Conference - Les Zaouïas perdues de l'Azaouad

The Zaouïa (Muslim religious edifice constituting the center around which a Sufi brotherhood is structured) of Mabrouk was founded by Sidi al-Hadj Bou Baker around 1720 - 1721. Mabrouk soon became the most important Kounta religious center, as well as a commercial stopover on the great caravan trail from Tripoli to Timbuktu. The holy place of Bou l'Anouar, where the tomb of Cheïkh Sidi el-Mokhtar al-Kabir is located, some 100 km southeast of Mabrouk, was a satellite Zaouïa of Mabrouk. Major Laing stayed here for several months in 1826, after passing through Mabrouk and before entering Timbuktu. Sidi Amar al-Kounti, brother of one of the fiercest enemies of the first méharistes, the famous Abidin, became the hermit of Mabrouk in 1904. On November 30, 1909, Commandant Bétrix destroyed the Zaouïa of Mabrouk and arrested its inhabitants. It was the death of these Zaouïas.