Aissawa
Encyclopedia
The Aissawa is a religious and mystical brotherhood founded in Meknès
, Morocco
, by Muhammad Ben Aïssâ (1465–1526), best known as the Chaykh Al-Kâmil, or "Perfect Sufi Master". The terms Aïssâwiyya (`Isâwiyya) and Aïssâwa (`Isâwa), derive from the name of the founder, and respectively designate the brotherhood (tariqa, literally: "way") and its disciples (fuqarâ, sing. to fakir
, literally: "poor").
They are known for their spiritual
music, which generally comprises songs of religious psalms
, characterized by the use of the oboe
ghaita (similar to the mizmar or zurna
) accompanied by percussion using polyrhythm
.
Complex ceremonies, which use symbolic dances to bring the participants to ecstatic trance
, are held by the Aissawa in private during domestic ritual nights (lîla-s), and in public during celebrations of national festivals (the moussem-s, which are also pilgrimages) as well as during folk performances or religious festivities, such as Ramadan
, or mawlid
, the "birth of the Prophet." These are organized by the Moroccan and Algerian States.
and a hagiography
that projects the image of a sufi master and legendary ascetic of considerable spiritual
influence. Ben Aïssâ built his own mausoleum in the monastery or Zaouia
in the city of Meknès
. This is now a destination for his modern followers to visit and pray while participating in individual or collective acts of piety
. Ben Aïssâ was initiated into Sufism by three masters of the tariqa Shadhiliyya/Jazûliyya: `Abbâs Ahmad Al-Hâritî (Meknès), Muhammad `Abd Al `Azîz At-Tabbâ (Marrakech
) and Muhammad as-Saghîr as-Sahlî (Fès
).
.
Aïssâwî disciples are taught to follow the instruction of their founder by adhering to Sunni Islam
and practising additional psalms including the long prayer known as "Glory to the Eternal" (Al-hizb Subhân Al-Dâ `im).
The original Aïssâwa doctrine makes no mention of ecstatic or ritual exercises such as music and dance.
or monastery in Meknès is the main spiritual center of the Aissawa brotherhood. Founded by Muhammad Ben Aïssâ at the end of the 15th century, construction resumed three centuries later under sultan Mohammed ben Abdallah. Often renovated by the Ministry for Habous
and Islamic Affairs and maintained by the municipal services, this is the center of the brotherhood's international network. The site is open to the public all year round and is the location of the tombs of founder Chaykh Al-Kâmil, his disciple Abû-ar-Rawâyil, and the alleged son of the founder, Aïssâ Al-Mehdi.
, Tunisia
, Libya
, Egypt
, Syria
and Iraq
. Outside of these countries, Aïssâwa disciples practice without immediate access to Aïssâwa institutions, as in France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, the USA and Canada.
In Morocco, the brotherhood – the musicians together with their rituals and music – currently enjoy a particular vogue. The basic cell of the religious order in Morocco is the team (tâ `ifa), which takes the form of a traditional musical orchestra with twenty to fifty disciples.
Since a decision taken in the 17th century by the mother-monastery, groups of musicians are placed under the authority of a delegate (muqaddem). There are currently orchestras of the brotherhood across Morocco, but they are especially numerous in the towns of Fès and Meknès, under the authority of the master Haj Azedine Bettahi, who is a well-known Sufi musician.
As leader of the muqaddem-s, Haj Azedine Bettahi has under his authority the following individuals:
All Aïssâwa groups lead ceremonies that mix mystical invocation with exorcisms and trance-inducing group dances.
As the Aïssâwa are supposed to bring to people blessings ("barakah
"), reasons for organizing a ceremony are varied and include celebration of a Muslim festivity, wedding, birth, circumcision, or exorcism, the search for a cure for illness or to make contact with the divine through the extase
. Rituals have standardized phases among all the Aïssâwa orchestras. These include mystical recitations of Sufi litanies and the singing of spiritual poems along with exorcisms, and collective dances.
Ludic
aspects of the ceremony are attested to by the participants' laughter, songs, and dances, alongside ecstatic emotional demonstrations, which may feature crying and tears. At the symbolic system
level, the ceremony represents the initiatory advance of the Sufi on an ascending mystical voyage towards God and the Prophet, then the final return to Earth. This odyssey passes through the world of human beings and that of the jinn
to culminate in the higher spheres, where the human meets the divine.
