The Ecosystem

At the Riad the rules govern a single house, with its council, the majlis al-umanāʾ, and its arbitral panel, the hayʾat at-taḥkīm. Beside it, Al-Munya is the body, and the company that holds it: distinct from the House, with its own members and its own investors. Inside Al-Munya stand two houses: Dār al-Aṣl, where those invited by the community lodge without charge, whose costs fall on the company; and Dār al-Diyāfa, where the nudamāʾ and their guests lodge against payment, whose proceeds remain with the company. The company pays the Riad an annual fee, regardless of profits. An-Nudamāʾ is the body of the ninety-nine founders, with its own treasury to fund the Riad: it is not a house. At the Funduq the same rules hold five bodies apart (the House, the cooperative of the masters trained in Fez who work there, the farming, Al-Munya and An-Nudamāʾ) each with its own assets and its own liability; inside Al-Munya, again, Dār al-Aṣl (those invited by the community) and Dār al-Diyāfa (the nudamāʾ and their guests). The structure is the same in both seats, and the houses are equal in rule and in dignity; their function is distinct, for the house in Fez trains the masters and the Funduq gives them work and chooses the young men who will go to Fez. This is the part of the house that is not seen and that decides whether the other two last, because a community with rules of its own lasts as long as the contract it has written, and the contract is the same in both houses.

One building, two houses, the same in both seats. Dār al-Aṣl receives those invited by the community; Dār al-Diyāfa lodges the nudamāʾ and their guests. An-Nudamāʾ does not appear in this drawing: it is not a house.