Tamegroute (also spelled Tamgrout; Berber: ⵜⴰⵎⴳⵔⵓⵜ , Arabic: تامكروت) is a village located in the Draa River valley in southern Morocco. It historically served as a hub of learning and religion through its famous Sufizawiya. This was a historical center of the Nasiriyya order, one of the most influential (and at one time one of the largest) Sufi orders in the Islamic world. Tamegroute's glazed ceramics are also very well known.
Tamegroute has been a religious center since the 11th century. It had a religious school made famous by Abu Hafs Umar b. Ahmed al Ansari in 1575–76. The Nasiriyya order took its name from founder Sidi Muhammad bin Nasir al-Drawi (1603–1674), who took over teaching at the Tamegroute zawiya in the 1640s.[1]
The 19th sheikh Abu Bekr is well-known, in the Draa valley (zawiya in Mhamid Ghuslan) and in the west through his encounters with the travelers Gerhard Rohlfs[2] and Charles de Foucauld. In order to view the books at the library, a permit must be obtained from the Moroccan government, which allows you to handle the books inside the library only. The books collected by Ali Ben include texts on medicine, Qu'ranic learning and astrology, as well as mathematics and the sciences.[3]
Moussem
A month after the greatest Islam holy day of Aid el-Kebir, Tamegroute hosts the yearly Moussem (festival) honoring Sidi Muhammad bin Nasir.
Pottery
The outdoor weekly market (souk) is held on Saturdays in the city center, where people can admire all kinds of pottery.[4]
The Nasiriyya - Abstract from David Gutelius' dissertation, "Market Growth and Social Change in the Western Maghrib, 1640-1830."[1]
Article: The path is easy and the benefits large: The Nasiriyya, social networks and economic change in Morocco, 1640–1830, from: The Journal of African History, Gutelius, David P.V., 01-Jan-02 [2][permanent dead link]
Agriculture, Sufism and the State in Tenth/Sixteenth-Century Morocco, by Francisco Rodriguez-Manas, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 59, No. 3 (1996), pp. 450–471 [3]
^Tamegruti is the author of Al-Nafha al Miskiya fi al Sifara al Turkiya (Arabic title), (A 16th century travel account of Istanbul by a Moroccan ambassador), Keta-books, 2002 (French translation: Relation d'une ambassade marocaine en Turquie, 1589–1591, par Abou-l-Hasan Ali ben Mohammed et-Tamgrouti, traduite et annotée par Henry de Castries, Paris, 1929)