Today, Tuesday, the Tunisian authorities released the Kuwaiti reciter, Sheikh Mahmoud Al-Rifai, who was arrested with 5 others while he was participating in organizing a competition for children to memorize the Holy Quran in Tunisia.
Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Salem Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah affirmed "the success of Kuwaiti diplomatic efforts in releasing citizen Mahmoud Al-Rifai in Tunisia."
Al-Sabah told Al-Rai newspaper, "The personal and strong relationship between His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Mishaal Al-Ahmad and the President of the Republic of Tunisia, Qais Saeed, contributed to the speedy containment and resolution of the issue, as the presidential palace contributed to ending the procedures quickly."
On December 29, 2022, the Tunisian authorities arrested Al-Rifai while he was participating in organizing a competition for children to memorize the Holy Qur’an at the Zaid Bin Thabet Institute for Qur’anic Sciences in the state of Gafsa, southwestern Tunisia, and he was referred to the judiciary on charges of engaging in religious activity. without authorization.
Sheikh Al-Rifai used to go to Tunisia 6 years ago to give courses in memorizing the Noble Qur’an and intonation at the Zaid bin Thabit Institute for Qur’anic Sciences, which was established by the Kuwaiti Zakat House in the state of Gafsa.
The Foreign Minister called me and kindly informed me that our embassy in Tunisia is following up on the matter, as well as the embassy's lawyer
. We demand our brothers in Tunisia to return the citizen to his country, Kuwait, who used to memorize the Book of God for the sixth year.
https://t.co/GDRCHR6ptC
- Mr. Dr.
Hamad Muhammad Al-Matar (@HamadAlmatar) December 31, 2022
In February 2019, the Tunisian Ministry of Interior closed a Quranic school in the city of Reqab, Sidi Bouzid Governorate (central west), on the grounds that it "practiced suspicious activity and practiced violence against children, and indoctrinated them with extremist ideas."
Zaid bin Thabit Institute for Quran Sciences
The Zaid bin Thabit Institute for Qur’anic Sciences was established in Tunisia on February 22, 2013. The institute seeks to prepare an active Qur’anic generation that revives the Sunnah of recitation and combines knowledge and action.
The institute aims to teach the provisions of intonation and the rules of recitation for all segments of society, and to qualify teachers of the Holy Qur’an, and prepare them scientifically, educationally and skillfully.
It also aims to revive the Sunnah of recitation and graduate memorizing memorizers of recitations with a continuous chain of transmission to the Messenger of God, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him.
In April 2016, a joint decision was issued by the Ministries of Religious Affairs and Education in Tunisia to memorize the Qur’an in schools during the summer, which sparked widespread controversy in cultural and political circles, to the point where the two ministries were accused of deviating from the role of the school and teaching children what was described as extremist thought.