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RABAT, July 10 (Islam Online)-This summer, the Moroccan beaches, are witnessing an implicit war between the state and the country's Islamists belonging mainly to the largest Moroccan Islamic Group known as " Justice and Goodness." The Islamists are praying in full clothes on Moroccan beaches. They went to beaches and mixed with other swimmers, who are relaxing on the shore in western semi naked swimsuits. The decision came after the government denied them any beach camps that they are used to each summer. Moroccan Islamists used to organize programs for Muslims focusing on Islamic education and entertainment for Muslim youth of all ages in these camps. The camps were regarded as both entertainment in a 'clean Islamic' environment and a breeding ground for attracting new members. After the camps were banned, scores of Islamists went down to the beaches in groups of bearded men, and veiled women. They sat next to other secularist Moroccans in the conventional liberal western swimsuits. In some beaches, Islamists constituted the majority. They have made others curious because of their distinguished behavior. They performed group prayers and called for the separation between male and female swimmers. The Moroccan Interior Minister, Ahmad El Meedawy, whose Ministry last Friday issued the decree banning the Islamic summer beach camps, told the Moroccan television station "the state will never allow any practices that will be discriminatory and particularly related to one group whether derived from religious or ethnic grounds." "I do not like Islamic camps because entertainment on beaches should be open [to] all Moroccans and visiting tourists" he added. Fatah Allah Arsalan, the spokesman of the largest Islamic group in Morocco responded to the minister's comments. He told reporters " the main problem is not that our camps are banned this year. The problem lies in the position the government is taking against us as a group." Arsalan told AFP that the group's press is still banned, and that the government insists on not recognizing them as a political party. As for banning Islamic beach summer camps from time to time, he added, " we should not be forced to dress and act like the others, after our own camps are closed." He said his group and other Islamists never put any pressure on, or caused any problems to, the rest of the beach goers. |
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