Climbing the Mountain

By this time, towards the last month of our trip, the Rujulah Retreat attendees and some friends from Canada had arrived in Fez. One day, my mother and I took our friend to visit some of the graves and mausoleums of the saints at the Bab al-Futuh graveyard, overlooking Fez. We had already been, but she needed a guide and we were always up for an outing. 

The climb was much harder than it looked. There isn't a walkway, just footpaths visitors had created over the years, and the terrain was rocky and treacherous. Though we began our trip early, the sun was still hot, and soon we were sweating and thinking longingly of water. 

​The trek was well worth it for the view alone though.

Our first visit was to the grave of Abdul Wahid ibn 'Ashir, a premier scholar of law. I memorized part of his famous poem on Islamic creed as a little girl. We would not have found his burial grounds were it not for our guide (one of many who work the graveyards as guides).

Then we were off, climbing higher and slightly eastwards, when suddenly my mom cried out, squinting into the sun's glare. She had spotted someone she later swore she had been wondering if she would meet. It was a little old lady who, on my mother's most recent previous visit to Fez, had guided her directly to many of the greatest mausoleums.

They greeted each other cheerily, and the lady led us on, now going on a slight descent, for which we were grateful for. At last we came to a building with the characteristic dome designating it the final resting place of someone of high importance.

It was the gravesite of the brother-saints, Yusuf and Abdulrahman Al-Fasi. It was a beautiful place serene and cool under a cloud of jasmine and a towering tree, and completely empty.

The descent down was very quick and quite fun. We refreshed ourselves with fresh lemonade from a rolling cart swarming with fairly harmless though quite terrifying looking bees.