"Tunisia after Arab Spring" Washpost

"...a vision of Islam that rejects democracy and elections. “Democracy’s freedom is absolute,” Ibrahim says, “and we don’t accept that. In our religion, freedom is limited to the freedom God gives you.”

Downstairs, Ibrahim’s father, Saleh Amara, explodes in frustration over his son’s new, post-revolutionary passion. Saleh and his wife have gone along with some of their 27-year-old’s new restrictions — okay, they’d stop watching soap operas and “Oprah” on TV, because there was too much sexual content — but Saleh says his son goes too far. Growing the long beard of the pious is fine, though it will probably limit his job opportunities. And if Ibrahim insists that his secular-raised, college-educated wife cover her hair and wear gloves, well, that’s his business. But how can he spurn free elections, the sweetest fruit of Tunisia’s revolution?"  Washpost

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I was taught Arabic grammar by a Tunisian.  He was an excellent teacher.  His mind was a product of the school system built under the French protectorate in Tunisia and continued after France withdrew.  That system was universal, had a unified curriculum for all and was free.  It extended through the university level.  My teacher "'Adil A."  had been trained to think as a man who was both Arab and French.  His mind worked like a clock constructed according to a set of rules devised by Rene Descartes.  The predominant theme in his thinking was always a rigorous logic based on real evidence.  We got on well.  Over the decades I visited Tunisia many times, often driving about the country with my wife.  We found most Tunisians in the major towns to be very like Adil.  They truly lived in two worlds.  They were the most bilingual people I have ever experienced.  One could walk down a street behind them in Tunis, Sfax or Bizerte and listen to them switch effortlessly back and forth from French to Arabic in their speech.  They were completely unconscious of the process.  In the countryside it was somewhat different.  In general, the smaller the village the more unaffected by Western education they were although all had some measure of the mixed post-colonial culture.

In this article a profound truth is spoken.  Beneath the acculturated Westernized layer in all the Arab states lies the bed rock of the high culture of Islam.  That high culture is ancient and potent.  In the Sunni countries, it is still locked in what to my judgment is an artificial devotion to pietism and rejection of "reform" in the religious sciences, but I am not a Muslim.  My religion, Catholicism, was forced to abandon similar positions half a millennium ago.  Sunni Islam has never experienced anything like the Protestant Reformation or Catholic Counter-Reformation.  All attempts at such movements have been defeated by the pious.

Bourguiba and Ben Ali were secular nationalist revolutionaris who were corrupted by the fruits of victory as revolutionaries often are.

Now they are gone and the new Tunisia must seek a balance between the "authentic" old way and the Europeanized Tunisia that I thought so pleasant and admirable.

Tunisia was the most Western.  Think about the other countries.  pl  

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/in-tunisia-after-arab-spring-islamists-new-freedoms-create-new-muslim-divide/2012/04/28/gIQAN9yJoT_story.html?hpid=z4

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_protectorate_of_Tunisia

 

Comments

[turcopolier]

WRC

Yes. Off topic. Put it in the last open thread. I am going to erase your comment. pl

[rjj]

The very definition of goodness....Christians never faced this issue....

Tell that to the Arians and the other proto-Unitarians. Speaking of which...

In the Inquisition records of the Cathars/Albigensians people refer to themselves and others as either Good Christians or Not Good Christians. "Not Good" is used so casually (no opprobrium) it jumps off the page - reads as if it was merely a way of saying heterodox. It also smacks of long usage - convention.

[Medicine Man]

The anecdote about Saleh and his some Ibrahim at the top of this conversation is interesting. I remember reading about there being a similar dynamic in the poorer immigrant communities in France, where the older family members are actually better integrated into French society than their children. The younger North African immigrants are turning to more fundamental interpretations of Islam in order to cultivate a sense of their own identity.

[Anis]

Well Arabization and being modern are not contradictory as long as Tunisians remain bi or multilingual.
I don't see any danger, at the contrary it will give a new boost to the Arabic culture if new ideas, visions, conceptions coming from the West (or elsewhere) are incorporated and diffused to the arab world

[Tyler]

Sir,

It could make for the basis of a good post. Between that and the health care law, it seems like the SCOTUS is pushing back against federal intrusion.

[turcopolier]

Anis

This is not about Arabization. It is about Islamization within the Wahhabi tradition. If you don't see a down side to that, you are blind. "Arabization?" Warmed over anti-colonial baloney that is about 40 years out of date. pl

[turcopolier]

Tyler

Yes, but not yet. pl

[Babak Makkinejad]

OK, you got me there.

In that regard, do you know the basis of the designation; was it conformance to canon law?

[Babak Makkinejad]

There are many middle-class assimilated Muslims of North African origin in France who are children of earlier North African immigrants. They usually buy halal produce; that seems to be one of their most visible adherence to Islam.

[Agincajun]

Years ago in another life I worked in the ME....Saudi Arabia,U.A.E., Gutter, Q-ate...........and Oman. Before I ever went over for the first contract, I read everything I could get my hands on............so I would not offend. To not strive and respect other cultures......to not endeavor to see through their eyes.........is stupid and an insult to humanity at large. When other Arabs would find out that I had "Done Time" in Saudi.........they would say, "Please do not judge us all by them"..........nuff said.

OT..........Col.........I have a proposition......it involves good food and good times.........drop me an email so I can explain..........consider the following phrase which is my mantra.....

Pee K Twa

I look forward to the exchange. I do not always agree, but you have what I was always taught was the root southern heart.........honor.

[Babak Makkinejad]

Saudi Arabia was police state in 1970s and I doubt that she has changed since.

Later, after the Soviet incursion into Afghanistan and the Iranian Revolution, it was enormous sums of Saudi money that was spent to define Islam to a generation of young Sunni Muslims all over the world - lest they be influenced by the ideas of Ayatollah Khomeini.

The result was extremisms of the Taliban, bin Ladin, and other neo-Salafists all over the world. One need go no further than Afghanistan under Taliban to realize the abject poverty of ideas that informed such Muslims in governance, in law, in education etc.

"Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan"... what crap.

Might as well bring back he "Holy Roman Empire" too.

[Agincajun]

Not sure what your point was............I know all of that.........I can read and do extensively. If you are in agreement of my negative assessment of "The Kingdom".......we have common ground...if you were lecturing.....and being a tad condescending...well....use it on some one who has "never been there and done it".

The Wahhabi sect has much in common with Zionism, James Dobson, Pat Robertson, Opes Dei and Franklin Graham. I have no use for any of the above. Just my opinion and two cents. And for the record, I don't really care who, if any agree. I have lived for well over a half century, I learn something new about something...everyday. It's what I do in my spare time.

[Babak Makkinejad]

That is all fine but no need to be so antsy about it.

What do you want, laurels?

[Alan]

This is excellent writing pl. Truly wonderful. Sometimes you really communicate your experience in a brilliant way. Much appreciated, as always.

[Agincajun]

Keep the laurels.........they don't cook up very well, and their market value as a commodity has decreased dramatically. Antsy?...maybe.... I meant no offense.....unless your intent was to lecture or condescend. Back to baking....timer just went off.