ABSTRACT
This chapter sketches three histories of religion and politics in Morocco as they evolved over the twentieth and twenty-first centuries in order to historicize these developments. The first part discusses the emergence of the monarchy as an effect of the colonial period with attention to religious elements of legitimate leadership to show how the monarchy is invested with the authority to regulate religion. The second part outlines the intersections of Sufism, politics, and modernity in Morocco during the twentieth century. The third part unpacks the disparate elements of Morocco’s twenty-first century program of religious regulation and reform. The chapter is not intended to provide a thorough narrative of this history – a task that has been undertaken in several insightful studies – but to sketch some important trends in the shifting relations between religion and politics in Morocco in order to contextualize the contemporary situation.
