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Questions about Morocco II

133K views 71 replies 21 participants last post by  A380B747A340B777 
#1 · (Edited)
1/ Where is Morocco on the map?

In north-western Africa, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Strait of Gibraltar, the Alboran Sea and the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Algeria to the east and Mauritania to the south.



2/ What does the moroccan flag look like? and what does it mean?



Red has considerable historic significance in Morocco, proclaiming the descent of the royal family from the Prophet Muhammad via Fatima, the wife of Ali, the fourth Caliph. Red is also the color that was used by the Sherifs of Mecca and the Imams of Yemen. From the 17th century on, when Morocco was ruled by the Hassani Dynasty, the flags of the country were plain red. In 1915, during the reign of Mulay Yusuf, the green Seal of Solomon was added to the national flag. The Seal is an interlaced pentangle, used as a symbol in occult law for centuries. While Morocco was under French and Spanish control, the red flag with the seal in the center remained in use- but only inland. Its use at sea was prohibited. When independence was restored in 1956, it once again became the national flag.



The 6-pointed star used in the Moroccan flag is also known as the Seal of Solomon (Sulaïman in Arabic) or the Star of David. However, it was not chosen to be on the Moroccan flag for that reason, since the 6-pointed star is a symbol of life, wisdom and good health common to all three major monotheistic religions. The Seal of Solomon was also stamped on the 100 and 200 francs coins as well as on some Makhzen stamps until 1954

The new star was best adapted to the country's religion and faith since the 5 branches could symbolize the 5 pillars of Islam. The Moroccan flag is also used by Moorish-Americans of the Moorish Science Temple of America.

3/ When did Morocco become a country?

Morocco as a state is existing since the year 788, when Idriss 1st was proclaimed king at Volubilis

4/ What does "Morocco" mean?

The full Arabic name is al-Mamlaka al-Maġribiyya translates to "The Western Kingdom." Al-Maġrib (meaning "The West") is commonly used. For historical references, medieval Arab historians and geographers used to refer to Morocco as Al-Maghrib al Aqşá ("The Farthest West").

The Latinized name "Morocco" originates from medieval Latin "Morroch," which referred to the name of the former Almoravid and Almohad capital, Marrakech. The Persians straightforwardly call it "Marrakech" while the Turks call it "Fas" which comes from the ancient Idrisid and Marinid capital, Fès.

The word "Marrakech" is presumably derived from the Berber word Mur-Akush, meaning Land of God.

5/ Why morocco is called le "royaume cherifien" (The Sharifian Kingdom)?

Primarily Sunnis in the Arab world reserve the term sharif for descendants of Hasan ibn Ali, while sayyid is used for descendants of Husayn ibn Ali. Both Hasan and Husayn are grandchildren of Muhammad (sas), through the marriage of his cousin Ali and his daughter Fatima. However ever since the post-Hashemite era began, the term sayyid has been used to denote descendants from both Hasan and Husayn. Arab Shiites use the terms sayyid and habib to denote descendants from both Hasan and Husayn; see also ashraf.

Idriss Ist, the founder of the Moroccan state as a sharif Shiite was persecuted by the Abbasids and fled to the Maghreb in 786, where he founded the first Shiite Independant State.

Later, the Saadian dynasty who ruled Morocco from 1509 to 1554, claimed descent from Prophet Muhammad (sas) through the line of Ali ibn Abi Talib and Fatima Zahra (Prophet Muhammad's daughter (as)). They claimed sharifian origins through an ancestor from Yanbu and rendered Sufism respectable in Morocco.

Today the Alaouites, the current Moroccan royal family, claim descent from Prophet Muhammad (sas) through the line of Fāṭimah az-Zahrah, Muhammad's daughter (as) , and her husband, the Fourth Caliph ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib (as).

6/ What is the capital of Morocco?

Rabat is the capital city of morocco.

7/ What is the largest city of Morocco?

