Promises and discontent: rethinking two decades of religious and gender reforms in Morocco

Morocco's post-2003 religious reforms ushered in an unprecedented inclusion of women in positions of authority within the religious establishment. Their mandate encompasses safeguarding Morocco’s religious identity, which includes fostering the role of the monarchy and the practice of Maliki-Sufi Islam as the primary conduits through which Moroccan Islam is delineated, and religious discourse and preaching are disseminated. Drawing on interview data, this article examines expressions of compliant agency as a category that is conducive to the enacting and fashioning of a collective pious identity informed by normative and nationalistic values, while carving individual strategies of gaining voice, and negotiating religious spheres and social narratives through pedagogical and scholarly undertakings. It also highlights the intersection of women’s access to religious authority with broader gender reforms, notably the ongoing mudawwana debate, emphasising the convergent empirical formations and pathways within gender activism and its enduring role in consolidating the existing political order, despite seemingly divergent repertoires.