Soufis
MOROCCO
Following a meeting with Romain Simenel, an ethnologist who has been studying Sufi zaouias (brotherhoods) since 2000, I decided to learn more about this humane and pacific practice, and to photograph this world.../ Read More >
Still today, in the remote area of the Souss in South Morocco, renowned wise men ensure the transmission of this mystical, social and particularly tolerant form of Islam. We crisscrossed the region to visit the zaouias and meet the masters and their students. These scholars value poetry, wisdom, openness and knowledge as vectors of awareness. They transmit a humanist Islam to thousands of children and teenagers. With only a wooden tablet, a few inks and a pen, the child learns Arabic writing and Koranic texts by following the rhythm of the teacher’s voice.
It was not easy to penetrate the zaouias. They are not used to receiving a photographer, even more so a woman. It took me time and patience to build a relationship with the masters and students, and to be able to make pictures. After a few missions, they accepted me, trusted me, and gave me access to study sites, to rituals, and to moments of concentration, prayer and reading. I also discovered the first zaouia to welcome young girls, in order to deal with their social isolation and give them access to education and knowledge.
I marvelled at these people, wise and full of humanity, and I was impressed by the atmosphere of joy and cheerfulness, which I didn’t expect. It’s this spiritual dimension and the openness that I wanted to express in my images. These Sufi masters forge the heart and spirit of thousands of Moroccan children and adolescents, and are the last ramparts against the influence of Islamist extremism that is widespread in the Maghrebi rural world.
