Friday, November 26, 2021

The contrasting manifestations of Islam: from Afghanistan to Morocco

Recommendable! Morocco is a very different Arab and Islamic country!

"... As a predominantly Sunni Muslim state, Morocco’s version exudes two important aspects in its promotion of an amiable Islam at the societal level. One is that the hereditary King Mohammed VI, whose lineage is traced back to the Prophet, has used his title of ‘Commander of the Faithful’ and protector of Islam, along with his extraordinary constitutional powers, to promote an anti-extremist or what some might call ‘progressive’ Islam. He has pursued this aim using a two-pronged approach that enables Islamists, formally and informally, to participate in the political arena while regulating their religious tone and dispositions in accord with the changing times.

He has leveraged the constitutionally enshrined multiparty electoral system of governance to provide the Islamists with participatory space in the political arena. In the five-yearly parliamentary elections, the Islamist Justice and Development Party is permitted to contest, along with other parties from the right, centre and left of the spectrum, for 325 seats, with the king appointing the prime minister as head of the government from the party that wins the largest number of seats. In the 2021 elections, the Islamist party suffered a historic defeat by winning only 13 seats. Yet, the fact that it is given the same opportunity as the other parties to contest the elections, as regulated as they may have been, is in contrast to many other Arab states where the Islamist parties are either banned or totally politically marginalised. ..."

The contrasting manifestations of Islam: from Afghanistan to Morocco | The Strategist

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