamic
Sites
Open to
Non-
Muslims
» » Tin Mal Mosque,
High Atlas
» » Medersa Bou
Inania, Fez
» » Zawiya Nassiriyya,
Tamegroute
» » Hassan II Mosque,
Casablanca
» » Ali ben Youssef
Medersa, Marrakesh
wall around the city, 8m high and 19km long, and set up the ingenious
khettara underground irrigation system that still supports the Palmeraie – a
vast palm grove outside Marrakesh now dotted with luxury villas. The
Jewish and Andalusian communities in Fez thrived under bin Tachfin, a soft-
spoken diplomat and, like his wife, a brilliant military strategist. His Spanish
Muslim allies urged him to intercede against Christian and Muslim princes
in Spain, complaining bitterly of extortion, attacks and debauchery. At the
age of almost 80, bin Tachfin launched successful campaigns securing
Almoravid control of Andalusia right up to the Barcelona city limits.STICKS & STONES: THE ALMOHADS
Yusuf bin Tachfin was a tough act to
follow. Ali was his son by a Christian
woman, and he shared his father’s
commitments to prayer and urban
planning. But while the reclusive young
idealist Ali was diligently working wonders
with architecture and irrigation in
Marrakesh, a new force beyond the city
walls was gathering the strength of an
Atlas thunderstorm: the Almohads.
Almohad historians would later fault Ali for two supposedly dangerous
acts: leaving the women in charge and allowing Christians near drink. While
the former was hardly a shortcoming – after all, his stepmother’s counsel
had proved instrumental to the Almoravids – there may be some merit in
the latter. While Ali was in seclusion praying and fasting, court and military
officials were left to carry on, and carry on they did. Apparently, Almoravid
Christian troops were all too conveniently stationed near the wine
merchants of Marrakesh.The Hard Knocks of Ibn Tumart
None of this sat well with Mohammed ibn Tumart, the Almohad spiritual
leader from the Atlas who’d earned a reputation in Meknès and Salé as a
ninja-style religious vigilante, using his walking stick to shatter wine jars,
smash musical instruments and smack men and women with the audacity
to walk down the street together. Ibn Tumart finally got himself banished
from Marrakesh in the 1120s for knocking Ali’s royal sister off her horse
with his stick.
But though ibn Tumart died soon after, there was no keeping out the
Almohads. They took over Fez after a nine-month siege in 1145, but
reserved their righteous furore for Marrakesh two years later, razing the place to the ground
and killing what was left of Ali’s court (Ali died as he lived, quietly, in 1144). Their first projects
included rebuilding the Koutoubia Mosque – which Almoravid architects, not up on their algebra,
had misaligned with Mecca – and adding the soaring, sublime stone minaret that became the
template for Andalusian Islamic architecture. The Tin Mal Mosque was constructed in the High
Atlas to honour ibn Tumart in 1146, and it remains a wonder of austere graces and unshakable