TruthBook Religious News Blog

26/04/2008

Just inside Rabat's walled medina - with its market stalls selling fake Gucci sunglasses and bzeghir, traditional Moroccan pancakes - stands the Dar al-Hadith al-Hassania, an octagonal building resplendent with bougainvillaea and a fountain. This is the seminary where a revolution is under way. Two hundred student imams sit in long rows in disciplined silence as their tutor, Hussein Ait Said, addresses them. All the students are wearing robes and have a copy of the Koran on their desk, but 50 of them also have handbags and, more surprising still, a pair of white slingbacks is just visible in the fifth row. These are the women who are training to be mourchidat - female priests - the second intake at the seminary.

The mourchidat (meaning 'female guide') first made news in April 2006 when the Moroccan government announced with great fanfare that the first 50 had graduated. Funded by the government, the initiative is part of a wave of liberal reform begun by King Mohammed VI in 2004. 'This is a rare experiment in the Muslim world,' Muhammad Mahfudh, the centre's director, says. The mourchidat will help women with religious questions, with their education and give support in schools and prisons. The long-term hope is that by working face-to-face with the community, they will help foster a more moderate Islam.

In the Dar al-Hadith al-Hassania, the female student priests are taking a morning break. More than 400 women applied for the 50 places. The prerequisites are an exam, an interview and a BA. Candidates are also required to have a life grounded in the Koran, by which is meant memorising it, and an understanding of tajwid, the art of Koranic recital. Men have to know the entire text by heart; women, half of it. Once accepted on the course, students are given a grant of 4,000 dirhams (£360) a month. To rent a room in a shared house, as many students do, costs about a quarter of that. The youngest woman on the course is 22 - 'baby mourchidat!' - the oldest nearly 40. Lessons include Islamic studies, psychology, sociology, computer skills, economy, law and business management, plus three hours of homework a day.

The seminary where the mourchidat are taught is inside Rabat's walled medina
Men and women learn side by side, but only men will be able to lead prayers. Does she mind? 'No, because it is from our religion,' Haddad replies. 'We are not shocked or belittled by this.' How do the men treat you? 'There is distance, manners in our relationship.' Any criticism? 'If there is, they don't say it to our face…' She pauses and smiles, 'so perhaps…'

Women have come a long way since pre-independence days, but Morocco is still a divided society: one where some women are modern, educated and forging ahead in high positions in politics, business, medicine, law - about 25 per cent of professionals are women; yet nearly 70 per cent of women are illiterate (89 per cent in rural areas) compared with 41 per cent of men, according to 1999 government figures.

In some rural areas, a woman who is beaten or abandoned by her husband with no means of livelihood has only one course of action: words 'of spiritual impact' to her husband are written on a piece of paper by the local imam. The woman then keeps the piece of paper, hoping it will somehow change her husband's behaviour.

The idea for the mourchidat was first discussed in 2003, but its roots go back to 1999, when Mohammed VI came to the throne. He promised a new era of openness and democracy after the 38-year repressive dictatorship of his father, Hassan II. First to go was the palace harem - some 40 women. Next was the interior minister, Driss Basri, who had run Hassan's security system for 20 years, and was feared and detested like no other. The king also remodelled himself as a champion of women's rights, approving modifications to the Moudawana, the family code, in 2004, including raising the age of marriage from 15 to 17.

But the landmark event that paved the way for the mourchidat took place in 2003. In a radical break with tradition, the king invited a woman - el Mekkaoui - to give the Ramadan lecture at the royal palace in Rabat, attended by members of the government, high-ranking military officials and foreign ambassadors. It was the first time a woman had even been allowed to enter the room, let alone permitted to speak.

But in Morocco the monarchy has all the power, and the parliament plays a marginal role. The true power is in the hands of the people close to Mohammed VI. And the two other people instrumental in the formation of the mourchidat are senior advisers to the king: Professor Abdelhadi Boutaleb, a well-known Islamic authority; and Ahmed Toufiq, the minister of Islamic affairs. Boutaleb publicly stated his support of women's rights soon after Mohammed VI came to power in late 1999. Islam, he noted at a public meeting of the Woman's Network, a coalition of some 200 volunteer organisations, was a 'message of renewal and reform', and he cited verses that demonstrated that Islam advocated the equality of men and women - 'It is true that a bird needs two wings to fly.'

On graduation, each mourchidat is assigned a mosque, which can be anywhere in Morocco, although the ministry in charge aims to find somewhere close to their families. The mourchidat offer spiritual advice and teach women the Koran, but also discuss more contentious gender-related issues - about sex, women's health, what to do if your husband beats you - issues that women would not dream of asking an imam. They are paid 5,000 dirhams (£420) a month, and work long hours, both in and outside the mosque.

Since the introduction of the mourchidat, Turkey has also challenged traditional Islamic gender roles with the appointment of 450 women as preachers - or vaize. The Diyanet, or Directorate of Religious Affairs, which controls the Islamic faith in Turkey but also tries to improve women's rights, sees the appointment of female vaize as a crucial step forward.

