Morocco and Muslim-American Relations

Morocco is one of the most friendly and pro-American countries in the Arab world, a country where the watchwords are hospitality and gentleness, not violence and danger. Not only was I pleasantly surprised at the warmth with which we were received by our Moroccan hosts, I was amazed at the ease with which Moroccans talked of the Jewish communities that for centuries thrived in their midst. It seems that every city and town in Morocco has a historic Jewish quarter with synagogues that only went into decline in the 1950s when many Moroccan Jews chose to emigrate to Israel.

I spent one evening as a dinner guest at the home of a pleasant young woman who lives in the old walled quarter of Rabat. She proudly showed me an album with pictures she had collected over the years of dozens of American visitors to Rabat whom she had befriended. Then, to my surprise, she indicated two students who were not Americans, but Israelis. “This one,” she beamed, “is the granddaughter of Ariel Sharon’s brother!”

Since this is the first time I have ever heard the name “Ariel Sharon” spoken by an Arab citizen with pride instead of contempt, it is a moment I will not soon forget.

For centuries, hundreds of thousands of Jews had lived in harmony with their Muslim neighbors in cities all over Morocco. Many of them were descendants of the Jews and Muslims who were driven from Spain five hundred years ago. It is a point of pride among Moroccans that they never instituted an inquisition like that of fifteenth-century Spain that targeted Jews or other religious minorities. During World War II when Hitler asked Morocco to expel its Jewish population, Morocco’s King Mohammad V resisted, insisting that “We have no Jews here, only Moroccans.”

The positive attitude that Moroccans show toward Jews and Israelis is matched by their friendliness toward Americans. During our two weeks of travel from urban neighborhoods to desert campsites, our delegation enjoyed unfailing hospitality. Morocco demonstrates what a Muslim country with open attitudes toward the West and Israel looks like. It is a model that we Americans would do well to encourage.

- Robert Moore, Department of Anthropology