According to Aïssawa lore, this ceremony was not established nor even practised at the time of Chaykh Al-Kâmil. Some members of the brotherhood believe that it emerged in the 17th century at the instigation of Aïssâwî disciple Sîdî `Abderrahmân Tarî Chentrî. Alternatively, it may have appeared in the 18th century under the influence of Moroccan Sufi masters Sîdî `Ali Ben Hamdûch or Sîdî Al-Darqâwî, who were both well-known for their ecstatic practices.
More broadly, the actual trance ritual of the Aïssâwa brotherhood seems to have been established progressively through the centuries under the three influences of Sufism, pre-Islamic animist beliefs and urban Arab melodic poetry such as the Malhun
.
Aïssâwa Morrocans generally avoid deep intellectual and philosophical speculations about Sufism, preferring to attach greater importance to the technical and aesthetic aspects of their music, litanies, poetry and ritual dances. They like to consider their ceremonial space as a safe haven for various artistic elements, for their symbolic system, as well as for the religious traditions of Moroccan culture.
Today, through the commercial diffusion of Sufi music, songs, psalms (including during weddings and festivals as well as commercials recordings) and the trade related to crowned divination
and exorcism, the Aïssâwa members establish social integration
. Although this phenomenon causes the appearance of new aesthetic standards through more commercial adaptations of mystical psalms, it also leads to the loss of original Sufi doctrines through severe competition between musicians which in turns degrades the social link between the disciples.
, Al-Mahdi and Al-Kettani
. These texts, which may be handwritten or printed, provide information on the genealogical and spiritual affiliations of the founder of the order, while at the same time enumerating the numerous wonders he realized for the benefit of his sympathizers. Contemporary Arab authors who have studied this topic include Daoui, Al-Malhouni and Aïssâwî, who are the current mezwâr of the brotherhood in person. These endeavour to put in perspective the Sufi order in the cultural and religious tradition of Morocco through the study of the biography of the founder, and his spiritual doctrine alongside poetic and liturgical texts.
The first French writings on the Aïssâwa appeared at the end of the 19th century following the installation of colonial
administration in the Maghreb
. The majority of the authors, who were also anthropologists and sociologists, were at that time French and included Pierre-Jacques André, Alfred Bel, René Brunel, Xavier Depont and Octave Coppolani, Emile Dermenghem, Edmond Doutté, George Drague, Roger Tourneau, Louis Rinn (chief of the Central Service of the indigenous Affairs to the Government General in Algeria at the end of the 19th century), Louis Massignon
and Edouard Michaux-Bellaire. These last three authors were military officers with the scientific expedition of the Administration of Indigenous Affairs and their writings are published in the Moroccan Files and the Review of the Muslim World. Among all these French authors, there was also the Finnish
anthropologist Edward Westermarck, whose various works are devoted to an analysis of the system of belief and ritual in Morocco.
Excepting those authors with a scientific approach, in Morocco and Algeria (to date there has been no study devoted to the Aïssâwa in Tunisia), the ritual practices of Aïssâwa drew the attention of and considerably disturbed western observers at the beginning of the 19th century. The brotherhood is evoked here and there in medical works, monographs, schoolbooks, paintings, tests or accounts of voyages. These various writings show a recurring passionate contempt for this type of religiosity. Spiritual dimensions of the brotherhood of Aïssâwa at that time were never examined, other than by Emile Dermenghem in his acclaimed Le culte des saints dans l'Islam Maghrebin (Paris, 1951). Other texts were only very seldom neutral. By attaching a non-Muslim and archaic label to some brotherhoods (such as the Aïssâwa but also the Hamadcha and Gnaoua), these writings served to legitimize French prerogatives in the Maghreb.
The New Encyclopedia of Islam
reports that "the scholar of religions, Mircea Eliade
, guided by Van Gennep, wrote the observation that the Aissawa are in fact a Maennerbund, that is, a lycanthropic
secret society. In other words, werewolves
." An 1882 New York Times article, reprinting an account from Blackwood's Magazine
, reports lycanthropy and self-injury during an Aissawa ritual in Kairouan
:
(Gilbert Mullet and Andre Boncourt) became interested in the Aïssâwa in the 1950s and remain so to this day. It was only after Moroccan (1956) and Algerian (1962) independence that contemporary social scientists began to consider the subject. Many articles (Belhaj, Daoui, Hanai, Nabti and Andezian) and theses (Al Malhouni, Boncourt, Lahlou, El Abar, Sagir Janjar and Nabti) as well as ethnographic movies have studied the ritual practices of Aïssawa in Morocco.
