Reviewing inheritance laws has gained a lot of support lately, especially after Mohamed Sebbar Secretary-general of the National Council of Human Rights has shown his backing of the idea. Abdelouahab Rafiki, also known as Abou Hafs, followed the trend by giving his blessing to the reform of the rights and restrictions introduced by the Shariah law on the matter of inheritance which resulted in severe criticism. Previously jailed and accused of terrorism, Abdelouahab Rafiki, has been critisized these days by his former jail mate Hassan Kettani. The latter, did not miss a chance to denounce Abou Hafs' support to a review of inheritance law in Islam. Invited by the weekly show «Confidences de presse» on 2M, the salafist declared his backing for the reform of laws connected to inheritance in Morocco calling specialists to initiate a debate and cross the often called «red line». In his advocacy, Rafiki made it clear that the «social conventions» that used to rule the way we see women and men «had faded away». «The structure of society nowadays along with the idea of social roles have totally changed», said Abou Hafs defending his point of view as reported by 2M online newspaper. Abolishing extremism angered El Kettani The salafist, who has joined in October the Istiqlal party, tried to reassure the conservative part of the society saying that : «Gender equality is not to be reached in the upcoming days. The matter is very complicated and hard to obtain and I am conscious of that. However, I am asking for a discussion on the subject.» He also proposed allowing daughters to receive equal inheritance when they have no male siblings. Since 2008, feminist organizations have been working on raising awareness about the inheritance matter urging the Superior council of Oulemas to preserve and uphold the economic and social equality of women in the country, but to no avail. Abou Hafs' declaration has been strongly criticized by Hassan Kettani, a radical who was the first to comment on the situation. The latter, insulted his old fellow calling him insane. Rafiki on the other hand did not respond to the critics and instead asked the authorities for protection. In a less offensive way, a salafist website based in Marrakech, also attacked Rafiki's opinions.
