Moroccan Author Calls for Feminist Reinterpretation of Islam to Empower Women

The Moroccan essayist and feminist is the author of a recent book on the subject: "The Prophet of Islam and Women." She stated that "the reformist vision she proposes could help initiate a reading of equality, justice and liberation for both men and women, as it only rebalances and re-harmonizes the feminine with the masculine in the human being." A vision, which, according to the biologist, is not different from the intrinsic values of Muslim countries. The objective of this reading is to "decolonize the minds of this double order: that of conforming to an abstract model of "universal emancipation" and of freeing themselves from a fatalistic alienation of their own culture."

She mentions polygamy, the veil, 50% of the inheritance for a woman or the submission of women to men, and calls for a distinction to be made between "the ethico-spiritual source revealed to the prophet, on the one hand, and the classical medieval Islamic interpretations and other compilations which were the product of their patriarchal human, social and cultural environment."

Present at this seminar, the Moroccan ambassador to Buenos Aires, Yassir Fares, said that "the evolution of the women’s cause in Morocco is the perfect reflection of the evolution of society and its profound transformation on the social, economic and cultural levels." For him, Moroccan women are increasingly present in sectors that were once exclusively male. As for Imane Dryef, minister-counselor at the Moroccan embassy, he indicated that women’s rights and the issue of gender equality are among the priorities of the Moroccan authorities.

The speakers at this seminar raised the need for the authorities to get more involved in favor of the emancipation of African countries. Women in Morocco and Latin America share the same problems in terms of child rearing and work-life balance, said Maria Noël Vaeza, Regional Director of UN Women.