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Mawlid Tomorrow!

Mike — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 13:32:18 +0000

Tomorrow Morocco will be celebrating Mawlid, the birthday of the Prophet Mohammed. Some other Islamic countries are honoring him today, but either way this is a special day for all Muslims. Below is more information about the holiday from Wikipedia.

Mawlid

Mawlid (Qur’anic Arabic: مَوْلِدُ النَبِيِّ‎ mawlidu n-nabiyyi, “Birth of the Prophet” Standard Arabic: مولد النبي mawlid an-nabī, sometimes simply called in colloquial Arabic مولد , mawlid, mevlid, mevlit, mulud among other vernacular pronunciations) or sometimes ميلاد , mīlād is a term used to refer to the observance of the birthday of the Islamic prophet Muhammad which occurs in Rabi’ al-awwal, the third month in the Islamic calendar.
The term Mawlid is also used in some parts of the world, such as Egypt, as a generic term for the birthday celebrations of other historical religious figures such as Sufi saints.

Timing

Mawlid falls in the month of Rabi’ al-awwal in the Islamic calendar. Shias observe the event on the 17th of the month, coinciding with the birth date of their sixth Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq and the Prophet Muhammad while Sunnis observe it on the 12th of the month. As the Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar, the corresponding date in the Gregorian calendar varies each year. The following table gives a list of dates showing the date Mawlid will be observed. In 2007, Mawlid fell on 31 March for the Sunnis or 5 April for the Shi’as.

Gregorian Year	12th of Rabi’-ul-Awwal (Sunni and some Shia)	17th of Rabi’-ul-Awwal (Shi’a)
2008*	20 March	March 25
2009*	9 March	March 14
2010*	26 February	March 3
2011*	15 February	February 20
2012	4 February	February 9
2013	24 January	January 29
* Confirmed date. All other dates are estimates, since the actual date may vary according to the sighting of the moon for the start of the month.

History

The basic earliest accounts for the observance of Mawlid can be found in 8th century Mecca, when the house in which Prophet Muhammad was born was transformed into a place of prayer by Al-Khayzuran (mother of Harun al-Rashid, the fifth and most famous Abbasid caliph). Public celebrations of the birth of Muhammad did not occur until four centuries after his death. It was originally a festival of the Shia ruling class, not attended by the common people, with the first official Mawlid celebrations occurring in Egypt towards the end of the 11th century. The early celebrations included elements of Sufic influence, with animal sacrifices and torchlight processions along with public sermons and a feast. The celebrations occurred during the day, in contrast to modern day observances, with the ruler playing a key role in the ceremonies. Emphasis was given to the Ahl al-Bayt with presentation of sermons and recitations of the Qur’an. The event also featured the award of gifts to officials in order to bolster support for the ruling caliph.

Observances

The Garebeg festival celebrating Mawlid in Yogyakarta, Java Island, Indonesia

Blackburn, UK Under supervision of Shaykh Sufi Riaz Ahmed Naqshbandi Aslami

Mawlid is celebrated in most Muslim countries, and in other countries where Muslims have a presence, such as India, Britain, Russia and Canada. Saudi Arabia is the only Muslim country where Mawlid is not an official public holiday. Participation in the ritual celebration of popular Islamic holidays is seen as an expression of the Islamic revival.
Where Mawlid is celebrated in a carnival manner, large street processions are held and homes or mosques are decorated. Charity and food is distributed, and stories about the life of Muhammad are narrated with recitation of poetry by children. Scholars and poets celebrate by reciting Qaṣīda al-Burda Sharif, the famous poem by 13th century Arabic Sufi Busiri.

During Pakistan’s Mawlid celebration, the national flag is hoisted on all public buildings, and a 31-gun salute in Islamabad and a 21-gun saluteat the provincial headquarters are fired at dawn. The cinemas shows religious rather than secular films on 11th and 12th Rabi-ul-Awwal.Hundreds of thousands of people gather at Minar-e-Pakistan Lahore between the intervening night of 11th and 12th Rabi’ al-awwal for Mawlid celebrations , this is the worlds biggest gathering for Mawlid celebrations.
Among non-Muslim countries, India is noted for its Mawlid festivities. The relics of Muhammad are displayed after the morning prayers in the Indian states of Jammu and Kashmir at the Hazratbal Shrine, on the outskirts of Srinagar. Shab-khawani night-long prayers held at the Hazratbal Shrine are attended by thousands.
Other non-Muslim countries noted for its Mawlid festivities are Kenya and Tanzania where it is known as “Maulidi”. In Kenya, the most famous place is the coastal island of Lamu and Malindi. In Tanzania the largest celebrations are on the island of Zanzibar.
In many parts of Indonesia, the celebration of the Mawlid al-nabi “seems to surpass in importance, liveliness, and splendour” the two official Islamic holidays of Eid ul-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. The Indonesian Javanese week-long Sekaten ceremony commemmorates Mawlid in theSultanate of Yogyakarta.

