A rare Islamic experiment.

Muhammad Mahfudh is a happy man. He has just presided over an experiment that, by anyone's standards is a gamble in the world of Islam. In what is seen as a huge step in the right direction by moderate Moslems, Morocco has just graduated its first team of women preachers to be deployed as a vanguard in its fight against any slide towards Islamic extremism.

"This is a rare experiment in the Muslim world," proudly stated Muhammad Mahfudh, director of the centre attached to the Islamic Affairs Ministry that trained this first class of 50 women.

According to another Ministry spokesman Hamid Rono, "This is the first of its kind in the Islamic world".

This pioneer group of Murshidat, or guides, who finished a 12-month course in early April, were trained to "accompany and orient" Muslim faithful, notably in prisons, hospitals and schools and be paid a salary of 5,000 dirhams ($560) a month.

Samira Marzouk, in her 30s like most of the others, exclaims how "proud" she is to be part of this first group. She sees their mission as one to "fill in the gaps that prevent a solid framework for religion. We are going to teach a tolerant Islam by focussing on the underprivileged classes."

They graduates will work with women and children in poor ghettoes seen as fertile ground for extremist recruiters.The idea of the Murshidat, spearheaded by HM King Mohammed VI and the government, took off after Islamic extremist attacks in the Casablanca on May 16, 2003 claimed 45 lives and left dozens of others wounded.

The King who had already started reshaping religious structures to rein in any extremist drift in his North African country, which borders Algeria where violence between government forces and armed Islamic extremists has caused more than 150,000 deaths since 1992.

But the synchronised suicide bomb attacks that struck Jewish and foreign targets gave new urgency to the initiative. More than 2,000 people were arrested in vast police sweeps after the May bombings as the king pledged that the attacks would be the last to rock Morocco. Investigators concluded that those behind the incident had indeed sought recruits in the teeming slums around Casablanca, the kingdom's biggest city.

Marzuk, with a diploma in Arab literature who said she knew the Quran by heart, was quick to specify she was "not going to take the place of an imam The imamate in Islam is restricted solely to men who are apt at leading prayers, notably those on Friday," she said. "The Morshidat will be in charge of leading religious discussions, give lessons in Islam, give moral support to people in difficulty and guide the faithful towards a tolerant Islam," she added.


Another graduate, Laila Faris, a lively young woman who holds a degree in Islamic studies, said she saw the Murshidat's role as promoting "the true face of Islam We will help attenuate any drift towards Islamic extremism," she said, stressing that "an overall approach is needed to dealing with radical Islam".

During the year-long course, the curriculum ranged from Islamic studies to psychology, sociology, computer skills, economy, law and business management. Sports was the only subject dropped from the women preachers' training because the schedule was just too tight," regretted Mahfudh, who hopes to include it for the second batch of Murshidat trainees, whose applications are now being accepted.

For the Islamic affairs minister, Ahmed Taoufiq, the Murshidat will also "instruct women on their basis religious duties". He stressed that religious radicalism was not part of Morocco's culture "but you can never prevent evil one hundred percent".

Sadly there are still some of Morocco's Islamic fundamentalists who are not supportive of the initiative. However, for one Islamist deputy, Mustafa Ramid, with the Islamist Justice and Development party (PJD), the main opposition group with 43 seats in the 325-member parliament, the Murshidat is a "positive" development. "I see nothing more to say about this initiative because in Islam, men and women are equal," he said, pointing to Egypt which has "eminent women scholars of Islam".

But the head of the youth group in Morocco's most radical Islamic fundamentalist association, Al-Adl Wal-Ihssane (Justice and Welfare), forecast it would have no effect on the ground. "The power behind this initiative is the same as the one that commits acts contrary to Islam, notably degrading moral values," said Hasan Bennajih, whose group is part of an Islamist movement that claims to to preach non-violence and although unrecognized by authorities, is still influential with a radical minority. "This initiative, then, will only have a limited impact on the population," said Hasan Bennajih.

However, for a majority of Moroccans, this is another step towards tolerance and equality and to be applauded.

Tags: Morocco Fes, Maghreb news