Chapter 2 Before the closed gates of Iligh

In Chapter 2 the text writer of the graphic story, Bert Hogervorst takes center stage. Three times when visiting Iligh she stood in front of closed gates. Coming upon Iligh by chance for the first time she was struck by its imposing, exotic architecture standing seemingly in the middle of nowhere. The casbah's of Iligh were like no other casbahs. It reminded her of pictures she had seen of sub-saharan buildings. Back in Holland she started an internet search. The first thing she discovered was that in the South of Morocco along the edges of the Sahara desert there were ancient Jewish settlements. Turns out the Jews played a crucial role in the Trans Saharan trade. The oldest settlement was in Ifrane (Atlas Saghir). From there the Jews had spread and brought prosperity to the region. It seemed that the rise of Iligh as a karavanserai, goods depot and trading post in the first half of the 17th century coincided with a particularly cruel episode in the history of the Jewish people of Ifrane known as the Mass Suicide when a ruthless ruler forced Jews into killing themselves and each other. From 1620 till 1968 when the last Rabbi left the place, the fate of the Jewish community and that of the family of the 'Maison d'Iligh' was tightly connected. At the end of the 19th century Iligh boasted the largest Jewish population of any place in the South of Morocco. The drawing is of Bert in the Jewish cemetery of Ifrane while on a reconnaissance of Jewish settlements in southern Morocco. Will the gates of Iligh finally open for her and what will she discover once inside?

Thoughts on Sidi Ahmed Ou Moussa

In the weeks before Bert and I left for Iligh I had been thinking about what had made Iligh special. As I wrote before: Bert thought it special because its architecture has a Sub Saharan outlook. What else made it special? That it was an important hub in the Trans Saharan trade? Iligh of course was only one of a number of hubs in that part of Morocco. Maybe it was because of its legendary connection with Michiel De Ruyter and Queen Victoria? Or was this heap of melted adobe buildings with some restored casbahs special because Paul Pascon had directed his focus on it? Why wouldn't it be special because of that 16th century Sufi saint Sidi Ahmed Ou Moussa who settled there between the local Berbers? On the internet are a number of stories about the saint. Sidi Ahamed Ou Moussa was born in a village in the Anti Atlas somewhere between Ifrane and Iligh. Apparently he had been a good for nothing youth who was put on the straight and narrow after meeting and helping an old man who then expressed his thankfulness. He became a Sufi. According to the stories Sidi Ahmed Ou Moussa travelled around a lot and met with different adventures that were remarkably like what Odysseus encountered on his travels. In the end he settled in the valley where is now Iligh among people who were strange to him. His sainthood drew pelgrims and students. But that was not always appreciated by the original population. Sidi Ahmed Ou Moussa hadn't completely forgotten his past as an unruly youth and if necessary knew how to use his fists. It was his son Ali who was not content with spiritual authority and sought material power. He established the chiefdom. I did a quick search on the internet for other Sufi saints whose offspring started a secular dynasty and found only one: a small short lived kingdom in Konya at the time before Ottoman rule covered the whole of Turkey. In Morocco a lot of the powerful ruling dynasties were started by the offspring of men with religious fervor. But they weren't Sufi saints. I thought that made Iligh pretty special.

Bert's story

Bert Hogervorst has her own story about how she got interested in Iligh. She writes: 2013 I was struck by the prominent presence of Jewish people in the history of Morocco. I find it fascinating. Not only in the big cities but also in the south of Morocco where I visit the Ferkla Oases with Peti. The local museum gives a very elaborate presentation of Jewish life in the past. More Jewish traces in the Valley of the Draa river. The connection is with caravans and trade. I see old photographs on the Internet thanks to local man Kacimi. 2014 I'm in south Morocco in the fall with Peti and others. With some difficulty we reach Ifrane and visit there the synagogue. Ifrane has a surprisingly old Jewish settlement. There is also a Jewish cemetery next to the Oued (river). Later I find a reference about Ifrane in a blog of a Jewish American. The settlement is pre-Islamic. On the same trip we visit the Mellah of Tahala. After much asking around we find a very kind and knowledgeable young man. There is a small cemetery. The Souk is well preserved and many more buildings. It is a small ghost-town. We are shown a register of the Jewish families that used to live here. The young man brings the Souk and the Jewish community to life with stories from when he was a kid and the stories from his father and great-parents. These five Jewish families came to Tahala from Ifrane. He tells about the loss and sadness in the small town of Tahala when the Jews left. Apparently it were the Rabbys that left first. According to him there was a library with documents. Where was this? He waves vaguely towards the mountains. Would he have meant Iligh, a place I hadn't heard of at the time?

The Jewish inhabitants of Iligh

Early on in her research into Iligh Bert discovered that from its beginnings Iligh had been a welcome place to settle and a safe haven for Jews. The son of the Sufi saint Sidi Ahmed Ou Moussa, its first ruler, Ali Aboudmiaa, invited Jews from Ifrane to come and settle in the new chiefdom. Ifrane at the time was an important hub in the trans Sahara trade and it had already a flourishing Jewish population in the second century. The invitation was a timely one. The ruler of the moment in Ifrane inflicted terrible tortures and deaths on the Jews. The Jews were very important to the power and wealth of Iligh. In return they got security,land to build on and gardens and most importantly they got a cemetery. Apparently there are still many unpublished documents in Hebrew hidden in boxes in Iligh. In 1953 a curious little propaganda film was shot in Iligh by the Alliance Israélite Universelle. A film crew came to Iligh settled in the Mellah and filmed the story of a young teacher in shorts(!) who was going to teach the local Jewish boys away from their unhealthy rural ways and into the healthy ways of modern times. His teachings were mainly expressed in gymnastic exercises. 'Il seront des Hommes' (they will be men) was the rather threatening title. The drawing I made after a contemporary photograph shows a local man and a man from the filmcrew.