Tunisian President Qais Saeed's stance on the issue of equality in inheritance aroused the ire of feminist human rights groups, after he confirmed that the issue is settled by a clear Quranic text that cannot be interpreted, and that the inheritance system in Islam is based on justice and fairness.

During a speech he gave on the occasion of the celebration of Women's Day, and in front of a large crowd of feminist human rights figures, Saeed stressed that "the struggle over inheritance and inheritance is a wrong struggle, and that it is more appropriate to achieve equality between women and men in economic and social rights before talking about the jurisprudence of inheritance."

Speech of the President of the Republic, Qais Saeed, on the occasion of the National Day of Women. Speech of the President of the Republic, Qais Saeed, on the occasion of the National Day of Women

Posted by Présidence Tunisie The Presidency of Tunisia on Thursday, 13 August 2020

He explained that the Qur’an text is clear on this issue, and that the inheritance system in Islam is based on justice and fairness, pointing out that “equality as crystallized in liberal thought is formal equality that is not based on justice as much as it is based on illusions.”

The president’s announcement of his position on inheritance comes to revive an unprecedented discussion on the same controversial issue within Tunisian society, which was previously raised more boldly with the late President Beji Caid Essebsi.

The late president had previously approved a legislative initiative on August 13, 2017 related to complete equality in inheritance between the sexes, such as a bill that was referred to Parliament, and the task of preparing it was entrusted to the “Committee for Individual Freedoms and Equality,” but it met with the refusal of most of the blocs to be grave in the whole project.

Speech of the President of the Republic Beji Caid Essebsi on the occasion of the celebration of Women's Day The President of the Republic, Beji Caid Essebsi, on Monday August 13, 2018, at the Carthage Palace, supervised the procession celebrating the National Day for Women and the passage of 62 years of the issuance of the Personal Status Code. In his speech on the occasion, the President of the Republic stressed that the issuance of the Personal Status Code remains the most important social reform in the twentieth century in Tunisia and in the region as a whole, where the position of women is at the center of changing society. The Head of State commended the depth, seriousness and intellectual and scientific courage of the work of the Committee for Individual Rights and Equality, which was particularly embodied in the legal proposals it had presented as an entry point to affirm and guarantee individual freedoms and devote equality and focus it. The President of the Republic considered that the controversy surrounding the report is natural and commendable, even if some stances were issued by the same parties that refuse to respect the dissenting opinion, and which installed themselves as a guardian of the Tunisian people, ignoring the country's reform history and denying the Sunnah of difference and development and the civilization of the state stipulated in the constitution. He emphasized that the development of women's participation in private life as well as in public life on the one hand, and the confirmation of the Constitution of January 26, 2014, a prelude and chapters on the principle of equality in rights and duties between Tunisian men and women, makes it necessary to carry out revisions in the laws regulating many situations, including equality in inheritance that no longer corresponds to this. With the constitution, nor with the lived reality of women, which is distinguished by full involvement in bearing the burdens in the countryside as well as in the city, in the poor strata, as well as in the wealthy strata of society. With regard to equality in inheritance, the head of state considered that “it is necessary, within the framework of the balances established by the Constitution of the Tunisian state between the civil state and respect for freedom of belief and conscience, to implement the state’s obligations towards its citizens and citizens to achieve equality among them while respecting the will of individuals who choose inequality in inheritance. Thus, fulfilling the conditions of equality shall be a duty borne by the state, and its members remain free to choose inequality between their daughters and sons in their lives based on their religious beliefs. In this way, the state’s duty to undertake the legislative initiative to achieve equality between its citizens and citizens, is to consecrate the state’s civility and implement its obligations, and the state preserves Civil society also has a legislative mandate for whoever among its citizens chooses the opposite has the right to consecrate his desire in accordance with freedom of belief and conscience. " The President of the Republic expressed his hope that the Assembly of the Representatives of the People would approve the draft law that he will submit regarding equality in inheritance between the sexes while respecting the will of individuals who choose inequality, and he also stressed the need to review the Personal Status Code to keep pace with the development of society and the suitability of the legislation in force, which is at the core of The constitution is at the core of justice and fairness. © Présidence Tunisie The Presidency of the Republic of Tunisia

Posted by Présidence Tunisie The Presidency of the Republic of Tunisia on Monday, 13 August 2018

Feminist associations condemn

Feminist human rights organizations and women's rights activists were quick to express their strong disapproval and condemnation of the president's stance on the inheritance issue, especially after they pinned great hopes on the revival of the inheritance equality project with the new president.

The Tunisian Association of Democratic Women - which is considered one of the most important feminist organizations active in the field of women's rights - denounced the president’s stance on the issue of equality in inheritance, in a strongly worded statement.

The association accused Qais Saeed of reversing the course of drafting the constitution, evading his role in guaranteeing rights and freedoms, and attempting to demonize women's movements in the service of narrow political purposes.

I no longer want to exhaust myself in hollow discussions ... unless Muslims distinguish between God and the Qur'an ... as long as they reduce the whole to a part ... it will not ...

Posted by Olfa Youssef on Friday, August 14, 2020

Its president, Yusra Faraws, told Al-Jazeera Net, that "the president of the republic is practicing political exploitation of the inheritance issue by flirting with what it described as dark currents hostile to equality, seeking to score political points against his opponent represented by the Ennahda Movement and the Dignity Coalition."

Farawas considered that Said is about to practice populism and trade in women's issues, especially the rural women, as part of the continuation of his election campaign and in an effort to reassure his supporters of the conservatives.

In reaction to the speech of His Excellency the President of the Republic on the occasion of the celebration of the Women's Day, I offer some basic remarks awaiting writing a text in ...

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On the other hand, the head of the National Coordination for the Defense of the Qur’an and the Constitution, Shihabuddin Tillich, praised - in a statement to Al-Jazeera Net - for the president's stance rejecting the issue of equality in inheritance and clinging to the uninterpretable text of the Qur’an, according to his estimation.

The same coordination group, accompanied by the sheikhs and scholars of Zaytouna, had already waged protest movements against the initiative of the late President Essebsi, and reached the point of issuing a fatwa prohibiting the election of any deputy who votes on the draft law on equality in inheritance.

Tillich considered that those accusing the president of the republic of overthrowing the constitution - especially secular women and activists in the field of women's rights - had misread its content.

He stressed that the articles of the constitution were explicit when they affirmed that Islam is the religion of the state and does not contradict its civilization, as well as obligating the state and the president to ensure the protection of the sanctities of the Tunisian Muslim people and not to undermine them.

At the end of the analysis, so that they say before giving him health. He is happy with our blessings. Let us return to the issues of individual rights and equality.

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Initial position

Writer and former member of the Committee on Individual Freedoms and Equality Salah El-Din Al-Jurchi says - in an interview with Al-Jazeera Net - that President Qais Saeed's position on equality in inheritance has not changed, and he previously announced it during his election campaign, expressing, on the other hand, his regret for the president's handling of the issue from a purely religious perspective. .

He pointed out that the president lacks a clear vision on this issue and the issue of advancing women's rights in general, noting that his speech cut the road - without justification - for modernist feminist movements to revive the project of equality in inheritance.