- Opening hours: Mon. to Fri. 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Carrying a strong message of peace, the Fes Festival of Sufi Culture continues to convey the noblest universal values, those of Sufism and spirituality. The 6th edition, dedicated to the theme of "Sufi sapiences" (hikam), was opened on Thursday, 12 April, in the large Batha hall, in the presence of illustrious Sufi thinkers, intellectuals, men of letters, and artists.
Speaking on this occasion, the Festival director, Faouzi Skali, explained that the event will allow participants to travel through the different expressions of culture and Sufism by making them discover the different aspects of "hikam". "This year, we have chosen the theme of Sufi sapiences (hikam), which are phrases of wisdom and popular literary expressions that have accompanied the history of Sufism for centuries. Among the most well-known 'hikam', we can cite those of Ibn Atallah Al-Iskandari, which have been translated into several languages and are part of the common heritage. These 'hikam' have nourished the meditations and hearts of disciples, but also a collective culture imbued with the values and intellectual and spiritual conceptions that have woven the matrix of Islamic civilisation," he indicated. He added: "Currently, we cannot speak of development without taking into account cultural and spiritual heritage. I believe that Morocco has a particularly rich and fertile heritage in this field and that this festival could revive this imaginary and this spiritual memory".
For her part, Bariza Khiari, a French senator from Paris, returned on this occasion to the tribute paid by the festival this year to the Pakistani Sufi thinker and poet Mohammed Iqbal. "He is a monument of mysticism and Sufism who was also an accomplished politician. Mohammed Iqbal was able to rise spiritually in an extraordinary way, proving that the Sufi is not only the one who tries to save his soul, but the one who has, above all, a civic commitment," she specified. In the wake of this inauguration ceremony, marked by a short "samaâ" performance by the Tariqa Khalwatiya of Turkey, the public was able to attend a conference on the literature of Sufi sapiences (hikam) in the Sufi tradition.
The first day of the Festival was also marked by another conference on "hikam" and poetry in the work of Muhammad Iqbal, the Pakistani Sufi thinker and poet who died in 1938, to whom this 6th edition pays tribute, as well as by concerts by the Tariqa Charqawiyya of Morocco and the Indian Nidhamouddine brotherhood of New Delhi. Furthermore, a concert of Arab-Andalusian music and "samaâ" from the Sufi brotherhoods of Morocco will close the Festival in style on 14 April.
Provider / Source : Afaf Razouki, Le Matin
