Religious feast highlights interfaith unity in Senegal

Yahoo – AFP, Anne-Sophie FAIVRE LE CADRE, August 13, 2019

In Senegal, Muslim families join Christians as they prepare for the feast of the
Eid al-Adha (AFP Photo/Seyllou)

Dakar (AFP) - When Senegal's Muslim families gather for the biggest Islamic religious feast of the year, they often encourage the Christian minority to join them in a tradition of tolerance rare in West Africa.

Many Roman Catholics in Dakar were invited Monday to join Muslim friends for Tabaski, the local name for the Eid al-Adha or the Festival of the Sacrifice, which commemorates Ibrahim's willingness to slaughter his own son if God commanded it.

For Senegalese student Grasse Diop, his preparations to welcome Christian friends were placidly watched by Dembel, a family sheep destined for imminent slaughter like the ram God told Ibrahim to sacrifice as reward for obedience.

"They come every year for the Tabaski and I go to the Christmas mass. We spend all our religious feast days together," said Grasse, whose name is derived from Grace, a Christian one.

The family courtyard in Dakar's Ouakam district was turned into both abattoir and kitchen. Women sang as they cut up the freshly killed meat while children played by bowls containing discarded entrails.

"Jacques, Marie, Joseph... All my Christian friends are wishing me a good Tabaski," Grasse said amid a flurry of calls on her mobile phone. "When I visit them, I feel at home. There's no difference."

"When a Christian dies, all the neighbours go to the church for the funeral," added her brother Pape Doudou Diop. Though a Muslim like more than 90 percent of the population, he said he regularly goes to church for communion.

Once their guests settled around a huge platter of barbecued food, Christians could not be told apart from the Muslims, though Yves-Martin Kemden wore a special long robe to honour his hosts during his tenth Tabaski.

"It's a custom," the young dog breeder said. "Here, you're always invited by a neighbour even if you don't share the same religion."

Sheep are slaughtered for family feasts often shared with neighbours (AFP Photo/Seyllou)

'Indivisible'

Hardline Islamist militants have made their mark in other parts of West Africa, trying to impose their more intolerant and often violent vision of Islam on communities in countries like Nigeria and Mali.

For those ultra-conservatives, other religions and even other branches of Islam are often seen as apostates.

Sociologist Fatou Sow Sarr believes Senegal's religious harmony dates back to the preachings of leaders of the widespread Mouride brotherhood, who taught tolerance towards Christians from the 19th century on.

"You find Christians and Muslims in the same family and they intermarry. Religion comes second to blood ties, so the communities have never been antagonists," she said.

"Today there's more risk of dissent among Muslims because of conflict between the Mouridic communities and Wahabi influence than between Muslims and Christians," Sow Sarr said, distinguishing between Senegal's predominant Sufi order and a more conservative Islamic branch.

In their courtyard sheltered by palm trees, the Ndoye family was packing boxes with mutton to take to Christian friends no longer able to get around.

"Our cousins invite us at Easter, making sure not to cook pork," smiled Karim Ndoye, a house painter in his 50s who added that one of his grandmothers was Catholic. "It's family, we're indivisible."

At the clergy house of Dakar Cathedral shaded by a riot of bougainvillea flowers, octogenarian Father Jacques Seck made ready to join Muslim friends for the Tabaski.

A self-styled "Muslim Christian", the elderly priest is known for sprinkling his sermons with verses from the Koran and urging dialogue among religious communities.

"This religious tolerance is at the root of Senegalese society," he said. "The good fortune of this country is that it's rare for a family not to have members from both communities. The diversity built the nation."

Pope signs Jerusalem declaration on Morocco trip

Yahoo – AFP, Sophie Pons and Catherine Marciano, March 30, 2019

Pope Francis is the first pontiff to visit Morocco since John Paul II in
1985 (AFP Photo/CIRO FUSCO)

Rabat (AFP) - Pope Francis on Saturday joined Morocco's King Mohammed VI in saying Jerusalem should be a "symbol of peaceful coexistence" for Christians, Jews and Muslims, on the first day of a visit to the North African country.

