Fez - Prime Minister Benkirane is under fire for his statements to Parliament regarding the role of women earlier this week. The prime minister, and head of the Justice and Development Party, made an impassioned speech suggesting that a women’s place is in the household rather than in the workplace.

“Today many women cannot find time to get married, be a mother or bring up children,” Benkirane said in Arabic to the Moroccan parliament. “Why do we refuse to acknowledge this sacred role?” he continued.

Prime Minister Benkirane and his Islamist party have often been criticized for their conservative values and traditional view toward the role of women in society. “Benkirane is time and again seen trying to spread his Islamic views in Moroccan society with recourse to his traditional religious discourse. He thinks women should always behave the same socially, irrespective of the ages, primitive or modern,” Abdu Rabih, PhD candidate at Ibn Tofail University, said.

Many see the prime minister’s comments as an insult to the progress women have made in terms of human rights and their role in Moroccan society.Kaoutsar Entifi, a working mother and small business owner, said Benkirane has shown no sympathy for women who juggle between work and family.

“He has no compassion for women who have to be mothers, housekeepers, cooks, drivers and tutors and executives, secretaries, nurses, doctors, teachers etc. He does not seem to have thought a minute about the double shift working mothers have to endure, the second one starting after they reach home in the evening,” Entifi said.

The prime minister went on to refer to the household as “dark” if the mother leaves to take a job in the workforce. “When Morocco’s women went out for work, houses grew dark. Before that, you lived in houses equipped with chandeliers [mothers], there you felt the warmth of your mothers,” Benkirane said.

“Today’s children have to depend on themselves from an early age as their mothers are out at work,” he added.

“Benkirane’s words regarding houses being ‘dark’ because of working mothers have done a great deal of damage and have alienated just about half of the population,” Entifi said.

Yet some Moroccans agreed with the prime minister’s statements that encourage women to stay at home. “Today's women do not provide enough care so often to their children. This generation of children therefore lacks Moroccan principles of caring. Leaving them home will create frustration and a break in the child-parent relationship,” Hamid Ait El Caid commented online.

The Justice and Development Party was one to oppose changes to the Moroccan family code in 2004 that granted more rights to women in the areas of marriage and divorce. Some Moroccans fear the comments are a sign that the party could backpedal on women’s rights in the future.

Others argue that what the prime minister said holds true and women should be valued for their hard work in traditional roles in the household where men and women play different parts. “One has to work, while the other has to settle at home looking after the children. Each part plays a certain role in the family framework. This will maintain the unity of the family and will bring up a good generation,” El Caid added online.

Still, the comments may have come across as a threat to women’s rights and many Moroccan women feel the need to stand up against such remarks. “The majority of educated working mothers are more aware of their children's needs. It's quality time that counts not quantity,” retired teacher, Batoul Daoudi Mootassem, said.

“Moroccan women are superstars, they work at home, help their men, educate their kids and take care of themselves. Women have proved to be as good as men in handling tough situations which makes it hard for men to compete. Now, lets work seriously on issues that affect our kids and our society,” Najia Kemmou, a Moroccan American business owner, added.

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Rabat - “Dreamers” or “Champions of Change” are ten young adults who have qualified for the U.S. government’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival program.

This year’s Champions will be honored by The White House on Tuesday June 17, presumably to raise awareness about the program and to tout the recipients’ successes and contributions to American society.

The “Champions of Change” all came to the United States illegally from Mexico, Colombia, Morocco, India, Taiwan, and the Philippines before turning sixteen. Now, they “serve as success stories and role models in their academic and professional spheres,” according to the White House.

This program, which was created by U.S. President Barack Obama in 2012 through an Executive Order, defers any action on the status of people who migrated to America illegally as children for the period of two years, and can be renewed. However, the program does not give them any legal status.

Edited by Timothy Filla

By Yossef Ben-Meir

New York - On this world date to combat desertification - and when considering the great mountain ranges in Morocco as well as desert - we point to conditions replete with prosperity-potential, as well as systematic poverty and serious risk to the region and nation that will come with delayed action.

My twenty years of not being able to walk away from transformative project possibilities in rural Morocco arises from precisely this dichotomy - between real development opportunities that would sustainably multiply the economy and engine social change, and the current subsistence conditions that see schools without a running water, education cut short for most and the multitude of dreams left hardly spoken.

But the great and most dependable hope, for Morocco and all nations, for a vast sustainable development breakthrough relies on this – communities given the opportunity to plan and implement priority local projects, as determined by them. Dozens of High Atlas Foundation projects – in agriculture, education, health and training – in the mountainous and dry regions of Morocco attest to community participation fully enabling project sustainability. Globally, the development field indelibly links community-driven projects with achieving social goals.

However, in addition to the people ready and running with participatory development when given the chance, another just as vital great hope needs to and does coexist (thanks to Morocco). The Kingdom wants the participation of the people in development to meet their human needs, to actualize participatory democracy and have a people’s representatives completely dedicated to this goal. This goes to the heart of why Morocco is so important to the region, and world – and explains its hopeful and still uncertain experience in the Arab Spring. National parameters have been created – through the example of the National Initiative for Human Development, the Communal Charter, Decentralization, and others – for a bottom up burst in local sustainable growth.

