Beni Mellal – In a gesture that has become a defining royal tradition with every arrival of the holy month, King Mohammed VI has sent congratulatory cards to kings, presidents, and emirs across Islamic countries on the occasion of Ramadan 1447H, expressing his wishes for health, happiness, and peace.
Morocco’s Ministry of Islamic Affairs confirmed Thursday, February 19, as the first day of Ramadan 2026, after moon-sighting committees determined the crescent was visible Wednesday evening.
The announcement set Morocco apart from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar, which declared Wednesday as the first day – a decision that drew sharp criticism from observers who argued astronomical data made a Tuesday moon sighting impossible.
As Morocco enters Ramadan, the kingdom is also projecting its religious influence far beyond its borders. This year, 320 religious scholars were dispatched to accompany Moroccan diaspora communities across Europe and North America, continuing an annual mission that dates back to 1992.
The depth of Morocco’s religious diplomacy
The Hassan II Foundation for Moroccans Living Abroad organized the delegation, which includes 39 university professors, 50 doctoral-degree preachers, 60 with master’s degrees, 75 with bachelor’s degrees, 66 preachers leading Taraweeh sermons, and 30 imams dedicated exclusively to evening prayers.
France received the largest contingent with 82 scholars, followed by Germany and Spain with 51 each, Belgium with 42, the Netherlands with 35, Italy with 26, Canada with 14, and the United States with 6.
The mission promotes Morocco’s religious constants while delivering messages of peace, solidarity, and coexistence – but it is also a calculated expression of soft power. Morocco’s religious diplomacy is often read through its African projection alone, built on imam training, Sufi networks, and the Maliki-Ash’ari model exported southward.
That reading is incomplete. Europe, particularly France, has been a central theater since 1926, when Sultan Moulay Youssef inaugurated the Great Mosque of Paris – not as symbolic charity, but as strategic statecraft at the intersection of colonial memory, Franco-Moroccan entanglement, and Morocco’s ambition to serve as a legitimate religious reference for Islam in Europe.
Under King Mohammed VI, that logic has only intensified. Unlike Turkey’s overt state-Islam export or Gulf funding networks, Morocco’s approach is relational and historical, leveraging diaspora ties and institutional continuity to counter both Salafi radicalism and European fears of political Islam.
Rabat positions itself not on the periphery of European Muslim life, but as an indispensable interlocutor between European states and their Muslim citizens.
Ahead of Ramadan, the monarch ordered the opening of 157 mosques built, reconstructed, or restored across Morocco. The projects include 95 newly built mosques, 42 reconstructed, 11 restored sites, and eight historic mosques rebuilt after deterioration.
Together, they can accommodate up to 160,000 worshippers. Total costs reached MAD 647.3 million ($64.7 million), funded through public finances and private donations.
The sovereign also approved the opening of the Mohammed VI Mosque and its annexes in N’Djamena, Chad, as part of Morocco’s religious cooperation on the African continent. In Agadir, he granted his name to the Grand Mosque of Hay Salam, which can host 3,600 worshippers and cost MAD 62.5 million ($6.25 million).
‘Amir Al Mouminine’
These actions reflect the King’s constitutional role as Commander of the Faithful, a title enshrined in all Moroccan constitutions since 1962 and defined in Article 41 of the 2011 constitution.
As “Amir Al Mouminine,” Mohammed VI chairs the Supreme Council of Oulema, the sole institution authorized to issue religious edicts in Morocco. He is also a descendant of the Prophet’s lineage – a condition that Sunni jurisprudents, including Al-Mawardi, Al-Ghazali, and Ibn Khaldoun, historically placed at the center of legitimate Islamic leadership.
The title carries historical weight that no other Muslim head of state currently holds. Classical Islamic scholars debated for centuries the strict conditions required for legitimate Islamic leadership – among them Qurashi lineage, religious knowledge, and moral standing.
Morocco’s Alaoui dynasty meets those conditions, a fact that sets the kingdom apart from the Ottoman sultans, who, despite claiming the great caliphate in their 1876 constitution, never dared adopt the title of Commander of the Faithful.
During Ramadan, Morocco temporarily suspends daylight saving time, reverting to GMT. The country marks the month with nightly Taraweeh prayers, traditional foods including harira and dates, and outdoor gatherings that continue past midnight.