Shrine dubbed a 'dustbin' At the tomb of Ibn Tashfin in Marrakech, Morocco, passers by do not raise their heads to what has been written on the door, now covered in dirt. To its side, people smoke hashish. The people here a tourists, having their photos taken with monkeys and snakes, they don’t pay attention to the shrine of a great man who raised the banner of Morocco and Islam in Andalusia. Today the shrine is a dustbin.
There is no answer regarding the underlying cause of this neglect. Amid efforts to revive tourism and promote Egyptian identity, tourists visiting Marrakech do not know that within metres of the Lafna mosque there's the tomb of one of the Moroccan states founders.
It is strange that authorities in the city do not consider the shrine as an historical monument, as it belongs to the Sultan who united the tribes of Morocco and the peoples of Andalusia.
Mohammed Motfaker, a university professor and researcher in Moroccan heritage told Arabstoday that: "the historic city of Marrakech is experiencing terrible neglect that harms the history of the city and Morocco in general. Some of the monuments have been turned into a waste basket.”
Motfaker pointed out that some of the sites have become worse including the tomb of Ibn Tashvin, which is not befitting the leader and founder of the state Almoravid. He called to turn the shrine into a museum.
Ibn Tashfin made Marrakech, the city he founded as the capital of his kingdom in the year 465 AH to be the starting point for standardisation of the tribes of Morocco. Under his control, he built a strong and established navy which helped him in the inclusion of areas overlooking the Strait of Gibraltar.
A number of researchers and those interested in human history have called to make the tomb of Ibn Tashvin,a museum or a shrine testifying to the strength of the Islamic state.