morocco religion

moroccan religion

mosque mohamed 6

Islam is the official religion of Morocco, but coexistence with other religions is perfect (the practice of other revealed religions is also guaranteed by the constitution). The day is punctuated by five calls to prayer. It is the muezzin who announces them from the top of his minaret. During the month of Ramadan, Moroccans fast, stop drinking and smoke from sunrise to sunset.
Obviously, their daily lives are modified. Most administrations, utilities, monuments and shops arrange their schedules. However, non-Muslims find food in some restaurants, especially hotels. The days are dragging but the nights are beautiful!

Morocco is today almost totally Muslim, much more so than it has ever been in its history because of the virtual disappearance of non-Muslim minorities in the 1950s and 1960s.

Muslims: 98.5% of the population. They are of Sunni Malekite rite like most North Africans. According to statistics, only one in three Moroccans is attending Friday's mosque.
According to article 6 of the constitution, "Islam is a state religion, which guarantees everyone the freedom to worship".
The supreme religious leader of Morocco's Muslims is the king of Morocco who, like his predecessors, bears the title of "commander of the believers". The Palace has always sought to rely on this religious function of the monarchy to counterbalance the growing influence of Islamists.


Religious minorities

Christians: 1% (counting settlers, they were about 5% half a century ago).
Jews: 0.2%, or about 20,000 people. They were 450,000 he has four decades (4% of the population of the time). Almost all of them emigrated to Israel or to France in the early 1960s. Among those who remained: businessmen and advisers to the king who are nicknamed "court Jews", but also rights activists of man like Abraham Serfaty. Jews were present in Morocco since the Roman era (in the High Atlas in particular), well before the country becomes very predominantly Muslim. Some, then, came from Spain from where they were expelled in 1492. Considered as dhimmis, they were subjected to multiple discriminations. In Israel, where half a million of their descendants live today, Moroccans form a structured community, influential by its electoral weight and cultivating a certain nostalgia for Morocco. The leader of this community, David Lévy, was born in Rabat.

The different "personal statuses"

In Morocco, religion determines the legal status of each individual: the Personal Status Code governs Moroccan Muslims. The personal status of Jewish Moroccans is determined by the Jewish religious rule. The personal status of foreigners is determined by their national law, in accordance with the Dahir of August 12, 1913, on the civil status of French and foreigners. Double nationals, Franco-Moroccans, for example, can not claim their status as foreigners.

The Five Pillars of Islam

In order to lead a godly life, the Muslim must respect the Five Pillars of Islam:

Shahada: this is the profession of faith, the main dogma of the Muslim faith: Achhadou An the Ilaha Illa llah, wa Achhadou Anna Muhammad rasul Allah: There is no other god but Allah and Muhammad is his Prophet:

Salat: This is the fulfillment of the five daily prayers at the call of the muezzin. It begins at daybreak and the last at the end of the day. Friday prayer has been recommended to Muslims as it allows them to pray in groups and meet once a week to discuss religious affairs and politics. The Imam must give a speech dealing with religious subjects or giving explanations on certain Hadiths or certain facts of the day.

Zakat: giving alms was originally one of the great social teachings of Islam. Giving to one's most disadvantaged neighbors remains a moral obligation for everyone as evidenced by the exhortations to charity often visible at the entrance of mosques. The tithe is assigned to the poor, to the needy, to the indebtedness, to the traveler who has left his family and his country is without resources. It is customary to give 2.5% per 10,000 currency units.

Sawm: Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, commemorates the revelation of the Qur'an to Muhammad. To mark his renewed faith, the adult Muslim must abstain from eating, drinking or smoking from sunrise to sunset. We begin the fast at the new moon and we break it at the sight of the news is a period of one lunar month (thirty or twenty-nine days).

Hajj: The culmination of a godly life for a Muslim is the pilgrimage he has to perform at least once in his life, if his financial means and health allow him, in the holy places of Mecca. The pilgrim must go to Mecca during the last month of the year, dhul al hijjah, to meet Muslims from all over the world for the pilgrimage and the feast that follows. The ancient pilgrims receive the title of Hajj.

The Quran has been dictated to Muhammad for 20 years. Learned by heart, the Prophet transmitted them to his disciples, who in turn memorized them. These are the first caliphs Abu Bakr and Omar, who undertook to gather all these suras in order to preserve the Divine word. In turn, the third caliph, Othman, had a new compilation made more precise.

