Separation of Religion and State in Morocco - Research Paper Example

Separation of Religion and State in Morocco Introduction A recent Gallup study in ten primarily Muslim countries, having an excess of 80% of the worldwide Muslim populace, illustrates that while inquired what they respect for the most part concerning the West, Muslims often refer to political freedom, autonomy, fair legal systems, and freedom of communication. Fanaticism and poor loyalty to Islamic teachings were their big complaints, once asked them to analysis their own societies. Even though Muslims talk and approve of freedom and an open political system, Gallup research hint that they do not think they have to opt among Islam and democracy, but both can exist together within one efficient administration. Even if a lot of Muslims have positive outlook in the direction of a comprehensive political administration, Gallup polling point out that their thoughts of freedom do not necessitate a separation of religion and the state. Majority of Muslims quote the significance of the role of Islam in governance. The survey showed extensive support for Sharia, Islamic ideologies that are usually seen as leading all aspects of life from the routine to the most complicated. The existence of the Sharia as a basis of legislation does not clash with outlining a constitution, for Muslims, which would permit freedom to talk. The bulk in all countries reviewed (the maximum being 99% in Lebanon, 94% in Egypt, 92% in Iran, and 91% in Morocco) showed that if they were outlining a fresh constitution, that would assure freedom to express opinion of people on political, social, and economic issues. Support or freedom of religion and freedom of assembly is as well strong in the majority nations (Mogahed n. pag.). Morocco discovered Islam a long while ago during the expansion of the great Muslim empire around the 7th cerntury. Back in that era, what is today called the Kingdom of Morocco was only a number of berber tribes obeying to any civilization that would conquer them. But, since Islam took over the Maghrib, no one ever questioned its supremacy. Throughout the centuries, Islam became deeply rooted in the Moroccan tradition and ended up governing the region as this following quote shows it. «In 1559, the region fell to successive Arab tribes claiming descent from the Prophet Muhammad: first the Saadi Dynasty who ruled from 1511 to 1659 and then the Alaouites, who founded a dynasty that has remained in power since the 17th century» (history of Morocco 1). Indeed, since the same dinasty has been ruling the country for more than 400 years and that this dinasty claims to descend from the Muslim Prophet, the population built up around the religous atmosphere of Islam and its ideas. While the Kingdom of Morocco was becoming a unified nation with a stable political system, Islam always remained a major part of the regime by being declared official religion of the country by the king. The king’s wish to keep Islam close to the government and to the way decisions are made in Morocco was even more striking when he declared himself ‘commander of the faithful’ and decided to preserve all the traditions regarding the allegiance to the sovereign (Maghraoui 195). Indeed, every single appearance of the king is conducted by prayers meant to preserve the king and bless him. However, in my opinion, the two main evidences of Islam’s involvement in Moroccan politics are the ministry of Habous and Islamic affairs also the televisual diffusion of Salat Al Jumuâa which litteraly means the prayor of Friday (Most important prayor of the week). The statistic given by the Library of Congress-Federal Research Davison in their « Country Profile: Morocco » published in May 2006 which declares that 99 percent of the Moroccans are Muslims seems now obvious (Wikipedia, (n.pag). It is important to describe the function of the ministry of Habous and Islamic affairs for understanding how the religion is a part of the government in the Kingdom of Morocco. Being a religious country, Morocco has to make sure that the Imams are qualified to run a prayer and that they have enough knowledge to preach for the assembly. But not only this, Islam being omnipresent in the kingdom, it is also taught in Coranic schools therefore, this ministry is also designed to control the content of what the students are exposed to learn. The main purpose of this ministry is then to ensure that the ideas regarding Islam that are spread in the country are the right ones and that no one is taking advantage of the religion being a source of power to create any rebellion. It seems the thought that religion and politics ought to be divided is comparatively fresh, approximately a mere three hundred years back. But in fact the thought that they are separate dates back about to the early period of Christianity. Christians emphasis in their Scriptures to ‘give unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s and unto God the things which are God’s’. Even as views have changed as to the actual meaning of this axiom, it has normally been understood as legitimizing a condition where two societies live side by side, both with its own rules and influence the one that concerned the religion, which is called the Church, and the second concerned with politics, which is called the State. As they are two, they might be together or divided, secondary or