Morocco

Imam Jazuli (Rehmatullah Alaih)

Koutoubia Mosque in Night, Marrakesh

Salams to all, I agree with your view on questioning why men and women do separate dhikr circles (if the Tariqa was from Northern Morocco that would explain why, because that part of the country is a lot more conservative than the
rest where hadras are often performed together). But it all depends on the Tariqa and the sheikh in charge and the local area. I was told by my my Chishti teacher that the Moroccan Darquwiyya Tariqa is in spirit the closest to the Chishtiyya. However, during the years i lived in Marrakesh and also traveled all over the country I only managed to come in contact with the Qaderiyya, Shadhiliyya, Nasriyya, Gnawa, and Hamadshiyya. The latter showing rather exotic manifestations of intoxication, knife stabbing without lasting wounds and the like. Opinions about that vary, some say there are certain people for whom such trance-ridden manifestations are correct, others would consider the spiritual energy being wasted in such a way an improper thing.

The visit of the tomb of shaykh 'Abd as-Salaam ibn Mashish near Tetuan is definitely on my list when I'm back in Morocco, so far I wasn't able to get there. There are numerous important Sufi Saint tombs all over the country.
In Moulay Idries near Fes, Fes, of course the 7 Sufi Patron Saints of Marrakesh (with a week's pilgrimage starting on a Tuesday), not to forget the tomb of a Scottish doctor who settled about 150-200 years ago in Essaouira and ended up as the city's Sufi Patron Saint in whose honor the yearly music festival is being held - his name is Sidi Makdul (originally
his name must have been McDoudle or McDonald but there are no official records of that, only the people vaguely remember he was a Scottish doctor and evidently a good one to end up as a Sufi Saint).

There is another case of a Scott, more or less the same period, who became the head of the Sultan's army in Tanger, Caid McLain. But Morocco's entire landscape is covered with Sufi tombs, usually standing out with their white domes. Another most beautiful shrine is the Zaouia and tomb of Sidi Ben Nasr, the founder of the Nasriyya Tariqa an offshot of the Shadhiliyya in Tamegroute on the edge of the Sahara. During the times of the caravan routes it was an important place of learning and still has a famous library. The couryard of the Zaouia is usually packed with people seeking healing from mental and physical illnesses. Many years ago I met the then 95+ year old sheikh in charge, a most remarkable man who told the western lady I brought along and me the story of Wilhelm Tell in classical Arabic - I was even allowed to enter the closed room where the Tariqa's founder is buried and spent an hour there being locked in. It was a most amazing experience as the place was oozing with baraka. The doors are locked and only opened once a year otherwise the people seeking treatment would go beserk over the grave. Another member of the Sufi Saints descendents told me that the Zaouia with the tomb is also the court of the jinn who are there judged if they were used for black magic (a common theme in Morocco). Hence jinn exorcisms are also taking place there. I met a Moroccan lady who had been possessed with 7 jinn after the was cured there. Ma salama Rahal. An Email from a Chistiya Group...

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Blessed Grave of Qadi Ayad (Rehmatullah Alaih) - A great Wali who passed away nearly 900 years ago. Writings such as Ash Shifa Shareef are commonly widespread till this day and translated into many different languages, the works prove that bareIwis are nothing new. It is said that whoever has Ash-Shifa in their house will recieve lots of Blessings, Barakah and protection.

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Blessed Grave of Imam Suhaili (Rehmatullah Alaih)

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Blessed Grave of Imam Jazuli (Rehmatullah Alaih) -
Writer of Dalail Ul Khairat, an amazing book of Darood Shareef with endless benefits.

Imam Ahmad al-Sawi relates that one day Jazuli went to perform his ablutions for the prescribed prayer from a nearby well but could not find any means to draw the water up. While thus perplexed, he was seen by a young girl who called out from high above, "You're the one people praise so much, and you can't even figure out how to get water out of a well?" So she came down and spat into the water, which welled up until it overflowed and spilled across the ground. Jazuli made his ablutions, and then turned to her and said, "I adjure you to tell me how you reached this rank." She said, "By saying the Blessings upon him whom beasts lovingly followed as he walked through the wilds (Allah bless him and give him peace)." Jazuli thereupon vowed to compose the book of Blessings on the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) which came to be known as his Dala'il al-Khayrat or "Waymarks of Benefits."

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Zawiya Moulay Idris I Zerhoun - Morocco

Zaouia, also spelled zawiya or zawiyah, is a Maghrebi and West African term for an Islamic religious school cum monastery, roughly corresponding to the Eastern term "madrassa". In precolonial times, these were the primary sources for education in the area, and taught basic literacy to a large proportion of children even in quite remote mountainous areas - leading to a 40% literacy rate in Algeria in 1830, for instance, which was actually higher than after the French left. Their curriculum began with memorization of the Arabic alphabet and the later, shorter suras of the Qur'an;

Zawiya Sidi Ali Bousseerrghine Sefrou - Morocco

if a student was sufficiently interested or apt, it progressed to law (fiqh), theology, Arabic grammar (usually taught with al-Ajurrumi's famous summary), mathematics (mainly as it pertained to inheritance law), and sometimes astronomy. These are still operational throughout the Maghreb, and continue to be a major educational resource in the Sahel of West Africa, from Mauritania to Nigeria.

Minaret of Koutoubia Mosque, Marrakesh

Islam in Morocco : Islam was brought to North Africa by early Arab warriors conquering territories (Oqba Ben Nafi in 680 and Moussa Ben Nosair in 703-711) and by traders voyaging back and forth along ancient trans-Saharan caravan routes. The first African pilgrImages to Makkah were from Cairo during the era of the Fatamid dynasties (909-1171). These early Muslims, traveling in camel caravans across the Sinai Peninsula to the Hijaz region of Arabia (where Makkah is located), established a route that was used continuously until the 20th century. By the 13th century, pilgrim routes across North Africa from as far west as Morocco linked with the Cairo caravan to Makkah. Three caravans were regularly started from the Moroccan towns of Fez, Marrakech and Sijilmasa. They often combined on the route and proceeded under a united leadership eastward across the North African deserts. Composed of pilgrims, merchants and guards, the great caravans often had a thousand or more camels. Covering perhaps twenty miles a day and visiting the fabled Islamic mosques of Tlemcen (Algeria) and Kairouan (Tunisia), they took many months to reach Egypt. Beginning in the 19th century, a sea route through the southern Mediterranean to Alexandria became the most favored route for Moroccan pilgrims journeying to Makkah.

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Morocco
Complex of Sidi Bul Abbas, of one Marrakech's celebrated seven saints, Marrakech
Zawiya and Mosque of Moulay Idris II, Fes