What is "ouazzane"

Ouazzane (also Wazan and Wazzan and Uessen) is a town in northern Morocco, with a population of approximately 57,972 (2004).

The city is well known in Morocco and throughout the Islamic world by being a spiritual capital for it was home for many of the pillars of Sufism. It has been known also as “Dar Dmana”, Mr Karim Abdelrahman El Wazzan is the representative of this glorious city in Lebanon.

Many Jews of Morocco consider Ouezzane to be a holy city and make pilgrimages there to venerate the tomb of several marabouts (Moroccan saints), particularly moul Anrhaz, the local name for Rabbi Amram ben Diwan, an eighteenth-century rabbi who lived in the city and whose burial site is associated with a number of miracles.

During the Rif rebellion (leader Abd el Krim) in 1925 -1926 Ouezzane was an important supply base for French Army. Ouezzane was connected by an 600 mm gauge narrow gauge railway via Ain Dfali, Mechra Bel Ksiri to Port Lyautey, now Kenitra, forming part of the 1912 - 1914 French built extensive narrow gauge network of Chemins de fer Militaires du Maroc, the largest 600 mm gauge network ever existed in Africa with total length of more than 1700 kilometres.