DOUTTE, Magie et religion en Afrique du Nord (1908)
DRAGUE, Esquisse d’histoire religieuse au Maroc. Confréries et Zaouias (1950)
ELABAR, Musique, rituels et confrérie au Maroc : les ‘Issâwâ, les Hamâdcha et les Gnawa (2005)
JEANMAIRE, Dionysos (1951)
LAHLOU, Croyances et manifestations religieuses au Maroc : le cas de Meknès (1986)
LE TOURNEAU, Fès avant le protectorat : Étude économique et sociale d'une ville de l’Occident musulman, 1949. La vie quotidienne à Fès en 1900 (1965)
MASSIGNON, Enquête sur les corporations musulmanes d’artisans et de commerçants au Maroc (1925)
MICHAUX-BELAIRE, Les confréries religieuses au Maroc (1927)
NABTI, La confrérie des Aïssâwa en milieu urbain. Les pratiques rituelles et sociales du mysticisme contemporain. (2007)
RINN, Marabouts et Khouan, étude sur l’Islam en Algérie (1884.)
ROUGET, La musique et la transe, (1951)
SAGHIR JANJAR, Expérience du sacré chez la confrérie religieuse marocaine des Isawa : contribution à l'étude de quelques aspects socio-culturels de la mystique musulmane, 1984.
WESTERMARCK, Les cérémonies du Mariage au Maroc (1921)
Meknes
Meknes is a city in northern Morocco, located from the capital Rabat and from Fes. It is served by the A2 expressway between those two cities and by the corresponding railway. Meknes was the capital of Morocco under the reign of Moulay Ismail , before it was relocated to Marrakech. The...
, Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
, by Muhammad Ben Aïssâ (1465–1526), best known as the Chaykh Al-Kâmil, or "Perfect Sufi Master". The terms Aïssâwiyya (`Isâwiyya) and Aïssâwa (`Isâwa), derive from the name of the founder, and respectively designate the brotherhood (tariqa, literally: "way") and its disciples (fuqarâ, sing. to fakir
Fakir
The fakir or faqir ; ) Derived from faqr is a Muslim Sufi ascetic in Middle East and South Asia. The Faqirs were wandering Dervishes teaching Islam and living on alms....
, literally: "poor").
They are known for their spiritual
Spiritual (music)
Spirituals are religious songs which were created by enslaved African people in America.-Terminology and origin:...
music, which generally comprises songs of religious psalms
Psalms
The Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...
, characterized by the use of the oboe
Oboe
The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
ghaita (similar to the mizmar or zurna
Zurna
The zurna , is a multinational outdoor wind instrument, usually accompanied by a davul in Anatolian folk music. The name is from Turkish zurna, itself derived from Persian سرنای surnāy, composed of sūr “banquet, feast” and nāy “reed, pipe”...
) accompanied by percussion using polyrhythm
Polyrhythm
Polyrhythm is the simultaneous sounding of two or more independent rhythms.Polyrhythm in general is a nonspecific term for the simultaneous occurrence of two or more conflicting rhythms, of which cross-rhythm is a specific and definable subset.—Novotney Polyrhythms can be distinguished from...
.
Complex ceremonies, which use symbolic dances to bring the participants to ecstatic trance
Trance
Trance denotes a variety of processes, ecstasy, techniques, modalities and states of mind, awareness and consciousness. Trance states may occur involuntarily and unbidden.The term trance may be associated with meditation, magic, flow, and prayer...
, are held by the Aissawa in private during domestic ritual nights (lîla-s), and in public during celebrations of national festivals (the moussem-s, which are also pilgrimages) as well as during folk performances or religious festivities, such as Ramadan
Ramadan
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, which lasts 29 or 30 days. It is the Islamic month of fasting, in which participating Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, smoking and sex during daylight hours and is intended to teach Muslims about patience, spirituality, humility and...
, or mawlid
Mawlid
Mawlid or sometimes ميلاد , mīlād is a term used to refer to the observance of the birthday of the Islamic prophet Muhammad which occurs in Rabi' al-awwal,...
, the "birth of the Prophet." These are organized by the Moroccan and Algerian States.
