Join on WhatsApp
Join on Telegram
By Hajare El Khaldi
Rabat – During his appearance on the French show “Quotidien,” French writer and philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy praised King Mohammed VI’s religious approach to further women’s rights in Morocco, on April 24.
Invited by Yann Barthès to talk about the manifesto against “new anti-Semitism,” Lévy used his platform to laud Morocco as a positive example of moderate Islam, especially in regard to women’s rights.
Referring to the 2004 Family Code, known as Al-Mudawana, Lévy declared, “In Morocco, there has been a great revolution in women’s rights recently, and the current monarch, Mohammed VI, has given women certain rights that are very uncommon in the Muslim world.”
“How did he do it?” added Lévy, “He asked Ulama, men of faith and wisdom to study the Quranic texts and see how they can be made with women’s freedom. Moroccan women can get divorced, they are not repudiated, they are not enslaved by their husbands.”
Earlier this month, 40 women’s rights associations unanimously called for a comprehensive review of the family code, in order to put an end to some “discriminatory” provisions.
“After 14 years since the application of the Family Code, given the problems and shortcomings noted and the persistence of the discriminatory nature of many provisions, we, women’s rights associations signatory to this press release, call for a total and deep revision of all the books of the Family Code, including those relating to inheritance,” read the press release.
Three hundred influential French personalities have signed the manifesto against anti-Semitism marked by “Islamist radicalization” following several hate crimes against Jewish people.
The signatories included former French President Nicolas Sarkozy; actor and filmmaker Gérard Depardieu; legendary singer, public activist, and diplomat Charles Aznavour; and iconic singer and songwriter Françoise Hardy.
Lévy explained that the proclamation does not call for abandoning the “problematic” religious texts, but rather, for re-interpreting them and putting them into context.
