Module 058 · Sacred Geography
Sab'atou Rijāl
The Seven Men of Marrakech
Marrakech is called the City of Seven Men. Not seven saints — Islam doesn't have saints. Seven awliya: people God blessed with a significance the living can still feel. Their tombs form a pilgrimage circuit that spirals counterclockwise through the medina — southeast to southwest, Tuesday to Monday — mirroring the circumambulation of the Kaaba in Mecca. The tradition was invented by Sultan Moulay Ismail in the late 17th century, but the men themselves span four centuries, from a blind Andalusi scholar to a silk merchant called The Alchemist.
Today is Thursday. On the ziyara, pilgrims would visit Sidi Bel Abbes — patron saint of marrakech. patron of the blind and the poor..
7
tombs in the circuit
7
days, Tue to Mon
379
years span (1149–1528)
200+
total awliya in Marrakech
The Ziyara Circuit
Counterclockwise through the medina. Numbered by pilgrimage day. Gold dashed line traces the route. Click a marker for details.
The Seven Men — In Pilgrimage Order
Sidi Yusuf ibn Ali
سيدي يوسف بن عليA leper and Sufi ascetic who lived outside the city walls because his disease barred him from entering. He turned exile into devotion, teaching from the margins. His zawiya became a refuge for the marginalized — the sick, the poor, those the city forgot. The pilgrimage begins here because the spiritual journey starts with humility.
Architecture
Simple zawiya outside the medina walls. Less ornate than the central shrines. The modesty is the point.
Ritual
Pilgrims begin the ziyara here at dawn on Tuesday. The southeastern starting point means the week-long circuit moves counterclockwise around the city — mirroring the tawaf around the Kaaba in Mecca.
Non-Muslims cannot enter. Visible from outside.
Qadi Iyyad
القاضي عياضThe oldest of the seven. Born in Ceuta, he was the leading Maliki jurist of the Almoravid era and author of al-Shifa, a treatise on the Prophet that is still studied across the Muslim world. He was exiled to Marrakech by the Almohads and died here. His caretaker offers prayers for visitors — and they are said to be answered.
Architecture
Nondescript from outside. Green pyramid roof visible above residential buildings. Easy to walk past without noticing. The woman who baked his bread, Lalla Mahalla, is buried near the entrance.
Ritual
Wednesday. Pilgrims enter the city proper for the first time. Students pray here before exams. The zawiya caretaker offers a lengthy dua for visitors.
One of the few zawiyas where non-Muslims have occasionally been admitted. Ask respectfully at the door.
Sidi Bel Abbes
سيدي بلعباسThe central figure of the seven. Born in Ceuta in 1129, he came to Marrakech during the Almohad siege and spent 40 years on Jbel Gueliz in solitary devotion. His doctrine was radical simplicity: compel the rich to give to the poor. He became patron of the blind, and food is still distributed at his tomb daily. His zawiya grew so popular it attracted an entire neighborhood outside the walls — which the city eventually absorbed.
Architecture
The largest and most elaborate complex. Saadian mosque and minaret (1605), madrasa, hospice, asylum, qaysariyya (covered market street leading to the entrance). Mausoleum has a green pyramid roof, zellij tiling, carved stucco, stained glass, painted wood cupola. Rebuilt by Moulay Ismail in the early 18th century.
Ritual
Thursday. The emotional center of the pilgrimage. Pilgrims exit through Bab Aylan and circle to the northern medina. Food distribution continues to this day. Commerce flourishes around the complex — Sidi Bel Abbes is also patron of merchants.
Non-Muslims cannot enter the mausoleum. The outer courtyards and market street are accessible.
Sidi Ben Slimane al-Jazuli
سيدي محمد بن سليمان الجزوليAuthor of Dala'il al-Khayrat (Guides to Good Deeds), the most widely read book of prayers on the Prophet after the Quran itself. A Jazula Berber from the Sous, he died suddenly while praying in Essaouira at age 75. The Saadians transferred his body to Marrakech in 1523 to claim his baraka. His prayer book has been copied, illustrated, and recited across the Muslim world for five centuries.
Architecture
Zawiya of Sidi Ben Slimane. Located in the dense northern medina south of Sidi Bel Abbes. The proximity of these two saints creates a sacred corridor through the northern quarter.
Ritual
Friday — the holiest day of the week. His zawiya is visited by those seeking spiritual discipline. The Dala'il al-Khayrat is still recited here daily.
Non-Muslims cannot enter.
Sidi Abd al-Aziz at-Tabba
سيدي عبد العزيز التباعBorn illiterate in Marrakech, he worked as a silk merchant (al-Harrar) before al-Jazuli recognized his potential and called him "The Alchemist." He studied 8 years in Fes before returning to build his zawiya. Women bring padlocks to close a window inside — the locks stay shut until their wishes are granted. He bridged two Sufi orders and advanced Islamic mysticism and science.
