Zawiya (institution)
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A zawiya or zaouia
Etymology
The Arabic term zāwiyah (Arabic: زاوية) translates literally as "corner" or "nook".
Maghreb
Religious and social functions
In the Maghreb (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya) the zawiya is primarily a place for religious activities and religious instruction. It is typically associated with a particular religious leader (shaykh) or a local Muslim saint (wali), who is housed here along with his family. After his death, the zawiya usually houses his tomb, commonly inside a qubba (chamber covered by a dome or pyramidal cupola), which is sometimes a shrine that serves as the focus of a minor pilgrimage (a ziyarat). Typically, his descendants continue to lead or maintain the zawiya afterwards.[4] Some zawiyas, particularly in urban areas, are simply meeting places for local members of a wider Sufi order or brotherhood (tariqa), where they perform activities such as a haḍra or a dhikr. Some zawiyas, particularly in rural areas, serve as larger complexes which provide accommodation to pilgrims and contain a library, mosque, workshops, and granaries that serve the local community. Such zawiyas also historically mediated disputes between tribes or between local communities and the central government. In some cases zawiyas could provide asylum to individuals and could wield considerable political and commercial influence in the region. They were financed with the help of waqfs (also known as habous), charitable endowments that were inalienable under Islamic law.[4]
In precolonial times, zawiyas were the primary sources for education in the area, and taught basic
History
The zawiya as an institution pre-dates the arrival of formal tariqas in North Africa and traces its origins to the qubba tombs which sometimes acted as shrines and to the early
Under the sharifian dynasties of the
By the 19th century, zawiyas, both as individual institutions and as popular Sufi tariqas, had large and widespread memberships across the population of the Maghreb. The Sanusiyya tariqa, for example, was widespread and influential in Libya and the eastern Sahara regions.[4] In Tunisia, many zawiyas were patronized and supported by the government of the Husaynid beys.[4] A late 19th-century French source estimated that in 1880 there were 355 zawiyas in Algeria with a membership of 167,019 out of a population of slightly less than three million Muslims in the country.[4] In Morocco, an estimated 5-10% of the population in 1939 were members of one zawiya or another.[4] During the colonial occupations of these countries some zawiyas collaborated with the authorities while others resisted. During the late 19th century and early 20th century, colonial governments in North Africa confiscated waqf properties or marginalized the waqf system that funded zawiyas as a way of diminishing their power and influence. Their influence and social importance was also undermined in the 20th century due to the opposition of Salafist and Wahhabist movements.[4][5]
Egypt
Zawiyas and khanqahs were not established in Egypt until the
Sub-Saharan Africa
In sub-Saharan Africa zawiyas proliferated somewhat later than in North Africa, appearing in conjunction with the development of Sufi brotherhoods and networks across the region in the 18th and 19th centuries. Zawiyas that were established in towns and staging posts along Saharan trading routes played a major role in the dissemination of Sufism and in establishing the influence of certain tariqas. Among the tariqas of major importance in West Africa were the Qadiriyya, a wide-ranging order originally begun by Abdul Qadir Gilani (d. 1166), and the Tijaniyya, whose founder Ahmad al-Tijani (d. 1815) is buried in his zawiya in Fez. Another example, the Muridiyya, was of major importance in the history of Senegal.[4]
Outside Africa
In the rest of the Islamic world, similar Sufi institutions usually went by other names such as a khanqah, tekke (or takkiya), or dargah (shrine), though these terms sometimes had more specific meanings.[4][6][5][18] In the early Ottoman Empire, the cognate term zaviye usually designated a multi-purpose religious complex that catered to Sufis and served as a place of worship.[19][4] Many important early Ottoman mosques such as the Green Mosque in Bursa, built in the early 15th century, are examples of this type.[19]
See also
Notes
References
- ^ Halstead, John P. (1967). Rebirth of a Nation; the Origins and Rise of Moroccan Nationalism, 1912–1944. Center for Middle Eastern Studies of Harvard University. pp. vi.
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- ^ ISBN 978-90-04-16121-4.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-506613-5.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-530991-1.
- ^ ISBN 978-90-04-08265-6.
- ISBN 978-0-253-21782-0.
- ^ Zangar, Saloua. "Madrasa and Zawiya of Sidi Abid al-Ghariani". Discover Islamic Art – Virtual Museum. Retrieved 2021-10-18.
- ^ Zangar, Saloua. "Sidi Sahib Zawiya and Madrasa". Discover Islamic Art – Virtual Museum. Retrieved 2021-10-18.
- ISBN 978-0-19-530991-1.
- ISBN 978-0-19-530991-1.
- ^ "Mulay Idris Mausoleum – Discover Islamic Art – Virtual Museum". islamicart.museumwnf.org. Retrieved 2021-10-19.
- ISBN 2-7233-0159-1.
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- ^ ISBN 978-977-416-077-6.
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- ^ ISBN 978-1-85149-604-4.