Islamic Society in Morocco
"Can Women's Rights Coexist With the Tenets of Islamic Law?" [usnews.com] got it partly right: "to veil or not to veil" is hardly the question, but he failed to mention the landmark progress achieved for women in Morocco.
Not only did King Mohammed VI's proposals emerge after considerable public discussion among many diverse elements of Morocco's civil society, they passed Parliament with the support of a broad coalition of members, including the Islamist PJD party. Directly to the author's question of compatibility of Islamic and universal values, every one of Morocco's reforms was grounded in Koranic texts specifically to demonstrate that the accordance of equal rights to women is compatible with Islam. This was a triumph not only for Morocco, but for women everywhere in the Muslim world, and serves as a model for those who seek to accomplish in their own countries what Morocco has shown to be possible. With respect to the response to 9/11 "from Morocco to Indonesia" ["Why Did So Many Muslims Seem to Celebrate 9/11?" usnews.com], it should be noted that the Moroccan King immediately convened an enormous solidarity service in the cathedral in Rabat. Moroccans have no sympathy for Osama bin Laden, themselves having been subjected to a bloody terrorist attack in Casablanca in May 2003. That tragic event precipitated nearly a million Moroccans pouring immediately into the streets to protest such barbaric behavior, and youth groups from the nation's poorest neighborhoods led the way carrying signs of a red Hand of Fatima that read "hands off my country." Articles that treat the entire Arab-Muslim world as a monolith do not contribute to our understanding of this diverse set of countries and peoples. Rather, such pieces damage our ability to understand each other by reinforcing the inaccurate misconceptions held by both sides.
Robert M. Holley
Executive Director
Moroccan American Center for Policy
Washington
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Reader Comments
To Robert M. Holley
As a Moroccan, I'd like to thank you for writing this letter.
You're absolutely right to mention the reforms of the Mudawana (family code) which finally granted women more rights than before. But, let's be frank about it: the struggle ain't over yet! What about reforming heritage law? It's awfully slow in coming, and islamists and traditionalists alike are heavily opposing it.
All this is still an uphill battle, and right now, things are not going all too well for us modernists. We could really need some moral support from the U.S., like, say, dropping this semi-official flirtation with the radicals from Nadia Yassine' adlists. This is really sending all the wrong signals back to Morocco: we're fighting those people, and US entities are inviting them as keynote speakers. Crazy, isn't it?
Negative comments about this article
How many of us are really aware of what goes on in other parts of the world? We see only what the media presents to us. I think that it is unfortunate and ignorant that readers would group ALL Muslims into a single group of "haters of America". Since there are so many different denominations in Christianity, why is it so hard to believe that different interpretations exist within the Muslim community as well? Did any of you look up the author of this editorial letter and his organization and read some of the literature at their website? I think enough is enough. Why can we be so hateful of ALL Muslims after 3,000 Americans died on 9/11 and then somehow overlook the fact that 600,000+ Iraqi civilians have lost their lives? Why are we not hateful toward our government for starting a war that produced such catastrophic results in the lives of innocent Iraqis? Put your emotions aside before you are so critical. Oh, and by the way, this editorial letter had more to do with womens' rights than 9/11, just to let you know.
Comments from ignorants never harm...
It's right that moroccans had sympathy with the US after 9/11. They even attended church ceremony in morocco afterwards... But I dont see christian or jews protests for killing hundred of thousands muslims including women and children everywhere in the world. Compare to that 9/11 was nothing perpetrated by a few.
I look at these stupid haters and I praise god I'm not one of them alhamdoullilah al3aly al3adim!
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