The spiritual leader of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics was invited by King Mohammed VI for the sake of "interreligious dialogue", according to Moroccan authorities.

In a joint statement, the two leaders said Jerusalem was "common patrimony of humanity and especially the followers of the three monotheistic religions."

"The specific multi-religious character, the spiritual dimension and the particular cultural identity of Jerusalem... must be protected and promoted," they said in the declaration released by the Vatican as the pontiff visited Rabat.

The Moroccan king chairs a committee created by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to safeguard and restore Jerusalem's religious, cultural and architectural heritage.

The joint statement came after US President Donald Trump's landmark recognition of the disputed city as capital of Israel, which sparked anger across the Muslim world, especially from Palestinians who see Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

Improving relations with other religions has been a priority for the Argentine pontiff, whose papacy has been marred by clergy facing a wave of child sex abuse allegations.

Thousands of Moroccans greeted Pope Francis in the capital Rabat 

(AFP Photo/Alberto PIZZOLI)

Opposing extremism

Addressing thousands of Moroccans who had braved the rain to attend the welcome ceremony, Francis said it was "essential to oppose fanaticism".

He stressed the need for "appropriate preparation of future religious guides", ahead of meeting trainee imams later on Saturday.

Catholics are a tiny minority Morocco, where 99 percent of the population is Muslim. The king is revered across West Africa as "commander of the faithful".

Speaking at the ceremony at the Tour (or tower) Hassan mosque and nearby mausoleum in Rabat, the monarch also voiced opposition to radicalism.

"That which terrorists have in common is not religion, it's precisely the ignorance of religion. It's time that religion is no longer an alibi... for this ignorance, for this intolerance," he said.

Francis rode to the ceremony in his Popemobile, passing rows of Moroccan and Vatican City flags and an estimated 12,000 well-wishers who packed the esplanade.

Buildings had been repainted, lawns manicured and security stepped up ahead of the first papal visit to Morocco since John Paul II in 1985.

A 17-year-old was arrested after trying to throw himself onto the king's limousine to seek the monarch's help, the police said.

Pope Francis (L) was welcomed to Rabat by Morocco's King 

Mohammed VI (AFP Photo/Fadel SENNA)

Some 130,000 people across Rabat watched the first stage of the pope's visit, which was beamed onto giant screens, officials said.

'Right to a future'

After stopping by the royal palace, Francis and Mohammed visited an institute where around 1,300 students are studying to become imams and preachers.

There they heard from a French and a Nigerian student of the institute, which teaches "moderate Islam" and is backed by the king.

In Morocco, where Islam is the state religion, authorities are keen to stress the country's "religious tolerance" which allows Christians and Jews to worship freely.

But Moroccans are automatically considered Muslim, apart from a minority who are born Jewish. Apostasy is socially frowned upon, and proselytising is a criminal offence.

Those who try to "rock the faith of a Muslim or to convert him to another religion" risk a prison term of up to three years.

After years in the shadows, since 2017 the small number of converts have called openly for the right to live "without persecution" and "without discrimination".

The pope finished his Saturday schedule by meeting migrants (AFP Photo/
Alberto PIZZOLI)

Around 30,000 to 35,000 Catholics live in Morocco, many of them from sub-Saharan Africa.

The pope finished his Saturday schedule by meeting migrants -- including children dressed in colourful hats -- at a centre run by Catholic humanitarian organisation Caritas.

"Everyone has the right to a future," said Francis, who has throughout his papacy highlighted the plight of migrants and refugees.

He criticised "collective expulsions" and said ways for migrants to regularise their status should be encouraged.

Caritas centres in Rabat, Casablanca and Tangiers welcomed 7,551 new arrivals in 2017, according to the charity, helping migrants access services.

