It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, with land borders with Algeria to the east and Western Sahara status disputed to the south. Since the foundation of the first Moroccan state by Idris I in AD, the country has been ruled by a series of independent dynasties, reaching its zenith under Almoravid and Almohad rule, when it spanned parts of Iberia and northwestern Africa.

The Marinid and Saadi dynasties resisted foreign domination into the 17th century, allowing Morocco to remain the only northwest African country to avoid Ottoman occupation. The Alaouite dynasty , which rules to this day, seized power in

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Throughout Middle Eastern and North African countries where Islam dominates both the social and political spheres of life, the rights of women often differ from traditional Western expectations. Only Turkey, Tunisia, and Azerbaijan ban the act of marrying more than one woman , while other Muslim countries place restrictions on the practice.

For example, Morocco employs one of the more limiting sets of laws regarding plural marriages, as a woman must be informed if her husband is to take additional wives, but polygamy is not strictly illegal. As one might expect, polyandry a woman having more than one husband is illegal in Morocco. The practice of men taking more than one wife stems from the Quran. Because most Muslim countries use the Quran as the basis for their laws, polygamy has continued to be legal at least to some extent in most Muslim countries.

Muslims often view marriage as a practical and almost contractual situation.