Moroccan Cleric Calls on Parents to Divide Inheritance Equally Among Children

Taroudante – Controversial Moroccan Islamist preacher Abdel Bari Zamzami has reportedly came up with a ‘religious’ solution to the current debate over inheritance in Morocco.

Following the controversy caused by Morocco’s National Human Rights Council (CNDH), which has urged the government to reform the family code in a way that guarantees equality between men and women concerning inheritance, Abdel Bari Zamzami recently called on parents to divide their wealth equally amongst their children before they die.

According to Hespress, citing the Moroccan weekly Al Ayam, the preacher said “the only religiously-permissible way out of this problem is that parents give equal shares to their sons and daughters without leaving behind any property that will take the path of inheritance.”

The same source added that the Moroccan preacher said that Islam is calling for “equality between sons and daughters in terms of giving,” unlike the case of inheritance, which states that the male should get a portion equal to that of two females.

Morocco’s National Human Rights Council recently said that equality is still a long way off in Morocco, and much of the old order remains untouched, including the inheritance law section of the family code.

In its report released last month under the title “Preserve the Constitutional Aims and Objectives and Make them Effective,” the Council stressed that women should receive the same inheritance as men, in accordance with the 2011 Constitution, whose Article 19 clearly calls for the implementation of gender equality.