In the course of Moroccan history, Marabouts did not only have this role of religious censorship over princes (not hesitating to chase them away when they think they no longer deserve to govern). They were also, in the absence of an established central power, the arbiters who settled disputes and conflicts between tribes in perpetual competition for access to natural resources (water, pastures...). Among these groups in perpetual conflict, there was a necessity and a need to have a place where they could keep on talking and trading, while waging wars on each other: The inviolable sanctuary (P. Pascon 1972)

The sense of this term has undergone, like so many other terms, the erosion of history. Nowadays, a marabout or a ‘saint’ or ‘holly man’ point at a character (real, generally) whose qualities : wisdom, thorough knowledge of religious texts (real or supposed) and especially the baraka (divine blessing) make of him an intermediate to God.

There exist, probably, no live marabout (unless only the appearance has changed) . Today, this term stands for a shrine where ancient saints are supposed to be buried.

A marabout who could establish himself as so among the people to whom he preached the word of God used to found a zouia (a mosque where disciples engage in prayer, preaching and incantations). After his death, the zaouia and its baraka (divine blessing, saintly aura) are taken over by a successor, who is generally chosen among the descendants of the marabout, who becomes marabout himself. Biological transmission of spirituality is a firm belief among Muslims. That’s why the Chorfa (supposedly descendants of prophet Muhammad) benefit from every Muslim’s respect.

“The zaouia starts up in poverty and asceticism; investing in the mystique and in sainthood, but also and especially in the eccentric, the unconventional, the extraordinary and the prodigious. Theological knowledge coupled with poverty, in a rough cultural milieu, produces miracles, strikes the imagination.… Silence, for a good teller, confines to sainthood and to the proximity of God” writes P.Pascon, in “ le Haouz de Marrakech” (p 256). The same author goes on saying “Marabutism … is the vulgar management of degraded forms of rustic mysticism, …It is the abortive product of theocracy that usurps the sainthood of great ancestors to obtain some profits from simple souls and to manipulate insignificant local powers”

This degraded form of sainthood dates back (at least) to mid XIX century. Talking about Sidi Daoud, marabout of Boujaad, De Foucauld writes: " the Sid (saint) possesses a library, but it is seldom consulted. The saints profit from the good things God has given them to spend their lives in the middle of agreeable legitimate pleasures: besides, God blesses them with everything. Nowhere else have I seen such a great number of mulattos (Reconnaissance au Maroc, 1883-1884, P.54,55).