Thus, just in terms of national potential that now exists, popular development within a highly supportive Moroccan context can achieve scale within the entire nation, across the 11,000 villages and countless urban neighborhoods. The direct engagement of the people in their own sustainable human development can occur across Morocco without not just legal barriers, but on the contrary, with the legal requirement of municipalities and national programs to do so.

The dire problem for Morocco is implementation, and the fall-out level of lack of engagement by the people in local development, and the sustainable application which occurs in far too few places.

In the mountains, people’s key ideas to combat the alarming erosion include water-efficient irrigation systems laid across terraces built to mountain summits, that have growing upon them organic trees and plants that feed the nation and world. This would engine investment in safe drinking water, schools, women’s empowerment and the realization of the priorities of the people.

The urgency to address desertification and dry eroding lands exacerbated by climate change is because its effects touches upon all aspects of life; it is integrated with matters of peace and stability, and our common future. Morocco’s has a multi-cultural national identity that is preserved, celebrated, and codified. National unity and diversity opens needed pathways to human development, and is a source of great benefit and possibility in Morocco, and carries global meaning. This raises the stakes for the world for the success of Morocco’s people-propelled development model. Its success would be by way of embracing difference, and for the marginalized.

The major question for Morocco, and that will profoundly impact its place among nations in the region, is: how soon and how well can the critical training (with local civil, public, and citizen members) that will catalyze participatory planning by local communities be delivered, and those projects they identify be implemented? Strategic programs and successful cases certainly exist (including to build the capacities for civil management with accountable systems). However, the level needed by the people of widely applied efficacy does not exist enough and appears very sluggish across years, but could rise in all places any time if sparked with community meetings.

The High Atlas Foundation started its participatory development mission in Morocco - and started with mountain communities, that are becoming markedly dryer every year. The impact of our and Morocco’s work is with all those involved in implementing community determination in the Arab Spring and the world.

Morocco’s success, built around the participatory approach to development and addressing environmental threats, could be the boon forward in the tumultuous region. The model Morocco seeks is a national imperative and global guide: of local control of shared new growth and resource management –and with multi-sectoral and national level partnership, and full recognition and inclusion of all people.

Dr. Yossef Ben-Meir is president of the High Atlas Foundation and a sociologist.

Casablanca- Two female correspondents for the Moroccan TV channel Medi1 were verbally and physically assaulted by security officers (gendarmes) on Thursday, on the highway connecting Casablanca to Bouznika.

The two correspondents, Fatiha Ouali, a journalist, and Hayat Ziani, a camerawoman, were sent to the scene to shoot a report on the Highway Code as part of the weekly show “Bi Douni Haraj,” broadcast on Medi1.

The two correspondents’ presence coincided with a car crash that occurred shortly after their arrival to the highway.

Attempting to tape the car crash scene, the two correspondents were met with hostility from the police officers present there. They were “slapped and kicked, and one of them was pulled by the hair to the ground and humiliated.”

The journalists’ assistant was also physically assaulted after he intervened to spare his co-workers the police officers’ rage, according to the same source.

In a press release published on Saturday, the Moroccan Union of Labor (UMT) firmly denounced the alleged assault on Med1’s journalists.

Rabat- Since the beginning of 2014, Morocco has witnessed many cases of policemen committing suicide, an unusual phenomenon in the country. The latest case was registered on Thursday in Fes, when a police officer ate rodenticides in attempt to commit suicide.

The police officer at the urban authority of Fez refused to abide by a judicial ruling, issued after his divorce proceedings were finished. The judicial ruling obligated him to pay MAD 63 000 ($7,637 US) as compensation to his ex-wife and for child support.

According to Al Massaa, in order to protect her and her children from a life of poverty, the officer’s wife was forced to go to court and demand the implementation of the judicial ruling. As a result, the court issued another judgment requiring the police officer to pay alimony.

But the police officer did not accept the judge’s ruling. Instead of paying the alimony to his ex-wife, he ate rodenticides - a rat poison used by the local authorities to kill rodents - in attempt to commit suicide at his house, located in Ben Debab district, Fez.

According to the same source, the officer was immediately transported to the University Hospital of Fez, where he had his stomach pumped. Currently, He is still under medical observation. Doctors are waiting for his body to react to treatment.

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Rabat- Samira Sitail, head of the news department of channel 2M,announced her participation in the protests against Benkirane’s impassioned speech to Parliament where he told Moroccan women that their place is in their homes rather than in the workplace. The sit-in will take place Tuesday in front of the Parliament in Rabat.

Following Abdelilalh Benkirane’scall to dismiss her from her position, Samira Sitail stated on her Facebook page that “for a man who dreams of seeing the Moroccan women locked up in their kitchen, it is not surprising that he wants me to stay home...”.

“It seems that he does not understand that, like millions of Moroccan women, I work to earn a living, and I'm not the only woman to live on her own salary,” she added.

Samira Sitail went on: “Well, I am must leave you because I have to return to my work. But I will take the necessary time to participate in the sit-in tomorrow.”

The sit-in, organized by civil coalitions and women’s rights organizations, will take place on Tuesday at 5:00 PM in front of Parliament. Through this sit-in, Moroccan women aim to protest against Benkirane’s remarks on women and demand women's right to equality in the workplace.

Rabat-  The US State Department in a report released June 20, 2014, cited Morocco as a “source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children who are subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking,” asserting that the Moroccan Government “does not comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking,” despite attempts to do so.

