THE EARTH TIMES: Rabat, Morocco - Islamic law allows men to wed girls as young as nine years, because marriages to younger women often work out better - or so claims Moroccan theologist Mohammed Maghraoui. The fatwa (opinion on religious law) issued by Maghraoui in Marrakesh in early September confirmed what King Mohammed VI already knew: that Islamist fundamentalism was on the rise in the traditionally relatively liberal north African country.
The Superior Council of Ulemas (Islamic scholars) condemned the fatwa, and Maghraoui's website as well as dozens of Koranic schools linked to him were closed.
Some weeks later, just as Moroccans were marking the revelation of the Koran to Prophet Mohammed at the close of the holy month of Ramadan, King Mohammed launched his second religious reform.
The faith of Moroccans needed to be preserved from "extremist impulses," the monarch said in the northern city of Tetouan, announcing a string of measures towards that end.
As the Amir al-Mu'amin or Commander of the Faithful, the 45-year-old king, who is believed to descend from Prophet Mohammed, is the official leader of Moroccan Muslims.
The new reform followed an initial one carried out after Islamist militants killed 45 people, including 12 suicide bombers, in Casablanca in 2003.
That reform restructured the Ministry of Islamic Affairs in an attempt to place preachers at the country's 40,000 mosques under tighter control.
Other measures have included revising Islamic textbooks and placing female instructors at mosques. Morocco's King Launches Offensive against Radical Islam >>> DPA | October 10, 2008
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback) / Free delivery >>>
