Shocking New Survey: Moroccans Want Family-Code Reforms to Be Based on Islamic Law

[AMusee]

A recent survey conducted by the pan-African research network, Afrobarometer, has shattered the illusions that many people had regarding Morocco.

A large majority of Moroccans say any reforms of the family code to promote gender equality in the country should be based on Islamic law, or sharia, a new Afrobarometer survey shows.
While this preference is widespread across key demographic groups, it is particularly strong among men, rural residents, older citizens, and those with less education. If there are any reforms to the family code, citizens want them to prioritise issues related to divorce, reconciliation, and alimony proceedings; sex outside marriage; and marriage of minors.

The survey results, published on March 17, 2023, have shown that almost a staggering 8 in 10 Moroccans say that any reforms made to the Family Code, in order to promote gender equality, should be based on Islamic law, i.e., the Shari’ah.

Key findings
⦿ Almost eight in 10 Moroccans (78%) say any reforms of the family code to promote gender equality should be based on Islamic law, or sharia (Figure 1).
◦ Fully half (51%) “strongly agree” with this view.
◦ Only two in 10 (20%) want reforms to be based only on international agreements signed by the Kingdom of Morocco.
◦ Support for basing reforms to the family code on Islamic law increases with respondents’ age (ranging from 73% among those aged 18-35 to 85% among those aged 56 and above), and decreases with one’s level of education (88% among those with no formal education vs. 65% among those with postsecondary education) (Figure 2).
◦ Men (80%), rural residents (82%), and economically disadvantaged citizens (81%) are also more in favour of this view than women (74%), urban residents (74%), and economically well-off citizens (76%).
⦿ The top three issues that Moroccans want prioritised in reforms of the family code are divorce, reconciliation, and alimony proceedings (cited by 32%); sex outside marriage (25%); and marriage of minors (22%) (Figure 3).
⦿ While women cite marriages of minors as their second priority (27%), the same proportion of men would prioritise issues concerning sex outside marriage (Figure 4).

RELATED: Divorce: How Feminism Wasted a Whole Generation in Morocco

RELATED: Debate Over the Legalization of Zina in Morocco


In 2004, a new familial code was introduced in Morocco with the intent of bringing about reforms to the existing law, which was based on the fiqh (jurisprudence) of the Maliki legal school. The goal was to provide women with more freedom by ending their guardianship; making polygyny more difficult; and reducing minor marriage.

While some people welcomed this change—particularly feminists, who believed that the old familial code, based on Islam, was patriarchal and outdated—, it was met with strong opposition from a large segment of the population. In fact, even back then, many Moroccans openly voiced their complaints regarding the new Mudawwana, citing the destructive effects it would have on various institutions within the kingdom, including family, marriage and education.

It is important to note that Morocco is not made up only of big cities like Rabat and Casablanca, as accurately pointed out by Dr. Mohammed Lahlou. The majority of the population is from rural areas, and they tend to hold very conservative views. This fact is often overlooked or misconceived by outsiders. It is in sharp contrast with the Western media’s portrayal of a Maghreb that is slowly turning away from Islam, which is, in actuality, a grossly exaggerated and deeply inaccurate stereotype.

This false stereotype needs to be thoroughly debunked, as it is often even perpetuated within Muslim circles. Even people engaging with Muslim Skeptic are frequently commenting, accusing Moroccans of being overly liberal and immoral. However, this perception is far from the truth.

So, contrary to popular belief, this survey has now definitively demonstrated that Moroccans are actually becoming increasingly more and more religious. An earlier Muslim Skeptic article had also touched upon the increasing levels of religiosity among Arabs, including Moroccans. This increase in religiosity included more people describing themselves as religious, as well as increased engagement with religious practices and religious texts.

According to the results of the recent Afrobarometer survey being discussed in this article, 78% of Moroccans believe that any reforms of the Family Code for the purpose of promoting gender equality should be based on Islamic law. As shown above, this deference to religion is slightly more pronounced among men, rural residents and the least affluent citizens; and support for basing the Family Code reforms on Islamic law increases along with the age of the respondents, and it decreases with education level.

Le360 reports:

And what do Moroccans in general think? To answer this question, the pan-African survey research network Afrobarometer gave them the floor, through a survey conducted on a sample of 1,200 adults, between August 31 and September 19, 2022.
According to the results of this survey, published on March 17, 2023, nearly 8 out of 10 Moroccans (78%) say that any reform of the Family Code to promote gender equality should be based on Islamic law. Only 20% want reforms to be based solely on international agreements signed by the Kingdom.
This reference to religion is more pronounced among men (80%), rural residents (82%), and the least affluent citizens (81%), than among women (74%), urban residents (74%), and the most affluent (76%).
“Support for basing the Family Code reforms on Islamic law increases with the age of respondents (ranging from 73% among those aged 18-35 to 85% among those over 55), and decreases with education level (88% among those with no formal education versus 65% among those with post-secondary education),” the report said.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that Morocco is suddenly somehow now perfect.