The 2014 Trafficking in Persons Report prepared by the State Department’s Office To Monitor And Combat Trafficking In Persons has placed Morocco on the Tier 2 Watch List.  “Moroccan men, women, and children are exploited in sex trafficking in Europe and the Middle East,” according to the report.

 “Moroccan women are forced into prostitution primarily in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Jordan, Libya, Syria, and European countries; some of them experience restrictions on movement, threats, and emotional and physical abuse,” states the report.

The report also notes that Moroccan men are subjected to “debt bondage” in the Persian Gulf when recruiters offer Moroccan men jobs in the Persian Gulf, “but seize the victims’ passports and subject them to debt bondage after arrival.”  Some Moroccan men and boys “are lured to Europe by fraudulent job offers and are subsequently forced to sell drugs,” according to the report.

The report also states that rural young girls and boys are subjected to forced labor and sometimes to sex abuse. “[R]ural Moroccan girls as young as 6-years-old are recruited to work as maids in cities and become victims of forced labor, experiencing nonpayment of wages, threats, restrictions on movement, and physical, psychological, or sexual abuse.”

However, the report revealed that the incidence of child maids “has decreased since 2005,” in part due to government-funded programs promoted in primary school and awareness programs funded by UN agencies and NGOs.

According to the report, “Some Moroccan boys experience forced labor while employed as apprentices in the artisanal and construction industries and in mechanic shops.”

The 2014 Trafficking in Person (TIP), which is the U.S. Government's principal diplomatic tool to engage foreign governments in the fight against human trafficking, praised the significant efforts of the Moroccan government to comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. Still, it says, Morocco has “more work to do.”

Because the Government of Morocco has not demonstrated evidence of overall increased efforts to address human trafficking and to protect the victims of trafficking since the previous reporting period, Morocco has been “placed on Tier 2 Watch List.”

The report urged the Moroccan Government to provide additional funds to NGOs that provide specialized services for human trafficking victims, including foreign victims, and to refer victims of trafficking to these service providers.

It also called on Morocco to complete drafting and enact legislation that prohibits all forms of trafficking and increases prescribed penalties for forced labor, and “ensure that victims are not punished for crimes committed as a direct result of being subjected to human trafficking.”

Edited by Elisabeth Myers

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Casablanca- Rabat’s spine-chilling reptile is back. After many seemingly mythological narratives of its appearance, Rabat’s notorious crocodile has finally been proven to exist.

It is believed that the reptile was last seen in the Bouregreg River separating Rabat and Salé. The river has since been sealed off and meticulously searched by maritime and civil security services.

Salé’s Mayor, Nourredine Lazrak, told the daily Akhbar Al Yaoum that a state of alert was declared in the city as soon as the tourist had reported seeing the reptile in the river.

According to news portal Al Yaoum 24, Lazrak allegedly affirmed the authenticity of the pictures the tourist had taken of the crocodile. Four fishhooks fixed to the river’s shore were found smashed, thus intensifying the worries of the city's residents and the civil security services, according to the same source.

Nets were stretched out along the river’s shores, and cameras were placed almost everywhere around it. Maritime and civil security services, along with fishermen, are now on the lookout for the reptile.

Taroudant, Morocco- The Muslim community usually welcomes those who renounce their religions and convert to Islam, but when a Muslim openly renounces his or her faith, he or she may face ostracism or even harsh punishment by their society.

According to the German news agency DPA, a Nigerian man’s family had him committed to a mental institute in Kano state, northwest Nigeria, for denying his belief in God.

Despite being confirmed “mentally sound” by doctors, Mubarak Bala, 29, was admitted to the hospital by his family against his will “where he has been kept since 13 June”, according to the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU).

The chemical engineering graduate living in the predominantly Muslim northern Nigerian state of Kano, was able to communicate with activists through a “smuggled phone” from the hospital, and told them that he was being “kept against his will.”

According to BBC, the hospital confirmed in a statement that Mr. Bala was "comfortable and conscious".

“He had been admitted because he required treatment under supervision,” it added.

Bala's lawyer Mohammad Shehu Bello told DPA that Bala’s family took him to the hospital “for his own safety”, taking into consideration the fact that Kano state is under strict Islamic Sharia law where atheists may face death threats.

Bala’s lawyer told BBC that he would subject his client to an independent psychological test in order to account for his health.

Edited by Timothy Filla

By Meriem Lahrizi

Rabat - Recently, people have gone into hyper-IT-protective mode. This label means that everyone has become, more than ever, keener on protecting his or her laptop, mobile phone, iPod, iPad and more with covers and cases. But, as their IT-protective mode increases, their heart-protection mode is alarmingly decreasing.

Rudeness on social media is rampant, and it is on the rise. As I mull over few pages and users’ comments, I wonder if people are getting more disrespectful or is it just becoming easier for it to be publicized? We should be asking ourselves why people have become ruder in the last few years, especially in the online world.

It is indisputable that the recent revolutions, coups, and other political changes have had an impact on people’s self-expression, self-control, and sensitivity to difference. Some countries did not even need a political change to change morally. Social media and TV channels did the job.

