Abstract
In recent years, Morocco has witnessed a number of reforms in various domains. Since the advent of the new king, Mohammed VI, clear signs of reforms have been noticed in various fields like the economy, the media, administration, human rights, education and the religious field. The reform in the latter domain is nationally and internationally recognized as a reference model. One of the major aspects of the religious reform concerns involving women in the management of religious affairs in recognition of their role and scientific status. Since the royal speech on April 30, 2004, in which His Majesty King Mohammed VI recommended the active inclusion of women scholars in the religious and educational rehabilitation of society, women scholars have been contributing to the religious field through membership in the High Council of Scholars, the Local Scientific Councils and the Mohamadan League of Scholars. Moreover, interested women in the religious affairs are trained to be religious guides and, hence, are strongly present in mosques, scientific councils, nursing homes, hospitals, prisons, educational institutions, and the media. The present paper aims to explore the perceptions of Moroccan religious scholars of involving women in the religious field. In particular, the survey tries to investigate the respondents’ evaluation of the experience and their suggestions for improvement. The main results indicate that involving women in the religious field is perceived as one of the major specificities that has granted Morocco a prominent status and made of it a model that may serve as a standard and exemplar for others. Also, it was reported that Islam did have many female scholars and preachers in the past, and now this is simply being restored to them as a natural thing. The paper concludes with some suggestions on how to maximize the achievements of the kingdom’s experience with involving women in religious matters.
Keywords: religious field, religious Reform, involvement of women, Morocco, women preachers
Bio-Data:
Nadia Halim is Associate Professor of English and Assistant Director in Charge of Pedagogical Affairs at Dar Al Hadith Al Hassania Institution, Al Quaraouiyyine University, Rabat. She received her Doctorate degree from the Faculty of Letters and Humanities, Mohamed V University, Rabat, in 2005 and joined Dar Al Hadith Al Hassania Institution in 2007. She has taught different courses: General English, English for Islamic Studies, Business English, and Introduction to Linguistics. She has (co-)organized and taken part in a number of international and national conferences. Her research interests include: EFL Teaching and Learning, English for Islamic Studies, Intercultural Communication, and Islamic Studies and Current Islamic Issues.
Hssein Khtou is Associate Professor at Dar Al Hadith Al Hassania Institution in Rabat. His research interests include assessment and English Language Teaching in Higher Education, religious pluralism and interfaith dialogue. In 2010, he participated in a six-week summer institute on “Religious Pluralism and Public Life in the USA” hosted by the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California in Santa Barbara (UCSB). In November 2017, he received a grant within Erasmus+ Programme for staff teaching mobility and was a guest speaker at the Islamic University of Applied Sciences Rotterdam, the Netherlands. He has taken part in various international and national conferences. In addition to his Ph.D. dissertation, he has published a set of articles. He is an associate member of the Applied Language & Culture Studies Research Center, UCD, El Jadida.