My Idriss Zerhoun ,a holy town
There is absolutely no doubt that the town of My Idriss Zerhoun with its monuments, shrine, traditional urban layout and oral heritage, is one of the most incredible medinas in Morocco, or even in the muslim West.
Located east of the ancient city of volubilis, and north-west of the imperial city of Meknès, My Idriss Zerhoun appears to the tourist eye just like a citadel from the Middle Ages perched on the slopes of jbel zerhoun (a mountain not more than 1200 meters at its highest point and which, despite its difficult access, has been a magnet to humankind due the richness of its soil and abundance of water sources).
At the beginning, the town was named in memory of the King My Idriss 1st, founder of the Vlll th century Idrisside dynasty, who was buried there. This ‘Sherif, a descendant of Ali Ibn Abi Talib and Fatima, daughter of the prophet sidna« Mohamed, was fleeing from the Arab peninsula and the Abbasids (ruling family of the time in the Middle Ages), and stopped off for a while at walila« ex Volubilis, where he was welcomed by the Amazigh tribe from Awraba and proclaimed Imam and Emir (prince) in 788. Idriss, with the wisdom and know-how of his companion Sidi Rachid and the support of his follo¬wers, shortly became master of a large part of Morocco. He preached Islam and had his own mint, the Idrissid dirham, a true sign of the birth of an Islamic state in the Maghreb, independent of the Abbasids of the Orient.
As legend has it, My Idriss came to a tragic end as he was poisoned by an rival, the Abbassidian Caliph, Haroun Arrachid. According to writings and fact, My Idriss was buried in a ‘Khaloua’ shrine outside Volubilis, which is contemporary My tdriss Zerhoun.
Once buried, not much importance was attributed to the location of his shrine. It was only in 1318 that a major event enabled this spot to be reborn. It had to do with the discovery of the body of My ldriss, intact in its shroud. The My ldriss cult then blossomed along with the unexpected expansion of a long forgotten and marginalised site: My ldriss Zerhoun. The renovation of the shrine of My ldriss and its outbuildings then went ahead and one witnessed the arrival of pilgrims from all over Morocco requesting the Sherif’s benediction and participating in the moussems (important religious festivals).
At the time of Alaouite rule, the great monarch My Ismail ordered, in 1719, an expansion of the shrine of My ldriss as well as its outbuildings, and encouraged its institutionalisation as a ritual site. Under his reign and successive reigns, a huge level of interest in the town as a whole was shown with the construction of surrounding walls, huge gates, médersas (schools to study the Koran), fondouks (Caravanserails – ‘hotels’ for travelling merchants), hammams (public baths), as well as domestic and commercial buildings (homes, shops .. .).
The medina of My ldriss Zerhoun thus became a religious and business magnet, with the following two moussems annually feted there, the chorfas Alamyines and Fes’s chorfas idrissides.
Despite the major urbanisation of the second half of the XXth Century being deemed as clumsy, the town of My Idriss Zerhoun bas been able to preserve its allure as a holy town and the authenticity of the oral heritage associated with its shrine. So, any visitor lucky enough to be present as its moussem will never forget the sight of a procession of pilgrims, accompanied by the songs and dances of brotherhoods of A Issawas, Hmadchas and others, presenting their offerings to the Sherif and pausing at his tomb with its magnificent cover (Kasswa) totally embroidered in gold thread
He/she will retain the memory of the narrow streets of a town from the Middle Ages that had the privilege of being cited in the annals of great historians such as Ibn Abi Zara’ (XIV) and Annaciri (XVIII) as well as in the tales of great travellers such as Léon the African in
‘Descriptions of Africa’ and Marmol Carbajal in ‘Ifriqia’. .. and that featured equally in the canvases of great painters such as Majorelle.
He/she will never be able to forget the taste of traditional confectionery from Fes (Nougat) and that moment of pure pleasure when sipping a good cup of mint tea served in one of the Moorish cafés in My ldriss Zerhoun‘s main square