Founder of the brotherhood: Muhammad Ben Aïssâ
Some details regarding Ben Aïssâ remain unknown. He has a controversial genealogyGenealogy
Genealogy is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. Genealogists use oral traditions, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members...
and a hagiography
Hagiography
Hagiography is the study of saints.From the Greek and , it refers literally to writings on the subject of such holy people, and specifically to the biographies of saints and ecclesiastical leaders. The term hagiology, the study of hagiography, is also current in English, though less common...
that projects the image of a sufi master and legendary ascetic of considerable spiritual
Spirituality
Spirituality can refer to an ultimate or an alleged immaterial reality; an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his/her being; or the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.” Spiritual practices, including meditation, prayer and contemplation, are intended to develop...
influence. Ben Aïssâ built his own mausoleum in the monastery or Zaouia
Zaouia
A zaouia or zawiya is an Islamic religious school or monastery. The term is Maghrebi and West African, roughly corresponding to the Eastern term madrassa...
in the city of Meknès
Meknes
Meknes is a city in northern Morocco, located from the capital Rabat and from Fes. It is served by the A2 expressway between those two cities and by the corresponding railway. Meknes was the capital of Morocco under the reign of Moulay Ismail , before it was relocated to Marrakech. The...
. This is now a destination for his modern followers to visit and pray while participating in individual or collective acts of piety
Piety
In spiritual terminology, piety is a virtue that can mean religious devotion, spirituality, or a combination of both. A common element in most conceptions of piety is humility.- Etymology :...
. Ben Aïssâ was initiated into Sufism by three masters of the tariqa Shadhiliyya/Jazûliyya: `Abbâs Ahmad Al-Hâritî (Meknès), Muhammad `Abd Al `Azîz At-Tabbâ (Marrakech
Marrakech
Marrakech or Marrakesh , known as the "Ochre city", is the most important former imperial city in Morocco's history...
) and Muhammad as-Saghîr as-Sahlî (Fès
FES
FES or Fes may refer to:* Fes or Fez, a city in Morocco* FES , a human gene that encodes the feline sarcoma oncogene enzyme* FES , a fictional singer from Chaos;Head anime series and alias of Yui Sakakibara for her songs from Chaos;Head and Steins;Gate anime series* Flywheel energy storage, an...
).
Spiritual doctrine
The spiritual doctrine of the Aïssâwa follows the earlier mystical tradition of the tariqa Shadhiliyya]]/Jazûliyya. This religious teaching first appeared in 15th century Marrakech and is the most orthodox mystical method to appear in the western region of North Africa known as the MaghrebMaghreb
The Maghreb is the region of Northwest Africa, west of Egypt. It includes five countries: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Mauritania and the disputed territory of Western Sahara...
.
Aïssâwî disciples are taught to follow the instruction of their founder by adhering to Sunni Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
and practising additional psalms including the long prayer known as "Glory to the Eternal" (Al-hizb Subhân Al-Dâ `im).
The original Aïssâwa doctrine makes no mention of ecstatic or ritual exercises such as music and dance.
The mother-monastery of Meknes
The ZaouiaZaouia
A zaouia or zawiya is an Islamic religious school or monastery. The term is Maghrebi and West African, roughly corresponding to the Eastern term madrassa...
or monastery in Meknès is the main spiritual center of the Aissawa brotherhood. Founded by Muhammad Ben Aïssâ at the end of the 15th century, construction resumed three centuries later under sultan Mohammed ben Abdallah. Often renovated by the Ministry for Habous
Habous
Habous is an Islamic term related to land property legislation in the Muslim world.Habous can be classified into three main categories: private, public, or mixed.-Private:...
and Islamic Affairs and maintained by the municipal services, this is the center of the brotherhood's international network. The site is open to the public all year round and is the location of the tombs of founder Chaykh Al-Kâmil, his disciple Abû-ar-Rawâyil, and the alleged son of the founder, Aïssâ Al-Mehdi.
International growth
Aïssâwa's international growth began in the 18th century. From Morocco, it has spawned organizations in AlgeriaAlgeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
, Tunisia
Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
, Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
and Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
. Outside of these countries, Aïssâwa disciples practice without immediate access to Aïssâwa institutions, as in France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, the USA and Canada.
Current situation
Theoretically, the brotherhood's network is led from the mother-monastery in Meknès by direct biological descendants of Muhammad Ben Aïssâ. The leader is currently Sîdî Allal Aïssâwî, a teacher and member of the League of Oulémas of Morocco and Senegal, as well as a poet and historian.In Morocco, the brotherhood – the musicians together with their rituals and music – currently enjoy a particular vogue. The basic cell of the religious order in Morocco is the team (tâ `ifa), which takes the form of a traditional musical orchestra with twenty to fifty disciples.
Since a decision taken in the 17th century by the mother-monastery, groups of musicians are placed under the authority of a delegate (muqaddem). There are currently orchestras of the brotherhood across Morocco, but they are especially numerous in the towns of Fès and Meknès, under the authority of the master Haj Azedine Bettahi, who is a well-known Sufi musician.
