Visit of the Tamegroute library and green pottery village

Visit of the Tamegroute library and green pottery village

Tamegrout, at the gates of the desert.

Tamegroute is the last town in the province of Zagora: a beautiful town of a thousand inhabitants, with clay houses nested one inside the other at the edge of a palm grove, one of the last in the valley of the Draa. But nothing would distinguish Tamegroute from hundreds of similar ksour (fortified villages), scattered in the great South, if there were not the zawiya, a holy place sheltering a religious brotherhood: only about twenty of these sites still exist in Morocco. That of Tamegroute, founded in the 17th century, is the headquarters of the important Naciri brotherhood, which spread its influence for several centuries over a major part of southern Morocco. Today, the zawiya is still led by a descendant of the founder, Imam Sidi Mohammed Ben Nacer. Theologian, famous scholar, doctor, passionate about illnesses of the soul and mental problems, the scholar had the ambition to contribute to the culture of the shepherds and farmers of the Draa.

He makes six pilgrimages to Mecca. Each trip turns into a journey of several years: the scientist travels through Ethiopia, Arabia, Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Persia and reaches the borders of India. He collects innumerable writings on the Islamic world and decides to found a Koranic university: it will welcome more than 1,500 students from all over the East. At his death in 1085 of the Hegira (1707 of the Christian era), the library of Tamegroute was one of the richest in North Africa, with 4,000 works.

Many of his treasures are currently on display there. The oldest gazelle-skin manuscripts, written with a molded reed quill dipped in a walnut shell, date from the 11th century. Some are illuminated: the colors are as fresh as ten centuries ago. Indigo for blue, henna for red, herbal decoction for green. The exceptionally welcome dryness of the climate ensures perfect preservation of the texts. Medicine, astronomy, Koranic law, literature, grammar, history, poetry, algebra, rhetoric and philosophy: all disciplines are represented in this library prized by scholars of the Islamic world. The inspector, a fervent admirer of Lyautey, will soon be 80 years old. He has held the position since 1959. An almost hereditary responsibility: his son, who supports him, succeeds him and wants to pass on the profession to his own son. The guard said proudly, "Great scholars have been coming here for a long time. I take out the books they consult at this table. See! This map of Alexandria and the Nile Delta dates from the 13th century. sky with the signs of the zodiac covered in pure gold. He also points to an amazing 16th century algebra book in which each number in purple fills the entire page. The tour continues under the guidance of father and son.