Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Dale Eickelman and James Piscatori, 

eds., Muslim Travelers (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton Uni-

versity Press, 1996); F. E. Peters, The Hajj (Princeton, 

N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1996); Hamilton A. 

R. Gibb, The Travels of Ibn Battuta 1325–1354, 5 vols. 

(Cambridge: Hakylut Society at the University Press, 

1954–2000); Ian R. Netton, Seek Knowledge: Thought 

and Travel in the House of Islam (Richmond, England: 

Curzon Press, 1996).

truth

  See 

haqiqa

; 

philosophy

.

Tunisia

 

(Official name: Tunisian Republic)

The northernmost country in Africa, Tunisia juts 

out into the Mediterranean Sea, bordered on the 

west by a

lgeria

 and on the south by l

ibya

, forming 

a link between three different cultures: sub-Saha-

ran Africa to the south, e

Urope

 and the Mediter-

ranean region to the north, and the Maghreb, the 

countries of northwestern Africa. Tunisia has a 

population of about 10.5 million people (2008 

estimate) and an area of about 63,000 square miles 

(163,610 sq. km), slightly larger than the state of 

Georgia. The people of Tunisia include Berbers, 

Arabs. Europeans, and other groups. The vast 

majority of the population—some 98 percent—are 

Sunni Muslims, most of whom follow the m

aliki

l

egal

 s

chool

. Others, claiming Turkish ancestry, 

follow the h

anaFi

 l

egal

 s

chool

. A small number 

of Tunisians, living mainly on Jerba Island, belong 

to the i

badiyya

 sect of Islam. The official language 

K  672  

tradition

---

is Arabic, but French is often used, especially 

in commerce. In the millennia since it was first 

settled, Tunisia has been used as a regional center 

by a series of conquerors. including the Romans, 

Arabs, Ottomans, and French.

With its jagged coastline, fine harbors, and 

location in the central Mediterranean, near impor-

tant shipping routes, Tunisia was settled around 

1100 

b

.

c

.

e

. by the Phoenicians. By about the sixth 

century 

b

.

c

.

e

. the city-state of Carthage, near 

the present-day capital of Tunis, had become an 

important power, dominating the western Medi-

terranean. This led to a series of wars with Rome 

and resulted in Carthage’s destruction in 146 

b

.

c

.

e

.

The region was incorporated into the Roman 

Empire, and, except for a brief period of conquest 

by the Vandals, it remained under Roman rule 

until it was conquered by Arabs in the seventh 

century 

c

.

e

. The indigenous Berbers converted 

to Islam, and immigrants from other parts of the 

Islamic empire—including Andalusian Muslims 

and Jews—led to Tunisia becoming a center of 

a

rab

 culture and learning. Tunis was the capital of 

the early Shii F

atimid

 

dynasty

 (909–1073) and of 

the Sunni Hafsid dynasty (1228–1574). It was also 

home to the z

aytUna

  m

osqUe

-University, one of 

the oldest and most important centers of learning 

in Sunni Islam. Several North African Sufi groups 

established branches there, including the Qadiris, 

Rahmanis, and the Tijanis. In 1570–74 Tuni-

sia was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire. 

Although the Ottomans ruled the region until the 

19th century, Tunis was virtually independent.

During the 19th century, trade with Europe 

increased, and many foreign merchants estab-

lished permanent homes in Tunisia. This also 

led to increased European interest in the region. 

By the late 1800s, France and Italy were both 

vying for control in Tunisia. In 1881 a French 

army occupied Tunisia, which became a French 

protectorate. During World War II Tunisia came 

under French Vichy rule, and some of the major 

battles of the North African campaign were fought 

in Tunisia.

A nationalist movement had developed in 

Tunisia as early as 1920, but only after the end 

of World War II did France begin to heed the 

call for independence. Tunisia was recognized as 

an independent state in 1956. Habib Bourguiba 

(1903–2000), who had led a radical pro-indepen-

dence faction, became its first president.

Bourguiba dominated Tunisia’s political and 

cultural life for 31 years. He quickly enacted a 

controversial measure, the Personal Status Code, 

which gave 

Women

 in Tunisia full citizenship 

rights and challenged some traditional Muslim 

practices. The code banned such traditions as 

secret divorce, polygamy, and women wearing the 

hijab

. It also introduced compulsory free 

edUca

-

tion

 and reformed the judicial system, replacing 

the former Islamic, Christian, and Jewish courts 

with a uniform secular court system. To further 

reduce the power of the 

Ulama

. Bourguiba nation-

alized the lands that had belonged to religious 

endowments. Today, the government controls and 

subsidizes mosques and pays the salaries of prayer 

leaders; it also pays the salary of the Grand Rabbi 

of the Jewish community in Tunisia.

Despite Bourguiba’s attempts to repress politi-

cal Islam, an Islamic revival group, the nonviolent 

Islamic Tendency Movement (MTI), developed in 

Tunisia in the 1970s. It was made up of Muslims 

who were unhappy both with the secular state as 

envisaged by Bourguiba and with the reversals 

suffered by Arab peoples as a result of the a

rab

-

i

sraeli

 

conFlicts

. It was inspired by the ideology 

of the m

Uslim

  b

rotherhood

 and led by r

ashid

g

hannoUshi

 (b. 1941), a charismatic philosophy 

professor with degrees from Zaytuna University 

and the University of Damascus, and Abd al-Fat-

tah Muru. a lawyer. In 1988 the MTI changed its 

name to the Renaissance Party (Hizb al-Nahda) 

and called for a return to Islamic values and a 

more democratic political process. The party was 

able to pressure the government to make some 

concessions, but it ceased to be an effective politi-

cal force by 1989 because of measures taken by 

the government against it.