Inappropriate contact between men and women on buses doesn’t invalidate the fast: cleric

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

By Omar Bihmidine

Morocco World News

Tangier, July 13, 2013

According to Al Akhbar newspaper, controversial Moroccan “cleric” Abdelbari Zamzami recently issued a fatwa, which states that physical contact between men and women on buses does not break the fast.

“Touching and physical contact do not break the fast even in the case of ejaculation,” Zamzami said in an interview.

The fatwa which went viral on Facebook social network sparked much uproar and received harsh criticism from a number of Moroccans.

“Ejaculating semen intentionally breaks the fast. How come this cleric said it does not?” a Moroccan adult who opposed the cleric so-called fatwa told MWN.

“This person is a disaster,” a Moroccan journalist from Tangier posted on her Facebook page upon learning of Zamzami’s statement.

“A complaint should be filed in the court against this category of human who sully religion with their so-called Fatwas,” a Moroccan resident in New Jersey city, who was outraged by Zamzami’s statement, told MWN.

“Despite arousing sexual desire, this physical contact does not lead to breaking the fast,” Zamzami was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

“Because men and women get on crammed buses, they can not help touching one another. Yet, there is no harm in that as touching and ejaculating won’t break your fast,” Zamzami added.

The cleric based his fatwa on the fact that “the act of touching is not meant to satisfy one’s sexual desire” and that “kissing one’s wife during the holy month of Ramadan doesn’t spoil the fast.”

This is not the first time Zamzami comes up with statements, considered by some as fatwas, that stir uproar in Morocco.

In early 2012 he said that a Muslim is allowed to make love to his dead wife, a form of necrophilia, and that it is strictly forbidden for Moroccans to take to the street after the king’s speeches. In another “fatwa” he said that women are allowed to have recourse to masturbation to satisfy their long-repressed sexual desires.

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PJD slams the Istiqlal party, says it ‘is in war between good and evil’

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

By Tarik Elbarakah

Morocco World News

Inzegan, Agadir, June 23, 2013

Amid the overwhelming chanting of pro-PJD slogans, Lahcen Daoudi, the minister of higher education, entered the electrified arena pumping his fists as hundreds of the party members and sympathizers from all over the region of Souss Massa Daraa, in southern Morocco, stood to welcome their guest who came to give the opening statement of the second PJD youth’s regional assembly held on Saturday in Inzegane.

After listening to beautifully-recited quranic verses and glorifying the country by repeating the national hymn, the party’s parliamentarians from the Souss Massa Daraa region took the floor and spoke for minutes and minutes while their long-awaited VIP visitor was scrolling down his tablet with his seemed-to-be-injured finger.

Khalid Elboukeraai, who was recently elected as the national secretary of the PJD youth, opened fire on Hamid Chabat, the general secretary of the Istiqlal party, whom he described as “a leader made from paper,” and carried on bombarding several former and current ministers who belong to the Istiqlal party and hold them responsible for Morocco’s status quo.

When it was Daoudi’s turn to take the microphone, the segregated crowd went crazy and the pro-PJD and Benkirane slogans erupted once again.

“It’s a war between good and evil,” he said, “there is no alternative to the PJD during the current circumstances.”

In his unprepared speech, the minister focused mainly on education, but he seized the opportunity to attack his political adversaries whom he called “ snakes”, and kept assuring that his party’s ultimate interest is the prosperity of Morocco not to win the elections.

Lahcen Daoudi who came 2 hours behind schedule said that the new rules he and his colleagues in the ruling coalition are implementing are simple: “Either to work or get out!”.

As he was about the end of his one and a half hour long speech, Daoudi Addressed his party’s young militants and said: “Be proud, don’t be intimidated by the other, you are reforming.”

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Why the MEGC boycott the joint meeting between the Moroccan and Turkish businessmen?

By Youssef El k

Morocco world news

FES, 5 June 2013

At a time when the Morocco is a need urgent to benefit from successful experiences in economic matters, such as the Turks that the experience of many commentators describe it as a "miracle," the Moroccan Employers' Federation called employers or MEGC decided to boycott the meeting, which took place Monday, June 3 in Rabat between Moroccan officials and businessmen and the Turkish delegation. The decision taken by the MEGC has been designed by many followers as "incomprehensible" and "embarrassing".

In a statement explaining the reasons for its decision, the MEGC claims that he was not involved in the preparation of the joint between the Turkish businessmen and their Moroccan counterparts and that he was not informed of the meeting up until three days before the meeting took place; a fact which was understood as a marginalization of the national role of the MEGC in the economic fabric. However, this justification did not convince many people who thought that the boycott is only part of the many plots against the Government led by the PJD.

In a statement out of news Lakom, Sakir Al-Ottmani, a Moroccan businessman of Settat, considers that the attitude of the MEGC is "" irresponsible and does not serve the interests of the Morocco. ' " Strongly deny the justification provided by the MEGC, he stressed that it was a "political decision against the Government dictated to the MEGC from outside the Office of Miriam Ben Salih."

According to Lakome, a senior official, who asked to speak on the condition of anonymity, expressed the same attitude and referred to the decision of the MEGC as something "dictated from the outside," stressing that what has happened, in fact, is the manifestation of a serious conflict between media policies; one wants the drug trade and all the business relationships of the pole of the France and the other wants to cut with conventional and open to all international experiences, partners in particular the successes such as Turkish.

In his speech at the Forum of the news agency Arab Maghreb (map) on Tuesday, June 4, Mr. Abedelkbir Benaatik, general Secretary of the Labour Party, has revealed that the main reason behind the boycott of the joint meeting of Turkish and Moroccan businessmen MEGC is the "spirit of hegemony and domination characterizing the PJD group".

Benaatik went further to say that the PJD has "already maneuver and promoted a workers' federation called Amal (hope) close ideologically to replace the MEGC and take control of the Moroccan economy".

On the other hand, Minister of the Morocco was very diplomatic when he apologized the MEGC for its boycott of the meeting when he stated that the decision taken by the latter was "healthy".

Mr. Benkirane, it was necessary to involve the MEGC in the preparations for the meeting with Turkish businessmen. He also praised the MEGC, its subject as the main partner of the Government.

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