As leader of the muqaddem-s, Haj Azedine Bettahi has under his authority the following individuals:
- Haj Mohamed Ben Bouhama
- Haj Muhammad 'Azzam
- Haj Saïd El Guissy
- Haj Saïd Berrada
- Abdeljelil Al Aouam
- 'Abdelatif Razini
- 'Adnan Chouni
- 'Omar 'Alawi
- 'Abou Lhaz Muhammad
- 'Abdallah Yaqoubi
- Muhammad Ben Hammou
- Haj Hussein Lbaghmi
- Idriss Boumaza
- Haj 'Abdelhak Khaldun
- Muhammad Ben Chabou
- Mohcine Arafa Bricha
- Moustafa Barakat
- Nabil Ben Slimane
- Hassan Amrani
- Youssef 'Alami
- Youssef Semlali
- 'Abdellah al-Mrabet
- Benaissa Ghouali
- Djamel Sahli
- Nadjib Mekdia
- Lounis Ghazali
- Djamel Blidi
- Essaid Haddadou
- Mustapha Ben Ouahchia
- Hadj Ali Al Badawi
- Cheikhuna Hakim Meftah Al Bedri
All Aïssâwa groups lead ceremonies that mix mystical invocation with exorcisms and trance-inducing group dances.
The Aïssâwa trance ritual : origin and symbolism
In Morocco, the ceremonies of the Aïssâwa brotherhood take the form of domestic nightly rituals (known simply as "night", lila), organized mainly by Imam Shiekh Boulila (Master of the night), at the request of women sympathizers. Women are currently the principal customers of the orchestras of the brotherhood in Morocco.As the Aïssâwa are supposed to bring to people blessings ("barakah
Barakah
In Islam, Barakah is the beneficent force from God that flows through the physical and spiritual spheres as prosperity, protection, and happiness. Baraka is the continuity of spiritual presence and revelation that begins with God and flows through that and those closest to God. Baraka can be found...
"), reasons for organizing a ceremony are varied and include celebration of a Muslim festivity, wedding, birth, circumcision, or exorcism, the search for a cure for illness or to make contact with the divine through the extase
Religious ecstasy
Religious ecstasy is an altered state of consciousness characterized by greatly reduced external awareness and expanded interior mental and spiritual awareness which is frequently accompanied by visions and emotional/intuitive euphoria...
. Rituals have standardized phases among all the Aïssâwa orchestras. These include mystical recitations of Sufi litanies and the singing of spiritual poems along with exorcisms, and collective dances.
Ludic
Ludic
Ludic derives from Latin ludus, "play," and is an adjective meaning "playful." The term is used in philosophy to describe play as an act of self-definition; in literary studies, the term may apply to works written in the spirit of festival.-Homo ludens:...
aspects of the ceremony are attested to by the participants' laughter, songs, and dances, alongside ecstatic emotional demonstrations, which may feature crying and tears. At the symbolic system
Symbolic system
In the fields of anthropology, sociology, and psychology, symbolic system refers to a system of interconnected symbolic meanings. In particular, the field focuses on the dynamic relationships between various symbols within different task or theoretical contexts...
level, the ceremony represents the initiatory advance of the Sufi on an ascending mystical voyage towards God and the Prophet, then the final return to Earth. This odyssey passes through the world of human beings and that of the jinn
Jinn
Jinn are supernatural beings in Arab folklore and Islamic teachings.Jinn may also refer to:* Jinn , a Japanese band* Qui-Gon Jinn, a character in the Star Wars universe...
to culminate in the higher spheres, where the human meets the divine.
According to Aïssawa lore, this ceremony was not established nor even practised at the time of Chaykh Al-Kâmil. Some members of the brotherhood believe that it emerged in the 17th century at the instigation of Aïssâwî disciple Sîdî `Abderrahmân Tarî Chentrî. Alternatively, it may have appeared in the 18th century under the influence of Moroccan Sufi masters Sîdî `Ali Ben Hamdûch or Sîdî Al-Darqâwî, who were both well-known for their ecstatic practices.
More broadly, the actual trance ritual of the Aïssâwa brotherhood seems to have been established progressively through the centuries under the three influences of Sufism, pre-Islamic animist beliefs and urban Arab melodic poetry such as the Malhun
Malhun
Malhun or milhun , meaning "the melodic poem", is a Moroccan music that borrows its modes from the Andalusian music...
.
