Morocco: Where Does All This Violence Come From?

Tenth grade students were required to write an argumentative essay. Divided into pairs, each pair of students were asked to write about a topic in the form of a debate that includes opposing views on each topic. Most discussions focused on celebrating Christmas and the Mawlid, the Birthday of Prophet Muhammad, with the word “haram” often repeated by students. All discussions featured a religious lexicon cursing the apostates who don’t fast with us or whom we blindly imitate. Students even came up with religious edicts declaring certain acts sinful. I subsequently asked the students: “but where are your arguments?And how many arguments have you raised?” But students, in fact, did not need arguments because all of them agreed that celebrating New Year should be banned. Religious descriptions permeated all discussions because it seems this is what occupies the minds of 15-year-old students: deciding what is religiously okay or not.