Islamic awareness

In this context, the Department achieves the following:

· Organization of seminars on religious sciences in the different provinces of the Kingdom in which a certain number of ulama, thinkers and professors specialized in subjects focusing on various subjects of the Islamic culture participate in order to make known the principal scientific and religious personality. and nationalist of the province.
· Organization of a series of cultural conferences in the various prefectures and provinces of the Kingdom in order to activate the field of religious sciences and thought and spread the authentic Islamic culture among the citizens.
· Conducting training sessions for Friday prayer preachers to raise their level of religious science and culture, and to elevate the Friday sermon in its pure form and content so that it can fulfill its spiritual and educational mission in a relevant way.

The ministry also organizes and directs the movement of exhortation and sensitization in the different countries of the Kingdom of Morocco through an important network of the best ulemas under the direction of the regional councils of religious sciences, and delegations of the Ministry of Awkafs and Islamic Affairs of the Kingdom.

Organization of the pilgrimage

The Ministry of Awkafs and Islamic Affairs is in charge of the preparations for the meetings of the Royal Commission for Pilgrimage and Al Umra. This commission is made up of representatives of the various ministries and public administrations who participate in the organization of the pilgrimage season and who, in collaboration with the Commission, ensure the provision of the necessary for the missions which represent Morocco and which deal with the affairs Moroccan pilgrims on this occasion. The Commission makes the organizational decisions relating to the pilgrimage.
The Ministry also oversees the preparation of a general program to initiate pilgrims to the rites of pilgrimage and to train them in a practical way to its fulfillment, and this in different provinces and regions of the Kingdom using a model representing the Kaâba.
The Ministry also proceeds to the publication of the book of rites of the pilgrimage and the Umrah and of the good behavior to observe during the visit of the tomb of the Prophet that the Peace and the Blessing of God be on him, and this in accordance with the doctrine Maliki. This book is distributed to Moroccan and African pilgrims who wish to receive copies in large numbers.

HASSANIAN RELIGIOUS CONFERENCES

While the Academic Councils have demonstrated, during the reign of various dynasties that have succeeded each other in Morocco, a constant, fruitful and innovative activity, during the reign of the Alawites, they experienced remarkable growth and dynamism.

Restructured and reorganized, the Academic Council has notably adopted the book "Sahih Al-Bukhari", the great exegete, Imam Bukhari, as sole reference base. Indeed, the Sovereign, according to the new procedure instituted, chose a Hadith and entrusted to a eminent scientist the task of expounding it and commenting it, before debating it with the other members of the Council, always in the presence of the Sovereign.

a constellation of scholars and scholars among the most eminent of the Islamic world, meets at the Royal Palace under the effective presidency of His Majesty the King, in the course of conferences and presentations to which His Majesty the King gave the title of "Hassanian chats". The preparation of these prestigious meetings spread over the entire month of Ramadan is done, according to the instructions of the Sovereign, under the supervision of the Ministry of Habous and Islamic Affairs.

Started more than three decades ago, this series of conferences is in fact a continuation of a movement of cultural renewal that has continued uninterrupted for a long time. It is, in fact, a school of thought and a laboratory of ideas where the most varied themes, dealing with the experience of the Muslim community and its human, spiritual and social concerns, are treated in a clear and scientifically rigorous manner. cultural values ​​and expressing an attachment to the specific values ​​of Islam, as well as a concern for openness to modern universal culture.

the conference leaders, drawing their references from the prescriptions of the Qur'an and Sunna and anxious to apprehend and assimilate the imperatives and constraints of modernity, endeavor to demonstrate the relevance and effectiveness of the Islamic message for the building of a prosperous and harmonious society in material and spiritual terms.


It is important to remember in this regard that each lecturer chooses freely the subject of his presentation among the issues of national interest Islamic or universal.
the texts of the Hassanian talks and the proceedings of the meetings of the Academic Councils held, both under the effective presidency of the Sovereign, are now printed each year in Arabic. They are translated into the most famous international languages ​​such as English, French, Spanish, Russian and Turkish, to enrich national and international libraries.
Every year Hassanian talks are recorded on soundtracks and other audiovisual media. They benefit from the widest possible diffusion and can be consulted by the public in the various libraries under the Ministry of Habous and Islamic Affairs of the Kingdom of Morocco.