Morocco: Training female clerics to promote moderate Islam

Morocco has recently started recruiting and training mourchidat, female Muslim clerics whose role is to help usher in a more moderate Islam, according to a report published in the Telegraph on Saturday.The Dar al-Hadith al-Hassania – a madrassa training the mourchidat (female guide) – is training a second batch of 50 female students, after a first batch of 50 graduated in April 2006.

Men and women learn side by side, but only men will be able to lead prayers. The mourchidat 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. Funded by the government, the initiative is part of a wave of liberal reforms begun by King Muhammad VI in 2004.

“This is a rare experiment in the Muslim world,” Muhammad Mahfudh, the centre’s director, said.

Modern approach

More than 400 women applied for the 50 places. The prerequisites are an entrance exam, an interview and a BA degree. Candidates are also required to have a life grounded in the teachings of the holy Quran, by which is meant memorising it, and to have an understanding of tajwid, the art of Quranic recital.

The course includes Islamic studies, psychology, sociology, computer skills, economy, law and business management, along with three hours of homework a day.

“We want to help people know the Quran and to promote flexibility, and there are a lot of problems in our society - social, political, all,” one student, Halima Kachkach, 29, said.

“Before the mourchidat, women had no one to answer their questions,” said Dr Rajaa Naji el Mekkaoui, an expert in family law at the Université Mohamed-V in Rabat, and one of the architects of the mourchidat programme.

“They will try to find the answers in other areas, from fundamentalist imams - and this is a big risk to society. If they ask that if they are authorised to work, the imams will say, ‘No, that is not allowed’. If a woman asks ‘what must I wear’, they will say, ‘She must be covered with the veil’.”

El Mekkaoui believes that the mourchidat are a liberating force for women, and an inhibitor for radicalism.

The idea for the mourchidat was first discussed in 2003, but its roots go back to 1999, when Mohammed VI came to the throne. But the landmark event that paved the way for the mourchidat took place in 2003.

In a radical break with tradition, the king invited 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.

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 holy Quran, 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.

--Daily Times Monitor