Between Oral Tradition and Literacy: Women’s Use of the Holy Scriptures in Morocco

In this paper, the author looks into the meaning of the Koran in the daily lives of women from the tanners’ quarters of Marrakesh (Morocco) with whom she lived in 1988. More particularly, she addresses the questions of in what instances they refer to the holy book, on what occasion they ‘read’ or have it read to them, and what role Koranic scholars play in transmitting the Holy Word to these mostly illiterate women.