Managing religious discourse in the mosque: the end of extremist rhetoric during the Friday sermon

Abstract

The goal of this article is to examine the different types of sermons delivered in Moroccan mosques and how their content and orientation have changed drastically since 2003 as a result of government intervention in the rhetorical practices of imams during the Friday prayer. In addition to discussing the impact of the religious and political rhetorics of imams while delivering their Friday sermons and the types of rhetorical strategies used by each imam to persuade the congregation and move them to action, the article also discusses the Moroccan state's recent involvement in the religious practices of its subjects in an effort to control and manage religious discourse in the country, and the extent to which it has been successful at curbing extremist discourse in the mosque. The article argues that the state has managed to achieve this goal by having recourse to some innovative and ingenious methods, including the establishment of a new imam school that trains new imams and murshidats (female religious leaders) in moderate religious discourse and community outreach, broadcasting religious homilies via close-circuit television, building new mosques and Qur'anic shools and renovating old ones, etc. The article attempts to shed some light on the effectiveness of these methods and how they have been received by the average citizen in Morocco.