sovereign, and disagreement can arise involving them over the separation and authority. These concepts of the troubles created by the associations linking religion and politics, and the potential explanations to those troubles, occur from Christian values and practice however not universal. Yet there are other religious societies where religion and politics are in a different way professed, and hence, the troubles and the potential explanations are very diverse from those of the West. The majority of these traditions, regardless of their frequently top level of superiority and attainment, stayed or turned out to be local, restricted to one area or one society. However, there is one, that is international, its ongoing liveliness, its widespread ambitions, can be contrast to Christianity, and that is Islam. Islam is one of the world’s big religions. Islam has conveyed comfort and peace of mind to millions of human beings. It has given pride and sense to dull and poor people. It professed people of diverse groups to live friendly and people of unlike belief to live together in rational lenience. Muslims lived inspired and practical lives and through its attainment, improved the entire globe. Similar to other religions, Islam has too recognized time as it stirred in some of its faction a feel of disgust and hostility. It seems to be the bad luck of the entire globe - even though not all or even the majority - the Muslim world is at the present going through such a period, and that disgust is heading in opposition to other human beings (Lewis pag. 17-26). When considering political reform in Morocco there are dualistic thinking. One is to specify the procedures needed to change the political system into that is further democratic. Next is to foresee the political procedure that may direct to the enactment of these events. In Morocco, the required reforms seems to be apparent: With the intention to become a democratic nation, Morocco have to limit the authority of the kingdom; institutionalize the division of the legislative, legal, and executive authorities that at present all congregate in the hands of the king; and permit voted organizations responsible to the voters to have a authentic function in government. In the sense, Morocco has to change from being an executive realm to be a constitutional one. In assumption, all political parties maintain legitimate alterations to bring about that change. In actual practice, they are not making a purposeful attempt to make this occur, as they are more worried now with protecting their position in opposition to the Islamists in the 2007 elections than with promoting a democratization program. Again and again, the king has affirmed that he does not notice the need for additional revision to the constitution. Political change will not occur from the top instinctively, and until now there is no pressure from the bottom the king has to listen to. The initiatives for Morocco to move towards democracy have to come not from the king however from other political parties. However the question is that is it feasible to foresee a political procedure that would encourage the king to change path and agree to a reduced function for the realm. Morocco may turn out to be a rather more contemporary and competent nation with no a transform in the balance of authority, however not a more democratic one. In addition, missing such a transform in the balance of authority, the regal plans to develop human rights and permit further public debate of major subject in the press and somewhere else stay weak. Even as it is extremely unlikely that the king will undo the changes in the family code, and that abuses of human rights will once again be as obvious as they were through les années de plomb, the government could once again turn into extra suppressive. A number of Moroccans think that this is happening already. Several free reporters communicate anxiety that their liberty to write decisively has been reduced as getting an elevated point at the end of Hassan’s period in office. Change of the political system, in addition to more extensive strategy change, depends on the appearance of sovereign political systems that the king can’t suppress. Such forces have to be political activities with hefty political basis, and therefore not reliant on the king’s generosity for their continued existence. In Morocco, there are three genuine or latent major political players at present. The palace is the first, Moroccans name the makhzan.The established secular parties is the second, is the opposition. Even though they seem to be a spent force, lacking a great deal vitality or plan, these parties cannot be sacked entirely. They could be more important players, can get electoral support, have party constitution that could be utilized efficiently and with livelier headship, could turn into more important players. The third notable political party is the Islamist parties and movements, certainly a growing power however still hard to understand. Especially, it is far from obvious whether the PJD has the political expertise to be efficient were it to join the administration, and whether the wider Islamic religious activities would have the capability to keep Islamists in administration from being influenced by the palace, as the legislative body of other parties were. The resources of the palace are huge, given the official authority conferred