The number of people taking the sea route from Morocco to Spain has recently surged as it has become harder for them to pass through Libya.

Rabat claims to have a "humanistic" approach to migration and rejects allegations by rights groups of "brutal arrest campaigns" and "forced displacement" to the country's southern border.

On Sunday, the pope will celebrate mass at a Rabat stadium with an estimated 10,000 people attending.

Grand imam of Egypt's Al-Azhar calls polygamy an 'injustice'

Yahoo – AFP, March 2, 2019

Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, grand imam of Egypt's famed Al-Azhar institution, said
polygamy was the result of a "lack of understanding of the Koran" (AFP Photo/
Vincenzo PINTO)

Cairo (AFP) - The grand imam of Egypt's famed Al-Azhar institution, Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, has described polygamy as an "injustice" for women.

"Polygamy is often an injustice to women and children," said the influential cleric, in quotes published on Twitter late Friday by Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's most prestigious seat of learning.

The practice is the result of "a lack of understanding of the Koran and the tradition of the Prophet," he added.

Tayeb also addressed the issue in a weekly Friday television show, telling viewers: "Those who say that marriage must be polygamous are all wrong".

He added the Koran says that in order for a Muslim man to have multiple wives, he "must obey conditions of fairness -- and if there is not fairness it is forbidden to have multiple wives".

After the grand imam's comments sparked fervent debate on social media, Al-Azhar on Saturday clarified that he did not call for polygamy to be banned.

In his Friday comments, Tayeb called more broadly for the way women's issues are addressed to be revamped.

"Women represent half of society, if we don't care for them it's like we are walking on one foot only," he said in the remarks published on Twitter.

The grand imam's approach was welcomed by Egypt's National Council for Women.

"The Muslim religion honours women -- it brought justice and numerous rights which didn't exist before," said the Council's president Maya Morsi.

Egypt university expels female student for hugging male friend

Yahoo – AFP, January 13, 2019

An Egyptian couple embracing during a stroll on Pharos Island in the port
of Alexandria (AFP Photo/MOHAMED EL-SHAHED)

Cairo (AFP) - Egypt's Al-Azhar university on Sunday said it had expelled a female student after she appeared in a video hugging a male colleague, accusing her of undermining the school's reputation.

The video, which went viral earlier this month, showed a young man carrying a bouquet of flowers kneeling before a young woman and then hugging her in what appeared to be a marriage proposal.

The video was apparently not filmed at Al-Azhar -- a branch of Egypt's highest Sunni Muslim authority -- but at another establishment, Mansoura University in the country's north.

Nevertheless the disciplinary council of the Al-Azhar University campus in Mansoura on Saturday "decided to expel the young girl definitively", university spokesman Ahmed Zarie told AFP.

He said the video had caused a "public outcry" and that the university's decision to expel her was because she had presented a "bad image" of Al-Azhar University, which strictly segregates the genders.

He said hugging between unmarried men and women violates "the values and principles of society".

The woman, however, can appeal the expulsion decision, Zarie said.

The young man who appeared in the video could also face sanctions, a spokesman for Mansoura University said, adding that the school's disciplinary council will meet on Monday to decide his "punishment".

Egypt, a predominantly Muslim country, is a largely conservative society.

Last year, prosecutors detained a female singer for four days for "incitement to debauchery" after an online video clip which included sensual oriental dances and suggestive gestures went viral.

And in 2017 another female pop singer was sentenced to two years in prison on similar charges, also over a video deemed provocative. Her sentence was reduced to a year on appeal.

Related Article:

Saudi woman held at Bangkok airport says fears death if repatriated

Catholic Church beatifies 19 slain clerics in Algeria's Oran

France24 –AFP,  8 Dec 2018

French Catholic monk Brother Jean-Pierre Schumacher (L) greets a man ahead
of the beatification ceremony for 19 Catholic clergy in Agleria's northwestern city
of Oran on Saturday French Catholic monk Brother Jean-Pierre Schumacher (L)
greets a man ahead of the beatification ceremony for 19 Catholic clergy in
Agleria's northwestern city of Oran on Saturday AFP

The Catholic Church beatified in the city of Oran on Saturday seven French monks and 12 other clergy killed during Algeria's civil war, the first ceremony of its kind in a Muslim nation.

