Othman Battikh ( ar, عثمان بطَيخ; 17 April 1941 – 25 October 2022) was a Tunisian

Islamic scholar In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...

and Grand Mufti of Tunisia, who also served as member of the Tunisian government.

Biography

Born into a modest Tunisian family, his father worked as a hairdresser. He studied at the Franco-Arab school and attended secondary school at the

University of Ez-Zitouna Ez-Zitouna University ( ar, جامعة الزيتونة, french: Université Ez-Zitouna) is a public ancient university in Tunis, Tunisia. The university originates in the Al-Zaytuna Mosque, founded at the end of the 7th century or in the early 8 ...

spending the first two years attached to the

Saheb Ettabaâ Mosque Saheb Ettabaâ Mosque, also known as Youssef Saheb Al Tabaa Mosque, is a mosque in Tunis, Tunisia, located in the Halfaouine area of the city. It is an official Historical Monument. It is the last great mosque built in Tunis before the establish ...

then the second two years at the Ibn Khaldoun school at Zitouna. He continued his studies at the l'École supérieure de droit de Tunis (School of Law of Tunis) under Mohamed Fadhel Ben Achour, Mohamed Malki, Mohamed Ben Slama and Mohamed Annabi. After his studies, he worked as a judge (magistrat au Tribunal de première instance) in Tunis for three years and then returned to Zitouna for four years to continue his studies focusing on Islamic law (

fiqh ''Fiqh'' (; ar, فقه ) is Islamic jurisprudence. Muhammad-> Companions-> Followers-> Fiqh. The commands and prohibitions chosen by God were revealed through the agency of the Prophet in both the Quran and the Sunnah (words, deeds, and ...

) and comparative law with a specialty in the Code of Personal Status (Tunisia) which bans

polygamy Crimes Polygamy (from Late Greek (') "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marriage, marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny. When a woman is ...

, emphasizes the equality of the sexes, and does not enforce the hijab. In 2008, Battikh was appointed the Grand Mufti of Tunisia, the most senior Muslim religious position in the country, by President

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali Zine El Abidine Ben Ali ( ar, زين العابدين بن علي, translit=Zayn al-'Ābidīn bin 'Alī; 3 September 1936 – 19 September 2019), commonly known as Ben Ali ( ar, بن علي) or Ezzine ( ar, الزين), was a Tunisian politician ...

. In April 2013, he caused controversy in the media when he alleged that Tunisian girls were visiting Syria to take part in a

sexual jihad Sexual jihad ( ar, جهاد النكاح, translit=jihad al-nikah) refers to the alleged practice in which women sympathetic to Salafi jihadism travel to warzones such as Syria and voluntarily offer themselves to be "married" to jihadist militan ...

,BBC: "Tunisia's 'sexual jihad' - extremist fatwa or propaganda?"
26 October 2013 the phenomenon of giving sexual services to terrorists fighting in Syria under the name of religion. In July 2013, President

Moncef Marzouki Mohamed Moncef Marzouki ( ar, محمد المنصف المرزوقي; ''Muhammad al-Munṣif al-Marzūqī'', born 7 July 1945) is a Tunisian politician who served as the fifth president of Tunisia from 2011 to 2014. Through his career he has been ...

replaced him as Mufti with Saied Hamda; Battikh alleged that he was replaced as punishment for speaking out. On 2 February 2015, he was appointed Minister of Religious Affairs in the government of Prime Minister Habib Essid. On 5 January 2016, an enquiry was opened at the Tribunal of First Instance of Tunis in relation to financial overspends which the minister was said to have carried out at the time of his last pilgimage to

Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow ...

. On the next day, he was replaced by Mohamed Khalil at the head of the Ministry of Religious Affairs. On 12 January, he was re-appointed Mufti of the Republic by President

Béji Caïd Essebsi Beji Caid Essebsi (or es-Sebsi; ar, الباجي قائد السبسي, translit=Muhammad al-Bājī Qā’id as-Sibsī, ; 29 November 1926 – 25 July 2019) was a Tunisian politician who served as the 6th president of Tunisia from 31 December 20 ...

. Battikh was seen as a moderate and was critical of Salafi and

Wahabi Wahhabism ( ar, ٱلْوَهَّابِيَةُ, translit=al-Wahhābiyyah) is a Sunni Islamic revivalist and fundamentalist movement associated with the reformist doctrines of the 18th-century Arabian Islamic scholar, theologian, preacher, and ...

doctrine.

References

External links

Portrait d'Othman Battikh (Al-Arabiya)
''Arabic''
Babnet: "Biographie de Othman Battikh ministre des Affaires religieuses"
02 Février 2015 (French) {{DEFAULTSORT:Battikh, Othman 1941 births 2022 deaths Tunisian Maliki scholars Tunisian Muslims Grand Muftis of Tunisia