We may not share the same civilization and belong to the same geographical group. It's not abnormal. It is the course of history and the evolution of humanity that wanted it so. Turkey is not only Western. India is Asian but does not have much in common with China or Japan etc...
Yesterday, Sofiane Boufal, player of the Atlas Lions, dedicated the Moroccan victory in Qatar “to all the Arab peoples and to all the Muslim peoples of the world”. His remarks created a stir in sub-Saharan Africa. We are offended by it and seize it to stir up a fight that is as old as it is useless: Morocco does not consider itself an African country, so it should be vomited up. We easily forget that Walid Regragui, the coach of the Atlas Lions, who is no less Moroccan than Sofiane Boufal, declared that it is a victory for Morocco and for Africa. It was not the first time that he spoke of Africa. He has regularly put the African continent forward in his outings to the press since he took office. To believe that these remarks should not count. Boufal said and then that's it. But basically, what are the geographical limits of the Arab world and the Muslim world? The first elements of the answer that come to mind crumble when one thinks deeply about the question. In more than one country in sub-Saharan Africa - where one would like to banish Boufal and Morocco, or even the Maghreb for their supposed or real tendency not to claim their Africanness - the populations are 80-90% Muslim. In other countries of Black Africa, Arabic is the official language and in still others, Islam is or has been the state religion.
I only know one Morocco, which is part of the African continental geographical bloc, which is a member of the Confederation of African Football, which participates in the same African sports competitions and which is subject to the same rules as all African nations. I affirm loud and clear that Africa is in the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup. No offense to those who promote the contrary idea wherever they are on the African continent: in Morocco, the Maghreb or the South of the Sahara; including Sofiane Boufal himself, presuming that he actually thinks what is attributed to him.
By Deo Gratias Kindoho
