Tunisia: Clerics Oppose Equal Inheritance Rights

Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi awaits for the arrival of EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on February 13, 2015, at the Carthage Palace in Tunis. AFP PHOTO / FETHI BELAID
Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi awaits for the arrival of EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on February 13, 2015, at the Carthage Palace in Tunis. AFP PHOTO / FETHI BELAID
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Tunisia: Clerics Oppose Equal Inheritance Rights

Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi awaits for the arrival of EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on February 13, 2015, at the Carthage Palace in Tunis. AFP PHOTO / FETHI BELAID
Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi awaits for the arrival of EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on February 13, 2015, at the Carthage Palace in Tunis. AFP PHOTO / FETHI BELAID

Clerics in Tunisia on Thursday voiced opposition to President Beji Caid Essebsi's plan to introduce legislation granting equal inheritance rights to women, considering it contradictory to Islamic precepts.

Essebsi has announced the formation of a commission to examine "individual liberties" and "equality in all domains", including inheritance rights.

The secular leader also called for the government to scrap a 1973 circular that prevents Muslim women from marrying non-Muslims.

According to Agence France Presse, prayer leaders from across the North African state said in a statement issued jointly with experts in sharia Islamic law that the proposals amount to "a flagrant violation of the precepts" of Islam.

"Inheritance in Islam is clearly explained in the Koran... it can neither be modified nor interpreted," a former religious affairs minister, Noureddine Khadmi, told a news conference.

A former Tunisian mufti, Hamda Said, criticized what he termed proposals that would put an end to "a 1,400-year consensus".

"It's like saying God has been unjust with women, something that is completely false as there are many cases of women inheriting more than men," said Fatma Chakout, a female lecturer at the Islamic University of Ez-Zitouna.

Sheikh Abdullah el-Oussif, a doctor in Islamic sciences, said the president's proposals posed a "danger" because they risked dividing society in post-revolutionary Tunisia at a time when the country needed unity.



Trump, Netanyahu Meet Again as Gaps Said to Narrow in Gaza Ceasefire Talks

07 July 2025, US, Washington: US President Donald Trump receives Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speak privately in the Vermeil Room before a dinner at the White House. (Daniel Torok/White House/dpa)
07 July 2025, US, Washington: US President Donald Trump receives Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speak privately in the Vermeil Room before a dinner at the White House. (Daniel Torok/White House/dpa)
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Trump, Netanyahu Meet Again as Gaps Said to Narrow in Gaza Ceasefire Talks

07 July 2025, US, Washington: US President Donald Trump receives Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speak privately in the Vermeil Room before a dinner at the White House. (Daniel Torok/White House/dpa)
07 July 2025, US, Washington: US President Donald Trump receives Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speak privately in the Vermeil Room before a dinner at the White House. (Daniel Torok/White House/dpa)

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday met for a second time in two days with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss Gaza as Trump's Middle East envoy said Israel and Hamas were closing their differences on a ceasefire deal.

Netanyahu arrived at the White House shortly before 5 p.m. EDT for a meeting that was not expected to be open to the press. The two men met for several hours during a dinner at the White House on Monday during the Israeli leader's third US visit since the president began his second term on January 20.

Netanyahu met with Vice President JD Vance and then visited the US Capitol on Tuesday. He told reporters after a meeting with the Republican House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson that while he did not think Israel's campaign in the Palestinian enclave was done, negotiators are "certainly working" on a ceasefire.

"We have still to finish the job in Gaza, release all our hostages, eliminate and destroy Hamas' military and government capabilities," Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu's return to the White House to see Trump on Tuesday pushed back his meeting with US Senate leaders to Wednesday.

Shortly after Netanyahu spoke, Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, said the issues keeping Israel and Hamas from agreeing had dropped to one from four and he hoped to reach a temporary ceasefire agreement this week.

"We are hopeful that by the end of this week, we'll have an agreement that will bring us into a 60-day ceasefire. Ten live hostages will be released. Nine deceased will be released," Witkoff told reporters at a meeting of Trump's Cabinet.

The Gaza war erupted when Hamas attacked southern Israel in October 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli figures. Some 50 hostages remain in Gaza, with 20 believed to be alive.

Israel's retaliatory war in Gaza has killed over 57,000 Palestinians, according to the enclave's health ministry. Most of Gaza's population has been displaced by the war and nearly half a million people are facing famine within months, according to United Nations estimates.

Trump had strongly supported Netanyahu, even wading into domestic Israeli politics by criticizing prosecutors over a corruption trial against the Israeli leader on bribery, fraud and breach-of-trust charges that Netanyahu denies.

In his remarks to reporters at the US Congress, Netanyahu praised Trump, saying there has never been closer coordination between the US and Israel in his country's history.