By Mohammed Amine Benabou
Rabat – Following Tunisia’s approval of equality between the sexes with regards to inheritance law, the question of inheritance in Morocco continues to be hotly debated between diametrically opposing sides.
Staunch opponents to inheritance reform claim that such “reformism” violates divine limits, while proponents such as Asma Lamrabet and Mohamed Abdelouahab Rafiki praised Tunisia’s move.
Asma Lamrabet, a former scholar of Morocco’s highest Islamic legal body, the Ulemma, was relieved of her duty following her bold stance for reforms of inheritance laws.
Mouminoun Without Borders, a Moroccan institute for research, decided to chime in on the debate in its monthly Moroccan magazine “The What” yesterday, February 21.
The monthly issue was released under the title “Examination of Inheritance: The Argument of Equality and the Struggle for Change.”
The edition discussed the controversial inheritance law in Islamic fiqh (jurisprudence) through a wide range of approaches ranging from religion, human rights, and sociology.
It especially addressed the differing stances on sharia law and asked such questions as: “What gender-oriented readings of patriarchal resistances within a “composite society” oscillating between tradition and restoration?”, “How does sociology deconstruct the subject of inheritance on the basis of changing social conditions?”, and “What cultural, social, and political legacies are there behind advocating for equality in inheritance? “
This issue was edited by the Moroccan Ph.D. student and sociology major Hajar Lemfadli and includes four research contributions by various writers and academics from the MENA region.
Contributors include the Algerian academic Mohammed Bekkaye with his paper entitled “Women, Inheritance, and the Trajectories of Marginalization: Gender Confrontations to a Multi-Faceted Politics” and Tunisian researcher Zeineb Toujani, who wrote, “The Right to Equality in Inheritance: Now Before Tomorrow.”
