Msaken, Sousse Governorate, Tunisia

🇹🇳 M'saken (مساكن Msākan; Masakin; Msaken) is a town in north-eastern Tunisia, close to Sousse.

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 centre of a "delegation" (district) of the same name.

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, grandson of the prophet Muhammad. They had come to North Africa escaping from the Abbasid rulers of Baghdad, who had been engaged in a cruel fight against Sharifians (descendants of Husayn and his brother Hassan) the sons of Ali.

They founded a Sharifian Emirate in near present-day Tiaret in west-central Algeria. After three generations, following the fall of this Emirate, some of their descendants lived in eastern Morocco near Oujda for some time, before moving to Kairouan in Tunisia. After some decades, they founded the town of M'saken at the time of the Hafsid dynasty 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 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 of Sidi Ali ben Khalifa and over the centuries has been home to a number of Sufi 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 a branch of the Sahli dialect, specific to the Sahel, Tunisia 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. • Examples: • He went: Mshi (M'saken), Mshei (rest of Sahel), Mshe (Tunis), Msha (Central 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 region, in Nice 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.

Sport 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.