What does mektoub (fate) mean in Morocco?

Mektoub means, literally, "it is written" — the sense that the course of events is already inscribed, that what was meant to be will be. It is one of those words that opens a small window onto a whole way of seeing the world. When something goes unexpectedly right or wrong, a Moroccan may simply shrug, smile, and say "mektoub", and a great deal is contained in that single word.

You will most often hear it when a plan bends. The connection is missed, the shop is closed, the weather turns — and rather than rail against it, people name it mektoub and move on. Travellers sometimes mistake this for fatalism or a lack of urgency, but I read it differently: it is a deep, practised equanimity, an unwillingness to be made miserable by what cannot be changed.

It works just as warmly in the other direction. A chance meeting, a lucky table at a full restaurant, a friendship struck up on a long drive — these too are mektoub, gifts that were written for you. I have heard guests, by the end of a trip, start using the word themselves about some happy accident of their journey, and it always makes me smile to hear it land so naturally.

My quiet advice to travellers is to borrow a little of this spirit. Morocco rewards flexibility; the trips that go best are the ones where a delayed start becomes an unexpected mint tea with a stranger. Holding your plans a touch more lightly — saying "mektoub" and seeing where the day actually wants to go — is, I think, one of the truest souvenirs you can carry home.