May "Monsignor Pierre Claverie... and his 18 companions, faithful messengers of the Gospel, humble artisans of peace... from now on be called blessed," said papal envoy Cardinal Angelo Becciu, reading the decree of beatification, the first step on the path to Roman Catholic sainthood.

Claverie, 58, was killed with his driver on August 1, 1996 when a remote-controlled bomb exploded at his residence in Oran.

He was among 19 clergy to be beatified, after their murders in a series of grisly atrocities between 1994 and 1996.

The ceremony was held under tight security at the esplanade of the Chapel of our Lady of Santa Cruz overlooking the Mediterranean city.

Some 1,200 people attended the ceremony, including pilgrims, relatives and friends of the beatified, many of whom came from abroad.

Opening the ceremony, Archbishop Paul Desfarges of Algiers paid tribute to "the thousands and thousands of victims of the Algerian civil war", describing them as anonymous heroes.

A minute of silence was then observed.

Algeria's 1991-2002 war between government forces and Islamists left up to 200,000 people dead.

In a message read during the ceremony by Becciu, Pope Francis spoke of his hope that "this celebration helps to heal the wounds of the past and create a new dynamic of meeting and living together".

The 19 clergy were declared martyrs by the Vatican in January 2018, since they were slain "in odium fidei", or out of hatred for the faith.

Pope Francis himself spoke of the beatification in prayers at Saint Peter's Square in the Vatican on Saturday.

"May this beatification be an incentive for all to build a world of fraternity and solidarity together", the pope said.

Egypt's Sunni authority says all sexual harassment 'forbidden'

Yahoo – AFP, August 28, 2018

Some 60 percent of women in Egypt said they had been victims of some form of
harassment during their lifetimes according to a 2017 report from UN Women
and Promundo (AFP Photo/Fethi Belaid)

Cairo (AFP) - Egypt's highest Sunni Muslim authority has said there can be no justification for sexual harassment, in a country where many people often blame women themselves for the widespread problems they face.

In a statement Al-Azhar blasted all forms of harassment as "a forbidden act and deviant behaviour" and said "the one who carries it out is a sinner".

"Criminalising sexual harassment must be absolute and free from any condition or context," the statement released Monday said.

"Justifying sexual harassment with the behaviour or clothing of the woman is a misunderstanding, for sexual harassment is an assault on the woman and her freedom and dignity," it said.

Some 60 percent of women in Egypt said they had been victims of some form of sexual harassment during their lifetimes in a 2017 report from UN Women and Promundo.

Three-quarters of men and 84 percent of women polled said that women who "dress provocatively deserve to be harassed".

The divisions have been highlighted by a recent debate over a video posted on the internet by an Egyptian woman showing a man making unwanted advances on her in a Cairo street.

The footage of the man parking his car and approaching a woman to go for a coffee went viral and drew wide-ranging reactions online.

Some commentators said it definitely constituted harassment given the hostile atmosphere of the Cairo streets.

But others described the approach as normal given the man made no obscene gestures, and there were even suggestions the woman was at fault as she was welcoming advances by standing in the street.

Public debate over harassment intensified in the aftermath of the January 2011 uprising against former president Hosni Mubarak.

The protests demanding Mubarak's ouster centred around Cairo's Tahrir Square, where constant media coverage also highlighted sexual attacks and helped show public denial of the phenomenon.

Following the 2011 uprising, anti-harassment graffiti spread around downtown Cairo, volunteers organised to rescue women from mob attacks, and more women shared their own stories publicly.

In February 2013, women took to the streets brandishing knives in a symbolic protest against sexual violence.

