(MENAFN- Morocco World News) Mohammed VI is quite a taciturn monarch in comparison to his late father Hassan II, an eloquent speaker, keen on public speaking and giving interviews to foreign press. The son unlike the father believes more in deeds than words and, indeed, since his accession to the throne, he hardly gave any interviews to the media, be it national or foreign.
However, Mohammed VI, very much like his forefather Hassan I (18731894), a sultan who was always on his horse, travelling all over the country collecting taxes and enquiring about the well-being of his subjects, is a jet-set monarch visiting different capitals in search of diverse markets and cooperation schemes that could bring investment to the country and provide jobs to Moroccans. The Moroccan monarchy is one of the oldest in the world, it dates back to the Idrisid dynasty (788974) and has always strived to strike a balance between different religious currents, social tendencies and economic interests and achieve equilibrium for the sake of stability. The task has always been difficult, if not impossible, but this political system has been successful through time in keeping the country united and inclusive.
Monarch's religious clout
The monarch in Morocco is the head of the state, but, most importantly, he is 'the Commander of the Faithful;' amir al-mu'minin, a religious office that gives him a quasi-sacrosanct status. Ordinary people would often criticize his political acts, his worldly decisions in running the affairs of the country, but, hardly, his religious clout or actions. Interestingly enough, his religious status is, even, recognized in many countries of Western Africa, who acknowledge his religious title of 'Commander of the Faithful,' especially among the Tidjane communities in Western Africa. Mohamed El Mansour,[ii] a prominent Moroccan historian writes that Mawlay Sulayman (17921822), an Alouite sultan was vanquished by Berber tribes near Meknes and made prisoner. He thought, deep down, that the Berbers, who contested his temporal role, would kill him, but he was wrong. They put him in a tent, fed him and took off his djellaba (robe-like garment with a hood), cut them into hundreds of pieces, which they distributed evenly among their warriors, for divine grace Baraka purposes, and went back to their mountains happy and satisfied with their accomplishment. In the 19th century, Morocco was divided into two political territories, but it was yet one country. There was bled al-Makhzen, land under total control of the central government and bled as-siba, land of dissidence, made generally of mountains inhabited by Berbers, who recognized the religious authority of the sultan but not his temporal one since they often refused to pay taxes to him. But in spite of this quiet and muted rebellion of the Berbers against the sultan and his power, yet his religious clout remained intact. The inhabitants of the mountains made Friday prayers and the ensuing sermon khutba in his name, as well as, all other prayers, especially prayers for the rain followed by a procession, called taghunja. After the independence in 1956 and the reunification of Morocco, King Mohammed V, King Hassan II and the present monarch all practiced their religious office, written in gold in the various constitutions, solemnly and diligently, by leading Friday prayers, religious feasts and Ramadan daily lectures. Because of the importance of the religious field, the Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs was always located in the Mechouar (palace's precinct) so that the Monarch can walk to the ministry, whenever he deems it necessary, to oversee personally the management of religious affairs of the country. During the reign of Hassan II (1961-1999), a very conservative monarch, he made it a rule to always start and end his numerous speeches to the nation with verses surats of the Koran and intersperse them with sayings of the Prophet Muhammad hadiths, which gave his words a kind of sacredness and his message utmost importance, even though most of the people did not understand such speeches because they were delivered in classical Arabic and not in darija, the local Arabic idiom. Islamists' Frustration in Morocco Following the Iranian revolution in 1979, and the subsequent rise of political Islam in the Muslim world. Islamists took easily control of the religious matters in most Muslim countries because local political leadership had either secular inclinations or did not consider religion as an important issue of daily life. To give their campaign importance and gain in membership, they, also, invested effort, money and dedication in social affairs, a good example of that is the Ikhwan in Egypt, assisting poor people with education, health and living expenses. In Morocco, the Islamists frustrated by the predominant role of the conservative monarchy in religious affairs, epitomized by the yearly act of allegiance bey'a, presented by officials to the 'Commander of the Faithful' on the day of his accession to the throne, to give his office a religious blessing, divide into three factions of different opinions: Moderate Islamists willing to accept the monarchy and its omnipresence in Moroccan life and represented by today's Parti de la Justice et du Developpement PJD-, currently in power;
Rejectionist Islamists, al-'Adl wa al-Ihsan, who question the legitimacy of the monarchy but abstain from overthrowing it and condemn any idea of recourse to violence and extremist action to change the political system; and
Foreign legion of violent Islamists formed and financed by Al-Qaeda, ISIS or other, with the agenda of overthrowing the monarchy and replacing it with a caliphate political system. The latter group tried their hand at violence in the events of Casablanca bombings of May 3, 2003, leading to the death of 47 innocent people. This dramatic event served as a wakeup call to Mohammed VI to review his management of the religious faith in Morocco. Mohamed Abbadi, spiritual guide of Al-'Adl wa al-Ihsan
Proactive management of the religious field It turned out that most of the attackers of the Casablanca bombings of 2003 were young recruits coming from the poor and marginalized shanty town of Sidi Moumen. Nabil Ayouch, a Moroccan film maker, immortalized this important even of Moroccan history in a long feature film entitled: 'Horses of God.' As a follow up to this dramatic event, Mohammed VI launched on May 18, 2005 the National Human Development Initiative (INDH), a national solidarity project aiming at empowering the needy and alleviating poverty. This was followed by a rigorous program of training of Imams (religious preachers) in the conservative and moderate Malekite doctrine and school of thought and for the first time women religious were included as clergy and were trained to initiate womenfolk to the moderate Islam. They were called mourchidate and have achieved an incredible success in counseling women in religious affairs to the extent that many countries copied this experience to halt them from becoming violent and serving as vehicles for time bombs of the extremists. However, the most important achievement in the present monarch's progressive management of the faith issues is the opening, on March 27, 2015, of Mohammed VI Institute for the Training of Imams, Morchidines and Morchidates, slated to play a leading role in fighting religious radicalism and violence related to extremist interpretation of the Islamic faith in Morocco and the world. Poster of the film