Tahar Haddad
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Tahar Haddad (; 1899 – December 1935) was a
Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...
n author, trade unionist, socialist, scholar and reformer. Haddad was born in
Tunis Tunis (, ') is the capital city, capital and largest city of Tunisia. The greater metropolitan area of Tunis, often referred to as "Grand Tunis", has about 2,700,000 inhabitants. , it is the third-largest city in the Maghreb region (after Casabl ...
to a family of shopkeepers and studied Islamic law at the Great Mosque of Zitouna from 1911 until his graduation in 1920. He became a notary, and he abandoned his career to join Al-Destour, which was the first major political party spearheading the Tunisian national movement. In the following years, he became a prominent member in the burgeoning Tunisian labor movement, and he quickly became a leading spokesperson for the movement. He left the Destour party when he became dissatisfied with the leadership, particularly the party's negative attitude towards the labor movement.Tahar Haddad, Tunisian Social Reformer
" ''Tunisian Community Center''. Retrieved on 17 January 2009.
"[]." ''Tunisian Workers and the Emergence of the Labor Movement''. Haddad was a key figure in the early Tunisian Labor movement, which had emerged as a reaction to the French labor movement's reluctance to defend the interests of indigenous Tunisian workers and was active for over a decade. However, Haddad would later be known first and foremost as a pioneering Tunisian feminist.


Biography


Family and Early Life

Haddad's family was from El Hamma in
Gabès Gabès (, ; ), also spelled Cabès, Cabes, and Kabes, is the capital of the Gabès Governorate in Tunisia. Situated on the coast of the Gulf of Gabès, the city has a population of 167,863, making it the 6th largest city in Tunisia. Located 327 ...
, but he was born in a poor neighborhood on Rue Kaaiki in Tunis. His father and uncle owned a chicken shop in the Marché Centrale.


Studies at the Great Mosque

He studied Islamic law at the Great Mosque of Zitouna from 1911 until his graduation in 1920.


''Our Women in Shari'a and Society'' (1930)

In 1928 and early 1929, Haddad wrote numerous articles on women's education and their legal and social emancipation in the As-Sawab newspaper, edited by Hédi Laâbidi. These writings laid the foundation for his most famous work, ''Our Woman in Shari'a and Society'' (1930), in which he outlined his societal reform program through the emancipation and liberation of women. Using numerous Quranic citations, Haddad presented a modernist interpretation of the Quran, demonstrating that the holy text does not contain prohibitions against women's emancipation. He argued that Tunisian women should have rights, including protection against repudiation, the option to refuse polygamy, and the right to choose their spouse. He even proposed a reform of the inheritance system to apply equal share rules. The book was officially launched at a reception organized for him by his friends on October 17, 1930, at the Belvedere Casino. The event was attended by 130 people, including Zine el-Abidine Snoussi, Mahmoud El Materi, and Hédi Laâbidi. The Tunisian poet and friend of Haddad, Aboul-Qacem Echebbi, was ill and could not attend, but sent a written message to excuse his absence, while Mohamed Tlatli, who was supposed to preside over the ceremony, withdrew. He was eventually replaced by Rachid Ben Mustapha. Haddad's book caused an uproar, and its ideas faced strong opposition from the more conservative segments of society. Haddad was subjected to a vicious smear campaign by members of the Destour party and the conservative hierarchy of Zitouna, even though his work was based on a questionnaire sent to senior teachers of the prestigious Tunisian university. A major Zitouna scholar, Mohamed Salah Ben Mrad, wrote a scathing response to Haddad's book, though it was later revealed that he had not even read it. Haddad was publicly shunned and suffered insults and violence in the streets, forcing him to withdraw from public life. He was also abandoned by many of his former friends and allies. His final years were marked by social withdrawal and depression, as he was shunned by virtually the entire legal, theological, clerical and intellectual establishment for his feminist views. He was thus forbidden from attending his university exams and was kicked out of the exam hall. Several
fatwas A fatwa (; ; ; ) is a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (sharia) given by a qualified Islamic jurist (''faqih'') in response to a question posed by a private individual, judge or government. A jurist issuing fatwas is called a ''mufti'', ...
were issued declaring him a heretic, some by prominent religious authorities, with some going as far as declaring him an apostate (most notably, the prominent religious authority Taher ben Achour). He was also forbidden from marrying, and several works were written to rebuke him, both within Tunisia and in the wider Arab world. Tahar Haddad acknowledged his ostracism when he left Tunisia three years after the publication of ''Our Women''. He died in exile from heart disease and
tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...
on December 7, 1935.


Legacy

It was only a few years after his death that Haddad's reputation was rehabilitated and his contributions recognized. Indeed, his ideas about women's role in society, along with other social issues, greatly influence the members of the
Neo-Destour The New Constitutional Liberal Party (, '; French language, French: ''Nouveau Parti libéral constitutionnel''), most commonly known as Neo Destour, was a Tunisian political party founded in 1934 in Dar Ayed, the house of independence activist Ah ...
party, including
Habib Bourguiba Habib Bourguiba (3 August 19036 April 2000) was a Tunisian politician and statesman who served as the Head of Government of Tunisia, prime minister of the Kingdom of Tunisia from 1956 to 1957, and then as the first president of Tunisia from 1 ...
, who would become Tunisia's first president following independence. Haddad is recognized as a major inspiration for Borguiba's signature reform, the Personal Status Code of 1956. Among other reforms, the code banned polygamy and repudiation, set a minimum marriage age for both men and women, required mutual consent in marriage, and secularized divorce and family law. Many schools, institutions, events, and locations in Tunisia are named after Haddad, including Rue Tahar Haddad in the capital.


Honors

Posthumously, Tahar Haddad was elevated to the rank of Grand Officer of the Order of the Republic (First Class) on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of his death.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Haddad, Tahir 1899 births 1935 deaths Male feminists Tunisian feminists Tunisian writers Tunisian scholars Proponents of Islamic feminism 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in Tunisia