Many Arab countries are undergoing a serious problem of bullying in newscasts. TV presenters and guests are exchanging insults and nearly come to blows everyday about politics, sports, and  culture. In the end, viewers consciously or unconsciously take positions depending on their TV-channel or Facebook-page affiliation. They merely parrot  what they have memorized and sometimes fling insults at whoever disagrees with them. Social media is arguably the best platform for this type of ignorant anger.     

Ironically, while social media is rife with positive comments and compliments, people tend to criticize others at the same rate. Everyday we see texts and comments of praise and encouragement on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube… etc. On social media, all ladies are beautiful, all guys are handsome, all kids are cute and all shots are professionally taken.

Most people present an enhanced image of themselves on social media. “This positive image—and the encouragement we get, in the form of 'likes,' explains Columnist Elizabeth Bernstein, “—boosts our self-esteem. And when we have an inflated sense of self, we tend to exhibit poor self-control.”"Think of it as a licensing effect: You feel good about yourself so you feel a sense of entitlement," says Keith Wilcox, assistant professor of marketing at Columbia Business School and co-author of the study. "And you want to protect that enhanced view, which might be why people are lashing out so strongly at others who don't share their opinions."

It has become quite common for people to comment and attack others for their opinions or choices. One would rarely spot a discussion with people civilly exchanging ideas and differing opinions and nearly everybody who experiences e-incivility responds in a negative way, in some cases overtly retaliating. People in general get less creative when they feel disrespected, and the protection a screen provides them with gives them more room to act in ways they would not under normal circumstances.

According to a recent research by professors at the University of Pittsburgh and Columbia Business School, browsing Facebook lowers our self-control. The study, titled “Are Close Friends the Enemy? Online Social Networks, Self-Esteem, and Self-Control,” was published in the Journal of Consumer Research and found that the effect is most pronounced with people whose Facebook networks were made up of close friends, the researchers say.

Astonishingly, Sherry Turkle, psychologist and Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor of the social studies of science and technology says, “many people still forget that they're speaking out loud when they communicate online.” People tend to feel less consequential when using their ‘smart’ sophisticated gadgets. Dr. Turkle, author of the book "Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other" notes that for Facebook, its very name is part of the problem. "It promises us a face and a place where we are going to have friends.” Then, "if you get something hurtful there, you're not prepared. You feel doubly affronted, so you strike back."

As a matter of fact, many friendships abruptly end after online bickering about politics, sports, or other common issues. A study released in March, 2012 by the Pew Center showed that about 18 percent of social media users have blocked, unfriended or hidden someone because of political material the person posted online. And about a third of those who have cut off social media contact with a person over politics say they have ended contact with a close friend or family member. Many others, on the other hand, prefer to ignore. Sometimes, you know you can let someone have it, but you decide to be polite because you do not want to burn the bridge or for your own inner peace.

A look at comments on Facebook shows that age or distance are no longer key variables in people’s interaction. One is more likely to address older people, former professors, or total strangers with no respect or consideration all under the guise of freedom of expression. Most people would say things to each other that they would never say face to face including criticism. That’s how social media has become also a good measure to know a person, their degree of self-control, and heart-protection mode and for some to decide about Mr or Ms Right!!

Just recently, I came across ToneCheck. It’s a plug-in for e-mail program that makes sure one is being polite. On its website, it says that it “allows you to do a quick once over check of your message to prevent you from accidentally saying something that you might regret”. It seems a programmer could be now better at monitoring our language and emotions than we are ourselves!

What is an intelligent consumer of the media to do with all of this information? Be aware. Be present. Log off every once in a while. If the digital world is making us miserable and disconnected, then perhaps only one simple step needs to be taken: put down your device, unplug it, and step away, perhaps into the warm sunshine of a Moroccan summer day.

Edited by Ilona Alexandra

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New York - According to a press release by the Fiqh Council of North America the first day of Ramadan of this year is June 28.

As in previous years, the Fiqh Council of North America bases its decision on astronomical calculations, rather than on the traditional sighting of the moon with naked eyes.

The Fiqh Council of North America recognizes astronomical calculation as an acceptable Shar’ia method for determining the beginning of Lunar months including the months of Ramadan and Shawwal. FCNA uses Makkah al-Mukarram (Mecca) as a conventional point and takes the position that the conjunction must take place before sunset in Makkah and moon must set after sunset in Mecca.

On the basis of this method the dates of Ramadan and Eidul Fitr for the year 1435 AH are established as follows:

1st of Ramadan will be on Saturday June 28, 2014.

1st of Shawwal will be on Monday, July 28, 2014

While the astronomical calculations are accepted by some countries, it is still a hotly debated issue, since many cling to the traditional sighting of the moon with naked eyes, as set out in the Holy Quran.

The calculations of the Islamic calendar are based on the lunar calendar, which causes the Islamic months to move in the Gregorian calendar approximately 11 days every year. The beginning of Islamic months may also vary from one country to another depending on whether the moon has been sighted or not.

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Rabat - The holy month of Ramadan will start on Sunday in most Arab countries. The noon was not sighted in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait and Egypt, where they announced that the Ramadan would start on Sunday.

Like every year, the non-sighting of the moon in most Arab countries will create confusion among Muslim living in Europe and North America, especially as the Fiqh Council of North America, which bases its decision on astronomical calculations, announced that first day of Ramadan of this year is Saturday 28 June.

