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The opposition accused the government of using mosques and imams to serve its agenda
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By
Hadi Yahmed, IOL Correspondent
PARIS,
May 29 (IslamOnline.net) - The Tunisian Ministry of Religious Affairs
has recently asked mosque imams to encourage women to perform their
prayers at home instead of going to the mosque.
The
controversial move immediately triggered an outcry from Tunisian
opposition powers who accused the government of being impatient with
the growing number of Hijab-clad women going to mosques in droves.
In
an official document sent to all mosques, the ministry asked imams to
preach women that they are not required to attend the Friday prayers
at mosques, said the Tunisia News, a bulletin issued by the Tunisian
opposition in Europe and sent to islamOnline.net.
It
contained several verses from the Glorious Qur'an and hadiths which,
according to the ministry, indicate that there is no need for women to
perform the jama`ah or congregational prayers in the mosque.
Although
it is not obligatory for women to attend the jama`ah, they
should unless fearing it would be unsafe for them.
At
the time of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), women used to attend the jama`ah
in the Prophet's Mosque.
Dr.
Muzammil Siddiqi, former president of the Islamic Society of North
America, said the Prophet (PBUH) "explicitly told men not to
exclude women from going to the mosque."
Prophet
Muhammad (PBUH) is reported to have said, "Do
not prevent the she-servants of Allah from Allah's
Mosques."
Mouthpiece
The
opposition bulletin accused the government of seeking to turn imams to
just mouthpiece of the regime's policies.
It
charged that elements of the ruling regime can not bear to watch
hijab-clad women flocking to mosques to attend the jama`ah.
Observers
say the number of Tunisian women wearing hijab has been on the rise,
including in universities.
The
Higher Education Ministry had repeatedly asked university presidents
to ban hijab-wearing students from entering university campuses.
The
Tunisian laws on women rights had sparked a heated debate in the
country, with Islamic parties asking that the western-styled
legislation should be in conformity with the Islamic Shariah.
In
an unprecedented move, a Tunisian female lawyer and human rights
activist filed a lawsuit to revoke Law no. 108 of 1981, which bans
Tunisian women from wearing hijab inside the state-run bodies.
Saida
al-Akrami told IOL she is absolutely convinced that this controversial
well-known law brazenly violates
the basics rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights, which states that everyone has the right to freedom
of religion and the right choose the clothes which suit him/her.
The
Tunisian league for human rights, for its part, recently issued a
statement, urging the authorities to put an end to their anti-Hijab
campaign.
