KARAMAH was invited to the White House on May 30, 2012 to moderate an event entitled: “Exploring Communities of Muslim Women throughout History.” During the question and answers session, moderated by Dr. Azizah al-Hibri, chair and founder of KARAMAH , a question was asked about how the 2004 revisions inMorocco’s personal status code were achieved. Dr. al-Hibri discussed that Karamah has direct knowledge of these events through its distinguished jurist network and is therefore providing in this column a detailed answer to the question. Furthering that discussion, this answer is important to illustrate the complexity of successfully introducing change in a Muslim country. Patience and foundational scholarly work are critical.
The revision of the Mudawwana (Moroccan family law) was the result of a major popular effort over a long period of time, in which academic scholars and lawyers joined civil society in all its political diversity (the left, the right and Islamists), in demanding change. The demands, however, differed from one group to the other. Two demonstrations were organized in March 2000, one inRabatand the other inCasablanca. The first was purely secular in its demands, the other was religiously oriented. This situation revealed a true polarization within society requiring the mediation of the King in his capacity as the ultimate arbitrator, the head of the State and Commander of the Faithful.
The King appointed a commission constituted mainly of Islamic scholars, but which included jurists, judges, lawyers and some social scientists. The commission developed recommendations which were first submitted to the King, and then to the Parliament. So, the revisions were the result of a popular movement that included all perspectives within the Moroccan society. The King supported these recommendations in a historical speech to the Parliament in which he stated that his support was given in his capacity as Commander of the Faithful, and not only as head of state. This remark blunted any religious objection among the Moroccan people to the revisions. The Parliament then approved the revisions.
The Moroccan constitution expressly states that Morocco is an Islamic state and that its King is the Commander of the Faithful. These twin constitutional principles placed a heavy responsibility on the shoulders of the scholars. As a result, they relied on serious juristic works in developing their recommendations. For example, they relied on the work of Dr. Raja Makkawi, a founding member of Karamah’s Jurist Network, quoting long passages from her scholarly work. Dr. Fatema Mernissi’s work was not quoted because she is not a jurist. During this whole process of developing the recommendations, scholars kept reminding various women’s groups thatMoroccowas, by the terms of its very constitution, an Islamic state and that this legal fact may not be disregarded.
In the end, the scholars were able to develop popular recommendations that strengthened women’s rights in the Mudawwana, based on enlightened Islamic jurisprudence. Thus, the revision process was both democratic and complicated, involving major segments of society, especially Muslim scholars, who ensured that it was also firmly rooted in the constitution. For this reason, we believe that these revisions are stable.
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