“The Fiqh Council of North America recognizes astronomical calculation as an acceptable Shar’i method for determining the beginning of Lunar months including the months of Ramadan and Shawwal. FCNA uses Makkah al-Mukarrama as a conventional point and takes the position that the conjunction must take place before sunset in Makkah and moon must set after sunset in Makkah,” the FCNA said in a release.

The calculations of the Islamic calendar are based on the lunar calendar, which causes the Islamic months to move in the Gregorian calendar approximately 11 days every year. The beginning of Islamic months may also vary from one country to another depending on whether the moon has been sighted or not.

On this happy occasion, the staff of Morocco World News is delighted and joyful to wish all our readers, as well as all Muslims all over the world a happy and blessed Ramadan. May the Almighty bless all of us with mercy, tranquility, forgiveness, good health and longevity. We pray to God that this month of Ramadan will bring with it peace and happiness, repentance and piety and ease the pain and sufferings of the weak and the needy.

Ramadan Kareem to you all. May God's blessing be with you

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Casablanca- 24-year-old Esther Honig, a journalist based in Kansas City, Missouri, asked forty people from twenty-five countries to edit a photo of her. She says the photo she received from Morocco left her “breathless.”

The British Daily Mail recently shared some of the photos Esther Honig received. Some of the entries she received, one of which is from Morocco, raised her eyebrows and left her speechless.

“'The way the concept of ‘make me beautiful’ was interpreted in this [the Moroccan] instance left me breathless,” Honig was quoted by Daily Mail as saying.

In the edited Moroccan image, Honig appears wearing a sky-blue Islamic veil, with Kohl—an ancient eye cosmetic, used by both sexes in Islamic culture—darkening her eyelids, along with a typical Arab make-up style. Her skin color also appears lighter in the Moroccan entry compared to the original image.

Some of the other countries that took part in this experiment are the U.S., Argentina, the Philippines, Germany, Chile, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, and Australia. Entries from each of the countries brought staggeringly different modifications to the original photo with little to no similarities, according to the Daily Mail.

Sharing what she has learned from this experiment, Honig told the Daily Mail, “I thought I would see more consistency in the images than I did or that some would exemplify commonly known stereotypes. I soon realized that people were pulling from not only their cultural constructs of beauty but also their personal aesthetic choices. There are many different images that leave us to speculate the ideals of beauty.”

Yet, the most important lesson she learned from the experiment according to her is that “Photoshop allows us to achieve our unobtainable standards of beauty, but when we compare those standards on a global scale, achieving the ideal remains all the more elusive.”

Rabat - House cleaned, top to bottom? Check. Fridge stocked with dates and milk for ftur, and a new tagine for 'aesha? Check. Psychologically prepared for fasting 16 hour days, 30 days in a row? Not so much.

I am not a very religious person. Although I was born Jewish, and I consider myself a 'cultural' Jew who follows the traditions of her faith, I would not call myself devout. I also have major issues with my blood sugar--if I don't eat for more than three hours at a time, I get angry. After four hours, I start to get dizzy. After five hours, I can faint.

So then why put myself through this thirty day test of willpower, appetite, and faith? I think it all comes down to my first ever Ramadan in Meknes. I remember when I first came to Morocco last summer, I came just two weeks before the fast. I got a taste of ordinary Moroccan life--the sweet, creamy breakfasts, the late-night dinners, the constant meetings in smoke-filled cafes. And then, just like that, everything changed. Women in jellabas filled the streets, where girls in jeans walked before. Men in thobes, sober faced, hurried back and forth from mosque. The whole city slept and prayed, eager for the call to ftour, pale and hollow cheeked from the combined rigors of the fast and the heat.

I didn't even consider fasting. I was alone in a strange country, studying classic Arabic 6-8 hours a day. I have (the aforementioned) blood sugar issues, which would have made fasting in the Meknessi heat both dangerous and probably medically inadvisable. None of my American friends in the program with me were fasting, for many of the same reasons.

But still, Ramadan was the best month of my life. The way the call to prayer lit up the faces of my friends and neighbors, a holy joy glowing in their eyes. The way strangers became friends over shared dates on the train, smiling past language barriers, sharing laughter in the fading sunshine. The way children ran in the streets, following the beating of the midnight drums, calling a new gladness into the world.

When I made the decision to move to Morocco (for both personal and professional reasons),  I knew that I would fast this time around. I don't want to be an outside observer anymore, watching this great tradition without taking part in it. I want to feel the rigors of hunger, and meditate my way through the pain. I want to prepare ftour for friends, family and strangers alike, and invite them gladly into my home. I want to laugh like a child when the drum beats for 'aesha.

Most importantly, I want to wish all of my readers a Ramadan Mubarak. I am so happy to be joining you for Ramadan this year. I would love some tips on fasting and recipes for ftour in the comment section, so don't hesitate to share your thoughts!

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Rabat-Responding to God’s call to fast the holy month of Ramadan, today some Muslims in different parts of the world started fasting, and others will start tomorrow morning.

On this very religious and special occasion, the staff of Morocco World News is delighted and glad to wish Muslims in every part of the world a happy and blessed Ramadan.

May the Almighty bless all of us with mercy, tranquility, forgiveness, good health and longevity.

We assure our dear readers and followers that MWN will work hard to bring to keep our audience updated and informed about the different aspects of this holy month.

