ISLAMIC FAMILY LAW REFORM IN THE POST-ARAB SPRING TUNISIA: Between Liberalism and Conservatism

Abstract

After the Arab Spring, which was distinguished by the development of liberalism, Tunisia’s personal status law became more progressive. This liberalism is exemplified by the enactment of a law permitting Muslim women to marry non-Muslim men. Tunisia’s efforts to liberalize Islamic family law appear to be impeded, however, by the rejection of a proposal to change the law on inheritance equality between men and women. The purpose of this study is to examine the liberalism of Islamic family law in Tunisia. Using information media such as news, articles, and other sources, the research utilizes a descriptive-qualitative strategy with a theoretical and fact-based approach. This article argues that tere are at least three reasons for Tunisia’s modest liberalization of Islamic family law 1) Avoiding confrontations with secularists as much as possible. 2) Learning from the failure of the 2014 parliamentary general election, which revealed that Tunisians prefer non-religious parties. 3) The idealistic and pragmatic reasons of Ennahdha members.