It goes without saying that I haven’t written in a while. Actually, ‘a while’ is an under statement, as it has been almost two months. My time has been spent general living life and generally neglecting communication. Not to say that writing in my blog isn’t living life, but I have found that in the recent past I have spent more time on the streets of Morocco and less time behind my computer. All-in-all, I believe that I had made the right choice, and as time continued to pass, it seemed that after a month, one more day of not writing really did not matter. However, I do find this blog to be therapeutic and I enjoy the thought of a semi-captive audience to talk about my current passion in life: houses.
Although I have many interesting stories from the past few months to tell you, including my first ski trip to Ifrane, I have a greater desire to tell you about an aspect of my research. I think it’s because I am moving houses and in a month, I will be leaving Fez for Marrakesh, but I am beginning to feel like I should be wrapping things up and coming to some sort of conclusion. However, I have discovered with cultural research that there are no conclusions, maybe a few new ideas, and a lot of new questions, but never any real conclusions. Maybe that’s why I should have stuck to economics, but it’s too late now.
The history of the Fez is layered in the walls of its ‘old city’ – Medina. The 12,000 houses, the 9600 alley ways, and the countless fountains tell the lives of sultans, philosophers, artists, travelers from 1200 years of modern history. It is not the oldest city in Morocco – Moulay Idriss and Sefrou are two that can count themselves as older than Fez – but it is the oldest Imperial city and its Medina stretches across a greater distance than any other in Al-Maghrib. Fez was founded by Moulday Idriss II as a capital for a new empire that would soon stretch across Southern Europe and Northern Africa and would produce the famed Arab Philosopher Ibn Khaldoun, the world traveler Ibn Batouta, among others. Although in the future Fez would be abandoned for Marrakech, Meknes and finally Rabat as the political capitol of the Western Kingdom, it remains the cultural capitol of Morocco. In fact, in 2007 it was chosen as a capitol of Islamic Culture and during Ramadan, works of Islamic Art were shown throughout the city.
What makes Fez so special? What is about this city tucked in the Atlas Mountains that makes all of us stop and pass even a bit of our lives here?
I think the answer to this question is that Fez has something for every person, and that is what has appealed to people for 1200 years. For the farmer in the Atlas Mountains, Fez offers a place of rest and trade. A place to make a living and a metropolis with enough goods to supply his entire family. For the orientalist, Fez offers a city stuck somewhere in the Middle Ages. Tanneries that still use traditional pigeon feces to die leather and tile factories that haven’t changed in 10 generations. For the religious scholar, Fez is the ultimate penacle of study. An opportunity to learn in the halls of the Qaraouyyine, where countless religious leaders (including Popes) have spent hours analyzing Islamic scripture. For the wanderer, Fez offers a welcoming community. The inner courtyard houses and the smiling Morocco mom ushering you in for couscous allow a break from worrying about the next step in life that we all must take.
Fez has a culture of refuge and protection. The famed Al-Qaraouyyine mosque and university were built in a district given that name for the people seeking refuge from a district sharing that same moniker in what is now Tunis. Al-Andalous is another area of the Medina where Muslims, fleeing persecution in Spain, found a home once again behind the Medina’s walls. The Mellah is the Jewish Quarter – an area under the explicit protection of the king where the vast society of Moroccan Jews could live peacefully beside their Muslim brothers. Now, those people are no longer around, and a majority of their descents have gone to other cities looking for better jobs, better schools, and better opportunities (a subject which I will discuss later). However, a welcoming and hospitable culture still grips the traditional Fessis that remain in the city.
If these walls could talk, they would surely tell you of the city’s impressive history. They would weave a tale tall enough to shame even the story tellers of the Marrakchi Djemma El-Fna, complete with victorious sultans, medieval artists, and confused foreigners. But in my opinion, before all of that, the first thing that these walls would say is, “Welcome.”
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