Culture and Youth in Morocco

Mike — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:23:50 +0000

Morocco report views culture as key to development

Much attention has been focused on the youth of Morocco recently, and a new report cast additional light on how culture can play a vital role in their development. Magahrebia offers the full story.

In a first-of-its-kind study, Morocco’s Economic and Social Council (CES) explored how culture can serve as a powerful tool for youth integration.

Culture should be regarded as “strategic sector” and constitute a key component of development policy. Such was the conclusion of the “Inclusion of Young People through Culture” report, released on Friday (January 27th).

“We must address the new context,” said Ahmed Abbadi, the chairman of the committee that conducted the study. “Young people in the region have made their feelings known in various ways and their needs and points of view should have been listened to.”

The aim, ESC chief Chakib Benmoussa said, is to put culture at the heart of social reform and to make it a tool for development so that it can be incorporated into all relevant sectors, such as urban development, education and religious affairs.

Young people’s relationship with culture has changed tremendously, the study concluded, especially due to the influence of satellite TV and wider use of new information technologies. Youths nowadays have access to a broad range of culture outlets and no longer rely on the traditional methods of producing and disseminating culture.

Government youth policies, however, are marked by a lack of joined-up thinking, poor anticipation of the rapid changes currently under way and a widening gap between young people’s needs in terms of cultural infrastructure and content and what is actually available to the public, according to the report.

Over the past few years, the lack of an overall strategy on culture has made it impossible to make the most of the country’s diverse and rich cultural heritage or devise an overarching plan that can harness creative and artistic potential in various fields, Abbadi said.

Nevertheless, young people’s creative abilities have helped the Moroccan cultural scene to develop, be highly innovative, attain a certain degree of independence and interact positively with other world cultures. Abbadi cited L’Boulevard festival as an example.

The CES advocated reconsidering the place of culture in the nation’s collective consciousness in order to reform society. This would involve a number of measures, including the development of a national plan which would make use of culture as a strategic development tool.

Its other recommendations included new training courses based on Islamic principles.

To achieve the goals, the programme will need a cash infusion. The budget of the ministry of culture made up only 0.5% of the overall government budget last year. Additional funds must be found by involving business and cultural organisation working with youths, according to the CES.

Cultural infrastructures and facilities in urban planning regulations need support at the national, regional and local levels.

“This is because cultural infrastructures are seldom included in urban planning projects for new districts and cities,” sociologist Samira Kassimi told Magharebia. “From now on, this aspect should be incorporated into basic infrastructures.”

Abdelaziz Ioui, who reported back to the committee, commented that culture was a central concern for governments that devote large sums of money to it, whereas Morocco falls well short of expectations in this field.

Hopes, however, are high that the new government will make some adjustments.

Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane vowed in a government statement to promote the role of culture and treat it as a priority by making it a bigger part of development efforts.

“We will adopt an integrated approach so that culture and arts policy will become a way of strengthening national identity and opening up to other cultures and civilisations, based on the values of freedom, responsibility and innovation,” he said.

He also promised to develop community-level cultural facilities and provide them in all areas, to support young artists and to increase funding to boost national cultural output.

Hitchhiking to Morocco

Mike — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:51:08 +0000

While most of us journey to Morocco via airplane, two young men from England have decided to seek alternate transportation, and all for a good cause. They will hitchhike across Europe and on to Tangier in order to raise money for Link Community Development. This charity helps educate poor children across Africa. The full story from the Warwick Courier is below.

HE has travelled to various parts of Asia but getting to Morocco will be much more tricky for one student from Warwick.

Former Warwick schoolboy Michael Duckworth, 19, will hitchhike to Tangier as part of a campaign called The Hitch which raises money for Link Community Development, a charity which helps to provide education for underprivileged children across Africa.

Michael, who is studying international business management at Oxford Brookes University, and his flatmate Ashley Graham from Stafford will start their journey in Oxford in on Monday April 2, catching lifts to Portsmouth and through France and Spain before arriving at their destination about ten days later and having covered 1,200 miles.

