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I am Muslim
essentially because I was born in Tunisia. I could also have been born Catholic
Christian in Rome, a Protestant in Germany or a Buddhist in Cambodia. What I am
trying to say is that religious affiliation is often the product of chance and
that only very few people on this earth have truly freely chosen to be Muslim,
Jewish, Christian, Buddhist or Animist by themselves… Generally, those who have
had the good or bad fortune of choosing are those who moved from one religion
to another or to atheism, from one rite to another, from one sect to another ,
from one school to another or from one brotherhood to another within the same
religion…
By the same logic,
it is essentially because I was born a Tunisian Muslim that I belong to the
dominant Sunni Maliki rite. I could have belonged to the minority rite of
“Ibadhism” to whom the family of my paternal grandmother belonged.
Had I been born in
Saudi Arabia, I would have been Wahabi , in Iraq I could have been Shiite and
in Senegal I could have been Tijani.
I am telling you
this because in my opinion, the question of belonging or identity, particularly
when seen from the perspective of religion in particular and culture in
general, is both simple and complex. And for many, it is the product of chance.
It is because such
is the nature of religion, it would appear to me, that it gives rise to all
this enthusiasm, all these debates, all these controversies and even all this
pain…But this is just an aspect of our debate that I mention in passing in
order to find an introduction to what I wish to express regarding my personal
position on the Sharia as a blogger- but also, and especially, as a Tunisian
citizen.
Others are better
placed than me to deal with this question in a fundamental and cognitive
fashion. The different lectures we have heard confirmed this. I must admit that
up to few months ago, the question of Sharia never was one of my priorities…
I lived my religion
in serenity. A believer? Yes. A practitioner? No. I only debated questions of
religion or Sharia in situations where they were incidental to the hijab or
observing the fast, for example…
And when, together
with bloggers from my country, we attempted to participate in one manner or
another in the awakening of our people and the uprising against the
dictatorship, it was-very far even-from my mind that we would find ourselves
confronted with this difficult duality: civil society/ religious state!
And this is why I,
like many others, felt a sense of failure, if not total desolation.
As a young,
educated woman, open to the world and from a family in which I have never felt
inferior because of my status as a woman, I aspired to collective and
individual liberties in their HUMAN sense, that is to say human rights as those
of all people without regard to gender, race, nation, or place of life.
I did not
considered my self, belittled, treated as inferior, or obliged to hide in order
to live the way I want to…
The revolution, of
which I personally lived through the majority of the turning points and events,
gave me no cause to identify claims to identity, religion and the sacred. Our
claims were rather the right to work, social equity, development for all and
for all our regions, and the right to be true CITIZENS in terms of rights and
obligations.
The first Shock I
experienced in this matter was when people –including my father –were attacked,
shoved over and harassed simply because they went to see a movie that
was deemed blasphemous by their aggressors and their backers…
Next, one
disappointment followed the other and the questionings became more and more
painful… Campaigns against those favoring the separation of religion and state,
modernists, the “Occidentalized”, the unbelievers, the enemies of Islam, the
enemies of God… False quarrels provoked and revived each and everyday … The
enlightened came to “Islamicize” us, to lead us on the right path…Voices
demanding polygamy, marriage according to custom and even pedophilia … Sermons that
dug up centuries old views on the circumcision of girls as a religious duty … Habits,
practices and behaviors that disoriented us and led some to speak of
“Tunistan”…
Then there was a
The National Constituent Assembly that denied women their simple right to be
equal to men.
And between al
this, mosques were invested in, occupied and altered; mausoleums demolished and
tarnished because they did not correspond to the percepts of Sharia. But, by God,
which Sharia are we dealing with? No one will give a clear and precise answer.
Because basically, to each their Sharia.
Throughout the history of Islam, there have been more than 135 different
schools of thought interpreting the religion of Islam in more or less different
ways.
This is to tell
you, Ladies and Gentlemen, that the question of Sharia is to me, but a red
herring used to hide movements, parties
and individuals who dream of nothing else than absolute , authoritarian and
obscuring power. To me, the Sharia is TRUE with which one seeks to impose
FALSE, an opiate through which the masses can be tranquilized or incensed. The
Sharia-such as it is being propagated by these people who claim to be the ONLY
REPRESENTTAIVES OF GOD ON EARTH- is plunge into the darkness of times gone by…
So now what? Let me
tell you!
Well, since you invited me to this gathering
as a blogger, let me reply that we, the activists of the blogosphere, the
carriers of ideals of humanity, liberty, equity and modernity, have only one choice: FIGHT for our
right that all of us –men, women, from all towns and all regions , regardless
of the social status - be
considered wholly HUMAN, CITIZENS who
are accountable, but who can also hold their equals accountable.
This fight is ours
as bloggers, but also as young people, as those passionate about liberty, and
as humans.
I am convinced, and
remain steadfast in my conviction, that we will soon arrive; that a near
future will free us; that we will live
in a society that truly and surely
advances towards democracy and that strikes a balance both between the obligations and duties of citizens and between religious and
philosophical convictions, lifestyle
choices, and the culture of each individual.
