Moroccan clerics say women cannot lead prayers

RABAT, May 26 (Reuters) Morocco's highest religious authority decreed today that women should not lead prayers, marking out the limits of recent liberal reforms designed to promote a tolerant Islam in the face of radical fundamentalism.

Earlier this month, the government appointed 50 women as state preachers, who will give basic religious instruction in mosques while providing support to people in prisons, hospitals and schools across the country.

But they will not have the right to lead Friday prayers, which remains solely a male preserve.

''It has never been proved, be it in the history of Morocco or among the Ulemas (clerics), that a woman has led in the mosque the prayers of men or women,'' stated the fatwa, or religious decree, cited by Moroccan official news agency MAP.

''This is a tradition perpetuated by the inhabitants of this peaceful country and consecrated down through time.'' Morocco's King Mohammed has promoted a more moderate strain of Islam espoused by the kingdom's religious establishment to head off preaching by Islamic radicals, who many blamed for suicide bombings in Casablanca in 2003 that killed 45 people.

The government has bolstered the authority of the Higher Council of Ulemas on religious matters to try to reduce the impact of fatwas issued by more radical, freelance clerics.

The latest decree came in response to a request for clarification from Morocco's religious affairs ministry after some newspapers suggested the women preachers might be allowed to lead prayers.

Morocco has passed legislation to improve women's rights in the face of opposition from powerful Islamists, putting it at the forefront of attempts to improve the status of women in the Arab world.

The measures have reduced polygamy and given divorced women more rights including custody of their children and alimony.

Explaining its ruling, the Higher Council cited several learned imams, including one who said: ''A prayer led by a woman is null.'' REUTERS DH RN0242