M'saken ( ''Msākan''; also spelled ''Masakin'', ''Msaken'') is a town in north-eastern

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

, close to

Sousse Sousse or Soussa ( ar, سوسة, ; Berber:''Susa'') is a city in Tunisia, capital of the Sousse Governorate. Located south of the capital Tunis, the city has 271,428 inhabitants (2014). Sousse is in the central-east of the country, on the Gulf ...

Etymology

The origin of the word comes from "Msaken" masken (plural masken) meaning "habitat", "house" or "dwelling". This refers to "Houses of honorable people" (Masken el achraf)

Administration

The town is the administrative center of a "delegation" (district) of the same name, which at the 2014 Census had a population of 97,225.

Municipality

M'saken municipality was found in 19/02/1921. The actual municipal council was elected in the Local elections of Tunisia in May 9th, 2018. Its composition by party is as follows:

Villages A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...
and
town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...
s of
Delegation Delegation is the assignment of authority to another person (normally from a manager to a subordinate) to carry out specific activities. It is the process of distributing and entrusting work to another person,Schermerhorn, J., Davidson, P., Poole ...

The following villages and Towns are part of M'saken delegation

Notable people

Habib Chatti Habib Chatty (9 August 1916 – 6 March 1991) was a Tunisian politician and diplomat. He served as the fourth Secretary-General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) from 1979 to 1984. Biography Habi Chatty was born on 9 August 1916 i ...

, Politician, Diplomat * Karim Krifa, Politician. * Zied Ladhari, Politician. *

Zoubeir Baya Zoubeir Baya (or Beya) (; born 15 May 1971) is a Tunisian former professional footballer with a distinguished career as one of his country's most accomplished football exports. Baya, an attacking midfielder, displayed considerable skill and enter ...

, Football player *

Saïf Ghezal Saïf Ghezal ( ar, سيف غزال; born 30 June 1981 in M'saken) is a retired Tunisian footballer and current manager of Stade Gabèsien. Career Ghezal previously played for Étoile Sportive du Sahel, and participated at the 2007 FIFA Club W ...

, Football player. * Ridha Layouni: President of Association of National Olympic Academies of Africa (AANOA) and Former Tunisian National Olympic Committee. * Brahim Babaï, Producer. *

Jalila Hafsia Jalila Hafsia (born 1927) is a Tunisian writer. Born in Colonial Tunisia, published one of the first Tunisian novels written in French. Biography Hafsia was born in Sousse in 1927. After receiving her education she worked for several cultural i ...

, Journalist, Writer. * Chedly Anouar, Musician. * Mohamed Bellalouna, Politician.

Traditional doors

Traditional houses of M'saken have typical traditional doors which are also found in the neighbour villages and towns ( Zaouiet Sousse, Ouerdanine, Beni Kalthoum, :fr:Borjine, Moureddine ...). The door can be double or with single leaf, and has always a small leaf inside called khoukha (literally =pear). . . .

History

According to local tradition, M'saken was founded by a group of descendants of

Husayn Ibn Ali Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, أبو عبد الله الحسين بن علي بن أبي طالب; 10 January 626 – 10 October 680) was a grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a son of Ali ibn Abi ...

, grandson of the prophet

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...

. They had come to North Africa escaping from the

Abbasid The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...

rulers of Baghdad, who had been engaged in a cruel fight against

Sharif Sharīf ( ar, شريف, 'noble', 'highborn'), also spelled shareef or sherif, feminine sharīfa (), plural ashrāf (), shurafāʾ (), or (in the Maghreb) shurfāʾ, is a title used to designate a person descended, or claiming to be descended, fr ...

ians (descendants of Husayn and his brother

Hassan Hassan, Hasan, Hassane, Haasana, Hassaan, Asan, Hassun, Hasun, Hassen, Hasson or Hasani may refer to: People *Hassan (given name), Arabic given name and a list of people with that given name *Hassan (surname), Arabic, Jewish, Irish, and Scottis ...

) the sons of

Ali ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam. ...

. They founded a Sharifian

Emirate An emirate is a territory ruled by an emir, a title used by monarchs or high officeholders in the Muslim world. From a historical point of view, an emirate is a political-religious unit smaller than a caliphate. It can be considered equivalen ...

in near present-day

Tiaret Tiaret ( ar, تاهرت / تيارت; Berber: Tahert or Tihert, i.e. "Lioness") is a major city in northwestern Algeria that gives its name to the wider farming region of Tiaret Province. Both the town and region lie south-west of the capital o ...

in west-central

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

. After three generations, following the fall of this Emirate, some of their descendants lived in eastern Morocco near

Oujda Oujda ( ar, وجدة; ber, ⵡⵓⵊⴷⴰ, Wujda) is a major Moroccan city in its northeast near the border with Algeria. Oujda is the capital city of the Oriental region of northeastern Morocco and has a population of about 558,000 people. It ...

