Morocco names women preachers to fight extremism

RABAT - Morocco has appointed 50 women as state preachers as part of the government's drive to promote a tolerant version of Islam in the face of radical fundamentalism.

Morocco is on alert against the influence of radical Islamists since 2003 when suicide bombings killed 45 people.

Many in the government blamed radical preachers for the attacks, arguing they had influenced the minds of the bombers, most of them illiterate slum dwellers, with fanatic sermons.

"It is a big responsibility for me to give more to our country," said Karima Errejili, 26, proudly clutching her certificate at the graduation ceremony in the capital, Rabat. "We want to correct the image of Islam, the religion of tolerance and pity."

The women will be able to give basic religious instruction in mosques while providing support to people in prisons, schools and hospitals across the kingdom, but will not be able to lead Friday prayers, which is solely a male preserve.

Photographers and TV crews crowded around the veiled young women graduates, who were far outnumbered by rows of 150 new male imams dressed in ceremonial white robes and red fez hats.

Women are carving out a bigger role in what remains a male-dominated society, taking leading positions in government ministries, the judiciary and pressure groups.

Security officials say police have broken up more than 50 cells since the attacks, some linked to al Qaeda, and arrested more than 3,000 over the past three years.

The Moroccan government has stepped up checks on radical imams and on dozens of koranic schools set up in recent decades by graduates from Saudi universities.

Meanwhile, King Mohammed has promoted the more moderate Malakite strain of Islam espoused by the North African kingdom's religious establishment.

He has ordered that religious decrees or fatwas can only be made by the higher council of Ulemas, or religious leaders, over which he presides.

But observers say it is increasingly hard to police religion as the state's presence in rural areas and poor suburbs is patchy and the message of jihadist networks continues to spread via websites, CDs and tapes.

- REUTERS