Michael said: “It’s something we wanted to do for the charity but also for ourselves.

“Travelling is an important part of growing up and we are really excited about experiencing different cultures and just speaking to a lot of different people along the way.

“Getting into different people’s cars and sharing information with them will be interesting but it’s also a bit of a challenge, we’re not underestimating it.”

With only basic skills in Spanish and French and no knowledge of Arabic the pair could find the language barrier a difficulty as they make their way through Europe and into Morocco.

But both of the students are used to travelling with Michael having worked at a sea turtle sanctuary in Sri Lanka for two months, toured around Thailand and played cricket with slum children in India as part of charity project while on a gap year.

Michael said: “Link Community Development was a new charity to both of us. We saw the challenge being promoted at a university freshers’ fair and both though ‘that’s definitely for us’. It’s fair to say I’m quite well travelled for my age but there’s so much else I want to see and I don’t want to say ‘I’ve done a lot’ because then I might not end up visiting other places.”

Since 1992 more than 7,500 have taken part in The Hitch, raising over £3.5 million for the charity.

Participants must raise £375 to take part.

Michael has set himself personal target of raising £575.

A Moroccan Movie Poised to Be Nominated by the Academy Awards

adil — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:39:51 +0000

For the first time, Morocco might be among the countries that will be represented in the the 84^th edition of the Academy Awards scheduled to be held on February 26.

The Moroccan movie, Omar Killed Me, by Roshdy Zem is among the nine foreign-language movies included in the shortlist that has just been released by the Academy.

Only five films will be nominated in the Foreign Language Film category.

An unjustly convicted man fights for justice in this drama based on a true story. Omar Raddad (Sami Bouajila) had worked for years as a gardener for Ghislaine Marchal (Liliane Nataf), an elderly woman living in the South of France. In the summer of 1991, Marchal was founded murdered in the basement of her home, with the message “Omar M’a Tuer” — literally “Omar Has Kill Me” — written in her own blood on the wall.

Raddad quickly became the prime suspect, even though he had a viable alibi, and he was convicted and sent to prison. However, a journalist covering the case, Pierre-Emmanuel Vaugrenard (Denis Podalydes), had a hard time believing Marchal would scrawl a message about her killer with her last ounce of strength, particularly one that was grammatically incorrect, and he began investigating the case, firm in his belief that Raddad was a victim of racism while the real killer had escaped justice.

Directed by Roschdy Zem, Omar M’a Tuer (Omar Killed Me) received its North American premiere at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival.

http://moroccoworldnews.com/2012/01/a-moroccan-movie-poised-to-be-nominated-by-the-academy-awards/23348

Morocco’s Cinema for the Blind

Mike — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:34:40 +0000

Thanks to an innovative cinema in Marrakech, local blind citizens are now able to enjoy the magic of the movies for the first time. Provided with headphones, they are provided with a commentary that describes the action during breaks in dialogue. This has proved to be extremely popular, and is in fact the only such opportunity in Africa. The full story from the BBC is below.

As Aziz Bouallouchen walks into the foyer of a plush cinema in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh, he is given not a pair of 3D glasses that one can expect to find in many cinemas around the world but a pair of headphones.

Mr Bouallouchen, in his 20s, is no ordinary cinema-goer and this is no ordinary cinema.
Every seat is equipped with special devices to enhance the enjoyment of blind and partially-sighted film-lovers.
The film being shown is Lalla Hoby, a popular Moroccan comedy about a man who crosses the Straits of Gibraltar in order to look for his wife who has left him for another man and gone to live in Belgium.
Released in 1996, it is the only North African film to have been adapted to carry audio description.

Leading the way

Wearing headphones plugged into small receivers in the seats’ arms, Mr Bouallouchen listens to a voice explaining the action sequences, body language, the scenery – the “in-between” moments without which a film’s meaning is lost.
“It’s a brilliant idea,” Mr Bouallouchen says. “I haven’t been able to ‘see’ a film since I suffered a disease that robbed me of my eyes.”
“But now I can feel part of the world of cinema,” he says.

Special headsets enhance the cinema-going experience of blind and partially-sighted people.

Mr Bouallouchen lost his sight in 2005 after a rare disease called Behcet’s syndrome attacked his optic nerve.
Seven years on, he is sitting next to sighted people, “watching” a film.
And, thanks to the audio description, everyone laughs at the same time at the antics of the hero of Lalla Hoby as he falls out of a small boat crossing the Straits of Gibraltar.
Morocco is leading the way in Africa with the use of this new technology.