But many Moroccans see the mourchidat as 'government propaganda', particularly those from one Islamic movement, the Justice and Charity Association. There are two main political Islamic organisations in Morocco: the Justice and Development Party (PJD), which takes part in elections; and the Justice and Charity Association, which is tolerated by the government but banned from mainstream politics because of its open hostility to the monarchy. (Both these groups have publicly condemned violence and castigated terrorists who attacked the World Trade Centre. But just as forcibly, the two organisations condemn 'American terrorism'.) Marvine Howe, the author of Morocco: The Islamist Awakening and Other Conflicts, points out that the Justice and Charity Association, 'is of overwhelming importance. It's the strongest party in the country, even though it isn't actually a party.'

Justice and Charity supports feminist ideals (its spokesman is the charismatic activist Nadia Yassine), seeing Muslim women as being liberated through the original teachings of the Prophet, and not by imitating a Western model of emancipation.

'We've been carrying out a programme of education and training for women in Morocco for more than 20 years in mosques,' argues Maryem Yafont, 37, the head of Justice and Charity's women's section, who says that her party has long had women acting as informal mourchidat.

To the great embarrassment of the government, several mourchidat from the first intake to graduate turned out to be supporters of Justice and Charity. 'Now the ministry carries out inquiries to find out if they [students] belong to our movement or not,' Yafont says, 'so they have to keep it secret.'

Back in the Dar al-Hadith al-Hassania, Zakia Haddad is about to resume morning lessons. Haddad is to be tested on three verses from the Koran, in front of a large group of male students. But she is not nervous. 'There is a big difference between an imam and a mourchidat,' she says. 'Women have more patience,' she laughs, 'they are more generous, and because women are mothers they are more nurturing, more giving - like a mother among people, that is what our role is from God.'

Labels: clerics, Dar al-Hadith al-Hassania, Morocco, mourchidat, Muslims, Turkey, women

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Thursday, July 12, 2007

Discussing faith in Istanbul

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

ANDREA GIAMBARTOLOMEI
ISTANBUL

- Turkish Daily NewsThe organizers of the International Summer school on Religion and Public Life (ISSRPL) believe there is no better place than Turkey to talk about religion, its politics and its characteristics.

For this very reason the ISSRPL chose Istanbul as the place to bring together over 20 fellows from around the world to talk about faith and public life this month. The summer school was organized by the American Jewish Committee, with the support of the united States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Bilgi University, where the summer school is being hosted from July 2-13.

“The ISSRPL is a five-year-old project that each year takes place in a different country exploring the main differences in the relations between these elements,” Ari Gordon, assistant director of inter-religious affairs at the American Jewish Committee told the Turkish Daily News.

As its name suggests, this summer school is international in nature, bringing together teachers and fellows from Bosnia, Pakistan, Israel, Palestine, Nigeria and, of course, Turkey. Each one brings different experiences and values. But the education they receive during the summer school is not merely theoretical. “One category is context-related, so we can see how state, ethos and religion come together; then there is the practical field composed of discussions, religious services, visits; and then there are the informal moments, when everybody can apply what they learn,” said Gordon. According to the organizers, this last part is important for the process of building relationships that transcend the limits imposed by religious and ethnic identities.

Adam Seligman, professor in the Department of Religion at Boston University told the TDN that the aim of the ISSRPL is three-fold: To develop mutual understanding, to teach how to communicate with other cultures without being offensive and finally to help participants understand more about their own backgrounds.

“The fellows not only learn something about others but also about themselves and their way of acting with others,” he said. Seligman was one of the instructors during the summer school in Istanbul.

This year's summer school theme examined the comparative perspective on State, Ethnos and Religion, devoting particular attention to the different historical and social features. The theme is very coherent to the local context, Turkey, where secularism is a fundamental principle of the modern republic. Selma ?evkli, a Turkish fellow at the summer school and student in Bilgi University pointed to the characteristic of Turkish secularism.

“It happens that sometimes the State and secularism encroach upon private life and personal beliefs. Often in Turkey to separate religion and politics is not enough by itself, some kinds of people hate all forms of religious expression,” she said.

Professor Seligman underlined that “there is no a necessary connection between secularism and a state that limits personal freedom. There is a different way to apply secularism and we are looking to find a good way that respects everybody,” he said.

Participants reflected on the fact that respect comes through mutual understanding and recognition of others identities and faiths. R?zaY?ld?r?m, a Ph.D. student in the History Department of Ankara's Bilkent University, told the TDN about issues the Alevi community faces in Turkey. "Even if the Alevis in Turkey are 15 million people, their are not recognized as a religion," said Y?ld?r?m.

A recent poll conducted by European Values Survey showed that Turkish people are still uneasy about freedom of religion, one of most important democratic principles. Only 16 percent of Turkish people interviewed agree to that value.

“We need to find a way of living together,” said ?evkli.

Andrea Giambartolomei is interning at the Turkish Daily News within the framework of Forum of European Journalist Students (FEJS) exchange program.

Labels: Andrea Giambartolomei, Internation Summer School on Religion and Public Life, Istanbul, religion, religious freedom, secular, teachers, Turkey