By presenting himself as Commander of the Faithful (amir al-muʾminin) the Moroccan king claims a Royal Religious Authority.
One could wonder if this is justified and to conclude whether is one should know what the true meaning is of such a title. The title originates from the times of caliphal power and it is said that the Prophet (pbuh) gave this title to some of his campaign commanders.
In the case of the Moroccan king it’s abundantly clear that this self-appropriated title is being misused to claim a religious authority in order to further strengthen his position.
By criticising the dictatorial king one is thus not only criticising his worldly authority but also the presumed and misused religious authority. One can imagine that lots of religious people who would like to criticise the king for his dictatorial regime are discouraged to do so because of the abused religious title.
Anyway even if one wishes to grant him this title one should realize that M VI is unmistakeably the first one holding such a title while selling liquor and pork.