Authorities directly criminalised sexual harassment in June 2014, days before President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's inauguration, however many women complain that officials still turn a blind eye to the problem.

Ethiopia's torn Orthodox church reunites after 27 years

Yahoo – AFP, 27, 2018

Ethiopia's torn Orthodox church reunites after 27 years

Addis Ababa (AFP) - Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has overseen the reunification of two feuding wings of the one of the world's oldest Christian churches, his top aide said Friday.

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church split in 1991 over the naming of a new patriarch after the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) removed the Derg military junta from power.

Dissidents founded a breakaway church based in the United States under the exiled former patriarch, after leading church officials claimed that ousting him violated rules that say the role is held for life.

Talks between the two synods have been going on for years. Abiy, a reformist new premier, is credited with speeding up the peace process, which culminated on Thursday in his maiden visit to the United States.

Abiy oversaw a reunification ceremony in Washington, attended by priests in flowing black and red robes, state media reported.

"After significant mediation efforts, PM Abiy witnessed in DC the reunification of the 2 Synods of the #Ethiopian Orthodox Church. The 2 Synods are reunited into one Holy Synod after 27 years," his chief of staff Fitsum Arega wrote on Twitter.

Further details of the reunification and how it would work in practice were not immediately available.

Tracing its roots back to the fourth century, the Orthodox church is Ethiopia's largest, gathering 38 million people, according to the World Council of Churches.

The country is also home to a Muslim minority and a growing protestant population that includes the prime minister.

"Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed said it is impossible to think of Ethiopia without taking note of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, which he said, is both great and sacred," the state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporate said.

"While noting that the reconciliation event marks a historic jump, the Prime Minister emphasised that this has been something overdue," the broadcaster said.

It added: "The unification and reconciliation committee extended its deepest gratitude to Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed for his significant efforts during the reconciliation process."

Since taking office in April, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has prioritised reconciliation between dissidents and the EPRDF, which has held power unopposed for 27 years.

He has released numerous jailed dissidents from Ethiopian jails, and sometimes met them personally upon their release.

Earlier this week, he called for "multi-party democracy," a stunning shift for the EPRDF which has been in power continuously since 1991 and holds every seat in parliament together with its allies.

He has also opened the doors to historic reconciliation with neighbouring Eritrea

The visit to the US is set to be something of a charm offensive for Abiy.

After his arrival in Washington, Reuben E. Brigety II, a former American ambassador to the African Union headquarters in Ethiopia, tweeted a photo showing the prime minister smiling and holding hands with a lone protester who greeted him outside the Ethiopian embassy.

He is also visiting diaspora communities in Los Angeles and the state of Minnesota in a visit the Ethiopian government has titled "Tear down barriers, and build bridges!"

Hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians live in the US, among them numerous journalists and politicians who have fallen out with the EPRDF.

Egypt's Coptic Pope rejects Pence meeting over Jerusalem

Yahoo – AFP, December 9, 2017

Egypt's Coptic Church head Pope Tawadros II cancelled a meeting with US
Vice President Mike Pence in Cairo later this month in protest at Washington's
decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital, the church said (AFP Photo/
KHALED DESOUKI)

Cairo (AFP) - Egypt's Coptic Church head Pope Tawadros II cancelled a meeting with US Vice President Mike Pence in Cairo later this month in protest at Washington's decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital, the church said Saturday.

US President Donald Trump's decision "did not take into account the feelings of millions of Arab people," the church said in a statement, adding it decided not to receive Pence when his visits Egypt.

"The Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church declines to receive American Vice President Mike Pence," it said, adding it would pray for "wisdom and to address all issues that impact peace for the people of the Middle East".

The decision comes a day after Egypt's top Muslim cleric Ahmed al-Tayeb, the head of Al-Azhar, also declined to meet Pence.

Egyptian Coptic Christians make up about 10 percent of the country's 93 million people, and are the largest religious minority in the region.

