Religious Reform Trends in IfraneAtlas-Alsaghir: The Traditional Coranic School of Tankert as a Model

Abstract

In the 14th century AH, a movement of religious and literary renaissance emerged in the oasis of Ifrane Atlas-Alsaghir that was called “The valley of the poets”. The religious jurists (الفقهاء) and the poets in this region are still contributing to literary and religious knowledge in the southern souss region, and in the Maghreb in general. The total of what was mentioned by the Ifranian poets reached more than twenty thousand verses of poetry, in addition to other works of prose and rhetoric as stated by Muhammad Al-MukhtarAlsoussi in his book Al-Maassoul (المعسول).
 This study aims to investigate into the roles of the traditional religious school of TankertinIfrane Atlas-Alsaghir, and its contribution in the field of intellectual and literary knowledge production in the domains of poetry, Sufism, and religious education. This paper will also provide an overview of the role of some prominent Ifranian local families in the emergence of Sufi trends like Ennasiriyah(الناصرية), Darqawi (الدرقاوية), and Tijania(التيجانية) religious movements. Furthermore, this study will shed more light on the social roles of the prominent religious poets and jurists who taught jurisprudence, literature and Sufism in this traditional Coranic School