Rabat, Morocco

I arrived in Rabat yesterday amidst driving rain and record low temperatures (they say there was snow in Fez last night)! Most buildings in Morocco, including this internet place, do not have indoor heating. Forgive me if my fingers, and my brain, are blatantly frozen.

This morning I met with Dr. Abderrahmane Rida, Vice President of University Muhammad V -- Souissi, and Dr. Muhammad Melouk, Director of the ESL Department in the College of Education at UM5. The meeting was friendly and brief, and afterwards I was driven across town by Dr. Melouk to meet Dr. Fatima Harrak, the Director of the Institute of African Studies at UM5. Dr. Melouk, Dr. Harrak and I had a lengthy discussion of Islam in North Africa, Sufism and popular cult practices in Morocco, US/Saudi funding of Islamist/Wahabbi education in Morocco and around the Muslim world in the 1980s and 1990s, and the current US-led "War on Terror." Dr. Harrak was extremely generous with her time and knowledge, and the insights she provided will certainly help me rethink my understanding of Islam.

Regarding the victory of Hamas in the Palestinian elections, as Dr. Harrak observed, extremism breeds extremism.