Architecture
Zellige tiles in the Fassi style, a traditional arched entrance with wooden eaves. Located in the Hay el-Qebbabin (Nejjarin) quarter, a neighborhood of turners and woodworkers.
Ritual
Saturday. Visited by those seeking healing — especially for skin diseases, eye ailments, and baldness. The padlock ritual makes this the most physically interactive of the seven shrines.
Non-Muslims cannot enter.
Sidi Abdallah al-Ghazwani
سيدي عبد الله الغزوانيA disciple of Sidi Abdelaziz who became so powerful he threatened the Marinid dynasty — and predicted its end. The sultan imprisoned him. When freed, he returned to Marrakech and built a zawiya in the El Ksour neighborhood. He also specialized in hydraulic engineering, constructing channels and sinking wells. A mystic who got his hands dirty.
Architecture
In the Derb Azouz area of the Mouassine quarter. The zawiya blends into the residential fabric of one of the medina's most atmospheric neighborhoods.
Ritual
Sunday. Pilgrims are now deep in the western medina, approaching the circuit's end. Al-Ghazwani's defiance of power makes this stop resonate with those facing worldly injustice.
Non-Muslims cannot enter.
Sidi al-Suhayli
سيدي السهيليBorn blind in Málaga during the Al-Andalus period. Despite this, he memorized the Quran, became fluent in Arabic (Spanish was his native tongue), and mastered Islamic law. He crossed the strait to Morocco and built a reputation as a hadith commentator. His tomb in the cemetery outside Bab er-Robb is the most difficult to reach — the pilgrimage ends at the city's southwestern edge, where the walls meet the cemetery and the mountains begin beyond.
Architecture
Green-roofed mausoleum visible across the cemetery but accessible only through it. The cemetery is closed to non-Muslims. Police guard the entrance.
Ritual
Monday. The circuit closes. The pilgrimage ends where the city ends — at the wall, facing the Atlas Mountains. Seven days. Seven tombs. One counterclockwise circle.
Muslim cemetery. Non-Muslims cannot enter. Visible from a distance near Bab er-Robb.
The Pattern
The Counterclockwise Circuit
The ziyara spirals counterclockwise: southeast → north → west → southwest. This mirrors the tawaf — the circumambulation of the Kaaba in Mecca. The direction was deliberate. Moulay Ismail wanted Marrakech to echo the holiest site in Islam. Pilgrims who couldn't afford the hajj could walk their own sacred circle.
The Political Invention
The pilgrimage didn't evolve organically. It was manufactured in the 1680s by Sultan Moulay Ismail to counter the popularity of the Regraga Berber saints near Essaouira. He chose mostly Arab saints to balance Berber spiritual influence. He asked the scholar al-Yusi to legitimate the new tradition. It worked. "The Seven Men" became another name for Marrakech itself.
The Teacher–Student Chain
Four of the seven are connected by a chain of transmission. Al-Jazuli (d. 1465) taught Sidi Abdelaziz (d. 1508), who taught al-Ghazwani (d. 1528). And Sidi Bel Abbes (d. 1204) studied under a student of Qadi Iyyad (d. 1149). The seven are not random selections — they're nodes in a Sufi knowledge network that spans the 12th to 16th centuries.
The Week
Reading Notes
Not saints
Islam doesn't canonize saints. The Arabic word is wali (plural awliya) — someone close to God, blessed with significance. The English "seven saints" is a mistranslation that stuck. Moroccans say sab'atou rijāl — seven men.
None are from Marrakech
Almost none were born here. Ceuta, Málaga, the Sous, Fes — they came from everywhere. Several had their bodies transferred to Marrakech long after death by sultans wanting to claim their baraka. Al-Jazuli was moved from Essaouira 58 years after he died. The seven are political as much as spiritual.
The locked wishes
At the tomb of Sidi Abdelaziz, women bring padlocks. They lock a window in the zawiya and keep the key. The lock stays shut until the wish is granted. The window is covered in locks. Some have been there for years.
Bab Doukkala monument
In 2005, the city inaugurated seven towers outside Bab Doukkala — the Place des Sept Saints. No signage explains what they are. Seven silent columns standing outside the medina wall. Most tourists walk past without knowing.
Sources: Deverdun, Gaston. Marrakech: des origines à 1912. Éditions Techniques Nord-Africaines, 1959. Wikipedia contributors. "Seven Saints of Marrakesh." Wikipedia. Parker, Richard. A Practical Guide to Islamic Monuments in Morocco. Baraka Press, 1981. Salmon, Georges. "Les Sept Patrons de Marrakech." Archives Marocaines, Vol. 3, 1905. Epton, Nina. Saints and Sorcerers. Cassell & Company, 1958. BirdLife International Sacred Natural Sites framework. Site coordinates verified via Google Earth and OpenStreetMap.
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