Tunisia .. Ramadan series raises controversy because of "customary" and "polygamy"

A television series shown during the month of Ramadan has sparked controversy by addressing the issue of polygamy in Tunisia, as the law in this Arab-leading country in women's rights has for decades prohibited a man from marrying more than one woman.

Nass, the main character in the series, asks, in the third episode, to marry a second wife "in the tradition of God and His Messenger" and confirms in front of his wife and children that he has the right to do so according to Islamic law, describing it as a law "above all other laws."

The series, entitled "Innocence", has been broadcast on the private "Al-Hiwar Al-Tunisi" channel since the beginning of the Muslim fasting month, at the time of Iftar.

The anti-Islamist Free Constitutional Party stressed that "these issues have been resolved since 1956, and the prohibition of these practices is among the acquired rights of Tunisian women, and there is no way to retreat from them or put them up for discussion again."

The first president of Tunisia, Habib Bourguiba, approved the "Personal Status Code" on August 13, 1956, which is a set of "revolutionary legislation", which granted Tunisian women unprecedented rights in the Arab world, thus preventing polygamy and declaring divorce unilaterally. judicial.

Tunisian law recognizes only civil marriage.

The Free Constitutional Party considered that "these crimes" (polygamy and customary marriage) have become "existent within society since the Brotherhood took power in Tunisia after 2011", referring to the arrival of the "Ennahda Party" with an Islamic reference to power after the revolution.

The anti-Ennahda party affirmed that "the scenes shown in the series represent a warning siren for Tunisian women to pay attention to the insult that awaits them in the form of the dark forces monopolizing decision-making positions."

The "Aswat Nisa'a" organization, which defends women's rights in Tunisia, considered that "customary marriage" and polygamy "is a type of violence against women", and considered that this is "normalization with the culture of impunity and the lack of supremacy of the law."

The organization called on the "Higher Independent Authority for Audiovisual Communication", which is responsible for monitoring the content of television programs, to intervene.

Sociologist Mohamed Jouili ​​told AFP that the series is "a dramatic artwork that does not necessarily reflect the image of Tunisian society."

Al-Juwaili reassured that "talking about customary marriage and polygamy ... does not in any case threaten women's gains", but rather allows discussion of social issues.

Al-Juwaili saw the controversy raised as "social hypocrisy."

"We accept discussing these phenomena privately and among friends, but we feel angry when they are raised publicly," he added.

The sociologist criticized the "politicization" of the topic "in order to score points at the political level."

The government employee, Nadia Abdelhak, 28, told AFP that the "exaggerated reactions against a series aim to suggest that everything related to religion is reactionary."

Sociologist Fouad Ghorbali noted that these topics, which are rarely discussed, remain taboo, despite the fact that they are phenomena that exist in Tunisia.

Ghorbali stressed that "the role of dramatic art is never to give a good image of society, but rather to raise a point of view or questions about society that can be a subject for discussion."

The researcher added, "Some in Tunisia support extra-marital relations, while others accept customary marriage." Thus, the controversy that arose reflects "a doctrinal conflict between conservatives and those who present themselves as progressive."

With the Islamists coming to power in Tunisia in 2011 following the fall of the regime of the late President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, "legal marriage spread in university circles", especially among students who employ it as a religious license to live with a partner, according to Ghorbali.

Freedom of expression is one of the most important gains achieved in Tunisia after the 2011 revolution, which prompted some to demand the restoration of the right to allow polygamy. A feminist coalition organized a protest demonstration to demand this in early 2018.

Statistics from the Tunisian Ministry of Justice showed that the various courts in the country examined 1,718 judicial files related to "customary marriage" between 2015 and 2020.

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