The first International Congress of Women’s Sufism will be held on June 10 and 11, 2026 in Rabat, at the initiative of the Academy of the Kingdom of Morocco, in partnership with the international NGO Waliyat, based in Paris. Placed under the theme “Awaken memory, enlighten the future”, this inaugural edition aims to raise awareness of the contribution of women in this field, where they “are estimated today at nearly 150 million across the world”.
As such, the conference aims to be an “unprecedented academic initiative” and a “founding moment for feminine Sufism”, bringing together around forty personalities from twenty countries. According to a press release from the organizers, this meeting is indeed attended by “Sufi representatives from all continents, institutional and cultural voices, internationally renowned researchers and thinkers, former ministers, as well as figures committed to dialogue, peace and the advancement of women.”
In this sense, the spirit of this event is intended to be a reflection of the essence of Sufism, inscribed “in more than fourteen centuries of Islamic history” and embodying “a heritage of great wealth, reflection of the diversity of humanity, which is expressed through the plurality of languages, territories and cultures”. “Thus, the recognition of the heritage of Sufi women, or matrimony, appears not as a correction, but as a necessity for those who wish to understand Sufism in its totality,” we underline.
Beyond the visibility of “feminine Sufism in the stories”, the idea is to propose avenues for “understanding its civilizational scope” and its anchoring “in the values of ethics, sobriety and wisdom”. A necessary reflection, according to the initiators, “to re-examine our models and contribute to the emergence of a fairer, more peaceful and sustainable world”.