As we have already done in the past, MWN will publish a series of articles covering all the different cultural and religious aspects of Ramadan in Morocco and other Muslim countries.

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Taroudant- At the beginning of Ramadan, the holy month observed by Muslims around the world, the President of the United States Barak Obama sent his best wishes to Muslims in the United States and all over the world.

According to the Associated Press (AP), President Obama said, in a televised statement, “the U.S. is grateful for Muslim-American organizations, individuals and businesses that work to reduce the income gap and poverty through charitable efforts and programs that provide education, skills and health care to students, workers and families.”

The President said that he is “looking forward to opening the White House to Muslim Americans for a traditional iftar dinner,” according to the same source.

In a statement issued on its official website, the Fiqh Council of North America marked June 28 as the first day of Ramadan of this year.

On the basis of the astronomical calculation, which is the method recognized by the council, Ramadan started on Saturday, June 28, 2014 in North America. Eid al-Fitr will be celebrated on Monday, July 28, 2014.

Taroudant- Muslims around the world started the month of Ramadan this weekend. The following are the five things every person should know about this holy month.

1. What is Ramadan?

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. To celebrate this holy month, Muslims try their best to attain the highest degree of obedience to and faith in Islam by abstaining from food, drink, and sexual relations during daylight hours.

Ramadan is more than just not eating and drinking during daylight, but also a welcome occasion to purify one's soul and reflect upon one’s faith. It is a joyous and special time during which believers put their faith to the test, re-evaluate their lives in light of Islamic teachings, and think of people in need.

2. Why do Muslims fast during this month?

Fasting is the fourth Pillar of Islam, one of the five obligations that every person must fulfill in order to become a true Muslim.

In keeping with the teachings of Islam and responding to the call of God, Muslims all over the world abstain from eating, drinking, and having sexual intercourse from sunrise to sunset during Ramadan.

As prescribed in the second Surat Al-Baqarah, fasting is an opportunity for all believers to attain “taqwa” (piety).

"O you who believe, fasting has been prescribed for you as it has been prescribed to those before you in order that you may attain taqwa.” [al-Baqarah 2:183]

3. Why does the month of Ramadan change every year and why do Muslim countries start the month of fasting on different days?

Because the Islamic months are organized according to the Islamic lunar calendar, determining when a month starts and when it ends is not as easy a task as it is in the Gregorian calendar. To know when an Islamic month starts, Muslims of the world resort to two major methods: either through astronomy or the direct observational method. The former depends on the timing of the waning moon, which is accurately calculated, while the latter determines the beginning of Islamic months from the moon-sighting on the night of the 29th of the preceding month. Both methods are acclaimed in the Islamic world, but the observational method is the oldest method and the most common.

Morocco always relies upon the observational method in line with the Hadith of the Prophet (peace be upon Him): “Fast when you see the crescent and break the fast when you see itif it is not apparent, then make the month of Sha’ban thirty days.”

4. Who is excused from fasting during Ramadan?

All sound and healthy men and women who have reached puberty are required to fast during Ramadan. Yet, Islam set a range of cases who are excused from fasting during the whole month or during certain days of it.

Those who are traveling and find it hard to keep fasting, pregnant, breast-feeding, or menstruating women, and sick people are permitted to eat and drink during daylight hours, with the intention to make it up when they are able. In general, everyone who is physically or mentally unwell is permitted not to fast.

It is worth mentioning that some Muslim scholars allow Muslim football players to not fast during a game, provided that they will make it up when Ramadan is over.

5. What are the times of eating in Ramadan?

Muslims do not fast the whole month non stop! They start fasting before sunrise and they break their fast at sunset. In Morocco, as in other Muslim countries, families prepare very special dishes, sweets, and delicious food specifically for this blessed month.

Basically, there are two main meals during Ramadan.

Iftar or Ftour (breakfast) is a rich meal which is served immediately after the Maghreb call for prayer which marks the break of the day’s fast. Delicious and varied food and drink are served at this meal time.

Suhur is another principal meal that is eaten about an hour before the day’s fast starts, or before the Sobh call for prayer.

Many light meals are also served at night in between the two main meals.

These are just some of the basic things one should know about this very special month for Muslims. For more detailed information, one may consult a specialized journal and publication on this blessed Month.

Edited by Elisabeth Myers

Tinejdad, Morocco- The British Prime Minister David Cameron delivered yesterday his annual Ramadan message to British Muslims, saying that “Muslims are the biggest donors”.

In a video posted on youtube, the Prime Minister praises Muslims for their charitable giving.

“Here in Britain, Muslims are the biggest donors. They give more to charity more than any faith group,” David Cameron said.

“I feel very proud when I hear every year about those millions of pounds raised for good causes for those less fortunate than us here in Britain,” he added.

The Prime Minister urges Muslims “to reflect upon a key aspect to our shared history” and unite with the nation in commemoration of the 100th year anniversary of World War 1, which will take place “just days after Eid,” as he said.

