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| Africa North |
| Women preachers: Morocco's new weapon against Islamic extremism |
| 2006-04-30 |
| In a project unknown in Islam, Morocco has just graduated its first team of women preachers to be deployed as a vanguard in the kingdom's fight against any slide toward Islamic extremism. "This is a rare experiment in the Muslim world," proudly stated Mohamed Mahfoud, director of the center attached to the Islamic affairs ministry that trained this first class of 50 women. Ministry spokesman Hamid Rono said that it was the "first [of its kind] in the Islamic world". This pioneer group of Morchidat, or guides, who finished a 12-month course in early April, were trained to "accompany and orient" Muslim faithful, notably in prisons, hospitals and schools, said Mahfoud. They will earn a salary of 5,000 dirhams ($560) per month. Short and plump, a scarf knotted around her head to cover her hair in line with religious custom, a smiling Smira Marzouk, in her 30s like most of the others, exclaims how "proud" she is to be part of this first group. She sees their mission as one to "fill in the gaps that prevent a solid framework for religion". "We are going to teach a tolerant Islam by focusing on the underprivileged classes," she added. They will notably work with women and children in poor ghettoes seen as fertile ground for extremist recruiters. The idea of the Morchidat, spearheaded by King Mohammed VI and the government, took off after Islamic extremist attacks in the Moroccan economic capital Casablanca on May 16, 2003, claimed 45 lives - including the 12 bombers - and left dozens of others wounded. The King - who is a descendant of Islam's founder, the Prophet Mohammed, and enjoys wide powers - had already started reshaping religious structures to rein in any extremist drift in his North African country, which borders Algeria where violence between government forces and armed Islamic extremists has caused more than 150,000 deaths since 1992. But the synchronized suicide bomb attacks that hit Jewish and foreign targets gave new urgency to the initiative. More than 2,000 people were arrested in vast police sweeps after the May bombings as the king vowed that the attacks would be the last to rock Morocco. Investigators concluded that those behind the incident had indeed sought recruits in the teeming slums around Casablanca, Morocco's biggest city. Marzouk, a young married woman with a diploma in Arab literature who said that she knows the Koran by heart, was quick to specify that she is "not going to take the place of an imam". "The imamate in Islam is restricted solely to men who are apt at leading prayers, notably those on Friday," the Islamic holy day, she said. "The Morchidat will be in charge of leading religious discussions, give courses in Islam, give moral support to people in difficulty and guide the faithful toward a tolerant Islam," she added. Another graduate, Leila Fares, a lively young woman who holds a degree in Islamic studies, said that she saw the Morchidat's role as promoting "the true face of Islam". "We will help attenuate any drift toward Islamic extremism," she said, stressing that "an overall approach is needed to dealing with radical Islam". During the yearlong course, the curriculum ranged from Islamic studies to psychology, sociology, computer skills, economy, law and business management. "Sports was the only subject dropped from the women preachers' training because the schedule was just too tight," regretted Mahfoud, who hopes to include it for the second batch of Morchidat trainees, whose applications are now being accepted. For the Islamic affairs minister, Ahmed Taoufiq, the Morchidat will also "instruct women on their basis religious duties". He said that religious radicalism was not part of Morocco's culture "but you can never prevent evil one hundred percent". Morocco's Islamic fundamentalists are divided over the initiative. For one, Islamist deputy Mustapha Ramid with the Islamist Justice and Development party (PJD), the main opposition group with 43 seats in the 325-member parliament, the Morchidat is a "positive" development. "I see nothing more to say about this initiative because in Islam, men and women are equal," he said, pointing to Egypt that has "eminent women scholars of Islam". But the head of the youth group in Morocco's most radical Islamic fundamentalist association, Al Adl Wal Ihssane (Justice and Welfare), forecast that it would have no effect on the ground. "The power behind this initiative is the same as the one that commits acts contrary to Islam, notably degrading moral values," said Hassan Bennajeh, whose group is part of an Islamist movement that preaches non-violence and is unrecognized by authorities but still influential. "This initiative, then, will only have a limited impact on the population," said Bennajeh. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #1 Repeat, Anonymoose. This was posted a few days ago, I remember commenting on it. But then, you're a bit busier than I. ;-) |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-04-30 20:08 |