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Witchcraft rules for women in Islamic Morocco
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-04-21 10:32 Lalla Aicha's portly body
rests languidly on a mattress as she listens to a young woman murmuring her most
delicate secrets.
As she begins to counsel her client, the voice of one of the most popular
witches in Fes pierces the air. Coming from an elderly woman, it is at an
unexpected high octave.
"That's not her talking," whispers Wafa, a restaurant owner who sought Lalla
Aicha's prophecies for two years. "She is possessed by a spirit of a young girl
and only in such a state can she see the future."
Islam, Morocco's dominant religion, denounces sorcery as a pagan satanic
rite.
However, pre-Islamic practices of black and white magic, witchcraft, beliefs
in various omens and superstitions are widespread in the North African country.
Many people believe that jinns, or spirits, rule their lives.
Lalla Aicha represents a strong and well-wishing spirit fashioned after a
local heroine who battled Spanish colonizers, according to Khadija Amiti,
sociology professor at the university of Kenitra, near the capital Rabat.
"The phenomenon of clairvoyance has not diminished, it has only evolved in
its methods," she said.
HAIR-THICKENING AGENTS
Witchdoctors can be found in most towns and villages. Each has a traditional
medicine shop, selling everything from hair-thickening agents to body balms that
promise to make a person more popular.
"The Islamic leaders preach against it in mosques," Amiti said, but in
practice they turn a blind eye.
"There is a contradiction between religion and the practice of sorcery. But
the Islamists ... are interested in fighting other things like drinking wine or
not wearing a veil. Their issues are political, not social," she added.
According to Amiti, sorcery is "a cultural phenomenon" in the kingdom of 30
million people and part of everyday life.
"For illnesses people believe more and more in medicine, but for
psycho-pathological problems, mostly marital issues, they consult clairvoyants."
she said.
Wafa, a charismatic woman in her 50s, belongs to one of the oldest families
in Fes. When in her early 20s, she -- as tradition had it -- married her aunt's
husband after she died. They had two children and lived in prosperity until 10
years ago, when he divorced her.
Determined to win him back, Wafa spent 100,000 dirhams ($11,200) and two
years haunting sorcerers and soothsayers. "Not just in Fes, all over Morocco. I
was just like a drug addict. I went to see them several times a day, even at
night," she said.
Their therapies varied. In one visit to a fqih, a literate soothsayer with
knowledge of the Koran, he told her to cook her husband's shirt.
"He scribbled something on a piece of paper and then I cooked it with my
husband's shirt. The more it boiled and bubbled together, the more my husband
was supposed to want me," said Wafa.
"On another occasion, I was told to wave a broomstick in my house every day
while repeating verses in Arabic and thinking intensely of my husband. I was
totally crazy."
According to popular belief, Wafa said, a woman who wants to ensure her
husband's fidelity must collect some of his sperm on their wedding night, keep
it secure until the day she suspects him of adultery and then give it to a
witchdoctor.
Wafa did not think she needed this advice because she had married a man twice
her age. Her efforts failed and her husband married another woman.
NOT MARRIAGE COUNSELORS, CLAIRVOYANTS
Fatiha, a public notary, said that family and its preservation are at the
heart of Moroccan life.
According to Islamic law practiced in Morocco until very recently, only the
man could divorce his wife.
Although the family code has been changed to allow women to divorce their
husbands, there is still a stigma for women whose husbands have left them. Women
are expected to do everything in their power to return the man to his original
family.
"Women here don't go to psychologists or marriage counselors, they go to see
clairvoyants. If your husband leaves you and you don't look for help to get him
back, people think badly of you as a wife and a mother," Fatiha said.
For a person whose business depends on paranormal powers, Lalla Aicha keeps
surprisingly regular working hours. Her office in a tall building in the modern
part of Fes opens daily from 9:00-12:30 p.m.. She is closed on Fridays and for a
few weeks during the year when the young girl's spirit fails to visit
her.
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