A voice talks “alongside” the film’s action and provides a more inclusive cinema experience for visually-impaired people.
“We are the only country in Africa and the Arab world that offers this opportunity to the blind,” says Nadia el-Hansali of the Marrakesh International Film Festival Foundation.
The foundation – which hosts the annual influential film festival, where audio-described films have been screened for the past two years – is funding the adaption of the mainstream films for blind people.
Eight films now carry audio description, including L’Atlante (1934), The African Queen (1951) and East of Eden (1955).
Over the next 18 months another six will be adapted.
Ms el-Hansali writes the scripts for artists to voice over alongside the film’s actions.
It is very precise, with the audio fitting exactly into the spaces between the actors’ dialogue.
“We have worked out how much to say and what is really necessary to understand the film fully,” Ms el-Hansali says.
“I avoid giving too much information that would only confuse those who can’t see the screen.”

Real cinema outing

The aim is to move away from the days of volunteer narrators, standing up in the cinema, doing their best to describe what is happening on the silver screen – but often talking over the crucial dialogue.
Mohamed Doukkali is a white-haired philosophy lecturer at the University of Rabat in Morocco’s capital.
He is a fan of technology and already uses a specially-adapted computer in his daily work.
“One of the advantages of new technology is that it removes some of the obstacles in our way,” Mr Doukkali says.
He describes himself as a “real cinephile”, but says he usually only watches DVDs at home with someone telling him what is going on.
He is thrilled to have finally had a real cinema outing.
“Thanks to a voice that describes what is happening on the screen we are able to grasp films in a way we could not before,” he says.
“It is much more enjoyable to watch a movie in the company of a big audience – after all that is what the cinema is all about.”

Henna at Cafe Clock

Mike — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:08:30 +0000

Henna, that beautiful Moroccan body art of weddings and celebrations is available at Cafe Clock. Our own master Henniya is waiting to decorate your hands, feet, or other body parts with an intricate design of your choosing. Please speak with the staff to arrange an appointment.

Olive Season in Morocco

Mike — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:36:36 +0000

As any visitor to Morocco will have observed, olives play a very large role in both Moroccan culture and cuisine. Writing for the Morocco Board, Nora Fitzgerald details the joys that olive season brings.

Olive season has just come to and end…and by olive season I mean that the olives ripened, were harvested, and either pressed for oil or cured to turn them edible. Did you know that both black olives and green olives come from the same tree? Here is a very ripe olive from our family farm.

Did you also know that harvesting olives by hand is a labor intensive business? In Morocco it’s all done this way: a large plastic is laid out under the tree, then you take a long bamboo stick and start to beat at the olives to knock them down. Eventually you have to climb the tree to get to the higher branches. Olives yield about 16 liters of olive oil per 100 kgs of olives, depending on how much the trees were watered. The more they were watered, the juicier the olives.

I will never forget when I was 8 years old and I spent a whole day knocking all the olives off a particular tree. At the end of the day, I had very sore hand and about 20 kgs of olives. I was very excited to lug my harvest down the road to where they would buy them from you for about a dirham per kilo (like 6 cents per pound, for those of you who are allergic to the metric system). I walked back with more than 20 dirhams in my pocket (2.5 dollars). I’d never been prouder of my earnings (maybe even to this day . It didn’t occur to me that those olives actually belonged to my parents, and that technically, I owed them like 90% of the money. They kindly didn’t point it out either.

Everywhere in the Moroccan countryside, you see olive trees, and under them there is wheat or barley growing. Each farming family gets olive oil and flour for the entire year. This way they have fresh bread and olive oil, which, along with sweet green tea, is a meal unto itself. Talk about local, sustainable, organic and vegan….This is how it all once was.

Viadeo Expands to Morocco

Mike — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 09:59:05 +0000

Reacting to Morocco’s massive growth in internet use, business networking website Viadeo is opening an office here. Trailing only Linkedin in user count, the site has two million active users in Africa, and one fourth of those reside in Morocco. This new office aims to further expand their Moroccan footprint. The full article from Reuters is below.

Viadeo, the world’s second-biggest online networking site for professionals after LinkedIn, said on Friday it had opened a regional branch in Morocco as it seeks to expand its presence in the increasingly-wired Arab world.

Viadeo, which targets professionals, job seekers and recruiters, shelved plans for an initial public offering last year to focus on growth in emerging markets.

“Morocco is the first country in Northern Africa and within the Arab world where Viadeo has established an office; this follows the opening of an office in Senegal in March 2011,” Viadeo said in a statement.

