Controversial Tunisian association advocates secularism

28/08/2007

Tunisia's Association for the Defence of Secularism has been the subject of public debate since its creation in May 2007. Magharebia met with founding member Salah Zghidi recently and used the opportunity to voice a number of the Tunisian public's questions about the group and its goals.

Interview by Jamel Arfaoui for Magharebia – 28/08/2007

C[Jamel Arfaoui] Sala Zghidi said the belief that Bourguiba was a secular reformer is a misunderstanding.

The formation of an Association for the Defence of Secularism has sparked considerable debate in Tunisia. In a previous interview, Magharebia discussed the creation of the association with founding member Sofiene Ben Hmida. In a follow-up, fellow association member Salah Zghidi answers some of the Tunisian public's lingering questions about this controversial organisation.

Magharebia: Many Tunisians do not understand the motivation behind your creation of this association, given that Tunisia has been considered more or less secular since the declaration of the republic.

Salah Zghidi: There is misunderstanding on this issue that secularism was connected to the person of Bourguiba, the republic's first president; that, because he was a student in France, the man's personal makeup leaned towards secularism. I believe that Bourguiba did not build the Tunisian state on a secular basis, and we see that through the legislative texts and the constitution. Bourguiba was a reformer, and no one can deny that; he believed in equality between the sexes, and he believed that the intentions of Sharia are able to achieve steps towards modernity. Thus, the starting point of his choices was not secularism.

Otherwise why do you find us today pursuing the demand for reforms, such as changing the inheritance law, which is subject to the Islamic Sharia, as well as the issue of marriage between a Muslim woman and a non-Muslim man? The inheritance law present in the legislation, as well as marriage between a Muslim woman and a non-Muslim man, are carried over from [Bourguiba's supposedly] "revealed" legislation. The Tunisian state's relationship to religion differs from its Arab and Islamic counterparts because the distance between religion and the state is wider than that of any other Islamic nation, such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt. But we strive to fill the gap for the sake of achieving complete equality among citizens. There is no modernity if there are disparities between the sexes.

Magharebia: The first section of the constitution stipulates that Tunisia’s religion is Islam. Does your association demand the deletion of this section?

Zghidi: This question was raised some time before we announced the creation of our association. And this section [of the constitution] is the subject of special controversy. There are those who think it references not the Tunisian state with its institutions, but rather Tunisia as a country. We do not deny that Islam still has an important role in Tunisian legislation and in the course of the nation, and the first section expresses that. We believe that legislation and laws are subject to change for the sake of realising equality between men and women, and it is a core issue [in moving] towards progress, modernity and full citizenship. For the sake of achieving these lofty objectives, there are those who propose that clarifications be added to the first section of the Constitution, such as affirming that [the first section] is applicable as long as it does not result in any decision or measure not in keeping with the requirements of modernity and progress, especially in the area of equality.

Magharebia: Will your association defend the right of Tunisian women to wear the hijab, a matter of controversy among Tunisian men and women?

Zghidi: The issue of the hijab in Tunisia is a complex issue and one raised for several years. As democratic secularists and progressives, we do not accept any barrier dividing women and men. Likewise, we reject calls for separation between girls and boys at schools. We want them to be brought up together without barriers, as equal human beings seeking knowledge. From this vantage point, the hijab is a barrier between the sexes. Likewise, we do not encourage women to hide behind the hijab on the pretext that their bodies are cause for temptation and sexual lust. This is a view debasing to women. We believe resisting this negative phenomenon does not require resisting it through the involvement of security forces, but rather through continuous dialogue in free and open media.

Magharebia: Do you not fear being charged with apostasy and the dangers it may bring on?

Zghidi: This is possible and exists. All those who believe in modernity and equality and call for the state’s relationship to its citizens to be a relationship of citizenship and not a relationship of faith are exposed to charges of unbelief by many who call themselves scholars of religion, though they in reality have no relationship to knowledge. They are likewise threatened by adherents of Salafist thought, which is espoused by movements of political Islam. We in Tunisia still remember when the Islamic Ittijah Movement—now the Renaissance Movement, banned in Tunisia—when it charged Education Minister Mohammed Charfi with apostasy in 1991 and deemed him excommunicated from the Islamic religion, merely because he put forth an education curriculum based on modernity.