Abstract

Deeply modifying the Personal Status Code dating back to 1957, the Moroccan family code (Moudawana) was introduced in 2004 after a long and sometimes dramatic process promoted by Moroccan women against retrograde Islamists and male domination. It was welcomed as one of the most advanced texts regarding family law in Arab and Muslim countries, due to its ability to reconcile universal human rights principles and the country’s Islamic heritage. In a society at half way between the construction of a secular identity and the Islamist revival, this innovative code is considered a fundamental achievement in the framework of an (incomplete) transition toward democratisation. The present paper aims to investigate lights and shadows of the Moroccan family law by showing an overview of the debate and climate of suspicion generated by the reform process, through a snapshot of the perception of the Moudawana among the postgraduate students of the most ancient faculty of the Moroccan capital: the “Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines” of Rabat.