for some time, before moving to

Kairouan Kairouan (, ), also spelled El Qayrawān or Kairwan ( ar, ٱلْقَيْرَوَان, al-Qayrawān , aeb, script=Latn, Qeirwān ), is the capital of the Kairouan Governorate in Tunisia and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The city was founded by th ...

in Tunisia. After some decades, they founded the town of M'saken at the time of the

Hafsid dynasty The Hafsids ( ar, الحفصيون ) were a Sunni Muslim dynasty of Berber descentC. Magbaily Fyle, ''Introduction to the History of African Civilization: Precolonial Africa'', (University Press of America, 1999), 84. who ruled Ifriqiya (western ...

which was based in Tunis. Their town was originally called 'Kousour al Ashraf' (which means "Sharif's houses"), then 'Masakin al Ashraf' (which has the same meaning), and finally Masakin - or 'Msaken' as it is pronounced and spelled in North Africa. The town centre was built around the ''Jamma al Awsat'' (which means the central mosque) and was composed of five ksars (great houses).

Ksours of Msaken

The population which founded Msaken is composed of 5 groups (Ksour) having each a common paternal ancestor: * Ksar El Nejejra * Ksar El Menaama * Ksar El Jabliyine * Ksar El Qebliyine * Ksar El Jedidiyine

Historic monuments

The Awsat

Mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

of M'saken is among the oldest known monuments of M'saken city. It was founded around the year 1360.

Soufism

M'saken is known to be a religious city. It included the

Madrasa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...

of Sidi Ali ben Khalifa and over the centuries has been home to a number of

Sufi Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...

figures: * Sheikh Mohamed Gazzah * Sheikh Ladharai * Sidi Omar Shatti * Sidi Ali Ben Khalifa

Statistics

* Population: 125,694 inhabitants (Whole delegation 2018 census) * Altitude: 112 m * Number of hospitals: (private and public) 3

Traditional dresses

Traditional dresses of M'saken as typical of North Africa and more specifically of the Tunisian Sahel region. The Melya, traditional dress of women in North Africa, was used in M'saken but today it is no longer used. In Tunisia, each village or region uses a specific color for its women Houli (Melya). According to old people it had the color gold for M'saken women.

Dialect

M'saken people speak the Msakni dialect, which is branch of the Sahli dialect, specific to the

Sahel, Tunisia The Tunisian Sahel ( ar, الساحل) or more precisely the Central East Tunisia Region is an area of central eastern Tunisia and one of the six Tunisian regions. It stretches along the eastern shore, from Hammamet in the north to Mahdia in ...

region, and which is a Pre-Hilalian_Arabic_dialect and a citadin pre hilalian language The most characteristic word being the pronoun of the first person singular pronounced 'eni' in the Sahel instead of 'ena': In M'saken it is said 'yeni' by replacing the vowel 'e' by 'y' M'saken dialect is also recognisable by the strong vowel 'i' at the end of many words (nouns and verbs ) which are pronounced at the end with a soft 'i' in the rest of the Sahel and as 'e' or 'a' in the rest of Tunisia and

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

. * Examples: * He went: Mshi (M'saken), Mshei (rest of Sahel), Mshe (Tunis), Msha (Cetral and west Algeria) * He ate : Kli (M'saken), Klei (rest ofSahel), Kle(Tunis), Kla (Central and west Algeria) * Water: Mi (M'saken), Mei (rest of Sahel), Me(Tunis), Ma (Central and West Algeria) * Here: Hni (M'saken), Hnei(Rest of Sahel), Hne or Houni(Tunis), Hna (Central and West Algeria)

Migrations

M'saken has a large population living in foreign countries, mainly in France and more particularly in the

Côte d'Azur The French Riviera (known in French as the ; oc, Còsta d'Azur ; literal translation " Azure Coast") is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is usually considered to extend fro ...

region, in

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

and neighbouring areas. According to some sources, 40% of the population of M'saken lives outside Tunisia. The town's population increases very significantly in July and August every year following the return of migrants to their hometown for the holidays.

Climate

Köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies M'saken climate as hot semi-arid (BSh) bordering with hot-summer Mediterranean (Csa). It is considered to be a local steppe climate. There is little rainfall throughout the year. The average annual temperature is 18.3 °C in M'Saken. In a year, the average rainfall is 347 mm.

Sports

M'saken has many sport teams: * Football / Handball : Croissant Sportif de M'saken founded in 1945. * Rugby : Avenir sportif de M'saken founded in 1991.

References

populationweatherStatisticsMsaken Tree

External links

Commune de M'sakenM'saken ClimateMsakenian language (fr)
* {{Communes of Tunisia Populated places in Tunisia Communes of Tunisia