Trump's move to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel sparked Palestinian protests, sporadic clashes and a call for a new intifada or uprising amid fears of new bloodshed in the region.

Coptic Pope Tawadros II

Related Articles:

Egyptian head of Coptic Orthodox Church makes rare Israel trip

Pope Francis to receive Sunni Muslim leader at Vatican

Pope Francis pleads for 'holy' peace during Egypt visit

Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, and Pope Francis embrace

 during his visit to the prestigious Sunni Muslim institution in Cairo on April 28, 

2017 (AFP Photo/STRINGER)

Tunisia scraps ban on Muslim women marrying non-Muslims

Yahoo – AFP, September 14, 2017

Tunisia is viewed as being ahead of most Arab countries on women's rights
(AFP Photo/FETHI BELAID)

Tunis (AFP) - Tunisia has abolished a decades-old ban on Muslim women marrying non-Muslims, the presidency said Thursday.

"Congratulations to the women of Tunisia for the enshrinement of the right to the freedom to choose one's spouse," presidency spokeswoman Saida Garrach wrote on Facebook.

The announcement comes a month after President Beji Caid Essebsi called for the government to scrap the ban dating back to 1973.

Until now a non-Muslim man who wished to marry a Tunisian woman had to convert to Islam and submit a certificate of his conversion as proof.

Human rights groups in the North African country had campaigned for the ban's abolition, saying it undermined the fundamental human right to choose a spouse.

Tunisia is viewed as being ahead of most Arab countries on women's rights, but there is still discrimination particularly in matters of inheritance.

Related Articles:

Fury at Saudi election to UN women's rights group

"Listening to the Voice of Spirit" (2) - Feb 20, 2016 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (DNA Efficiency is on average at 35 percent now) - (Text version)

“… With free choice, the percentage of DNA efficiently started to go down as humanity grew. As soon as the DNA started to lose percentage, the gender balance was dysfunctional. If you want to have a test of any society, anywhere on the planet, and you want to know the DNA percentage number [consciousness quota] as a society, there's an easy test: How do they perceive and treat their women? The higher the DNA functionality, the more the feminine divine is honored. This is the test! Different cultures create different DNA consciousness, even at the same time on the planet. So you can have a culture on Earth at 25 percent and one at 37 - and if you did, they would indeed clash. …”

“… You're at 35. There's an equality here, you're starting to see the dark and light, and it's changing everything. You take a look at history and you've come a long way, but it took a long time to get here. Dear ones, we've seen this process before and the snowball is rolling. There isn't anything in the way that's going to stop it. In the path of this snowball of higher consciousness are all kinds of things that will be run over and perish. Part of this is what you call "the establishment". Watch for some very big established things to fall over! The snowball will simply knock them down. …”

Morocco's Christian converts emerge from the shadows

Yahoo – AFP, Hamza Mekouar, April 30, 2017

Mustapha, the son of an expert on Islamic law in Morocco, says he converted
to Christianity in 1994 to 'fill a spiritual void' (AFP Photo/FADEL SENNA)

Agadir (Morocco) (AFP) - Moroccans who secretly converted to Christianity are demanding the right to practise their faith openly in a country where Islam is the state religion and "apostasy" is condemned.

At an apartment in a working-class part of the southern town of Agadir, Mustapha listened to hymns emanating from a hi-fi under a silver crucifix hung on the wall.

The 46-year-old civil servant, son of an expert on Islamic law from nearby Taroudant, was once an active member of the banned but tolerated Islamist Charity and Justice movement.

He said he converted in 1994 to "fill a spiritual void".

"I was tired of the contradictions in Islam," said Mustapha.

"I became interested in Christianity through a long correspondence with a religious centre in Spain in the late 1980s."

He went on to qualify as a Protestant pastor and received a certificate from the United States after taking a correspondence course.

Mustapha kept his faith secret for two decades, but a year and a half ago he published a video online in which he spoke openly about his conversion. The reaction was immediate.

