mardi 16 novembre 2010

Travelling Moroccan exhibition displays art for peace


Rabat - An unusual art exhibit is coming to Jerusalem in December. This unique exhibition – called the Essaouira Mogador Exhibition for Moroccan Heritage – depicts values of peace, such as brotherhood and tolerance, among various cultures and faiths through the exceptional work of a number of Moroccan artists and traditional artisans. Organised by the Essaouira Mogador Association, the Moroccan city of Essaouira featured this exhibition about Moroccan heritage in September at the Moroccan Red Crescent Hall. The exhibition is mobile, and is scheduled to open in Jerusalem on 25 December. After this event, the exhibition will be hosted in a number of prominent cities throughout the Middle East. Its paintings, sculpture, ceramics and jewelry tell a story of brotherhood, tolerance and peace among races and religions between Muslims, Jews and Christians. For example, there are paintings that express unity through the symbols of the three divine religions: the Star of David, the cross and the crescent. Some of the pottery and ceramics are made of clay, which has religious significance in Islam and brings to mind the origins of existence: according to the Qur’an, God created Adam out of clay. The exhibit also includes embroidered pieces featuring shapes of meaning and significance, such as what Moroccans call the Khmissa, i.e. the hand with the five fingers, the dagger and a variety of geometrical shapes from around Morocco. And there is pottery of various shapes and colours, silver accessories for women such as earrings and rings that feature designs from original Moroccan carvings, and wooden boxes made of the famous Moroccan juniper wood with its characteristically sweet scent from the city of Essaouira. The importance of the exhibition’s trip from Essaouira to Jerusalem lies in the fact that the Moroccan community in Jerusalem will host the exhibition in the Eastern Orthodox Church. It will then move to other nearby cities, including Ramallah, Hebron, Nablus, Acre and Haifa, finally returning to stay in Jerusalem. The hope is that the exhibition’s messages of brotherhood and tolerance will reach a large number of people through art. Art, a language that everyone understands, helps build bridges of communication and can carry messages of tolerance and coexistence. Throughout its history, Morocco has been known for practicing such tolerance when it comes to followers of other religions. This exhibition is much more than a simple gallery showing; it is a message to the world from a Muslim country that has embraced Jews and Christians for centuries in peaceful coexistence. The Jewish community has always been considered one of the main communities in the country, particularly in Essaouira society, and both Jews and Muslims enjoy similar traditions. Their relationship is devoid of seclusion, exclusivity, and racial and religious conservatism. There are many shared traditions between Muslims and Jews in Morocco – from marriage ceremonies and family festivities to traditions involving the application of henna. For example, Jewish and Muslim brides alike take a traditional bath before the wedding ceremony and dress similarly, donning the unique quftan (traditional Moroccan robe), differentiated only by the shapes of the embroidery. Sadly, almost 98 per cent of the Jewish population of Morocco left between 1948 and the 1960s, primarily to emigrate to Israel. Within Morocco however, Jews have enjoyed special concessions provided by the law, including the right to maintain their religious beliefs and the right to protection, since the reign of Morocco’s Alawi dynasty. And the late King Mohammad V took a strong stand during World War II when he refused to accept the Nazi laws of the Vichy government in France — the then colonial power in Morocco — and refused to hand over Jewish Moroccan citizens to the Germans, saying: “I am not the king of Muslims only, but all Moroccans”. A strong message of modernity, peace and coexistence coming from Morocco is evidenced by the work of Andre Azoulay, the Chairman of the Essaouira Mogador Association, an advisor to the late King Hassan II and current advisor to the present Moroccan monarch, Mohammad VI. Azoulay has dedicated his life to enhancing coexistence between Arabs and Jews in North Africa, a legacy that is considered exceptional in the Arab and Muslim world. Morocco is a model of tolerance in the Mediterranean region. Hopefully, this traveling exhibition will bring the universal message of diversity and acceptance to Jerusalem, a place where it is sorely needed. ###


* Hind Al-Subai Al-Idrisi is a Moroccan blogger (hindapress.wordpress.com) and journalist. She participated in a citizen journalism workshop in Rabat organised by the international conflict transformation organisation Search for Common Ground. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews). Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 16 November 2010, www.commongroundnews.org Copyright permission is granted for publication.
Article available in:arabic

dimanche 14 novembre 2010

Does Freedom of Religion Exist in Morocco?


Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has the right to practice his or her religion freely and in public। According to the Constitution, Morocco is a Muslim state. Islam is an important component of the Moroccan identity indeed. Thanks to the teachings of Islam, the various cultural and religious elements of the Moroccan society managed to successfully and harmoniously coexist. History shows that Morocco is a model in the way it has brought civilizations and various faiths together on its soil and for hundreds of years. The fact Moroccan Jews still live side by side today with Moroccan Muslims, share the same culture and customs since millennia is best proof for that. The Moroccan judiciary for example, permits the Jewish community to have special offices within Moroccan courts where Jewish judges deal with issues such as marriage, divorce, inheritance. Moroccan Jews, and according to their own admission, are probably amongst the few ones in the world still allowed to rule by their holy book, the Torah, in matters such as those mentioned above. This, of course, couldn’t have been possible without the Islamic Shariah, which urges for the respect of the beliefs of the People of the Book. Furthermore, the Islamic religion teaches us to respect the freedoms of others and not to coerce people into one’s own belief: “There shall be no coercion in matters of faith.” Surah Al-Baqara – verse 256. “Had thy Sustainer so willed, all those who live on earth would surely have attained to faith, all of them: dost thou, then, think that thou couldst compel people to believe.” Surah Yunus – Verse 99. Instances of tolerance, coexistence and respect for others’ beliefs are countless and varied in Islam and there is an estimated one hundred verses dealing with this very matter, present in more than thirty-six chapters, not to mention the Prophet’s (peace be upon Him) biography and tradition. As for the expulsion from Morocco of Christian evangelists it was a matter of Law and ethics since those who were targeted by the missionaries were helpless children and orphans who, by virtue of being born in Morocco and under its Constitution, were to be considered Muslims. They were still at an age that does not yet allow them to choose. The incident was not the first on record in Morocco: In the 17th century, and according to historical documents, [King Mohammed bin Abdullah Alaoui, founder of the city of Essaouira, sent an urgent missive to the city's governor]: “the Jewish dhimmi community of the city of Essaouira enjoyed privileges provided to it by Islamic Law, which also protected it from attempts of conversion by Christian missionaries. The issue was brought to Our attention by prominent Jewish traders who operate in the port of Essaouira. They say the missionaries who newly arrived into the city conspired to infiltrate their community and corrupt their poor children who were urged to abandon their religion, and were offered money. They pursued their proselytizing entreprise untill they brought about two hundred of them, boys and girls, and started teaching them their readings and offered to protect them and asked them to leave their homes. I want you to speak with their Bashador and do whatever you need to do to keep them away from Our blessed lands.” (1) Everyone knows that there are a lot of Christian missionaries operating in Morocco. They have succeded in converting many citizens of this country. Morocco does not work to expel them all or even to block their websites because those who are over the age of majority are free to embrace the religion they want. Some of those who converted say they are reluctant to disclose their Christianity in public. But that is only a matter of customs and traditions because Moroccans accept Christian foreigners and Jewish Moroccans, but are not yet used to Moroccan Christians. In comparison, Arab and Islamic countries in the Middle East, for example, are more keen to accept the Christian Arabs, but I do not think they will accept a Jewish Egyptian or Lebanese or Syrian or Jordanian. Again, it is a matter of cultural and political sensitivities. The fact that some Moroccans broke the fast in public last Ramadan didn’t bring any legal action against them, contrary to what the neighboring country [Algeria] did when it imprisonned Christians on charges of breaking the fast in public before dusk during the holy month. It is a historic fact that fasting during Ramadan was never enforced on any Christian. In 2008, the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights & Labor (U.S. Department of State) reported that Morocco continues to encourage tolerance and to enhance dialogue between religious groups. The report also noted that Jewish and Christian communities were able to practice their beliefs openly, pointing out that the Moroccan authorities granted fiscal privileges, allocated plots of land and offered tax credits for imported materials necessary for the activities of large religious groups especially Jews and Christians. Moroccan Law also protects places of worship from [external] violence and guaranties the possibility to worship openly and/or privately, as it is clearly provided by the Constitution and the Penal Code, both drafted shortly after the country’s independence in 1956. In any case, Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ratified by Morocco, states that everyone has the right to exercise his or her religion openly. According to a report issued in 2010 by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, a U.S. organization monitoring religions and minorities’ rights in the world, Morocco has 33 places of worship [for non Muslims], which is far more than any other Arab country, and which denotes the freedom to practice religious rites enjoyed by religious minorities. The report also noted that non-Muslims lived amongst Muslim populations and that they were able to practice their religion in public. In Morocco as in other countries across the globe religion is often used to conceal the real motives behind many political conflicts. Politics are behind many of the seemingly cultural, ethnic and ideological conflicts we see around us. It’s time to work together wisely and respect each other. Any person, whether religious or non religious, before pleading for respect should ask her or himself whether he or she respects others; whether he or she respects the country where he or she lives; whether he or she respects the rights of the majority before asking for the rights of the minority. Morocco can not be Germany or Turkey or America, because each country has its own cultural and historical singularities. Everything can not change overnight, but everything changes with time and anyone who wants to drag Morocco into a conflict of religions and civilizations, I will beg him or her to read the history of Morocco and the traditions of Moroccans in order to discover that we are an open society that accepts others, but that knows how to face every problem. We have so far always emerged victorious. 1: ”Mohammed bin Abdullah and the Building of the City of Essaouira” by Dr. Abdul Karim Karim, Faculty of Literature, Rabat.

Article available in:arabic
Hind Al-Subai Al-Idrisi