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Call for gender equality in inheritance in Tunisia steers controversy
18-8-2017
Several Tunisian religious bodies denounced the call by President Beji Caid Essebsi to amend inherence laws to allow equality between male and female and allow for marriage between a non-Muslim man and a Muslim women (c.f: http://bit.ly/2uWB14O). The call has instigated a rift in the country between seculars and conservatives regarding women’s rights and the status and role of faith in State and society. The scholars and professors of Sharia at Zaytouna University signed yesterday a petition rejecting Essebsi’s reform proposal. In this respect, former Grand Mufti Hamda Saeed warned in a press conference against interfering with the notion of inheritance as an established Islamic tenet. Such calls, Saeed said, are perilous, seditious and contrary to Islamic teachings. The statement signed by religious leaders, including a former minister for religious affairs, made clear that the president of the republic should not meddle with fixed precepts, noting that the conditions of inheritance are stipulated by God and so is interfaith marriage considered as a crime of adultery prohibited by the Sunnah. On the other front, human rights organizations expressed their backing for Essebsi’s initiative. In this respect, the head of the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women (ATFD), Ahlam Belhaj, told al Hayat newspaper that the President’s adoption of the principle of equality in inheritance is a progressive step in the struggle for the rights of women. It is a necessity enforced by women's achievements in society she said. According to Al Hayat, two leaders affiliated with the chief of Ennahda Party, Sheikh Rashed Ghannouchi, consider that the Party, as a civil movement, is not concerned with responding to or commenting on religious issues, while others justify their rejection by the approval of Zaytouna sheikhs, the famous religious school in Tunisia. (Al Hayat, Al Akhbar, August 17 and 18, 2017)
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