Casablanca is the economical capital of Morocco with ~5 millions inhabitants

8/ What is the climate in Morocco?

Morocco's climate is moderate and subtropical, cooled by breezes off the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean. In the interior the temperatures are more extreme, winters can be fairly cold and the summers very hot (up to 50°). Marrakech has an average winter temperature of 21°C (70°F) and summer temperature of 100°F (38°C). In the Atlas Mountains temperatures can drop below zero (up to -21°) and mountain peaks are snow capped throughout most of the year. The winter in the north of the country is wet and rainy, while in the south, at the edge of the Moroccan Sahara, it is dry and bitterly cold.

 
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#53 ·
Hi you all...
Ok my question may sounds wear but I wanna know, if somebody knows, how can we create a NGO or an assotiation for something? is there a lot of papers in the middle, mou9ata3a wilaya and stuffs,? and is there any subvention for new assotiaions??

Thx a lot
 
#64 ·
What was the % of arab and berber speakers in Morocco before European occupation ?
 
#69 ·
Interesting, and is speaking "marokkansky surzyk" normal in your country? In this film appears a curious mixture of French and Arabic, in Ukraine there is a mixture language called "surzyk" (named after a kind of bread made from different cereals, usually what remains for the destitute) which combines Ukrainian and Russian (in Czar and Soviet times Russian was predominant and heavily influenced (or polluted) the Ukrainian language), now Ukrainian purists want to replace Russian words by pure Ukrainian ones and limit usage of Russian in public life, is there anything similar going on in your country or is that theme not important for your government?
 
#68 ·
Is Morocco really so GREEN?

Hello, recently there ware articles in the papers about national World Overshoot Days which means that if everybody on earth lived like the ..... (inhabitants of a given country) the yearly production of resources the planet produces would be finished on .... (the day stated). It is clear that rich countries with an energy-inbtensive lifestyle like Qatar, the Emirates, Luxembourg, USA and also Holland, Sweden exhaust quickly the resources, so they live now on debt of the production for future generations.
https://www.overshootday.org/newsroom/country-overshoot-days/

I saw that many middle and low income countries have relative high rankings on this list (= they exhaust resources relatively early) and Morocco is after Vietnam the one which is most parsimonious, its overshoot day is December 17. Is there any explanation for that? It would be explainable if people in your country lived like most of the world lived 500 years ago but to judge from the contents of the Moroccan SSC forum this is definitely not the case. Has your country found a way to make modern lifestyle with cars, generalized use of electricity etc. and a low ecological footprint compatible? Or is the modern lifestyle the privilege of the happy few, a small percentage of the population, and does the big majority live like shown here?:
https://varlamov.ru/211218.html urban living for the poor

https://varlamov.ru/237819.html rural living in the desert

https://varlamov.ru/231472.html in Europe we would call it recycling or circular economy but here it's probably more a question of survival for the people shown in this post

If that's the case it's easily explainable but if not, if most people in Morocco have access to carbon emitting things like cars, electricity, home appliances, airplane usage (accused here of causing earth warming and resources depletion) and if energy-intensive industries and industrialized agriculture exist in Morocco HOW does your country manage to get such a low footprint? Does the concept of "green energy" or "renewables" exist in your country?

Thanks for answering me!
 
#70 ·
Hello, recently there ware articles in the papers about national World Overshoot Days which means that if everybody on earth lived like the ..... (inhabitants of a given country) the yearly production of resources the planet produces would be finished on .... (the day stated). It is clear that rich countries with an energy-inbtensive lifestyle like Qatar, the Emirates, Luxembourg, USA and also Holland, Sweden exhaust quickly the resources, so they live now on debt of the production for future generations.
https://www.overshootday.org/newsroom/country-overshoot-days/

