SIDI BOUMEDIENE MOSQUE

Choïab Ibn Hocine El-Andaloussi, known as Sidi Boumediene, was born in Seville in 1126. He was initiated into Sufism in Fez by Sheikh Abou Al-Hassan Ibn Harzihim, before retiring to the outskirts of Tlemcen. His spiritual quest then led him to Mecca, where he became a disciple of Sheikh Sidi Abdelkader El-Djilali. He then took his teachings to Baghdad, Seville and Cordoba, before settling in Bejaïa, where he married and spent the last years of his life. In 1197, he was summoned by the Sultan of Marrakech, but when he came within sight of Tlemcen, at Aïn-Tekbalet to be precise, he stopped in front of the ribat (monastery-fortress) of El-Eubbad and exclaimed " this is a good place to sleep in peace! " before falling into "eternal sleep". Nicknamed the Sheikh of Sheikhs or the Ouali, "God's friend", Sidi Boumediene is the perfect holy man, the "savior" (al ghaout) to whom all is asked, and his mausoleum is the goal of numerous pilgrimages. Among other things, he is credited with saying: " By praising what he believes, the believer praises his own soul, and that's why he condemns beliefs foreign to his own. If he were just, he would not do so. "

Ransacked and burned down in the early 1990s, the sanctuary has undergone extensive renovation work, restoring it to its pristine splendor. The mosque was built in 1328 by Abu El-Hassan, Merinid sultan of Fez. It is reached by a dozen or so steps up to a very impressive monumental porch, whose heavy cedar-wood door, covered with bronze plates fixed by finely decorated nails, is so massive that it requires a rather fantastic locking system. It is said that this door, originally made in Spain, miraculously arrived alone by sea. Beyond the square courtyard, whose center is marked by a basin for ablutions, the prayer hall consists of five naves. The delicate mihrab is marked by a beautiful openwork dome. The cedarwood minbar was donated by Emir Abdelkader. On either side of the mosque, outbuildings included baths, a medersa (1347) and a guest house. The historian Ibn Khaldun lectured in the medersa. You can also visit his mausoleum on site, at the top of the staircase that starts just above the Sidi Boumediene site (ask on site if you can't find it). After entering the sanctuary, a door on the left and a narrow staircase lead down to Sidi Boumediene's tomb. A visit not to be missed.