"Family and close friends turned their backs on me, I was shunned at work. My children were bullied at school," he said.

Converts to Christianity form a tiny minority of Moroccans. While no official statistics exist, the American State Department estimates their numbers at between 2,000 and 6,000.

In Morocco proselytising is punishable by law and anyone found guilty of

 'attempting to undermine the faith of a Muslim or convert him to another 

religion' can be jailed for up to three years (AFP Photo/FADEL SENNA)

'Persecution'

Over the Easter weekend, Mustapha and a dozen fellow converts met for an "afternoon of prayers" in the living room of Rachid, who like Mustapha did not wish to give his full name.

Rachid, who hails from a family of Sufis -- a mystical trend of Islam -- embraced Christianity in 2004 and eventually became a Protestant pastor.

A father of two, Rachid said he became interested in Christianity when he was a teenager after listening to a programme broadcast by a Paris-based radio station.

He researched Christianity at a cyber-cafe, contacted a specialised website and they sent him a copy of the Bible.

"I read the entire thing, studied the word of God, took courses," he said. "At the age of 24, I was baptised in a Casablanca apartment."

In April, Mustapha, Rachid and other Moroccan converts submitted a request to the official National Council of Human Rights (CNDH) calling for "an end to persecution" against them.

"We demand the right to give our children Christian names, to pray in churches, to be buried in Christian cemeteries and to marry according to our religion," Mustapha said.

Islam is the state faith of Morocco but the country's 2011 constitution, drafted after it was rocked by Arab Spring-inspired demonstrations, guarantees freedom of religion.

Foreign Christians and the country's tiny Jewish community -- of about 2,500 people -- practise their faiths openly.

Moroccan authorities boast of promoting religious tolerance and a "moderate" form of Islam, and the country's penal code does not explicitly prohibit apostasy -- the act of rejecting Islam or any of its main tenets.

Rachid says he is 'Moroccan before being Christian' (AFP Photo/FADEL SENNA)

'Ultra-sensitive'

But in Morocco proselytising is punishable by law and anyone found guilty of "attempting to undermine the faith of a Muslim or convert him to another religion" can be jailed for up to three years.

"The subject is ultra-sensitive because it relates to the history of colonisation and to the idea that Christianity constitutes a danger to the unity of Morocco," a sociologist of religion told AFP.

But Rachid said the lines are shifting.

"The arrests have almost stopped, which is a big step," he said. "Harassment has become scarce."

Rachid, who says "I am Moroccan before being Christian," practises his faith openly and lives a normal life in a working-class district of Agadir alongside his Muslim neighbours.

Most Moroccans who have converted to Christianity live in Agadir and the central city of Marrakesh, and the majority have said they are Protestants.

With the exception of local Jews, Moroccans are automatically considered Muslims and King Mohamed VI holds the official title of Commander of the Faithful.

Mustapha said the 2011 constitution and actions by the king "in favour of tolerance and coexistence" have helped bolster human rights in Morocco.

But "the penal code, political parties and society have not followed suit", he said.

Pope Francis pleads for 'holy' peace during Egypt visit

Yahoo – AFP, Samer Al-Atrush and Catherine Marciano, April 28, 2017

Pope Francis and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi chat with officials
after meeting in Cairo on April 28, 2017 (AFP Photo/KHALED DESOUKI)

Cairo (AFP) - Pope Francis pleaded for peace in a visit to Egypt on Friday as he attended a service in solidarity with the embattled Coptic minority at a church bombed by the Islamic State group.

The pontiff walked to the Saint Peter and Saint Paul church in Cairo in a procession led by standard-bearing clergy, after meeting Coptic Pope Tawadros II at his headquarters.

Security forces in the capital were on high alert under a state of emergency following a series of church bombings claimed by IS.

On April 9, the jihadists bombed two churches in the Arab world's most populous country, killing 45 people in the deadliest attack on Copts in recent memory.