On this occasion, the Prime Minister praises “more than a million men and boys” Muslims from India who fought with Britain in the World War I with “bravery and courage”

By Abdallah Namli - Safi, Morocco

In the days of Driss El Bassri, rulers considered the possession of information as an integral part of power and its practice. They thought that, only one who holds power has the right to access, possess and preserve information. They also believe that sharing information with citizens weakens a ruler’s power. The monopoly of information stems from the monopoly of power. Therefore, all non-democratic regimes agree on censoring and preventing information from getting to their citizens. For example, during military coups, the first thing coup leaders do, is take over the media and control the news.  Mohamd Labrini

In a study surveying values in many countries, Arab countries came out on top in refusing authoritative rule and being most accepting of a democratic regime. The study also illustrates that currently, human development as one of the most important needs for Arab communities. We may well deduce that there is a close tie between the right and use of information, and the status of democracy and rational rule. The degree to which there is a “right” to knowledge, is an important index of the status of civil and political rights in general. It is also an index of the extent to which a state enjoys standards of rational rule, is bound to transparency, and combats corruption.

The right to information, which is now recognized by about 90 countries, is an important right that is marginalized in many countries around the world. The government prefers to carry out its works on the sly. Governments often consider official information as their own property and not something which they possess and preserve on behalf of the people. As a result, they make information inaccessible to their citizens. This line of thinking is a negative reflection on their knowledge and capacities in political participation and as representatives of the people. It also distances them from their own society. That is why unveiling information is deemed as an essential and useful thing, whose benefits can be summarized as follows:

1. Access to information has recently been deemed a human right. Indeed, it is an important aspect of freedom of expression. The evolution of the concept of rational rule, has led many countries to enact transparency laws, open closed doors and use information freely. Not only is the right to information necessity for an informed citizenry, but it is also a basic need if a government desires to prove its validity. Reforming a states’ institutions and making them more competent and transparent, is a basis for rational rule. Yet, this rational rule will not be realized simply by making all relevant works and information available to every citizen. Public institutions must preserve information that does not concern them, on behalf of its citizens. Rational rule is also based on "public affairs being the public’s affairs." This principle refers to the necessity of incorporating effective mechanisms, through which the public may obtain information, use information and know what the government does on his or her behalf.

2. The significance of the public receiving information, means that the state has responded to the logic of open communication. The traditional model is based on confidentiality, wherein channels of communication are established between the administration and the public. This individual communication model is formed in such a way as to guarantee the dominance of administrations over societies. However, in a transparent administration model, the language of dialogue, from interaction and exchange, becomes the main basis of the relationship between an administration and its public.

3. The right to information is closely tied with accountability to a central goal of a democratic regime. Situations without this accountability are less than optimal, since the government’s activities and decision-making take place far from the public’s scrutinizing eyes. In addition, the citizens’ application of this right, boosts a mutual relationship between a state and its citizens, as it makes the administration carry out its function in a transparent atmosphere. This transparency brings to light errors and transgressions and limits them. This limiting is solely due to officials, in charge of public affairs, feeling that their citizens are aware of what they are doing. Furthermore, this limiting helps to minimize the instances of corruption and abuse of power.

The adoption of the right to information, exposes the government to the principle of openness, thereby moving it out of the shadow surrounding its works. The government then becomes an administration that carries out its work under the public eye and in broad daylight. Where the government once hid its secrets and preserved its privacy, little by little it turns into a house of glass. The administration’s transparency is the disappearance of confidentiality by making openness part of the administration’s mission, and exposing it to open discussion. Therefore, the administration is bound to justify its choices and hopefully correct its mistakes.

4. The adoption of the right to information, leads to making the administration closer to its society. An administration’s transparency means ending the isolated administration, lifting all barriers between the administration and society, and making the administration adjacent to its social environment. It also means withdrawing the institutions’ and regulations’ privacy from the administration and integrating them into society. Thus, government is no longer a distinguished and isolated entity, but a part of public society.

For the first time in Morocco, the 2011 Constitution stipulates the right to information. Article 27, in Morocco’s Constitution, gives citizens the right to information possessed by public administrations, elected institutions, and bodies in charge of public facilities. "The right to information may only be limited by the law, with the objective of assuring the protection of all which concerns national defense, the internal and external security of the State, as well as the private life of persons, of preventing infringement to the fundamental freedoms and rights enounced in this Constitution and of protecting the sources and domains determined with specificity by the law."

There are also other articles in the Constitution that indirectly include aspects of the right to information. For example, Article 25, guarantees freedom of thought and opinion, freedom of creation and publication. Article 28, guarantees freedom of the press, right to expression for all and right to broadcast news, ideas, and opinion freely, except, where the law expressly prohibits. Article 148, requires the High Council of Acccounts to publish all works, including special reports and judicial reports. Article 158, also imposes on public officials, either elected or appointed, the mandate to present (in accordance to the procedures specified by law) a written declaration of his own properties and assets. Furthermore, Article 167, mandates the establishment of a national body of honesty, to prevent and fight against bribery—it undertakes the reception and publication of information for the prevention of bribes.

Despite constitutional provisions and international standards, access to information is still limited in Morocco. These Constitutional Amendments were added in response to international charters and treaties, especially Article 19, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 10, of the UN Convention Against Corruption. Furthermore, the freedom to access information, was brought into the legal framework through draft law No 31.13. It was prepared by the Ministries of Employment and Modernization of the Administration, in a joint committee; this law includes a preamble and 8 articles. However, it has been in draft form for more than a year, with no execution or ratification.

