What does it mean to be Muslim in Morocco ? | sur Jeunes Du Maroc, Portail des Jeunes
What does it mean to be Muslim in Morocco ? | sur Jeunes Du Maroc, Portail des Jeunes
The Moroccan constitution updated in 1996 states that people who are born in Morocco are by tradition Muslims- 85% to 90% are Sunnis
(Lamchichi, 1995, p.239). It implies that Moroccan citizens are not religiously free and have no choice in term of religion direction while it represents a public affair, yet it should private. According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s dictionary, “religion is one of the systems of faith that are based on the belief in the existence of a particular god or gods”. In reality, Moroccans do not follow Islam’s precepts and rules because of the educational system, the western influence, and the cult’s freedom. In fact, for example, in the Islamic religion as it is written is the Koran, the sacred book for Muslims, it is prohibited to have premarital relations for both men and women and it is forbidden to drink wine. However, Moroccans do it without paying attention to Islam and society. Also, politically, some Moroccans believe that the increasing of the Islamic party, PJD, is going to be a disaster since they strongly believe that they will live in the same context that people lived in Iran during 1979. All these ideas give no homogenous religious identity – in accordance with Oxford Advanced Learner’s dictionary “who or what somebody or something is”- to Moroccans. Indeed, what does it mean to be Muslim in Morocco ? I will try to propose a possible answer to this question in six parts : first, Moroccans’ points of view through a survey, second the conception of Islam by Moroccan intellectuals, third the ideas of famous figures in Muslim World, fourth foreign authors’ point of view, fifth the feedback of a seminar organized by a scholar group HEM (High Studies of Management), and finally position of Moroccan government about Moroccan citizens’ religious identity.