Aïssâwa Morrocans generally avoid deep intellectual and philosophical speculations about Sufism, preferring to attach greater importance to the technical and aesthetic aspects of their music, litanies, poetry and ritual dances. They like to consider their ceremonial space as a safe haven for various artistic elements, for their symbolic system, as well as for the religious traditions of Moroccan culture.
Professionalization of Aïssâwa musicians
The early 1990s saw the professionalization of ritual music, which affected both the musicians and their market. This change was possible because the authorities looked on moonlighting and the underground economy favorably. In this context, the Aïssâwa orchestras exihibit trends that are otherwise difficult to spot in the Morrocan economy. The brotherhood orchestras' moonlighting created a network which makes it possible to define a collective interest, and to test new assumptions regarding economic and social responsibility.Today, through the commercial diffusion of Sufi music, songs, psalms (including during weddings and festivals as well as commercials recordings) and the trade related to crowned divination
Divination
Divination is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic standardized process or ritual...
and exorcism, the Aïssâwa members establish social integration
Social integration
Social integration, in sociology and other social sciences, is the movement of minority groups such as ethnic minorities, refugees and underprivileged sections of a society into the mainstream of societies...
. Although this phenomenon causes the appearance of new aesthetic standards through more commercial adaptations of mystical psalms, it also leads to the loss of original Sufi doctrines through severe competition between musicians which in turns degrades the social link between the disciples.
Commentaries on the Aïssâwa
Many past and contemporary researchers have shown an interest in the Aïssâwa, particularly from the point of view of studying the religious contours of a Muslim society. Former commentaries on the brotherhood were written in French and Arabic with the first Arab examples being biographical and hagiographic collections compiled between the 14th and 16th century by Moroccan biographers such as Al-Ghazali, Ibn `Askar, Al-FassiAbd al-Rahman al-Fasi
Abu Zaid Abd al-Rahman Abu Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Qadir al-Fasi was a Moroccan writer in the field of law, history, astronomy and music. He wrote some 170 books and has been called the Suyuti of his time...
, Al-Mahdi and Al-Kettani
Muhammad ibn Jaafar al-Kittani
Mohammed ibn Jaafar ibn Idris al-Kattani was a Moroccan scholar and theologian from the 19th century...
. These texts, which may be handwritten or printed, provide information on the genealogical and spiritual affiliations of the founder of the order, while at the same time enumerating the numerous wonders he realized for the benefit of his sympathizers. Contemporary Arab authors who have studied this topic include Daoui, Al-Malhouni and Aïssâwî, who are the current mezwâr of the brotherhood in person. These endeavour to put in perspective the Sufi order in the cultural and religious tradition of Morocco through the study of the biography of the founder, and his spiritual doctrine alongside poetic and liturgical texts.
The first French writings on the Aïssâwa appeared at the end of the 19th century following the installation of colonial
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
administration in the Maghreb
Maghreb
The Maghreb is the region of Northwest Africa, west of Egypt. It includes five countries: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Mauritania and the disputed territory of Western Sahara...
. The majority of the authors, who were also anthropologists and sociologists, were at that time French and included Pierre-Jacques André, Alfred Bel, René Brunel, Xavier Depont and Octave Coppolani, Emile Dermenghem, Edmond Doutté, George Drague, Roger Tourneau, Louis Rinn (chief of the Central Service of the indigenous Affairs to the Government General in Algeria at the end of the 19th century), Louis Massignon
Louis Massignon
Louis Massignon was a French scholar of Islam and its history. Although a Catholic himself, he tried to understand Islam from within and thus had a great influence on the way Islam was seen in the West; among other things, he paved the way for a greater openness inside the Catholic Church towards...
and Edouard Michaux-Bellaire. These last three authors were military officers with the scientific expedition of the Administration of Indigenous Affairs and their writings are published in the Moroccan Files and the Review of the Muslim World. Among all these French authors, there was also the Finnish
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
anthropologist Edward Westermarck, whose various works are devoted to an analysis of the system of belief and ritual in Morocco.
Excepting those authors with a scientific approach, in Morocco and Algeria (to date there has been no study devoted to the Aïssâwa in Tunisia), the ritual practices of Aïssâwa drew the attention of and considerably disturbed western observers at the beginning of the 19th century. The brotherhood is evoked here and there in medical works, monographs, schoolbooks, paintings, tests or accounts of voyages. These various writings show a recurring passionate contempt for this type of religiosity. Spiritual dimensions of the brotherhood of Aïssâwa at that time were never examined, other than by Emile Dermenghem in his acclaimed Le culte des saints dans l'Islam Maghrebin (Paris, 1951). Other texts were only very seldom neutral. By attaching a non-Muslim and archaic label to some brotherhoods (such as the Aïssâwa but also the Hamadcha and Gnaoua), these writings served to legitimize French prerogatives in the Maghreb.