Morocco accounts for a quarter of Viadeo’s 2 million members in Africa. The increasing use of Internet and high youth unemployment in the Arab world, which hovers around 30 percent in Morocco, is a boon for businesses like Viadeo.

“The membership base in Morocco has doubled in less than a year and represents the second French speaking community of the platform afterFrance,” it said.

(Reporting By Souhail Karam; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)

Morocco Saved Brad Pitt!

Mike — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:36:00 +0000

International movie star Brad Pitt has had a remarkable career, but even he isn’t immune from struggling with depression. He recently revealed that he went through a particularly rough patch in the 90′s, and only returned to normal after a visit to Casablanca. The full story from chron.com is below.

Brad Pitt pulled himself out of depression after Morocco trip

Brad Pitt has opened up about his battle with a deep depression, revealing it took a trip to Morocco for him to truly embrace life and his good fortune.

The Fight Club star spoke of his declining personal life and reliance on pot in the mid-1990s during an interview last fall and now he’s detailing the severity of his blues in the midst of his rise to fame, confessing he felt like a “waste”.

He tells The Hollywood Reporter, “I got really sick of myself at the end of the 1990s. I was hiding out from the celebrity thing; I was smoking way too much dope; I was sitting on the couch and just turning into a doughnut; and I really got irritated with myself. I got to, ‘What’s the point? I know better than this.’

“I used to deal with depression, but I don’t now, not this decade – maybe last decade.

“But that’s also figuring out who you are. I see it as a great education, as one of the seasons or a semester: ‘This semester I was majoring in depression.’ I was doing the same thing every night and numbing myself to sleep – the same routine – I couldn’t wait to get home and hide out. But that feeling of unease was growing and one night I just said, ‘This is a waste.’”

And Pitt admits the thing that saved him was an eye-opening vacation to Casablanca.

He continues, “I saw poverty to an extreme I had never witnessed before, and we talked about inequality and health care, and I saw just what I felt was so unnecessary, that people should have to survive in these circumstances – and the children were inflicted with a lot of deformities, and things that could have been avoided had become their sentence. It stuck with me.”

That’s when Pitt decided it was time to make a change: “I just quit. I stopped grass then – I mean, pretty much – and decided to get off the couch.”

Moroccan Citrus – Refreshing the World

Mike — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:14:35 +0000

Anyone who has had the wonderful fresh-squeezed orange juice at Cafe Clock knows why Moroccan citrus fruits are so popular. Sweet and juicy, these treats are a welcome addition to any meal. Now the Moroccan Ministry of Agriculture has released details of the current export season. The report also states that due to a two week delay in starting the season, a higher than usual taste and quality are expected. Below is the full report from Fresh Plaza.

Morocco estimate citrus export higher than last year

The ministry of Agriculture in Morocco and Aspam is satisfied with the present export season of the citrus, which started in the beginning of October 2011 and will run till the end of June 2012. 571,000 tons is expected to be exported against 530,000 tons in the previous season. This increase is because of the rainfall in October and November, but also thanks to the new harvest of the new plants (1,200 HA) and the arrival of the new varieties Nour, Nules and Afourer.

Nevertheless the economic situation of the sales market is marked by the results of the international economic crisis, which has caused a slight decrease in price. Also the present export volume is 10% less compared to the same period last year, as the present export season started two weeks later because of weather conditions. By starting the export season later a better taste and a better quality of the fruit could be guaranteed. It is expected that the citrus production will increase by 6% to 1.8 million tons (that is 2% of the worldwide production which amounts to 100 million tons), of which 1.2 million tons is destined for the inland market. This means that only 32% of the production is available for export. Morocco meets a lot of competition from Turkey, Greece and Egypt. Russia is the country where most of the citrus goes (49%) followed by the European Union (37%) and North America (12%)

The inland market is therefore an important customer of the citrus industry,

which experiences an increasing demand.

Orange in all its varieties have with 975,000 tons (Maroc Late 44%, Navel 35,5%)

the most important position in the total citrus production. Also the small fruit has a large share of the total production with 764,000 tons, of which 67% are clementines. The region Souss is at the top of the production with 744,000 tons which is 41% of the total production followed by the region El Gharb (19%), Oriental
(15%), Tadla (15%), Haouz (8%) and Loukkos (2%).

The government anticipates a production of 3 million tons in 2020, because of programs of renewal and extension of the orchards by 50,000 HA. This is to produce a yield of about 0.57 billion Euro.