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Interviews
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| Nadia Yassine interviewed by al-jazeera.net | |
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| 07- 04- 2007 |
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| A.J : Let's start by the position of Nadia Yassine inside the Justice and Spirituality Movement. You are the daughter of Imam Abdessalam Yassine, the founder and spiritual guide of the movement, is this what entitles you to the distinguished position you enjoy inside the movement and allows your voice to be the most heard, or is it rather consultation, democracy, and elections the secret? |
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| N.Y.: In the Name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. May God’s blessings and peace be upon His noble Messenger Muhammad.My relation to my father is (thanks to God) multidimensional. My being his daughter might have contributed to the position I have inside the movement. Contrary to what the question might suggest, that’s not something negative. As long as that is not used to serve personal ends, but rather serves to instill certain concepts that would otherwise have been difficult to impart had it not been for the elements of trust and love. Therefore, my job, which I share nationally with four other women, is a consciousness-raising mission that adopts a revivalist approach to the issues of women, more than it is a formal, managerial job.I do have sisters and brothers who are ordinary members inside the movement. The main reason I was put in charge of such responsibility is because that is in accord with the thinking of the movement that entitles women to play an effective role in the affairs of the movement, especially if they prove to have qualifications and potentials. The real question is why some media tend to give attention only to public figures, while failing to notice the effective contribution of all the women inside a movement against which many level unfounded accusations. The last report of the United Nations Development Program about the position of women in the Arab world asserts that the real participation of women exists only inside Islamic movements. The statement was made despite the prevalent global islamophobia. That’s a fact that cannot be eclipsed. That also proves that objectivity implies an approach that is free from clichés, and the recognition that there is a real dynamic inside Islamic movements that the so-called progressive and liberal movements lack considerably. I happen to be the tree that hides the forest, since the number of women officials inside the movement amounts to hundreds. My voice inside the movement does not trespass the boundaries set by consultative procedures, far away from favoritism. I am not a supreme commander, nor a spoilt princess that is going to succeed her father, as some minds confined in hereditary patterns like to think. |
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| A.J: The movement went through a considerable crisis following the supposed 2006 revolution presaged by dreams and visions of the movement's members. The movement was reported to have predicted the advent of an Islamic Caliphate this year. As the end of 2006 approaches, whoever follows your declarations feels that you were embarrassed as you tried to reconcile between what may be called the "culture of visions" and your modern culture. Is the movement still propagating those dreams and visions among its members, or has it surpassed them, and how? |
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| N.Y.: I understand, dear sir, that you’re asking me this question to give me the chance to discuss some deep concepts and underline the crisis of the Moroccan public opinion that has been manipulated by vicious people.You no doubt belong to the educated elite that know that deep concepts are often undermined by superficial, simplistic approaches, especially if the latter are ill-intentioned and take the guise of systematic, mercenary, and defamatory campaign backed logistically by huge financial means.So the movement doesn't suffer any crisis, and I am definitely not schizophrenic, as some would rather believe to comfort themselves. I am Muslim to my fingerprints, which means that I don’t feel embarrassed at all to speak of the spiritual side of my faith that pertains to the Unseen. Islam is not a culture or a civilization; it is first and foremost the belief in the Unseen. So even as justice was ousted by our illegitimate rulers, so too the belief in the Unseen was due to our servile imitation of the dominant, materialistic, colonizing West.In our quest to restore justice and spirituality, we revived the Prophet’s sunna of recounting dreams and visions. Our former scholars used to lend great importance to this sunna, and even established an independent science related to it. So we have revived this sunna and give it the same import our great teacher (God bless him and give him peace) gave it insofar as such dreams and visions are glad tidings that rejoice us but on which we don’t rely in our action plans. It was never in our intention to propagate the dreams and visions about 2006. So it is definitely not our fault if the Makhzen utilized this aspect of our spiritual education to mock and disparage us. Yet it failed to take account of popular culture that remained close to these notions. People have actually pinned their hopes on those glad tidings because they dream of salvation from a cruel reality. So, it was the logic of the biter being bitten. Anyway, 2006 is not over yet.And anyhow, our revivalist project began decades ago and will continue for decades and perhaps for centuries to come, God willing. And unlike many who rely nonchalantly on miracles, we believe in God, His revealed Books, and his Messengers, and we rely on Him to give us endurance and patience to face all hardships and strive against falsehood, injustice, ignorance, and despair. |
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| A.J: Despite existing for decades, the movement is keen to preserve a certain virginity or political purity through abstention from engaging in political life under the current institutions. How long will this situation last? Will your members spend all their life inside educational gatherings? What is the worth of an education that doesn't benefit Moroccans and whose feasibility is not confirmed by the realities on the ground? |
