Tahar Haddad, Tunisian Social Reformer

Born in Tunis in 1899 into a family of shopkeepers that had settled in the capital , he first studied in a kouttab (a Koranic elementary school) in Tunis before entering the Great Mosque of the Zitouna in 1911, from which he graduated in 1920 with a Tatwi (high school certificate).

Deciding against a career as a notary, which he judged too limiting, he joined the former independent constitutional party (Al-Destour), only to leave it, disappointed by the inertia of its leaders.

He then started to work as a journalist and writer at the same time as being involved in the unionist movement. In 1927, he published a first book on the C.G.T.T entitled: “Tunisian Workers and the Union Movement” and, one year later, he enrolled in the law faculty in Tunis; after two years of study, however, he failed to qualify.

The reason was simple — he had dared to publish a volume that was very disturbing to the Muslims of the time, entitled “Women in the Sharia and Society”.This marked the beginning of a long intrigue against Haddad, joining members of the Destour party and the ultraconservative hierarchy of the Zitouna

Three years after his book was published, Haddad, exiled and hurt suffered a heart attack. He died of tuberculosis on December 7, 1935. Haddad’s fame and success were posthumous.

Haddad’s Revolutionary Ideas

Tahar Haddad took up the case against prejudices regarding the status of women that were unjustly attributed to Islam calling for a return to Ijtihad (interpretation). He inspired bold reforms on the female cause. He focused on the fact that a radical social reform was needed.

•  Civil rights: He demonstrated that Islam originally considered woman as being equal to man, both in terms of rights and duties.
• Property Ownership: Most women used to yield their properties to their husbands or their fathers. He rejected this tradition and urged women to claim for this right for full control over their properties
•  Witness/work as a judge: Women were denied the right to hold judicial positions or witness in courts. He explained that nothing in Islam ever prevented women from enjoying those rights.
• Inheritance: (criticized the inheritance system: discriminatory)
• Right to hold a job 
• Education:  He asserted that it is totally absurd to provide that right to men and not to women who represent « half of the humanity ». Women do have the right to finish their studies and participate actively in all fields of life.
• Marriage:
•  -Consent: He called to free women from the tradition of marrying them at an early age. He also highlighted the fact that we would never have a happy family if parents keep arranging marriages to their daughters against their will.
• -Confinement: He condemned the system of moral punishment that used to be applied at that time known as “Dar Jwad”:  a husband who was displeased with his wife’s behavior repudiated her and sent her to that Dar Jwad house to be subjected to severe rules until she repents and declares her desire to resume her conjugal life.
• Divorce:In the name of Islam, our modernizing Islamic reformer denounced the abuses against women whereby a husband could divorce his wife without grounds or explanation leaving her and her children for another wife. “Islam is innocent of the oft-made accusations”... "It’s the religion of progress par excellence". He suggested that such disagreements should be taken in front of a competent legal court that is accredited to dissolve the marital bond.
• Polygamy:  He explained the Koran reference to polygamy and he claimed for abolishing polygamy which he considers nothing but a “Jahiliya” practice (pre-Islamic period).

 From Men of El-Hamma