Rabat, Morocco (TMT)- On the sidelines of the terror attack that hit Paris last Friday, Morocco’s head of the government Mr. Abdellilah Benkirane — also the secretary general of the Justice and Development Party (French acronym PJD) — reminded the youth section of the PJD, in the wake of a gathering in Bouznika last weekend, of what the “Islamic reference” means for the PJD members.
“Religion belongs to God, and nobody can claim it”, Benkirane stressed.
“In Morocco, it is the King that decides on all matters related to religion and we are more than happy with this,” Benkirane noted.
“The situation like that is a mercy for us, because it makes our work easier,” Benkirane added.
“We are ethically inspired by the values of Islam in our political exercise, meaning we are against corruption, against money laundering, against money embezzlement, and against all those scourges that destroy our country,” Benkirane noted.
“The Islamic reference tells us that we need to be hard workers, that we need to help needy people and serve all Moroccans, not matter their ideology,” Benkirane further noted.
“The Islamic reference also tells us that we need to cooperate with International partners and seek to peacefully know more about them, including collaborating and helping each other.
“The moderate Islamic reference the PJD adopts did not come out of the blue. It came as a result of years of reflection,” Morocco’s Head of Government said.
“We had windy, and sometimes violent debates, with other people and groups when reflecting about the right Islamic reference,” Benkirane added when reflecting back about his debuts in the 60’s and 70’s.
“Today, you [Youth section of the PJD) should be proud of this reference. You should never give it up, despite coercive pressure some individuals may exercise on you,” Benkirane stressed.
Abdelilah Benkirane also shed light on his debuts with the late Abdellah Baha, former Minister of State, as well as his brief time with the “Islamic Youth,” an Islamic movement that rejected the monarchy during the lead years in Morocco, before “coming back to reason after years of reflection,” as he put it.
The Moroccan Times.
