Imagine the picture: crowds of men dressed in traditional Tunisian clothes flooded all the entrances to the café, holding beads and wearing white cloak-like clothes. Outside, walking down the narrow white and blue steps from the Zawiya of Sidi Bou Said, there are several murids exiting the weekly group worship. The whiteness of their turbans and cloaks blends in with the white color of city walls. As they enter the café, the men form a circle around the center of the room.
Inside the cafe, despite its long existence, there are still old grey stone benches with palm fiber linings, which, one should think, are more than a few decades old. The walls of the café are decorated with Beylical Turkish pillars, colored in a red and green spiral pattern, from the ceiling to the floor. In the center of the room, there is a large incense lamp. Its natural smoky and sweet fragrance rises to the ceiling in a cloudy spiral, as though entering into a silent conversation with the murids who once visited it.
Al-Qahwa al Aliya Café of Sidi Bou Said has always been an integral meeting place for the Sufi turuq (orders) of Tunisia and Maghreb, especially the Shadhili tariqa which has deep historical roots in the town itself. At the end of the XII century, a man by the name of Abu Said al-Baji, a simple tailor from the mountains of Tunisia, settled down here in order to get knowledge in the mosque of al-Zaytuna. It was at this institution, where he began long and challenging path to knowledge, giving up his trade to study with some of the brightest and spiritual individuals not only in North Africa but also in the entire Islamic world. After completing his studies in Tunisia, Abu Said ventured to Mecca and Medina, followed by al-Sham. His studies also took him to Morocco where he studied in the circles of Abu Madyan (the famous scholar Imam al Ghazali referred to him in one of his works). It was said that he managed to communicate with the spiritual guide, Ibn Arabi, during his time in Mecca.
It was not until Abu Said reached a high spiritual state that he finally took to the hills of Tunis to teach the masses. In the mornings, he would retreat to the mountains, Jabal al-Manar, to be with God in solitude, and thereafter descend to the local mosque to teach. Among his disciples there were Abu Madyan, one with whom he would have a rather close relationship in the future, and Imam Abu Hasan al-Shadhili, the founder of Shadhili tariqa. It was in these circles of Abu Said al-Beji, under the orders of his teacher Abu Madyan, that Imam Abu Hasan would take the first steps in becoming the great scholar and theologian.
Abu Said’s greatest role came during a period of confusion in Tunisia, as Christian forces began to invade the country and beyond. Abu Said, in response to the situation, retreated to the distant mountains just north of the town, where he set up a Ribat (military and spiritual outpost), watching over the thousands of residents below. There, he could warn Tunis of an incoming attack and still remain vigilant in his spiritual state with God.
Abu Said passed away in 1231 and was buried in the outpost, which had been set up by him. Later, that place renamed after him and now it is the modern city of Sidi Bou Said. In the XVIII century, Mahmud Bey, the ruler of Tunis, built the Zawiya (small mosque or Sufi outpost) and the complex seen today, surrounding and distinguishing the noble burial place of Abu Said. Besides, Mahmud Bey built his own house in close proximity to Abu Said’s grave.
Taking into consideration the fact that Sidi Abu Said was the teacher of Imam Shadhili, his Zawiya and the town itself are of great importance both to the murids and murshids of the Shadhili tariqa. The café that sits beneath the Zawiya, therefore also is significant. It is located on the top of the incline that stretches farther to the mountain, higher and higher. With the old brick-lined streets making their way over and through the dips and bends of the mountain, the café stands distinctly apart from the rest of the white and blue town. Al Qahwa al Aliya is considered the entrance of the Zawiya itself. Historically, the men would enter through a staircase inside the warm café, walking past the satisfying aromas of coffee and incense, while the women, would enter from the door used by visitors today, which is above the café and tucked away from the busy city outside.
Every Thursday night, the café would be filled with visitors from the Zawiya. It was after the construction of the Zawiya, in 1700, that the café was added to the complex to accommodate the growing number of visitors. Upon its completion, it immediately gained great popularity among the local residents and tourists. It was the first thing people saw when they entered the town. Surrounding the complex there are still the resting places of several other scholars who were contemporaries and students of Imam Abu Said. It was essentially a place of worship for God, a place where people would gather together and discuss some sublime ideas while drinking their coffee.
Al Qahwa al Aliya is also one of the birthplaces of Tunisian Malouf, a melodious version of an epic. It was where poets and philosophers would challenge one another in fluency of language and speech. Poems praising the Beloved of God were recited inside the cafe to increase the blessings of the gatherings and their godliness. Visitors from the capital and surrounding boroughs would come to Sidi Bou Said to retreat from the intense summer heat and breathe in the fresh mountain air. Armed with several cups of Turkish coffee, poetry battles would ensue, deeper and deeper into the night, until people could take no more.
Unfortunately, as time went by, fewer and fewer murids appeared among visitors but rather ordinary tourists looking for beautiful locations for their photos, but not interested in the rich spiritual past of the local places. Of course, the café still performs its original function, but it is no longer the entrance to the Zawiya, which is still located higher. Now, in order to get to the monastery of knowledge, one has to ask the locals well, and it is not a fact that one will be able to find someone who points to the narrow white staircase hidden in the alley, which will lead you to the goal...
When you enter the café, you will feel an unusual aura, as though hundreds of awliya’ are invisibly present and waiting for ayahs from the Quran to sound in the middle of the institution, which happened many decades ago. But it never happens, as if the murids from the past have dissolved in the darkness of history… The Zawiya, where once there used to be endless number of teachers and pupils, has hidden today on the top of the hill, having become almost desolate and elapsed into obscurity. But there is a hope – the café is still full of visitors, which means that the Zawiya, built and exalted by Abu Said and his disciples, has not sunk into oblivion, but simply frozen in anticipation of the right moment and the return of the disciples...
Ilmira Gafiyatullina
Photo: Creative Commons