Tag Archives: Morocco

BBC Report: One Cleric’s Legacy of Peace

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Dr Safrez Naeemi, Imam of Jamia Naeemia in Lahore, is a Pakistani cleric and advocate of non-violence who was killed on June 12 by a suicide bomber, very likely because of his outspoken criticism of the Taliban.

Muhammed Raghib Hussein Naeemi, Dr Naeemi’s son, heard about the attack in a phone call while he was driving.

He says he was angry, very angry but he knew immediately what he had to do.

“I realised that I would have to be very calm. So I ordered all of my father’s students not to harm anyone, not to start fires, not to kill anyone.”

The story is the subject of a piece from BBC Radio 4 called “One Cleric’s Legacy of Peace.” In a time when so much mainstream Western media only shows us troublesome images from the Islamic world, it is good to see such stories.

But though right-wing talking heads on in print and in the media may insist that Muslim clerics do not condemn terrorism, Dr. Naeemi and his son are not as unusual as the title of this article would suggest. I have grown so tired of hearing that claim because it is so absurdly and demonstrably false, and yet the people who make it, usually neo-conservative pundits, right wing Christians, and others in that vein, are never challenged. And yet in the days following the attacks of September 11th, 2001 Muslim clerics in places such as Iran, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Morocco and other Muslim countries denounced the attacks, and ordinary people paused to remember the victims (click here for a moving photo essay). According to the Council on American Islamic Relations,
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…those who commit acts of terror, murder and cruelty in the name of Islam are not only destroying innocent lives, but are also betraying the values of the faith they claim to represent. No injustice done to Muslims can ever justify the massacre of innocent people, and no act of terror will ever serve the cause of Islam.

A group called Muslims Against Terrorism has existed since 1998. The Fiqh Council of North America has written that people who commit terrorism in the name of Islam are criminals not martyrs. On this page you can read a sampling of condemnations issued by clerics from around the world. Even senior clerics from the Darul Uloom Deoband in India, a radically conservative institution established in 1857 and often linked in the media to the Taliban, issued a statement calling terrorism illicit and immoral.

The other point I’d repeat, as it is one I and others have made before, is that the media’s use of Madrassa is reckless and irresponsible. The term has become synonymous with conservative Muslim religious schools. In fact madrassa is an Arabic word that has found its way into other languages of the Muslim world as well and it simply means “school.” So if you were reading an Arabic text that spoke of the Harvard Business School or the London School of Economics, the names of those institutions would be translated with the world “Madrassa.” When I taught at the King Fahd School of Translation in Tangier, an institution that provides what is essentially a graduate level degree, I taught at the Madrassa Malik Fahd L’Turjama (apologies for the transcription) or the Ecole Supérieure Roi Fahd de Traduction.

In Rabat, Morocco there is a Spanish elementary school an American elementary school, a French elementary school, and I don’t know what else. All of the signs translate the name using the word Madrassa, just as the Moroccan schools do.

So it is not safe to assume that madrassas train students in radical Islamic theory. In fact, they may not teach them about Islam at all.

Moroccan court jails critic of govt drugs policy | World | Reuters

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The progress Morocco has made on human rights an respect for freedom of expression since the death of Kind Hassan II is truly remarkable, but there are times when it slides back and it remains a state in which, ultimately, the monarchy retains ultimate power.  But an article from Reuters on June 24 reporting on what certainly seems to be one of those steps backward.

Chakib El Khayari, a critic of Morocco’s anti-drug policies who alleges corruption in their enforcement, was jailed for three years.

The Casablanca criminal court … said Khayari deposited money in foreign banks without the authorisation of Morocco’s Exchange Office.

“The accused is also suspected of taking sums of money from foreign parties for leading a media campaign aimed at damaging and discrediting efforts deployed by the Moroccan authorities in the fight against drug trafficking,” said MAP.

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An campaign has been launched to secure El Khayari’s release, and information can be found at Freechakib.com.  A report by Human Rights Watch is available online.

Morocco abounds with entertaining and creative festivals

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This article dates all the way back to September or last year, but I just discovered it again.  It symbolizes a much more important change than it might seem at first because since independence the central government has attempted to impose a homogeneous identity on the people of the nation.

This policy not only failed to recognize minority rights in some abstract sense, but that also ensured that getting an education was more difficult for minority populations, that those who were not educated in Arabic (or French) were always at the mercy of those who were, that public health and other messages never reached a sizable portions of the population, etc.   Surprisingly, as people begin more enfranchised, you see a that there was never any need to force a sense of national unity through language policy and such.  By and large, Moroccans are proud to be Moroccan.

The other take away from this?  There is a lot going on in Morocco, so book a ticket and go.  You won’t regret it.
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Morocco abounds with entertaining and creative festivals.

As the number of festivals grows each year in Morocco, the Ministry of Culture is handing the reins of festival organisation and management over to civil society and regional authorities.

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