Moulay Idriss

The town grew out of the arrival of Idris ibn Abdallah, a great-grandson of the Prophet's grandson Hasan, who fled the Abbasid defeat of his family in the east and established himself at the old Roman town of Volubilis, on the plain below the Zerhoun hills. In 789 Amazigh tribes of the region accepted him as their leader, and from that alliance came the Idrisid dynasty, the first Muslim state in Morocco. He died in 791, allegedly poisoned by the caliph's agents, and the settlement moved up the hillside from the exposed Roman site to about where the present town stands; Fès, some 50 kilometres away, became the Idrisid capital under his son Idris II.

The tomb became the focus of a small town, and for centuries the Zerhoun was a place of retreat and pilgrimage. The buildings visible today are largely later: the sanctuary was rebuilt and enlarged in the 18th century by Moulay Ismail, who was reinforcing the Alaouite dynasty's claim to descent from the Prophet, and the round green-tiled minaret of the Sentissi Mosque was built in 1939. Stone, columns and tiles were carried up from the ruins of Volubilis over many generations.

Because of the shrine, the town had a special status. Non-Muslims were barred from it altogether until 1912, and could not stay overnight until 2005, after which guesthouses began to open in restored houses. Today the sanctuary is still closed to non-Muslims, while the streets, terraces and markets are open to everyone, and the town lives on pilgrimage, olives and the visitors who come up from Volubilis.

Life in Moulay Idriss is organised around the sanctuary. Pilgrims come throughout the year, individually and in groups, to pray at the tomb of the man Moroccans regard as the founder of their country, and the town's economy, calendar and manners follow them. Candles, incense, sweets and printed prayers are sold in the lanes, and the clerical families attached to the shrine have historically held considerable standing.

The great event is the moussem in August, when tens of thousands of people camp on the slopes around the town for days of prayer, sermons, drumming and processions, along with markets and displays of tbourida, the mounted charge in which riders fire muskets in unison. Sufi brotherhoods play a large part, and the atmosphere moves between devotion and fairground. Smaller gatherings mark the Prophet's birthday and the religious holidays.

The town is divided between its two hills, Khiber and Tasga, each with its own mosque, character and long-standing rivalry, expressed most visibly during festivals. Dress and behaviour are conservative — more so than in Meknès or Fès — and visitors who cover up, greet people and ask before taking photographs are made welcome. Tamazight is heard in the surrounding villages, Darija in the town.

About 12,000 people live in Moulay Idriss, in houses stacked up two steep hills where almost everything is reached by steps. Families have lived in the same quarters for generations, and the town has grown outwards along the lower road rather than upwards, with newer housing, the market ground and the taxi rank at the bottom.

Work comes from olives above all — the Zerhoun is covered in groves, and picking, pressing and selling oil shape the year — together with cereals and livestock on the surrounding slopes, shops and services for pilgrims, and a small tourism business built on guesthouses and on visitors going to Volubilis. Many households also rely on wages earned in Meknès, Fès or abroad, and young people commonly leave for work or study.

The days are quiet outside the pilgrimage seasons: bread taken to the communal oven in the morning, shops open late morning and again in the evening, men in the cafés on the square, children on the steps. Water supply, steep access for building and services, and the pressure of visitor numbers during the moussem are the recurring local concerns, along with the long decline of farm incomes in dry years.

Eating here is home cooking rather than restaurant cooking. Olive oil from the Zerhoun slopes and cured olives of several kinds are on every table, with round khobz bread baked in communal ovens, and the usual Moroccan repertoire of salads, harira soup, and tagines of chicken with preserved lemon and olives or lamb with prunes and almonds. Friday brings couscous steamed over a broth of meat and vegetables, and guesthouses often serve it to visitors.

The stalls around the sanctuary sell pilgrim food: slabs of nougat, sugared almonds, dates, dried figs and honeyed pastries such as chebakia and briouat, bought to eat on the spot or carried home as a blessing. Grills on the main square cook brochettes, kefta and merguez with cumin and salt, and bowls of bissara, the thick broad-bean soup, are a cheap breakfast in cold weather.

Mint tea, poured from height and heavily sugared, marks every arrival and departure, and fresh orange juice is sold in season. The surrounding plain is one of Morocco's main wine regions, but this is a shrine town: alcohol is neither sold nor drunk here, and visitors are expected to respect that.