The New Encyclopedia of Islam
Encyclopaedia of Islam
The Encyclopaedia of Islam is an encyclopaedia of the academic discipline of Islamic studies. It embraces articles on distinguished Muslims of every age and land, on tribes and dynasties, on the crafts and sciences, on political and religious institutions, on the geography, ethnography, flora and...
reports that "the scholar of religions, Mircea Eliade
Mircea Eliade
Mircea Eliade was a Romanian historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. He was a leading interpreter of religious experience, who established paradigms in religious studies that persist to this day...
, guided by Van Gennep, wrote the observation that the Aissawa are in fact a Maennerbund, that is, a lycanthropic
Lycanthropy
Lycanthropy is the professed ability or power of a human being to undergo transformation into a werewolf, or to gain wolf-like characteristics. The term comes from Greek Lykànthropos : λύκος, lykos + άνθρωπος, ànthrōpos...
secret society. In other words, werewolves
Werewolf
A werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope , is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or an anthropomorphic wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse...
." An 1882 New York Times article, reprinting an account from Blackwood's Magazine
Blackwood's Magazine
Blackwood's Magazine was a British magazine and miscellany printed between 1817 and 1980. It was founded by the publisher William Blackwood and was originally called the Edinburgh Monthly Magazine. The first number appeared in April 1817 under the editorship of Thomas Pringle and James Cleghorn...
, reports lycanthropy and self-injury during an Aissawa ritual in Kairouan
Kairouan
Kairouan , also known as Kirwan or al-Qayrawan , is the capital of the Kairouan Governorate in Tunisia. Referred to as the Islamic Cultural Capital, it is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The city was founded by the Arabs around 670...
:
[O]ne of the Tunisian soldiers ... siezed a sword and began to lacerate his stomach. The blood flowed freely, and he imitated all the time the cries and movements of the camel. We soon had a wolf, a bear, a hyena, a jackal, a leopard, and a lion.... A large bottle was broken up and eagerly devoured.... Twenty different tortures were going on in twenty different parts of the hall."
Contemporary scientific research
Some authors of religious history (Jeanmaire) and ethnomusicologyEthnomusicology
Ethnomusicology is defined as "the study of social and cultural aspects of music and dance in local and global contexts."Coined by the musician Jaap Kunst from the Greek words ἔθνος ethnos and μουσική mousike , it is often considered the anthropology or ethnography of music...
(Gilbert Mullet and Andre Boncourt) became interested in the Aïssâwa in the 1950s and remain so to this day. It was only after Moroccan (1956) and Algerian (1962) independence that contemporary social scientists began to consider the subject. Many articles (Belhaj, Daoui, Hanai, Nabti and Andezian) and theses (Al Malhouni, Boncourt, Lahlou, El Abar, Sagir Janjar and Nabti) as well as ethnographic movies have studied the ritual practices of Aïssawa in Morocco.
New approaches and prospects
An analysis of the work by Sossie Andezian regarding the Aïssâwa brotherhood and Sufism in Algeria, is considered essential and impossible to circumvent. In her book The Significance of Sufism in Algeria in the aftermath of Independence (2001), Andezian analyzes the processes of reinvention of ritual acts in the context of sociopolitical movements in Algeria. Her reflection leads to a dynamic vision of the religious and mystical rites while highlighting the evolution of the links that people, marginalized in the religious sphere, maintain with the official and textual religious institutions. Continuing the reflexions of Andezian, Mehdi Nabti conducted an investigation inside the Aïssâwa brotherhood in Morocco in his doctoral thesis entitled The Aïssâwa brotherhood in urban areas of Morocco: the social and ritual aspects of modern sufism, which is considered a significant contribution to the socio-anthropology of the current Maghreb. Nabti shows the complex modalities of the inscription of the brotherhood in a Moroccan society led by an authoritative government (which try timidly to be liberalized), endemic unemployment, the development of tourism and the progress of political Islamism. While immersing himself as a ritual musician within the Aïssâwa orchestras, Mehdi Nabti casts new light on knowledge of Sufism and brings invaluable facts on the structure of the brotherhood and its rituals as well as the diverse logic behind affiliation to a traditional religious organization in a modern Muslim society. His work, which offers an iconographic description of musical scores pointing to esoteric symbolism and a DVD documentary, is the greatest sum of knowledge currently available on the subject. Mehdi Nabti is also the leader of the Aïssâwaniyya Orchestra, which brings together French jazzmen and Aïssâwa musicians. The band plays concerts all over the world and also conducts master classes.Arabic bibliography
- Ahmed al-GhazzalAhmed al-GhazzalAhmed al-Ghazzal or, in full, Abu l-Abbas Ahmed ibn Al-Mahdi al-Ghazzal al-Andalusi al-Malaki was the secretary of the Moroccan Sultan Mohammed ibn Abdallah...