I saw that many middle and low income countries have relative high rankings on this list (= they exhaust resources relatively early) and Morocco is after Vietnam the one which is most parsimonious, its overshoot day is December 17. Is there any explanation for that? It would be explainable if people in your country lived like most of the world lived 500 years ago but to judge from the contents of the Moroccan SSC forum this is definitely not the case. Has your country found a way to make modern lifestyle with cars, generalized use of electricity etc. and a low ecological footprint compatible? Or is the modern lifestyle the privilege of the happy few, a small percentage of the population, and does the big majority live like shown here?:
https://varlamov.ru/211218.html urban living for the poor

https://varlamov.ru/237819.html rural living in the desert

https://varlamov.ru/231472.html in Europe we would call it recycling or circular economy but here it's probably more a question of survival for the people shown in this post

If that's the case it's easily explainable but if not, if most people in Morocco have access to carbon emitting things like cars, electricity, home appliances, airplane usage (accused here of causing earth warming and resources depletion) and if energy-intensive industries and industrialized agriculture exist in Morocco HOW does your country manage to get such a low footprint? Does the concept of "green energy" or "renewables" exist in your country?

Thanks for answering me!
There are several reasons behind the relatively low environmental footprint in Morocco. The main one is the average living standard that is still rather low. Even if infrastructures underwent massive improvements during last decade, there is still relatively few cars per capita for instance (75 for 1000 people, lower than Algeria and even Egypt). Same thing in agriculture. Efforts were made to modernize agricultures (Plan Maroc Vert) but still, Moroccan agriculture remains overwhelmingly traditionnal. Many small producer do not even irrigate their land.

On the other hand, since there is no oil production in Morocco, the country launched in early 2010s an ambitious plan to diversify the energy mix. The goal was to reach 42% of renewable energy in 2020, and this objective will be met and even exceeded in all likelihood (you should have a look at this section). Other environmental policies were implemented at the same time, like banning plastic bags, building water treatment plants in big cities.

Interesting, and is speaking "marokkansky surzyk" normal in your country? In this film appears a curious mixture of French and Arabic, in Ukraine there is a mixture language called "surzyk" (named after a kind of bread made from different cereals, usually what remains for the destitute) which combines Ukrainian and Russian (in Czar and Soviet times Russian was predominant and heavily influenced (or polluted) the Ukrainian language), now Ukrainian purists want to replace Russian words by pure Ukrainian ones and limit usage of Russian in public life, is there anything similar going on in your country or is that theme not important for your government?
Well, to be precise, Moroccan people do not speak Arabic. Most of them, mainly in cities and plains, speak a language colloquially called Moroccan "darija" (the other part speaking Berber languages), which is as distantly related to Standard Arabic as Spanish is to Italian for instance. Moroccan darija's vocabulary and grammar reflects our history. It is a mix of Arabic, Berber, French and even Spanish. In Southern Morocco, people use more Berber-borowed word, whereas people from the upper class, especially in cities like Casablanca, like to show how fluent they are in French by mixing French and darija. A lot of darija purists find this way to mix French and Darija both ugly and disgraceful. However, the legitimacy of Arabic is disputed ... so, to be short, this is a tricky issue in Morocco with no easy answer.
 
#72 · (Edited)
Hi everyone;

I’m going to Morocco in September for the very first time and I would like to ask some questions about your country hoping someone can reply me back.

I have tried to buy ticket for the high speed train (from Casablanca to Tanger) on the official web site.

Unfortunately, all my credit cards (visa, MasterCard) were rejected. I do not know the reason. Perhaps because there are non Moroccan cards.

Is there any other place on Internet where I can purchase the tickets besides ONCF??

Which cities do you recommend to visit?

I’m considering Tanger, Tetuan, The blue city, faz, Marrakech, Casablanca and Merzouga. Since I’m only going 16 days, I do not know if I will have time for Rabat.

Where is the best place to visit / make a tour / stay in the Sahara??

How should I move between cities??

Bus, airplane, car?? Which way of transportation do you suggest.

My plan is going to the north and then going down.

Hope you can help me. I would really appreciate your help.

Regards
 
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