Rabat: 1 November 2026

The Driss Ben Mamoun Association for Research and Creativity in Malhoun Art in Salé honored Dr. Abdelilah Benarafa, Deputy Director-General of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), during the opening ceremony of the 12th National Malhoun Days in Salé on Friday, 30 October 2026. The Association dedicated this edition to celebrating Dr. Benarafa’s literary and academic contributions, in recognition of his role in enriching the cultural landscape in the Arab and Islamic worlds.

Organized in partnership with the Municipality of Salé and the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Sports of the Kingdom of Morocco, the event began on Thursday, 29 October 2026, with a symposium at the Aboubakr El Kadiri Foundation for Thought and Culture in Salé. Titled “Abdelilah Benarafa: Paths of Knowledge and Creativity across Linguistics, Textual Scholarship, Sufi Studies, the Novel and Cultural Action,” the symposium featured Dr. Omar Halli, President of the Arab Open University in Morocco, who discussed “Abdelilah Benarafa’s Novelistic Experience”; Dr. Noura Akhrou, who presented a paper on the novelistic expression of spiritual identity; Dr. Mohamed Tohami El Harrak, who delivered a testimonial titled “When Friendship Becomes a Spiritual Station: A Testimonial Written with the Ink of Passion”; and Dr. Said Benfarhi, who addressed “Prophetic Praise through the Malhoun Masters of Salé.”

Held under the theme “Malhoun Art: An Embodiment of Moroccan Identity in Its Various Expressions,” this edition features a wide range of artistic activities. Malhoun art is inscribed on the Islamic World Heritage List as a poetic and musical corpus that preserves identity, heritage, memory and language.