Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Religion Provisions of the Morocco Constitution of 2011


One of my current research projects involves analysis of the religion provisions of various constitutions enacted since the year 2000. From time to time on this blog, I'll post extracts of those provisions arranged according to categories such as "Religious Freedom" (guarantee of individual rights), "Established Religion" (joining religion and government), "Establishment Clause" (separating religion and government), "Ceremonial Deism" (symbolic references to religion that have little or no legal effect), "Equal Protection of Religion" (non-discrimination guarantees), "Preamble", "Religious Education", and "Religious Limitations."
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The Morocco Constitution of 2011 is a very interesting example of a document that strongly incorporates a national religion while simultaneously making reference to traditional liberal concepts like freedom of religion, non-discrimination, and "the rights of man."

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Morocco Constitution 2011

Source (including translation):  World Constitutions Illustrated (HeinOnline)

Preamble

“A sovereign Muslim State, attached to its national unity and to its territorial integrity, the Kingdom of Morocco intends to preserve, in its plentitude and its diversity, its one and indivisible national identity. Its unity, is forged by the convergence of its Arab-Islamist, Berber [amazighe] and Saharan-Hassanic [saharo-hassanie] components, nourished and enriched by its African, Andalusian, Hebraic and Mediterranean influences [affluents]. The preeminence accorded to the Muslim religion in the national reference is consistent with [va de pair] the attachment of the Moroccan people to the values of openness, of moderation, of tolerance and of dialog for mutual understanding between all the cultures and the civilizations of the world.”

“To deepen the bonds of togetherness with the Arab and Islamist Ummah [Oumma], and to reinforce the bonds of fraternity and of solidarity with its brother peoples;”

Ceremonial Deism

Article 1:  “The Nation relies for its collective life on the federative constants [constantes fidratrices], on the occurrence of moderate Muslim religion, [on] the national unity of its multiple components [affluents], [on] the constitutional monarchy and [on] democratic choice.”

Established Religion

Article 3:  “Islam is the religion of the State, which guarantees to all the free exercise of beliefs [cultes].”

Article 41:  “The King, Commander of the Faithful [Amir Al Mouminine], sees to the respect for Islam. He is the Guarantor of the free exercise of beliefs [cultes]. He presides over the Superior Council of the Ulema [Conseil supirieur des Oukdma], charged with the study of questions that He submits to it. The Council is the sole instance enabled [habilite] to comment [prononcer] on the religious consultations (Fatwas) before being officially agreed to, on the questions to which it has been referred [saisi] and this, on the basis of the
tolerant principles, precepts and designs of Islam. The attributions, the composition and the modalities of functioning of the Council are established by Dahir [Royal Decree]. The King exercises by Dahirs the religious prerogatives inherent in the institution of the Emirate of the Faithful [Imarat Al Mouminine] which are conferred on Him in exclusive manner by this Article.”

Article 175
“No revision may infringe the provisions relative to the Muslim religion, on the monarchic form of the State, on the democratic choice of the Nation or on [those] acquired in matters of [the] freedoms and of fundamental rights inscribed in this Constitution.”

Religious Freedom?

Article 3 “Islam is the religion of the State, which guarantees to all the free exercise of beliefs [cultes].”

Article 41:  “The King, Commander of the Faithful [Amir Al Mouminine], sees to the respect for Islam. He is the Guarantor of the free exercise of beliefs [cultes].”

Miscellaneous

Article 7:  “The political parties may not be founded on a religious, linguistic, ethnic or regional basis, or, in a general manner, on any discriminatory basis or [basis] contrary to the Rights of Man. They may not have for [an] objective [but], infringement to the Muslim religion, to the monarchical regime, to the constitutional principles, to the democratic foundations or to the national unity and territorial integrity of the Kingdom”

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