The Transformations of Religious Elites in Morocco

This paper seeks to illuminate the intersection of religious and political domains in the context of the moroccan state's response to the demands of the February 20^th protest movements in 2011. This response is maintained through the introduction of the new constitution, where the state has mobilized its elites in rural and urban areas so as to legitimize the constitutional draft.

The moroccan political system and its organization is in control of various aspects of the societal hierarchy. The state mobilized in an attempt to use the religious actors and notabilities to confront the 20^th of February youth movement, and to determine demands’ ceiling in the legal text besides the typicality of the moroccan political context as follows:

First: The transformations of religious elites from independent scientific elites to an elite that supports central authority in protests control by observing and appeasing the margins.

Second: The mobilization of multiple religious actors : Ulemas[1], students, Zaouia disciples and notabilities to confront social mobility, by protesting against the movement in the cities relying on religious notabilities in rural areas.

[1] Ulema-s : religious elite who are responsable for the Fatwa.