Gender Equality in the Inheritance Debate in Tunisia and the Formation of Non-Authoritarian Reasoning

Abstract

This article discusses the debate on gender-equal inheritance in Tunisia. In it, Maeve Cooke's conception of authoritarian versus non-authoritarian practical reasoning is applied to see whether binaries, like religious versus secular, are existent in the public debate on equal inheritance in Tunisia. The mapping of the debate shows the existence of three sets of arguments: jurisprudential/textual, sociological, and legal. Proponents of equal inheritance base their arguments primarily on legal, then sociological, then textual grounds, whereas law opponents base their arguments on textual, then legal, then sociological grounds. The weakness of the sociological arguments of law opponents is evident when stating that a gendered division of labor within the family still exists without providing statistics or empirical evidence to back up that claim. Through shared categories and grounds, the discussions in Tunisia share a common language in the public sphere, allowing for the reduction of authoritarian tendencies and longstanding polarization through public deliberation.

Review: Lifeworlds of Islam: The Pragmatics of a Religion, by Mohammed A. Bamyeh

“…70% of Muslims favor making the Sharia into the law of the land, even though further questions showed they were only committed to religiosity as a general guide to ethics, but had no detailed knowledge of the Sharia itself. (157) This is also in line with a conclusion I reached in my previous work (Hanafi 2019) Finally, Bamyeh's book is directing his focus not only on Islam but also on sociology. Many of its pages are a convincing critique of the historical sociology of Max Weber and other sociologists.…”

Demanding Equal Inheritance Rights For Women: Tension Among Shari’a and Tunisia’s New Constitution 2014

“…The absence of the Habermasian public sphere, which is necessary for intellectual cross-fertilization, has contributed to the deepening rift between large segments of the liberal/non-Islamist/leftist and Muslim Islamists/democrats. [2] The fault here lies with both sides, albeit to varying ~ Vol. 7, Nomor 2, 2022 degrees, not on the state or on one side alone.…”

The Differences of Men's and Women's Shares in Islamic Inheritance Law Defense to Criticism and Blasphemy

“…Supporters of the movement for the equal share of men and women in inheritance have sprung up in various parts of the world, especially countries with a majority of the Muslim population. In Tunisia, for example, the movement for equality in inheritance was even proposed by President Beji Caid Essebsi as a response to the demands of women's associations in his country which was stated on August 13, 2018, allowing equality of inheritance between men and women (Brésillon, 2018;Hanafi & Tomeh, 2019). As a result, on 25 November 2018, the Tunisian Cabinet gave its approval to a draft law that provides equal shares for men and women in inheritance.…”

“…Fadel addresses the issue of inheritance explicitly. He alludes to Fazlur Rahman's idea that the verses of the Qur'an are not binding forever, but should be seen as an adjustment to the status of women in a certain time and place, and that because the Qur'an emphasizes the fundamental equality between men and women, the argument for equality in inheritance is reasonable (Hanafi & Tomeh, 2019).…”

“…Responding to new ijtihad demands (Bettach, 2021) and reinterpretation as put forward by Muhammad Fadel (Hanafi & Tomeh, 2019), which is more supportive of gender equality, then regarding the distribution of inheritance with the 2:1 principle, of course, it must not use mere reason. This is because in determining the law based on existing arguments must also refer to the provisions of ushul fiqh as a guide.…”