, Al-Nur al-Khamil - Abu Abdallah ibn AskarAbu Abdallah ibn AskarIbn Askar or Abu Abdallah Mohammed ibn Ali ibn Omar ibn Husain ibn Misbah ibn Askar was a Moroccan historian, author of Dawhat al-Nashir li-Mahasin man kana min al-Maghrib min Ahl al-Karn al-ashir, a hagiographic dictionary, composed about the year 1575 which gives a comprehensive picture of the...
: Dawhat Al-nâchir li mhâssin man kana bi Al-maghrib min machâykh al-garn al'âchir, ed. : 2. Rabat. 1976. (On the excellent virtues of the sheikhs of the Maghreb in the 10th century, translated in French by A. Graulle, 1913) - Abd al-Rahman al-FasiAbd al-Rahman al-FasiAbu Zaid Abd al-Rahman Abu Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Qadir al-Fasi was a Moroccan writer in the field of law, history, astronomy and music. He wrote some 170 books and has been called the Suyuti of his time...
(1631–1685), Ibtihaj al-qulub bi khabar al-Shaykh Abi al-Mahasin wa wa shaykhihi al-Majdhub - Mohammed al-Mahdi al-FasiMohammed al-Mahdi al-FasiMohammed al-Mahdi al-Fasi also known as Abu Isa Abu Abdallah Mohammed al-Mahdi ibn Ahmad ibn Ali ibn Yusuf al-Fihri al-Fasi was a well-known mystic, biographer and historian from Fes. He was born in Ksar al-Kebir on May 17, 1624 and died 20 February 1698...
, Mumatî’ al-asmâ - Al-KettaniMuhammad ibn Jaafar al-KittaniMohammed ibn Jaafar ibn Idris al-Kattani was a Moroccan scholar and theologian from the 19th century...
, Salâwat al-anfâs (1898) - DAOUI, Mawassim Chaykh al-kâmil baïya al-aws wa al-yawn (1994)
- AL MALHOUNI, Adwae ‘ala tasawwuf bî al-maghrib : tarîqa al-Aïsssâwiyya mamuzâjan. Min khilâl chi’r al-malhûn, al-hikâya cha‘biya sufiya, al-muradadât chafâhiya, ‘awayd turuqiyyin. (2003)
- AISSAWI AL-CHAYKH AL-KAMIL, Sîdî Muhammad ben Aïssa. Tarîqa wa zâwiya wa istimrariyya' (2004)
French bibliography
- ANDEZIAN, Expériences du divin dans l’Algérie contemporaine (2001)
- ANDRE, Contribution à l'étude des confréries religieuses musulmanes (1956)
- BEL, La religion musulmane en Berbérie : esquisse d'histoire et de sociologie religieuses (1938)
- BELHAJ, La possession et les aspects théâtraux chez les Aïssaouas d’Afrique du Nord (1996)
- BONCOURT, Rituel et musique chez les 'Isawa citadins du Maroc (1980)
- BRUNEL, Essai sur la confrérie religieuse des Aïssaouas au Maroc (1926)
- DEPONT & COPPOLANI, Les confréries religieuses musulmanes (1897)
- DERMENGHEM, Le Culte des saints dans l’Islam maghrébin (1954)
- Essai sur la Hadra des Aïssaoua d’Algérie
- Soufisme, métissage culturel et commerce du sacré. Les Aïssâwa marocains dans la modernité (2007)
- La lîla des Aïssâwa du Maroc, interprétation symbolique et contribution sociale (2006)
- Survivances païennes dans la civilisation mahométane (1935)
English bibliography
- ANDEZIAN, The Significance of Sufism in Algeria in the aftermath of Independence (2001)
- ROUGET, music and trance (1951)
- TRIMINGHAM, The Sufi orders in Islam (1998)
- WESTERMARCK, Ritual and belief in Morocco (1926)
External links
- Some of the researches of Mehdi Nabti about the Aissawa in Morocco : Aissawa Brotherhood
- Official website of the Aïssâwa brotherhood in Algeria
- Aissawa Music Streaming Collection in Morocco