"I do not speak because I have the strength to speak; I speak because I do not have the strength to remain silent. "
Jalal Boubker Bennani
Author Living Together
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Each message is, at least implicitly, a response to a message from someone else who was, in turn, a response to an intervention from another, etc. Our almost infinite capacity for dialogue can awaken and promote exchanges and debates in order to establish a true climate of coexistence, fraternity and good living among all Moroccan citizens.
[Our country is all the more pleased and proud of this because the object of your preoccupation had nothing in common with the materialism so pervasive today. On the contrary, you have sought the paths that lead to spiritual values and that allow humanity to climb the ladder of progress towards a better world.
That is why We have followed your work with interest and attention. We found that your ideas corresponded to Our most constant and deepest concerns. We have always advocated a rapprochement between religions and races through an exchange of views and collaboration in a research based on reason. We are convinced that this is the best way to allow the interpenetration of peoples and the enrichment of cultures. We believe that it is through such efforts that mankind has advanced in the life of civilization and has reached today a high stage in all fields.
The presence of eminent men from Europe, Africa and Asia, the participation of representatives of religious denominations, of men interested in the social progress of humanity, of personalities belonging to the world of science and politics, such as the famous orientalist M. Louis Massignon, could only enhance the brilliance of your meetings and arouse a more lively interest, in Morocco and abroad. On the other hand, the assignees have studied problems in various fields, the importance of which deserves to be underlined…
[…] As a link between the Eastern and Western worlds, a melting pot for various cultures, Morocco must be among the nations interested in the things of the mind and working for the progress of human knowledge…
[You know that morality, spiritual values, virtue and civic-mindedness are the foundations of the city in Islam. These are the very principles that We are attached to, that We advocate and that We have never ceased to defend. We are convinced that this is the only way to progress and civilization.
The new Morocco has no intention of isolating itself and closing in on itself. We are determined to turn this country into an open community, maintaining relations with all countries on the basis of cooperation and exchange. As an Arab and Muslim country, Morocco is a land of welcome and hospitality…
(Confluent, n°7, December 1956, p.6-7)
[…] There is no Moroccan who is not universalist. Sometimes, it appears narrow. It is quite normal. He has not yet completely rid himself of his complex. But give him two or three more years, let him free his personality, but then he will give himself to you, to the world, with a lot of liberation, because he will have fewer complexes. He has been independent for a year, barely two years, and every manifestation from abroad he sees as perhaps a reminder of a period he fought against, of a regime he did not want.
[In this country that His Majesty the King hopes to see become the link between the East and the West, well in this country, ladies and gentlemen, you are at home. For the good man, the believer, the honest man is at home everywhere. In fact, when we go back to the sources of religions, whether it is the Hebrew religion, the Christian religion or the Muslim religion, we are not told: “Do not pray in the wilderness. On the contrary, the world is the house of God. Every believer can make his prayer there. Every believer can meet his god there. Every believer can find his ideal there. So this country of yours is above all the house of God, it is the house of all Believers, the house of all men who have equal aspirations for a better world.
* Session 1957, theme Education. Brilliant conference in front of 150 delegates from 26 countries.
Prince Moulay El Hassan, speaking to the children of Azrou, recommended that they follow the advice of the monks as well as their own fathers:
“You know that your fathers never advise you anything bad, because they love you. In the same way, the Fathers love you; you can be sure that they will never teach you anything but good.
This was reported by Father Denis during his inaugural speech at the Toumliline summer school in August 1956.
Princess Lalla Aïcha made a very remarkable presentation on the emancipation of Moroccan women* and mainly on the wearing of the veil where she courageously expressed her opinion which was also, she underlined, that of her father, King Mohammed V:
“Harmoniously, without clashes, the woman must be brought to be an integral part of the life of the country.
Emancipation must be accepted as a liberation of the personality, an enrichment, a blossoming of the individual, and not as an anarchic attitude, artificially attacking certain external elements, such as the veil for example.
The veil has always been considered as the symbol of the inferior condition of the woman. To remove it, it has been thought, is at the same time to give back to the woman her freedom, to remove her gag which prevents her from breathing and from expressing herself.
This is a somewhat artificial view of the problem. The only thing that counts is the woman’s awareness of her rights and duties. The rest is self-evident. Free to determine herself, free to choose, the woman will be able to remove the veil or keep it, but then she will keep it as an ornament and not as a gag or a straitjacket.
(Toumliline 2: Aspects de l’éducation, Publication du monastère de Toumliline, Rabat, Ecole du Livre, 1958,p.153.)
* Session 1957, theme: Education
When he (Fr. Denis) had begun to associate with the Great Sheikh of Islam in Morocco, Fqih Bel Larbi El Alaoui, both Colonel Clesca and General Miquel had warned him that he was the worst enemy of the Church in Morocco. He had been told of an incident that took place during a lecture by Bel Larbi to students at the University of Karaouiyine in Fez. The sound of the bells of a Catholic church had penetrated the courtyard where they were. This is our real enemy,” the Fqih told the students, “do not rest until you have driven him out of our country.
But when Fr. Prieur had become quite intimate with the Muslim theologian, he asked him if the story was true. The Fqih admitted it perfectly, but added that at that time he did not distinguish between the Church and the French authorities. Whereas now,” he said, “what I see you doing in Toumliline has helped me to make the distinction.
Later, after many conversations in which each came to understand the aspirations of the other’s religion, Bel Larbi admitted something surprising. “I would respect the conversion of a Muslim to Christianity as I would desire yours to Islam. But of course, such a desire must always respect the personality and freedom of conscience of others. Conversion cannot be achieved by violence or argument, but by the radiance of a life lived in accord with this truth.
Peter Beach and William Dunphy, Benedictine and Moor: A Christian adventure in moslem Morocco, 1960, p.55.
Mahjoub Aherdane, in an interview with the Archives of Morocco and the Memory for the Future Foundation.
“What is a pity is that this monastery was not allowed to live. Our religion was not threatened (…). They are people of God, people who do their utmost to help, and they are open people.
In his memoirs, Mahjoub Aherdane evokes this unique pilot experience: “I have kept a nice memory of the Benedictines present in Toumliline, not far from Azrou. The rapprochement of religions, obviously without a future, had its time of glory and piety shared between the tonsured, hands joined in a murmured prayer, and the Muslims in ties who discovered Jesus at the same time as the cedars of the Middle Atlas and the existence of monkeys in the forests of the country. (…) For a time, Christians and Muslims had become brothers…
"For we did not meet them as people who pass each other in the streets, but as men of the same family, or as pilgrims who travel together towards a common homeland, as men who share the same house, the same roof, the same meal. We have understood, more intimately than in the past, that we are co-owners of riches that are much more lasting, less transient than the things of this world, that is, of spiritual, profound and primordial values."
"To hear a Muslim prince talk about education in a Benedictine monastery is not commonplace! There must be a great friendship between these monks and Morocco for the royal family and members of the Moroccan government to participate in this session and to accept to answer all the questions - there will be some and many perilous ones!
"For we did not meet them as people who pass each other in the streets, but as men of the same family, or as pilgrims who travel together towards a common homeland, as men who share the same house, the same roof, the same meal. We have understood, more intimately than in the past, that we are co-owners of riches that are much more lasting, less transient than the things of this world, that is, of spiritual, profound and primordial values."
