Ouazzane (also Ouezzane) (
Berber: ⵡⴰⵣⵣⴰⵏ, ar, وزان) is a town in northern
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...
, with a population of 59,606 recorded in the
2014 Moroccan census
The 2014 Moroccan census The moroccan census of the population, officially named general census of the population and the habitat (RGPH), is a census taking place every ten years in the kingdom. It is established under the responsibility of the Hig ...
.
[
The city is well known in Morocco and throughout the Islamic world as a spiritual capital for it was home for several pillars of Sufism. It has been known also as "Dar Dmana" ("House of Safety") due to its containing the tomb of the 18th-century Idrisi Sharif.]pilgrimage
A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...
s there to venerate the tomb of several marabout
A marabout ( ar, مُرابِط, murābiṭ, lit=one who is attached/garrisoned) is a Muslim religious leader and teacher who historically had the function of a chaplain serving as a part of an Islamic army, notably in North Africa and the Sah ...
s (Moroccan saints), particularly ''moul Anrhaz'', the local name for Rabbi
A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...
Amram ben Diwan, an eighteenth-century rabbi who lived in the city and whose burial site is associated with a number of miracle
A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divi ...
s.
During the Rif rebellion (leader Abd el Krim) in 1925 -1926 Ouazzane was an important supply base for the French Army. Ouazzane was connected by a 600 mm gauge narrow gauge
A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and .
Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...
railway via Ain Dfali, Mechra Bel Ksiri to Port Lyautey, now Kenitra
Kenitra ( ar, القُنَيْطَرَة, , , ; ber, ⵇⵏⵉⵟⵔⴰ, Qniṭra; french: Kénitra) is a city in north western Morocco, formerly known as Port Lyautey from 1932 to 1956. It is a port on the Sebou river, has a population in 201 ...
, forming part of the 1912–1914 French built extensive narrow gauge network of Chemins de fer Militaires du Maroc, the largest 600 mm gauge network that ever existed in Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
with a total length of more than 1702 kilometres.
References
External links
Lexicorient
{{Authority control
Jewish pilgrimage sites
Populated places in Ouezzane Province
Provincial capitals in Morocco
Morocco geography articles needing translation from French Wikipedia