on the kingdom by the constitution, the unofficial authority accrued in the course of practice, and the religious legality enjoyed exclusively by the leader of the Faithful. At the same time as vital, the palace has a height of political experience and confidence that all other parties’ be short of. Last few decades it has been capable to overcome all domestic adversaries, aided while needed by the less delicate help of the security gadget (Ottaway, Riley, Pag. 3- 20) Mohamed Chafik, who can be classified as the most important writer of the Berber movement’s moderate current, substantiate Boukous’s testimonial that ‘in the Berber dialogue the approach in the direction of secularism is not obvious or not well clarified’ (quoted in Aourid, pag. 299). Chafik’s strategy, as a scholar and ideologue of the Secularism in the Amazigh Discourse movement, is to transform all devoid of devastating anything. Chafik move towards the theme of religion and state devoid of ever dejecting the Islam, looking for to discover a way without fighting against holy taboos of Islam but as well without being sorry. The strength and the limitation, of his argument is the truth that he makes clear his secularist outlook in Islamic terms. Chafik opens his letter with the words: ‘My brother in Islam, in citizenship and humanism . . .’ (Chafik, n.pag.). Islam can be contrasted to other highest principles similar to citizenship and humanism. Some other writing, in diverse situations, Chafik explains freely: The meaning of ‘secularism’ is enfolded in the Quranic text, ‘la-Iqraha fi-al-ddin’ (‘there is no compulsion in the religion’). Simply ‘secularism’ can free Islam from religious extremism. In fact this is an open statement that in normative Islam there is no religious compulsion. All talk here of independence of religion and liberty from religion. Accordingly, religion and religious belief is an individual subject. (Chafik, pag. 3-4) As per Chafik’s thought, Islam does not resist any secular view, however in fact ‘advocates secularism: as the Qur’an advises the`ulama are the heir of the Prophet’ it dose not merely mean men of religion however all men of knowledge (`ilm) in the secularism in the Amazigh Discourse wider sense of the world, in its religious and secular sense’ (Chafik, n. pag.). Chafik’s seeks to offer the mystified Berbers with a balance linking religion and the demands of the contemporary globe, representing the moderate Amazigh current. For him, the vital to modernity is the Berber identity, on the basis of language and culture Amazighite: The access into modernity relied on the answer to the question: who are we? There is no access into modernization devoid of justice and fairness among people, without ruling clashes inside the society, clashes which are linked to the question of the origin and the ego as person and as a group. (Chafik, pag.5) As per izerf an obvious distinction subsists linking the political and the religious power. The head of the clan (amghar) is no more than a political power. Conversely, the power of the man of religion ( faqih), is secondary to the political power and is restricted to a counseling function merely (Mezzine, n. pag.). Realizing secularism, according to a few members of the radical current is an easy job: ‘by going back to izerf and by applying it with the Berber clans, as was the case in the earlier period, not only before the entrance of the French, but before the influx of Islam [to North Africa] in the 7th century’ (Ouhssain,2003) (Layashi, pag.153-169). Work Cited Aourid, H. (pag.299) Le Substrat culturel des mouvements de contestation au Maroc: analyse des discourses Islamistes et Amazighe, PhD dissertaion, Univesite´ Mohammed V, Faculte´ des Sciences Juridiques, Economiques et Sociales, Rabat,. Chafik, M. (n.pag.) Risalah Ila al-Ustadh Abd al-Salam Yassine A Letter to Abd Sallam Yasine, in Pour un Maghreb d’abord maghre´bin, Rabat, Centre Tarik Ibn Zyad. Chafik, M. (pag. 3-4) Interview, Le Monde Amazigh 60 (May). Chafik, M. (n.Pag.) Islam proˆne la laı¨cite´, interview, Telquel 181 (July), ,http://www.telquel-online.com/181/sujet2.shtml. Chafik, M. (pag. 5) Chafik’s speech, Le Monde Amazigh 59 (April). Layashi, S.B. (pag.153-169) Secularism in the Moroccan Amazigh Discourse. The Journal of North African Studies Vol. 12, No. 2, June 2007. 09 May 2010 < http://www.dayan.org/articles/Sl_Amazigh.pdf > Lewis B. (pag. 17-26) The Roots of Muslim Rage Policy vol. 17, no. 4. 09 May 2010 < http://www.cis.org.au/policy/summer01-02/polsumm01-3.pdf > Library of Congress Federal Research Divison (n.pag.). Country Profile : Morocco . May 2006 Maghraoui, Driss (Pag. 195 – 211)  The Strengths and Limits of Religious Reforms in Morocco, Mediterranean Politics, 14:2, Mezzine, L. (n.pag.) Le droit coutumier dans les re´gions rurales du Maroc, Splendeurs du Maroc, Muse´e royal de l’Afrique centrale (Tervuren, Belgique), Plume, Paris, . Mogahed, D. (n. pag.). Islam and Democracy. The Gallup Center for Muslim Studies 09 May 2010 Ottaway, M. Riley, M. (Pag. 3- 20) Morocco: From Top-down Reform to Democratic Transition? Carnegie papers Middle East Series 09 May 2010 < http://www.carnegieendowment.org/files/cp71_ottaway_final.pdf > Ouhssain, M. A. (pag. 16) Face au terrorisme, la laı¨cite´ s’impose comme choix, Le Monde Amazigh 35 (June).  Wikipedia, (n.pag) History of Morocco.  Wikimedia Foundation, Inc . 30 Mar 2010 Read More