Tunisian
Gender Equality Reforms Condemned by Egypt's Al Azhar
by Hany Ghoraba
Special to IPT News
December 12, 2018
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 Women in Tunisia
will have rights to the same inheritance as men and will enjoy other
sweeping new rights under a new gender equality law approved last month by Tunisia's cabinet.
Tunisia, which has a 99 percent Muslim population, has blazed the trail for
full gender equality sparking demands for similar laws in countries such as
Egypt. The calls for equal-share inheritance in Egypt can be traced back to the 1920s by Egyptian journalist and
activist Salama Moussa. The calls have recently been
reinvigorated by Egyptian thinkers, politicians and women's rights
activists emboldened by the Tunisian revolutionary laws.
"There must be full equality between women and men in our Arab and
Islamic countries," said
novelist and feminist Nawal
al-Saadwi. "Equality exists in the whole world, but in our Arab
countries there is a severe underdevelopment. Equality should not be
limited to inheritance, but to everything. There should be no distinction
between people, because these are matters that I think are obvious and
cannot be debated." Other Egyptian figures echoed the demands for
equality to the Egyptian parliament, including Egyptian-American geologist Farouk
el-Baz, veteran woman rights activist Azza
Kamel, and former Minister of Culture Gaber Asfour.
Thus far, however, no one in Egypt has introduced a measure similar to
Tunisia's gender equality law.
The Tunisian cabinet approval sealed a long chapter of domestic disputes after Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi proposed
a complete gender equality for both sexes in an August 2017 speech. The
declaration was applauded by secularists, liberals and human rights
activists while condemned by conservatives and Islamists.
The reforms were contradictory to Islamic teachings and an assault on
the Quran, said the Tunisian Society for National Coordination to
Defend the Quran, Constitution and Fair Development. "It also runs counter
to the constitution of Tunisia, based on which Islam is the official
religion of the country," said society spokesman Salih Radid.
Moreover, the move triggered a wave of condemnations by Tunisian
Islamists, including an August protest that drew thousands of Islamists in front of
Tunisian capital. While the cabinet approved the law, it still requires
approval from Tunisia's parliament. The Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated
Ennahda vowed to vote against it, but observers do not think it
has enough votes to stop it. A provision guaranteeing "equality in
inheritance contradict[s] the religious teachings and the texts of the
constitution and the personal status code, but also invokes fear related to
the stability of the Tunisian family and the customs of society," an
Ennahda statement said.
Egypt's Al Azhar, regarded as the oldest and most prominent Sunni
institution, also described the law as contradictory to Islamic law
because it contradicts a clear Quranic verse: "Allah instructs you concerning
your children: for the male, what is equal to the share of two
females."
"I tell the president of Tunisia to read the words of Allah and the
Prophet, and remember a day when your presidency, money or relatives would
not help you," said Mahmoud Mehanna, a member of Al-Azhar's Higher
Committee of Scholars.
Egypt's Grand Mufti, Shawki Allam, categorically rejected the Tunisian law, saying people cannot
re-interpret definitive Shariah rulings. The statements provoked anger from
Tunisians who believed that Al Azhar should stick to its Egyptian affairs.
"It appears that Al-Azhar decided to fight Tunisian people, and that
it recruited an army of its daughters and sons to spread the poison of
backwardness in our society and stop the growing trends of modernity and
the cultural revolution that are beginning to surface," wrote Naila al-Silini, an Islamic Studies professor who led
Tunisia's campaign for gender equality.
Tunisian Grand Mufti Sheikh Osman Battikh supported the new law. People
can have different opinions, he said, but "[h]uman interests change by time and
thus should ... our understanding of Sharia laws which should change in
social and daily life matters depending on the place and time."
A prominent Al Azhar professor, Saad Al
Hilaly, apologized to Tunisia and expressed his support
for the gender-equality law. "What Tunisia did here is a proper form
of religious jurisprudence" he said.
"The Quranic verse provides the option for men to give women half her
share or her full share of the inheritance ... and that is what Tunisian
men have done."
Inheritance is a human right for women, he said, and it cannot be
treated with parameters governing compulsory Islamic duties such as prayers
or fasting. Religious interpretations or fatwas should change over time and
not to be stuck in abiding by ancient interpretations.
Shocked by Hilaly's position supporting the provision, Al Azhar waged a
media campaign against him. Hilaly does not speak for the school, a
university spokesman said
in a statement, and "what he said is contrary to the scripture of the
Quran and the curriculum of Al-Azhar."
Egypt's Constitution recognizes Al Azhar as "the primary source in
religious sciences and Islamic affairs."
Al Azhar launched this attack on the gender equality law on Tunisia as a
pre-emptive strike against similar future calls in Egypt and other
predominantly Islamic countries that may follow.
The battle between Al Azhar's clergymen and reformers in the country is
likely to escalate as more Egyptian intellectuals and reformers side with
their Tunisian counterparts. At the moment, Al Azhar is in an open
confrontation with those who oppose its tight grip on religious affairs.
Its grand imam even challenged Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's
repeated calls for religious reforms. Alas, Al Azhar will impede any tangible reform
as long as it still wields such power within Egyptian society.
Hany
Ghoraba is an Egyptian writer, political and counter-terrorism
analyst at Al Ahram Weekly, author of Egypt's
Arab Spring: The Long and Winding Road to Democracy and a
regular contributor to the BBC.
Related Topics: Hany
Ghoraba, Tunisia,
Beji
Caid Essebsi, gender
equality, inheritance
rights, Islamic
law, Ennahda,
Egypt,
Al
Azhar, Shawki
Allam, Sunni
Islam, Nawal
al-Saadwi, Naila
al-Silini, Osman
Battikh, Saad
Al Hilaly
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