Tunisia: Understanding Conflict 2012 - Johns Hopkins School of ...

secular or Islamist in Tunisia today reveal the need to address a large segment of
Tunisian society who have been forced to define themselves according to the false
dichotomy of laïque verus Islamist, and to allow the moderate majority to define
themselves without necessarily referring to those parameters (SAIS Group Meeting, 25
January 2012).
Radwan Masmoudi, of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID),
also described a pragmatic vision of Tunisia’s future incorporating both democratic
structures and an open acknowledgement of Islam as an inescapable presence in Tunisian
individual identity and public life. He diagnoses the difficulties of the secular parties in
the recent election as a result of their disregard for religion, but also warns of the dangers
of a salafist takeover of Ennahdha, which he describes as one of the most moderate
Islamic movements in the Arab world. He echoes the claim that the French style of strict
secularism cannot work in Tunisia, and instead describes his vision of a “pious
secularism” which is a secularism that takes religion seriously as one of the foundations
of individual identity in Tunisia. Like Bourial, Masmoudi encourages a process of ijtihad,
or reinterpretation of Islamic texts for use in the modern world. He argues that one cannot
be fully modern while following the interpretations of medieval scholars, and if Islam
truly is to be applicable in “all times and all places,” its interpretations need to adapt to
the current Tunisian situation (SAIS Group Meeting, 26 January 2012).
Dealing with Potential Spoilers
With the passage of the Tunisian amnesty laws, salafists and other extremists were
released from prison, and their activities now fuel a growing debate in Tunisian society
about the extent to which tolerance should be extended to extremists. Their activities
pose a conundrum for the underlying logic of the nascent Tunisian democracy: on the one
hand, religious freedom should extend to all believers and practicing members, as long as
specific laws are not broken. On the other hand, certain groups of salafists are attempting
in some instances to impose their views regarding the practice of Islam on those who do
not ascribe to them. The most publicized example is the case of the niqab at Manouba
University, in which a relatively small group of students protested the ban of the niqab
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