At the crossroads of West and sub-Saharan Africa, Europe, and the Mediterranean, its strategic position made the city of Fez in Morocco an important commercial and intellectual hub. Founded in the late eighth century by Moulay Idris I (r. 788–791) and developed by his son Moulay Idris II (r. 803–828), it quickly became one of the major urban centers of North Africa. Architectural and artistic patronage accompanied the economic prosperity of the city under the Almoravids (1054–1147) and the Marinids (1215–1465).

In the mid-tenth century, Fatima al-Fihri, a wealthy woman from Tunisia, founded the University of al-Qarawiyyin. The oldest university with uninterrupted activity in the world, al-Qarawiyyin attracted scholars and students from other parts of the Islamic world, contributing to the reputation of Fez as a city of knowledge. Many famous figures studied here including the great poet, mystic, and philosopher Ibn Arabi (1165–1240), who came from Al-Andalus in the Iberian Peninsula.

Fez also became a renowned center for Sufism. Sufi shaykh and writer Muhammad ibn Sulayman al-Jazuli (d. 1465) lived there before establishing his tariqa, a branch of the Shadhiliyya in the coastal city of Safi. He composed his famed Dala’il al-khayrat (Waymarks of Benefits), a collection of prayers on the Prophet Muhammad, one of the most popular prayer books in the Islamic world. After the Qur’an, it was also one of the most frequently copied works and often lavishly illuminated in Morocco before 1900.

Additionally, the Dala’il al-khayrat has the particularity to be a religious work decorated with illustrations. They consist of stylized representations of the funerary chamber of the Prophet Muhammad with the tombs of his successors Abu Bakr and Umar ibn al-Khattab in the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina as well as of the mihrab and minbar. After the seventeenth century, other images were introduced, such as the depiction of the sandals of the Prophet and of the sanctuary in Mecca.

The tomb of Shaykh Ahmad al-Tijani is located in the heart of his zawiya in Fez. Nested in the old city near al-Qarawiyyin, the building is richly decorated both inside and outside, with its unique minaret covered with turquoise tiles. It not only showcases the wealth of the Tijaniyya but also confirms the support of royal patronage as the Moroccan Sultan Moulay Sulayman (d. 1822) sponsored the zawiya’s construction.

Among the responsibilities of the members of the tariqa is following the leadership of the shaykh of their branch. They also show a deep respect for the Tijani silsila back to the order’s founder, Shaykh Ahmad al-Tijani. Like other Sufi brotherhoods, the practice of dhikr is central, but the Tijaniyya also has specific wird. For instance, the prayer upon the Prophet Muhammad called the Salat al-fatih (Prayer of the Opener) occupies a special place in Tijani practices. It is recited individually or in groups.

It reads:

Transmitted by Muhammad ibn Abi’l-Hasan al-Bakri, who lived in Egypt during the Mamluk period, the litany is attributed to Shaykh Ahmad al-Tijani by the members of the tariqa. It is also inscribed in gold naskh script around the cenotaph of Ahmad al-Tijani.

Throughout West Africa, and particularly in Senegal, Sufi tariqas, like the Tijaniyya, developed urban centers around their leaders, who oscillated between resistance to and conciliation with the French colonial power in the early twentieth century. Sufi shrines built in these cities are places for community gathering, especially on holidays, such as the gamou, the name in Wolof for the mawlid of the Prophet Muhammad.

As Eric Ross, professor of geography at Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco, mentions: “Senegal’s Sufi shrines are still being built and are continuously being enlarged and embellished. Rather than being windows onto the architectural past, they are evolving in the architectural present, producing a contemporary Islamic architecture with assertive African traits.”

Portraits of saints and Sufi leaders are ubiquitous. They are part of a particular Islamic visual culture that developed in West Africa. Such devotional images can be found on small, portative objects such as amulets, as well as on walls and motorized vehicles, especially taxis and minibuses.

Alongside the Tijanis, the Murid tariqa is one of the most popular brotherhoods in Senegal and embodied by the figure of its founder, Shaykh Amadou Bamba. A single photograph of him exists, taken in 1913, which has served as the sole source for the saint’s representations.

To complement the omnipresence of Sufi images in Senegalese public spaces is the sound of Sufi music. Extremely dynamic and popular, songs mix Sufi poetry in Arabic and praise poetry in the local Wolof language with modern rhythms and tempos, such as hip-hop and reggae. They also proliferate in video clips. Here, the famous hip-hop band Bideew Bou Bess interprets a song calling to the memory of highly revered Shaykh Ibrahima Niass (1900–1975), who is at the inception of the largest Tijani sub-branch in Senegal, centered in Medina Baye in the city of Kaolack. His followers and disciples affectionately refer to him as Baye (“father,” in Wolof). Textual and visual allusions to piety, Islamic faith, Sufi practices like dhikr, and reverence to Ibrahima Niass come together in praise of both God’s immanence and the shaykh’s transcendence.

Rachid Koraïchi’s family originated in Aïn Madhi, Ahmad al-Tijani’s birthplace, and has been part of the tariqa for generations. Deeply influenced by the teachings of al-Tijani and other major Sufi figures, Koraïchi has been creating works in which Sufism and mystical knowledge serve as a source of inspiration. For instance, with repetition of words and symbols, Les maîtres du temps (The Masters of Time) and Les osties bleues (The Blue Wafers) emphasize the practice of dhikr, which draws devotees closer to God. Adhering to Sufi principles, Koraïchi continues to be inspired by his own experience and the study of great philosophers and mystics.