Bacha Driss Menou

Born in 1874, the deceased Bacha of the Marrakesh-Meknes region, Driss Menou, considered as one of the political, national and historical figures of Marrakesh. He was a patriot at heart, sincere in his love for his country, attached to the legitimate authority of the country. Driss Menou, son of Hajj Mohamed Menou, the supreme commander of the Moroccan army, belongs to one of the noble Wazzan families, who settled in Ida and Menou in the Souss region. He grew up with the honorable sons of Sultan Hassan I, Moulay Abdelaziz and Moulay Abdelhafid. They headed to Elhmer region where they learned the sciences of jurisprudence, astrology and the Arabic language. Thus, during the reign of Sultan Abdelhafid, he was named Bacha of the Marrakesh-Meknes region. In 1929, the sultan's son married the Bacha's only daughter, which proves the attachment that united the two families. This district is a witness of the services that the Bacha rendered to the resident people, in particular the construction of the mosque of Darb, where a group of people received their initial education in the memorization of the Noble Coran. These facts and others are reported by the scholar Muhammad Al-Mukhtar Al-Susi in his famous book “Around the lunch table", the table where dignitaries met at that time. The Bacha died in 1958 and was buried in the mausoleum of Sidi Al-Hassan and Ali. This Riad is a masterpiece and historical monument of Islamic art since its construction in 1896, testifying to a series of political decisions taken which marked the history of Marrakesh and Morocco during the colonial period.