Khniss 4.54

Khniss is a small city in the Tunisian Sahel region, located on the central coastline of Tunisia, 30km south of Soussa and about 180 km from the capital Tunis. Its population is estimated at around 12,000.Khniss is the hometown of the famous Tunisian linguist Abu Isaak Al Khounaysi who taught linguistics and grammar in the first Islamic university and research center in Africa built by the Aghlabites in Kairouan according to the Tunisian historian Hassan Hosni Abdul-Wahab.The exact significance of the word Khniss remains mysterious. Some invoke a possible meaning of Church as a deformation of the Arabic word "kanis", others suggest a link to the word "khounais" meaning depression in Arabic. Others think the city and its name are of Berber origins, however the word itself is not known. In Iraq there is an old historical Assyrian village with the name of Khniss. Also in Morocco there is a village in a Berber area with the same name. Although this may give more credit to a version arguing for a Berber origin of the word, all these guesses and hints needs further investigations.The people of Khniss are known as peaceful, hard working, honest, and hospitable. The city is characterized by a disproportionately large number of brilliant teachers, academia, doctors, and engineers, all passionate and proud of their modest origins.HistoryThe city provided refuge to Arab and Muslim families evicted from Muslim Sicily after the Norman conquest. Some sources mention the migrations of the Sicilians to Khniss in the 10th and 11th centuries in two waves. Neighboring Monastir, is the hometown of a very famous scholar called Sidi El Mezri originating from Mazara in Sicily.Traditionally, the economic activity of the city was based on olive farming, fishing, stone quarries, and on handcraft textile. Khniss specialized in wool processing and in weaving different sorts of high quality traditional woolen blankets, such as "ferrachia" and "abena" ; dresses such as "barnous" and "kedroun"; carpets, rugs and "Klim", etc. Nowadays, the local economy is more diversified, but still dominated by an important export oriented textile industry, mostly for ready-made clothing. With the modern structure of the textile industry, the traditional woolen textile activity, which missed on the latest innovations and technologies, got a severe shock and its economic importance has declined. There is a real threat that the traditional know-how in processing woolen textiles completely fades away.