However, it aims to boost the administration’s openness, create transparency and combat corruption. It will also be used to help establish a culture of good governance in participative democracy. It will accomplish this goal through motivating its citizens to control the administration’s work, decision-making and by attracting foreign investment. This law will force public administrations, local municipalities and public institutions to justify their administrative decisions, protect individual’s privacy and establish a national Council of Human Rights and Center for Bribery Prevention. It is unquestionable that the absence of freedom of information on both legislative and constitutional levels could deal heavy blows to policies concerning the index of freedom of press.

© Morocco World News. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, rewritten or redistributed

This article was first published in Morocco World News Arabic  and translated by Said Hanin. Edited by Peter “Clay” Smith

Rabat - Morocco is promoting its moderate version of Islam as a counterweight to the widening jihadist threat in the Sahara, training hundreds of imams from affected countries, but analysts question its motives.

The initiative is well-timed.

Islamist violence is plaguing Libya and Nigeria, Mali is still recovering from an Islamist takeover of half the country, and Tunisia is increasingly nervous about the return of battled-hardened nationals fighting for Al-Qaeda-linked groups in Syria and Iraq.

Morocco has kept a tight grip on the religious sphere, which is closely tied up with the monarchy's legitimacy.

King Mohamed VI, who claims descent from the Prophet Mohammed, is accorded the title "commander of the faithful" and has a religious TV and radio station named after him, has been busily burnishing Morocco's image as a model Muslim state.

This month, he inaugurated a "religious support programme" that will see the 1,300 imams trained in Rabat since 2006 sent out to instruct preachers lacking formal training at some 50,000 mosques nationwide.

"Their task is to help and guide imams in mosques to preserve the fundamentals of Islam in Morocco, based on the Malikite rite, contrary to takfirism, which is constantly invading the minds of our young people," Islamic Affairs Minister Ahmed Toufiq has said.

The moderate Malikite school of Sunni Islam practised in Morocco -- as in most of North Africa -- is often cited as a key aspect of its religious tolerance, contrasting starkly with radical "takfirist" ideology that brands non-practising Muslims "infidels".

Other features of Morocco's Muslim culture include the important social role played by the Sufi brotherhoods, which Toufiq has encouraged since the king appointed him in 2002, and hundreds of female religious instructors have been trained in recent years alongside the imams.

"Not many other Arab states have sought to this extent to control the religious discourse. The purpose it serves, yes it has a counter-extremism element to it... Of course it has a regime legitimisation purpose too," the International Crisis Group's North Africa director Issandr El Amrani told AFP.

- Regional recognition -

Whatever the reason, the Moroccan model is attracting regional interest, with Saharan-Sahelian countries touched by jihadist violence now soliciting the kingdom's help.

Already 190 imams from Mali are being trained in Rabat, out of 500 in the coming years, under an accord signed when the king visited Bamako for President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita's inauguration in September 2013.

Tunisia, which the king visited last month, has also requested Rabat's help in training its preachers, having suffered a wave of Islamist attacks since the 2011 revolution, with many mosques falling under the influence of extremists.

At least 2,400 Tunisian jihadists are fighting in Syria, the government said this week.

Libya and Nigeria have also separately asked for religious instruction.

"I think the primary reason Morocco is interested in promoting its brand of Islam... which has the king at its centre, is to export this notion of greater Morocco," says analyst Vish Sakthivel at the Washington Institute.

A priority that has long driven Moroccan diplomacy is winning approval for its claims to Western Sahara, which it annexed in 1975 in a move never recognised internationally.

The pro-independence Polisario Front is hosted and backed by Algeria, the region's security heavyweight, which fought a decade-long civil war against Islamist insurgents in the 1990s and whose rivalry with Morocco prevents the North African neighbours from co-operating.

Sakthivel calls Morocco's religious diplomacy a "symbolic, soft power gesture" to Sahel countries, made in the knowledge that it cannot compete with Algeria militarily.

- Ever-present threat -

Officials insist that Morocco's Islamic model helps to explain why radical ideologies have largely failed to take hold in the kingdom, which has suffered only two major terrorist attacks since 2003, and why other nations are now looking to Rabat.

But while hardline Salafists may enjoy only limited support here -- thousands were jailed in a sweeping crackdown following deadly 2003 bombings in Casablanca -- Morocco is certainly not immune to the religious revival that has swept through the region, nor to the recruitment of jihadists.

This week, security forces in the central city of Fez broke up a jihadist cell which was allegedly sending volunteers to Iraq and Syria, where officials say there are currently more than 1,000 Moroccan combatants.

It was the latest in a wave of busts.

Between 2011 and 2013, 18 such cells were dismantled, while around 200 Moroccans planning to fight in or returning from Syria have been jailed, according to new prison chief Mohamed Salah Tamek.

Last week, Spanish police arrested eight people belonging to a recruitment network in Madrid whose Moroccan ringleader spent three years in Guantanamo Bay.

"We know that many Moroccans, like many other Maghreb states, are going to fight in Iraq or Syria. So it's not that radicalism is completely absent in Morocco. It's there, it's controlled better," says the ICG's Amrani.

"Has Morocco not faced terrorist attacks because it controls the religious discourse to a greater degree in state-run mosques and so on? Or is it because they have more effective security policies, or because it is relatively marginal to all the conflicts in the Middle East?"

"That's not clear."