Equality grows in green oasis

SUFI-FOUNDED VILLAGE: ALL BROTHERS, IF SOMEONE NEEDS SOMETHING, WE WORK TOGETHER’

French visitor passes on environmental ethos to the locals.

For the residents of Maaden, a green oasis nestled in the depths of the vast Mauritanian desert, communal living, spirituality and sustainable agriculture are the keys to a harmonious existence.

In 1975, Sufi spiritual guide Mohammed Lemine Sidina founded a village in this remote spot at the centre of the West African state, naming it Maaden el Ervane, or “the deposit of knowledge” in the local Arabic dialect.

On a patch of fertile land overlooked by a small outcrop, Sidina built a community based on equality, fraternity, tolerance and hard work. More than 20 years after the Sheikh’s death, his legacy lives on.

“Here there is equality. No caste, no race,” said Djibril Niang, 70, who arrived from Senegal 50 years ago and never left. “We are all brothers. If someone needs something, we all work together to help them.”

Niang ended up marrying his spiritual mentor’s daughter – an interracial union “which was unthinkable” at the time, he said.