Sufism and Religious Policy in Morocco
Lamyae DIOURI
Mohamed JAHAH
Whether in national and international media contexts or in some academic and political contexts, a lot has been said about the strong return to Sufism in the present time in Morocco. Perhaps what has brought this timely issue into existence and makes it an important phenomenon that requires much attention
and monitoring, as well as following and analysis, is that it has become the main headline of the new religious policy of the country, especially in light of what is known as a requalification policy and reframing of the religious field.
Of course, it is not possible to frame this policy and understand the logic that forms and establishes it without linking it to numerous events which have occurred in Morocco. These events are linked to territorial and international contexts as the phenomenon of religious terrorism has emerged during the last decade which has known events such as Casablanca terrorist bombings, the growing activity of some Salafist jihadist movements, the danger of al-Qaeda’s spreading at the Maghreb region and the region of Sahara, just to mention a few. Therefore, all these factors will strongly put the issue of insecurity into question and will rethink the saying of “Moroccan as an exception”. It has become obvious as it can be deduced from some elements of this new religious policy that there is something wrong with managing the religious affair. This, in turn, may affect the spiritual, social, and economic security of the citizens as well as the political stability of the whole country.
In fact, this is only one of the most obvious aspects of the problem among others. Nevertheless, it is necessary to highlight other sides to fully understand the elements of the aforementioned religious policy. In this collective work, we hope to interpret this supposed return to Sufism by profoundly seeking its clear and unclear reasons and its consequences. This leads us to put the issue of return to Sufism in its historical, anthropological, and sociological backgrounds. It has actually been confirmed that the strategic value of the socio-anthropological approach to this subject has a great deal of importance and it is far from focusing only on the narrow horizon of instrumental approaches that can only restrict the problem to progressive political action. This, in turn, may use the Sufism card to fight religious extremism.
Certainly, although we accept this instrumental logic in how the state deals with this issue, it is not possible to make use of the idea of Sufism for the sake of fighting the Islamic movements. Unfortunately, this is one of the basic components of the new religious policy of the country as mentioned before. Examples of these acts include fighting Salafist jihadist and Shia extension, using Sufism in Sahara diplomatic issue, providing propaganda to a kind of religious modernity or the strategy to modernize Islam as a response to Islamizing modernity, the participation of Morocco in international/American policy to fight terrorism “Al-Qaida organization”, consolidating the religious legitimacy of the royal institution “Imarat al muminin” through practicing the mechanisms of “arbitration”, etc.
Relying on another level of analysis, the religious policy here, like any other policy, is bound to principles and is determined and guided by objectives and strategies. Even if we favor the importance of this Sufism card in the new religious policy of the state (fighting against religious extremism and terrorism), to decide whether the state has succeeded or not in using Sufism for that purpose requires carrying out effective sociological and anthropological studies. We think that research in these areas is still rare; there are only a handful of attempts that rely on reporting and expertise.
So, the problem here is to know whether there is any receding of the Islamic extension at the level of act and influence (socially, politically, and culturally speaking), which requires a kind of sociological analogy. Can we attribute that to the success and efficiency of the state Sufism policy? And what is the added value, in this context, of Sufism organizations “Zawaya” and “Toroq/ways” which the state encourages and cares about after their revival? Can we consider this return, in this way (Zawaya revival), as the best organization the Sufism field has witnessed since 16th century until the thirties of the last century, and as a return of “signifier” without “signified”? Here, the difference is confirmed, in more than one level, between “Zawaya” of the past and “Zawaya” of the present in Morocco.
The socio-anthropological research may be sufficient to explore other important reasons which can explain somehow the receding of these movements or their growing and development (economic, political and socio-cultural reasons). It is also important to relate these explanations to issues of identity, modernizing paradoxes, and the constraints of globalization.
In this respect, all that we can note is that the state has succeeded to a great extent in repressing the Islamic movement in Morocco by strengthening the presence and the role of the active Sufism and by considering it as an example of open and non-political model of Islam. This is based on some perspectives that are confirmed by some international reports about the subject as well as some national reports such as those of “ The center of Studies and Research in Sociology” and the “ Moroccan Center of Studies and Modern Research”. The terrorist events of May 16thwere a sign to this strong return to Sufism at the expense of Salafist direction “Al jihadi” which has become linked to, based on the attitudes of large groups from Moroccan society and national public opinion, killing and terrorism. In this case, we should pay attention to the importance of attitudes and their implications in depicting the processes of evolution or receding and collapse of any organization, movement, or political social system. We state this and we areaware, in this context, of the statement of Max Weber about “Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism”.
Moreover, we should notignore the fact that the nature of Moroccan political system (royal institution and the field of Imarat Al muminin) does not allow for a reasonable margin of act to any political religious actor or groupapart from what the legitimacy requirements allow. It is worth noting here the difference between “Justice and Development Party” which is engaged in the political game after it has been adopted of course and “Justice and Spirituality Association” which still works outside legitimacy.
Without expanding on this introduction, we would like to conclude with some observations. One the one hand, we think that the religious policy which the state has followedis manifested in activating a lot of perspectives from Sufism culture and legacy (religious seasons, festivals and international meetings of people belonging to Sufism “Sidi Shigr” to revive and encourage Zawaya and Sufism ways and support them in a great way as “Tijania” “Boutchichia” and “Kattania”…).This may raise the question of the return to Sufism among us as researchers in this field. The real problem here is what is the position of Sufism today in thesupposed “return”? Is it a return of the political actor (the state) to this religious, cultural, and ideological component for the sake of investment in it? This logic can undoubtedlyrestrict us in a pure instrumental vision (using Sufism as a tool among other political tools); or it is a return of Sufism itself, as a return of the absent who has been absent or rather been absent. We are for this as a return of a repressed who has been oppressed because of the closed rationalism (rigorous jurisprudent mind has viewed Sufism as a heresy and recant from “the righteous in religion”, the political authoritative mind had always seen it as the seeds of political disturbance, but the positivist mind has gotten rid of itdue to the lack of the real and reasonable properties).
On the other hand, alwaysin relation to that instrumental dealing of the state with Sufism which seems to be pragmatic and trivial,can this repressed (Sufism) surprise us and enter surreptitiously and sweep away wider spaces in our political life? Can it become a strong sign of political “recession” and “deviation” from the path of modernity and democracy? What can assure us today that Sufism tendency cannot deviate into extreme tendency, making all the political hopes which rely on it disappointed? Didn’t the same thing happen with “Islamic” card when the state used it at the beginning of the seventies to fight the radical left and limit the Irani Shia extension? These are questions, among others, that may deserve scientific research and investigation. Hopefully, the introduction of this collective book would contribute to achieve this.
In conclusion, it necessary to mention that we tackle the Sufism issue in relation, of course, to the religious policy of the state. This doesn’t restrict us in asking questionsin an attempt to monitor reality, but it is a necessity to consider the problem in its historical dimensions, and perhaps this is what makes us go backagain to raise the question of the relationship between ‘’Zawaya’’ and ‘’Makhzen’’ in the political and social history of Morocco.
We would like also to say that the topics of the book are not solely about the issue of Sufism. This could be due to the fact that some of the contributions go beyond the Moroccan context (Tunisia and Andalus as examples). Some are about the political history of Morocco (Roman era). However, the religious/sufism theme is always present in the book.
Thus, we will give the reader a wider space to compare, to ask, and to discuss.
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* Presentation of the book, Sufism and religious policy. Collective work, edited by Mohamed JAHAH. Editions Afrique Orient, Casa- 2017 (in Arabic). It should be noted that the book is currently being translated into English.