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| N.Y.: Our movement is one of da'wa, which enjoins on us not to fish in troubled waters, nor fall into the traps of political scheming. The movement will not participate unless it has guarantees that it will participate in a real political process, not in a comedy, and that it will not be imprisoned in the vicious circle of carrying out instructions from the high echelons of power. As for our educational project, it would (God willing) last for eternity because Man is the cornerstone of any societal project, and education is the basis of any human society. This kind of education that Moroccan citizens are lacking would perhaps one day move from our private meetings to official meetings, and our educational programs would move from the narrow field of our councils to the wide field of public education that desperately needs a comprehensive revolution that makes Man the center and the objective, not a milk cow or an ewe whose voice is exploited during “democratic” masquerades. And even within that narrow framework (that we didn't choose but was rather imposed on us), Morocco still benefits from our gatherings without which violence and fury against injustice would have prevailed in our beloved country. The movement is doing a public service that no official circle does by hosting thousands of young, reviving in them hope, teaching them positivity, and nurturing in them critical thinking, merciful conduct and great morals unlike national education that despises their minds and systematically strives to rot their brains. That makes our disappointed young ideal candidates for extremist views and for seeking revenge against despotic regimes through suicide-bombing. Why then don't we consider any initiative to be positive unless it is sponsored by the regime? |
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| A.J: Your movement does not recognize the system of monarchy and the commandership of believers, do you still maintain the same position? What price the movement has paid for this? Don't you see that the movement stands as an exception to the common attitude of Moroccans in this regard? |
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| N.Y.: Have Moroccans ever been asked about their opinion to judge our attitude as abnormal? And even if they were asked, have they been armed with the appropriate political culture that allows them to make an informed choice. Were they cleared of the heavy burden of their old and modern popular memory that is tattooed with fear and persecution? Our concern is to lift injustice not only on Moroccans but also on Islam whose universal appeal was hijacked by the eventful political history of Muslims. Demagogic use of sacred texts to legitimate despotic power is an obstacle in the way of persuading others of the justice of Islam. We have been immersed in our own contradictions, and tyrannical rule has established the rules of the game by employing the Message in the service of Power and rulers whereas, originally, Power was meant to serve the Message. It is high time we informed our exhausted and overexploited Umma about the real causes behind its weakness. That’s a duty incumbent upon any Muslim who cares sincerely for his/her Umma. And if some scholars in the past kept silent about power usurpation to preserve the Umma’s unity, this excuse is no longer valid because the Umma is now in the bottom of the abyss. The Umma’s revival is only possible through awakening hearts by God's remembrance, the establishment of a solid understanding of the self, and the lifting of the sanctity that was wrongly associated with concepts and offices originally contingent on the grassroots choice. Our jihad is one on the self first, and then it is a jihad with candid words and peaceful action no matter what it costs. Whoever seeks leisure and “peace of mind” is free to choose other movements that guarantee smooth paths and “no trouble”. As to our movement, only those who are ready to pay dearly to gain God’s precious reward in the Hereafter join it. God's reward is indeed priceless, and among the dearest acts to God is to free (symbolically) slaves that are unaware of their enslavement. |
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| A.J: Dr. Abdellkbir Al-Alawi Al-Mdeghri, former Minister of Islamic Affairs, revealed the existence of past negotiations with the movement that resulted in the signature by your father of a document attesting his commitment to renounce violence, acknowledge the system of monarchy, and work through a political party. Do you know of any such agreement, and why did negotiations cease? |
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| N.Y.: The regime tried more than once to negotiate with the movement, but I am not in a position to give details of those attempts. Mr. Fathalah Arsalan, the official spokesperson, is best placed to give an account of those negotiations. But I can assure you that no such document was signed, and I challenge Al-Mdeghri and those of his stripe to publish it. The Makhzen has despaired of making any deal with us because we are not keen on participating in a political farce; we have principles that we cannot renounce by signing a contract of sale. The regime and the other adversaries have despaired of making any deal with us and are now left with only one resort: spreading rumors and conducting defamatory campaigns. |
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| A.J: Nadia Yassine is now prosecuted for having attacked sacred institutions, and was prevented several times from traveling abroad and from taking part in a conference on Islamic feminism in the UNESCO. Is Nadia Yassine that troublesome and dangerous? Why weren't her opinions and thinking countered by other opinions and thoughts rather than prosecutions? Why the trial? |
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| Because we live in a political system where dialog is not a political tradition. So candid words have the impact of earthquakes in the culture of "obey and shut your mouth!" That’s a political heresy that was devised by the Ummayyad, and that settled deeply in our Umma. Our duty is to discard it and revive the principle of freedom of expression that is represented par excellence by the position of Imam Ali (God bless him), who held a dialog with one of the Kharijits who publicly declared his non-recognition of the Imam’s office of Caliph. So the trial comes in the framework of such political heresy and is a modern expression of the centuries-old philosophy of despots. If we analyse the trial in the light of Morocco’s present reality, it also indicates that the regime’s decision-makers are irresolute and that the opinions of the regime’s advisors are obsolescent. In fact, my declarations have become an issue only because the regime made that silly decision! |
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