Today is a travel day and light itinerary, which after yesterday is a nice break. We travelled from Fes south west to Marrakech where we’ll stay for two nights.
This morning we traveled with the Middle Atlas Mountains to the left of us, approximately 60 miles away. In the area we’re travelling through are hundreds of acres of olive trees, grapes, and other crops such as wheat and barley. There are small dairy farms set among the rolling hills and aside from the olive and grape crops, one could imagine being in Saskatchewan. The soil here is a little red, and great for agriculture. In the Middle Atlas Mountains, they grow apples and cherries.
We have seen a lot of donkeys mules and horses being used throughout the countryside in this agricultural region, and in fact we saw lots of donkeys in the medina yesterday used for hauling products throughout the market. With the narrow alleyways and up and down grades they are really the ideal way to move things around. By the end of the day I was wishing someone would offer me a ride on one of them.
As we travelled south west towards Marrakech, Abdul talked to us about religion. He is a brave man. He kept things to a high level but answered our questions with humour and wit and helped us to understand the Muslim religion as it is interpreted in a more moderate way in Morocco than some other North Africa countries.
He explained some basic tenants of the Islamic Religion as outlined in the Koran and taught by their spiritual leaders, the Imams. I’m sorry if I got any of this wrong and stand corrected, if I misinterpreted his remarks or didn’t hear correctly as I volunteered for back of the bus duty today. And these are in my words, which may not be the correct technical terms.
So, there are 5 pillars of the Islamic religion
1. You must declare that you believe in Allah and in Mohammed as the final prophet (they believe in other profits such as Abraham, Ismail, Moses, etc but Mohammed they believe is the final prophet).
2. Prayer – Muslims must pray 5 times a day, “unless they are otherwise busy”, and the men and woman are separated in the prayer room. The prayer times are at approximately 5:30 am, between noon and 1, 4:30 – 5:00, Sunset, and 1 hour after sunset. They are “Called to Prayer” by the Muezzin (the Imam’s assistant) and the call is done live (not recorded) from the minaret of the mosque. I’ve travelled in several countries where the Islamic religion is practised and the Call to Prayer sounds different from mosque to mosque, country to country, but the words are apparently always the same, and it’s just the tone and voice of the Muezzin that makes it sound different.
Before praying Muslims must perform Ablutions which consists of washing different body parts (hands, mouth, nose, head, hair, feet, etc) 3 times so they are cleansed before praying to Allah.
There is a weekly prayer on Fridays when the Imam makes a speech of 20 minutes or so and there are some other times such as at Ramadan, EID, funerals, weddings, etc.
Abdul pointed out to us that the minarets in Morocco are square whereas in other countries in North Africa they are round, and this is due to the Spanish influence.
In other countries we have been able to visit mosques as long as we were appropriately dressed (head, shoulders and knees covered) but in Morocco there are few that allow non-Muslims to enter. (Perhaps only 2?) This dates back to the colonial wars when the French respected the religion and would not enter the mosque so the Moroccans used the mosques as sanctuary.
3. Charity
Muslims should contribute any money which they have held for at least one year directly to people who they know need the help. It should amount to 2.5% of the money they have. However, no one in the mosque or state collects the money and it’s between the Muslim and his/her god as to how they do that.
4. Ramadan
Muslims must participate in Ramadan which is fasting from sunrise to sunset for the month of Ramadan. The timing is based on a 12 month lunar calendar which is only 28 or 29 days long vs our calendar based on months of 30 or 31 days so it changes from one year to the next on our calendar.
They drink water before the sun rises and then don’t eat or drink anything until sunset. They break the fast with a few dates and water before going to prayer at sunset. Then most have a large meal after sunset. At the end of Ramadan they celebrate the festival of EID when they are able to eat again. This is seen as a test of their faith. There are exceptions such as pregnant women, the elderly or sick, etc.
5. Pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia
This pilgrimage is not considered obligatory if the person is not able to afford the cost of travelling to Mecca. The pilgrimage involves visiting special sites where Mohammed got the Koran from Allah through the angel Gabrielle, Kaaba, and the mosque where Mohammed prayed, etc.
The number five is repeated in various symbols in Morocco such as in their flag, which is red background with a green 5 pointed star on it. Red is symbolic of sacrifice and green is the colour of Islam. Also a symbol we found on many doorways in the medina is the “Hand of Fatimah” (Fatimah was one of the Prophet Mohammed’s daughters) with it’s 5 fingers.
Of course, this all led to a lively discussion and I felt a little sorry for Abdul, but he held his own. I appreciated the information and the discussion and seems that as with other religions, the interpretation and the evolution of the interpretation of the holy books is different in each country and religion.
Abdul gave the example of marriage in Morocco. Sharia law is used here for family law matters, but the State also brings in laws to moderate Sharia law. For instance, according to Sharia law, men may have up to 4 wives, however according to State law, the man must first get permission of his first wife to take on the second, third or fourth wife. Maybe not ideal but attitudes are evolving in the younger generation in particular.
Other tidbits we learned today:
-They have only 2 humped camels in Morocco and they are all domestic.
-Marrakech means Land of the Gods and is nicknamed the Red City because the soil here is red and the buildings are made from it and therefore red.
– Escargot are eaten here, and the snails are stored in dry format until they want to eat them and then they are reconstituted and they come back to life.
– Marrakech was founded in the 11th century and is one of the 4 Imperial cities.
– there is a ready water supply from the rivers coming out of the Atlas Mountains and the irrigation makes the city very lush and green. There are also 15 golf courses in Marrakech.
We arrived into Marrakesh at about 4 pm today and will spend two nights here. We have a group dinner tonight and then tomorrow we’ll do a tour of the medina of Marrakesh, including a cooking class at one of the Riads, and then have free time in the afternoon. Tomorrow evening we’ll be visiting a huge square in the heart of the medina and tasting food from the vendors there.
I’ve included some of my favourite pics that I haven’t yet posted here today since I didn’t take many pictures from our travel day today.
Lois' Adventures 