Islamic Religious Institutions in the Republic of Tunisia
https://doi.org/10.22311/2074-1529-2025-21-3-189-207
Abstract
The article is devoted to the organizations existing in Tunisia that associate themselves with Islam. In this publication, the author explores the features of Islamic institutions’ activities, their impact on the country and its population. The article is structured in several parts. At the beginning, it defi nes the position of Islam in Tunisia, for which purpose the general information about the country’s population was collected, and the legal acts of the republic were analyzed. Following this, the existing state organizations and the purposes of their activities are outlined. Similar work was carried out regarding informal associations. The paper is a compilation of information about the existing organizations that relate their activities to Islam. After the Arab Spring, followers of political Islam attempted, to some extent, to implement Islamic religious values into public consciousness, at the state level, and even prioritize religious norms over civil law. Despite the efforts of supporters of political Islam, Tunisia remains a secular state today. Religious life is under state control, and all organizations interact, to a certain extent, with the republican bureaucracy, which is, among other things, responsible for achieving the ideals of Islam as prescribed in the Constitution of Tunisia. The paper states that, at present, religious institutions in Tunisia are undergoing active development. Other researchers can use this work as a codifi ed source of information about the peculiarities of the Tunisian legal framework and about the main institutions associated with Islam in the Arab republic.
About the Author
K. K. Zakharov
State Academic University of Humanities
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Kirill K. ZAKHAROV, Master’s Degree Student, Department of the Middle East, Faculty of Oriental Studies
26, Maronovskiy pereulok, Moscow, 119049
References
1. Babkin S. E. (2000). Dvizheniia politicheskovo islama v Severnoi Afrike [The Political Islam Movements in North Africa]. Moscow: Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences Publ. 340 p. (In Russian)
2. Burova A. N., Vedyshkin S. V., Makariev A. A., Sennikova D. V., Yusubov E. S. (2023). Izbiratel’naya sistema Tunisskoi Respubliki [The Electoral System of the Republic of Tunisia]. Sovremennye izbiratel’nye sistemy [Contemporary Electoral Systems], Avtonomov A., Lysenko V. (eds). Moscow: Russian Electoral Technology Training Center Publ., pp. 349–493. (In Russian)
3. Kofanov I. T. (2018). Tunis: osobennosti i uroki “Arabskoi vesny” [Tunisia: Features and Lessons of the “Arab Spring”]. Uchenye zapiski Instituta Afriki RAN [Journal of the Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences]. Vol. 45. No. 4, pp. 62–74. (In Russian)
4. Kudelin A. A, Maslov A. I. (2016). Osobennosti tunisskovo sufiiskovo ordena ‘isaviiia na opyte polevykh issledovaniy i zhizni v bratstve [Tunisian Sufi Order Isawiyy: The Experience of Field Studies and Life in Brotherhood.]. Vestnik RUDN. Seriia: Vseobshchaia istoriia [RUDN Journal of World History]. No. 2, pp. 14–26. (In Russian)
5. Kuznetsov V. A. (2018). Potaennye tropy Tunisa: zhit’ i rasskazyvat’ revolutsiiu [Hidden Paths of Tunisia: Live and Tell about the Revolution]. Moscow: Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, State Academic University of Humanities Publ. 432 p. (In Russian)
6. Kuprin A. I. (2008). Islamizm v Tunise [Islamism in Tunisia]. Rossiia i musul’manskii mir [Russia and the Moslem World]. No. 5, pp. 128–137. (In Russian)
7. Medushevskii N. A., Savicheva P. Yu. (2021). Prava zhenshchin v sovremennom Tunise: proshlye dostizheniia i vzgliad v budushchee [Women’s Rights in Modern Tunisia: Past Achievements and a Look into the Future]. Teorii i problemy politicheskikh issledovanii [Theories and Problems of Political Studies]. Vol 10. No 2A, pp. 17–27.
8. Minniakhmetov R. A. (2014). Khanafitskaia shkola v islamskom prave [Hanafite School in Islamic Law]. Pravovoe gosudarstvo: teoriia i praktika [The Rule of Law State: Theory and Practice]. Vol. 36. No. 2, pp. 74–81. (In Russian)
9. Quattrini S. (2020). Al-Diin wal-hawiya wal-‘arḳ: sa’y al-aḳliyaat al-diiniya al-tuunisiya lil-muwaaṭana al-kaamila [Religion, Identity and Ethnicity: The Quest of Tunisian Religious Minorities for Full Citizenship]. Rowaq Arabi. Vol. 25. No. 2, pp. 61–73. (In Arabic)
10. Ryzhkova. E. A. (2000). Osnovnye napravleniia razvitiia zakonodatel’stva Tunisa o lichnom statuse [The General Directions of Development of Tunisian Legislation on Personal Status]. Moskovskii zhurnal mezhdunarodnogo prava [Moscow Journal of International Law]. No. 3, pp. 220–238. (In Russian)
11. Tyukaeva T. I. (2022). “Brat’ia-musul’mane” v stranakh Magriba: transformatsii politicheskogo islama v Alzhire, Marokko i Tunise [“Muslim Brotherhood” in Maghreb: Transformations of Political Islam in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia]. Mirovaia ekonomika i mezhdunarodnye otnosheniia [World Economy and International Relations]. Vol. 66. No. 11, pp. 60–71. (In Russian); DOI 10.20542/0131-2227-2022-66-11-60-71
Review
For citations:
Zakharov K.K. Islamic Religious Institutions in the Republic of Tunisia. Islam in the modern world. 2025;21(3):189-207. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22311/2074-1529-2025-21-3-189-207
Views:
24
Email this article 