There is still much work to be done in order to reconcile the actions of the people with their beliefs—especially in the face of the drastic effects that social media has had on the youth, leading many towards depravity and open sin. However, that being said, this survey certainly gives us cause to be a lot more hopeful regarding the country’s future due to the positive trajectory of its population.

RELATED: Most Moroccans Support Mandating Hijab… Will Democracy Finally Prevail?

https://muslimskeptic.com/2023/06/30/new-survey-moroccans/

 

[AMusee]

Most Moroccans Support Mandating Hijab… Will Democracy Finally Prevail?​

Westerners seem to no longer be bothered too much by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, despite the fact that it will directly impact their daily lives through rising prices, etc., and could potentially result in nuclear conflict.

This is because they’ve moved on and discovered something better and more essential to their existence: supporting (a few liberal) Iranian women against the mandating of Hijab or, well let’s be honest, Hijab itself.

The death of a single woman supposedly “because of the Hijab” has provided new meaning to the lives of the nihilist Westerners. We could ask where these same people were when, post-9/11, thousands of women were being slaughtered by drones in the name of liberal ideals such as democracy and feminism.

But let us first ask this question:

If the majority of Iranian women, or Iranians as a whole, did want to see the end of the Hijab mandate and if their opinion should be accepted based simply on democracy, would the same apply elsewhere if the people wanted the Hijab to be mandated by law?

Take Morocco for example.

As reported by the Moroccan website Bladi in a recent article written in French, a survey carried out by L’Economiste (an influential business newspaper) has shown that 65% of Moroccans want Hijab to be mandated by law. Also interesting is that there are actually more women who are in favor of mandating Hijab than men (67% against 62% respectively).

Keep in mind that Morocco is not the “most conservative” or “most radical” Muslim-majority, or even Arabic-speaking, country either. The country is in actuality being eroded by sustained feminist onslaughts.

One could easily argue that Morocco is representative of most of the Arab-Muslim world—it is neither more religious nor less religious—so the fact that such a huge percentage of the population is in favor of making Hijab mandatory says a lot about the regional dynamics as a whole.

What is even more intriguing is that while 21% have “no opinion,” those that oppose mandatory Hijab are just a meagre 14%. What is most intriguing, however, is that—as per the article—this miniscule percentage comprises of the oldest demographic (those aged between 55-64).

Basically, the youth seem to be far more invested both in religion and in making Islam a societal force. This coincides with the worldwide trend of the younger Muslim generations being more committed to Islam in comparison to their parents (as well as those before them).

RELATED: Arabs Are Getting More Religious. Why Isn’t Western Media Reporting It?

In fact, concerning Morocco specifically, Bladi had quoted another mass survey in 2020. This survey showed that the youth were more religious compared to previous generations. These opinions are therefore not too surprising.

Also, keep in mind that this is related to Hijab being made mandatory. Thus regarding those who are opposed to it, they may not have any legitimate basis for being against it, but in no way does this automatically mean that they are against Hijab in and of itself.

This once again demonstrates how Muslims are alone in seriously resisting liberalization and secularization. Other religions scarcely have “religious folks” of the same degree, nor do they have the same level of worship and devotion. They do however have their own strand of “conservatives,” yet how many of these so-called “conservative” Christians, Hindus, etc. would be in favor of making anything mandatory?

Their conservatism is predicated upon internalized modernism. They’d generally consider anything being “mandatory” as going against “consent,” “individualism,” and so on. This is even more so with mandatory Hijab which, from their perspective, also goes against “women’s rights.”

RELATED: Hijab Burnings: A Pathetic Modernist Ritual

This particularly illiberal religiosity (and not just the general religiosity of Muslims) strongly demonstrates the superiority of Islam.

Now here’s the million-dollar question:

Will the opinions of these Muslims be respected?

Will Westerners follow “the will of the people” and join together in protest for the Moroccan monarchy to impose mandatory Hijab?

Or is the West simply just being hypocritical when it speaks of “respecting peoples’ choices”?

I think we all know the answer.

https://muslimskeptic.com/2022/10/06/most-moroccans-mandating-hijab/