RABAT (Reuters)
Morocco is getting more involved in the religious life of its nationals living abroad to fend off Islamic extremism and support Muslim communities often deprived of funding and support, a government official said on Wednesday.
The north African kingdom plans to send 176 prayer leaders and preachers accredited by the state, including nine women, to 13 countries containing Moroccan communities during the holy month of Ramadan which falls this year in September.
They will lead prayers and Koran readings, give talks and answer questions from the faithful who tend to visit mosques in large numbers in the month of prayer and fasting. It sent around 100 on similar missions last year.
"This is the beginning of a more structured cooperation," said Hakim el-Ghissassi, a cabinet member at Morocco's Ministry for Religious Endowments and Islamic Affairs. "It will allow people to know their religion correctly. It is in this way that we will avoid extremism and marginalisation."
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Moderate Islam Morocco has a reputation as a peaceful and moderate Muslim country but Moroccans living abroad were blamed for extremist attacks including the 2004 Madrid train bombings and the murder of Dutch director and Islam critic Theo Van Gogh.
"Morocco is deploying every effort so it is no longer reproached for this," said Ghissassi. "It is not about indoctrination but providing all the means necessary to spread awareness of moderate religious practice."
Most Moroccans follow a moderate Malikite branch of Islamic thought that preaches respect for secular authorities and is seen as moderate compared to conservative strains of Islam in the Middle East.
King Mohammed has a religious role as "Commander of the Believers" and the state oversees religious life in the country including the training of clerics and construction of mosques.
That role has grown in importance since suicide bombings killed 45 people in Casablanca five years ago, attacks blamed on extremists who indocrinated poor and uneducated youths with an ideology of holy war against infidels.
Moroccan authorities say they have broken up more than 55 "terrorist" cells since the bombings and are working with Western intelligence agencies to stop radical cells channelling Moroccan volunteers to fight U.S.-led forces in Iraq.
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European Islam The government has put aside 120 million dirhams ($16.42 million) for its religious efforts abroad including the training of imams and funding the construction of new mosques.
"There are not enough places of Islamic worship in Europe," Ghissassi said.
There was even a project to establish a Europe-wide Islamic religious authority similar to Morocco's Higher Council of Ulemas, he said.
"There is the construction of a European Islam but how will it be built? In the absence of all intervention or reference to the world of Islam? It's not possible," said Ghissassi.
Millions of expatriate Moroccans return each year to visit families and the money they send home is the country's second-biggest source of foreign currency.
Morocco has tried in recent years to deepen links with its expatriates, encouraging them to invest back home or return and use skills acquired abroad to boost the Moroccan economy.
"The other element is to incite people to respect and love their home country," Ghissassi said. "If you remove someone's roots there is a risk he will veer towards extremism."
He said the moves were taking place in close cooperation with national governments and rejected fears that the sovereignty of host countries could be undermined.
"Those ideas are expressed by people on the extreme right -- Islamophobes or racists," he said. |
