Seminar discusses ways to confront takfir in Tunisia

12/10/2007

A recent seminar in Tunisia examined the growing phenomenon of takfir and ways to combat the trend. Several participants said state policies in mosques and schools have contributed to the rise in intolerance.

By Jamel Arfaoui for Magharebia in Tunis – 12/10/07

[File] Charfi was declared an apostate by Islamic radicals for her controversial publications on sharia and women in Islam

Participants in a seminar held last Friday (October 5th) in Tunis discussed ways to confront the ideology of takfir (the practice of declaring people to be non-believers) in Tunisia.

At the opening of the seminar, hosted by the People's Unity Party's Progress Forum, journalist Adel Kadri saluted attendee Professor Saloua Charfi, "who stood in the face of threats and provocations she has received from anonymous persons and continues to present her ideas and positions freely."

Charfi, a professor at the Institute of Journalism and Information Sciences in Tunis, came under fire recently for posting a series of papers on the League of Arab Rationalists' website al-Awan in which she methodically tackled difficult questions of sharia, women in Islam, and politics and the state.

Charfi told Magharebia her articles and those by colleagues Iqbal Gharbi and Raja ben Salama, have upset the radicals who considered them to be desecration of religious sanctities." Charfi vowed the threats would not silence her, declaring intellectual terrorism and threats "the weapons of those who have weak arguments."

Speaking at the conference, Sofiane ben Farahat, political analyst for La Presse, advocated both the freedom of faith and the freedom to criticize faith. "Islam called for ijtihad (individual judgment) and for the use of mind. Consequently, a university professor has the right to discuss religious issues, despite the claims of some salafists who reject any discussion thereof."

Tunisian University professor Adel Hadj Salem wondered about the position of the Higher Islamic Council on the case of Saloua Charfi. He held the state responsible for what had happened, because "it has laid its hands on religion and the mosques have now become under its control. Its oversight of religious discourse is a security oversight rather than pedagogical. This has led to the spread of the culture of exclusionism."

Hadj Salem called for the secularisation of the state. "The state must lift its hands off religion; it is unacceptable to see the budget of the Ministry of Religious Affairs surpassing [other ministries'] budgets."

The professor also complained about the rise of takfir in Tunisia. "Through my interaction with students, I have noticed a decrease in tolerance. All you need is to say one thing about Islam and you will be misunderstood and they will simply accuse you of apostasy," he said.

Hadj Salem said repression plays a major role in the problem. "We are not accustomed to openness. In addition, our avenues of expression are almost non-existent. We are in need of a daily dialogue."

He rejected the idea of enacting a law criminalising takfir, "because we fear that such laws may be used out of context." He advocated instead a review of education policy, to ensure state programmes conform to the demands of modernisation.

Academic Abdelhaq Seyoud said takfir is a clear crime that doesn't require additional interpretation. "This is not an expression of opinion. Takfir is a complete crime and a call to kill," he said. Seyoud rejected the opinion of one participant in the seminar, who stated there was an external conspiracy aimed at fomenting such extremism. "The problem doesn't come from overseas. Rather, it is an expression of a crisis under which Arab societies live because of repression and because the battle of freedom has yet to be completed. With every setback to the wave of modernisation, we return to the past and to seeking refuge in religion," he concluded.

Seyoud also voiced his concerns over the Ministry of Education's removal of texts by Tunisian reformer Tahar Haddad from school curricula and reduction of the number of hours devoted to the teaching of philosophy.

Legal expert Ridha Lajouhri called for an in-depth examination of how the mentality of takfir has grown. "There have been seeds of this mentality since the beginning of the last century, but it was unarmed. Today, it has turned into an armed mentality that calls for the exclusion of others and to liquidate them by force. This is a dangerous matter; as any regular person can now charge other people with apostasy," he said.

Lajouhri said takfirists should be addressed from within the religious community. "I don't think we can argue with these people using human rights charters and international law," he said, adding that "we have to use religious texts in order to stop them because there are no verses in the Holy Qur'an concerning takfir."