Last December, the Saint Peter and Saint Paul church was itself targeted by a suicide bomber in an attack that killed 29 people.

Francis had earlier met President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Ahmed al-Tayeb, the grand imam of the Al-Azhar institution, one of Muslim world's leading authorities, to push for dialogue between the two faiths.

In a speech to a Muslim-Christian conference, the 80-year-old pontiff denounced violence and populism.

"Peace alone... is holy and no act of violence can be perpetrated in the name of God, for it would profane his name," Francis said.

He criticised what he called "demagogic forms of populism... on the rise", saying they were unhelpful to peace.

Francis shuttled from one engagement to another in a closed car under heavy guard on the first day of his tightly scheduled 27-hour trip.

Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, and Pope Francis embrace

 during his visit to the prestigious Sunni Muslim institution in Cairo on April 28, 

2017 (AFP Photo/STRINGER)

'Innocent blood'

Police and soldiers stood guard outside the Vatican residence in Cairo and armoured cars were stationed outside the Coptic Orthodox Saint Mark's Cathedral, where Tawadros II's headquarters are located.

Francis met the Coptic pope at his offices where the two exchanged gifts.

"Our church and nation has been through a painful experience in the past few months when the sinful hand of terrorism reached out to murder praying innocents," Tawadros said in a speech at the meeting.

"Their innocent blood unites us," Francis said in turn.

They signed an ecumenical agreement to no longer require Catholics to be rebaptised if they choose to become Orthodox, as often happens in Egypt.

He and Tawadros then walked in procession to the Saint Peter and Saint Paul church, where they sat near the altar as a choir sang hymns to clashing cymbals.

Hours before the church visit, Francis became the first Roman Catholic pope to visit the head of Al-Azhar in his Cairo headquarters, sealing a recent improvement in relations between Catholicism and Islam.

In another speech with Sisi in the audience, Francis expressed support for Egypt's military campaign against IS which bombed the churches and has also killed hundreds of police and troops.

But he also insisted on "unconditional respect for inalienable human rights such as equality among all citizens, religious freedom and freedom of expression".

Sisi has faced heavy criticism from rights groups for abuses since he led the military ouster of his Islamist predecessor Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

Security is extremely tight in Cairo for the pope's visit (AFP Photo/

MOHAMED EL-SHAHED)

'Pilgrim of peace'

Before disembarking from his aircraft in Cairo, Francis had told reporters his visit was a "journey of unity and fraternity. Less than two days but very intense."

His meeting with Tayeb, he said, would "be an example and a model for peace precisely because it will be a meeting of dialogue".

"Please pray for my journey tomorrow as a pilgrim of peace to Egypt," Francis tweeted on the eve of his departure.

Before his visit, some roads had been festooned with posters showing Francis against the backdrop of the Pyramids, with a message that read: "Pope of peace in the Egypt of peace."

John Paul II was the last pope to have visited Egypt in 2000, with his arrival also coming weeks after anti-Christian violence that killed about 20 Copts in January that year.

Vatican dialogue with the Muslim world, a priority for this pope, was set back significantly when Francis's predecessor Benedict XVI made a speech in 2006 in which he was seen as linking Islam to violence.

The now-retired German pontiff's 2011 comments condemning an attack on a Coptic church prompted Al-Azhar to denounce Benedict for meddling in Egypt's affairs.

On Saturday, the pontiff will preside over a mass for the country's small Catholic community, estimated to number around 272,000 spread across various rites.

Egypt's Copts, who make up about 10 percent of the country's population of 92 million, are the Middle East's largest Christian minority and one of the oldest.

But they have suffered attacks throughout the years and many complain that they feel like second-class citizens.

burs-se/srm

Pope Francis leads mass during visit to support Egypt's Christian minority and promote dialogue with Muslims https://t.co/AJSsQBy6LZ pic.twitter.com/2pfnLUndyn

— AFP news agency (@AFP) April 29, 2017