Women and Sainthood in Marrakesh

Résumé

Throughout its history, Marrakesh has been known as the land of Sufism, the
land of prominent Sufi figures including more particularly the famous seven saints
of Marrakesh who gave the city one of its names. This huge number of saints who
lived in the city also contributed to its reputation as the city in which there is a saint
in every step, and the reference has always been to the male saints, of course, as if
sainthood was related to men only. But the question which poses itself in this respect
is the following: if in every step of Marrakesh there is a saint, what about the women
saints? Were there any women saints in Marrakesh? If yes, what can we say about
them, about their place among the male saints and about the characteristics of their
Sufi practice? Was it the same or different from men’s Sufism? What impact did it
have on these women’s lives? In order to answer these questions and many others, I
conducted a field-work in the Medina of Marrakesh which lasted intermittently from 2004
to 201 and which provided me with most of the information presented in this article.