Calls to Ban Takfir Will Merely Widen Religious Divisions

{
  "authors": [
    "Intissar Fakir"
  ],
  "type": "legacyinthemedia",
  "centerAffiliationAll": "dc",
  "centers": [
    "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace",
    "Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center"
  ],
  "collections": [
    "Arab Awakening"
  ],
  "englishNewsletterAll": "menaTransitions",
  "nonEnglishNewsletterAll": "",
  "primaryCenter": "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace",
  "programAffiliation": "MEP",
  "programs": [
    "Middle East"
  ],
  "projects": [],
  "regions": [
    "North Africa",
    "Morocco",
    "Tunisia",
    "Maghreb"
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Political Reform",
    "Religion"
  ]
}

In The Media

Calls to Ban Takfir Will Merely Widen Religious Divisions

Tunisia and Morocco are stuck between competing secularist and Islamist conceptions of the true and ideal nation and the role of religion in it.

By Intissar Fakir

Published on Jan 29, 2014

Source: National

A series of hot-button debates between Islamists and secularists in Tunisia and Morocco are distracting both sides from their countries’ more pressing issues and fuelling already dangerous currents of polarisation.

A key example is the recent discussion about banning or criminalising the practice of takfir – the declaration by one Muslim that another is an apostate, the term for a former adherent who now rejects Islam as a religion.

Read Full Text

This article was originally published in the National.

About the Author

Intissar Fakir

Former Fellow, Middle East Program, Editor in Chief, Sada

Intissar Fakir was a fellow and editor in chief of Sada in Carnegie’s Middle East Program.

Recent Work

Commentary
A Conflict That Time Forgot
- Intissar Fakir
Commentary
Interview with Moroccan Human Rights Activist Maâti Monjib
- Maâti Monjib, Intissar Fakir

Political Reform Religion North Africa Morocco Tunisia Maghreb

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

More Work from Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center

Article
Climate Pressures in Algeria: The Crisis in Rural Kabylie
Understanding how farmers in the Oued Sahel-Soummam Valley grapple with climate change is essential for addressing the paradoxes through which adaptation, operating at both individual and institutional levels, deepens the region’s vulnerability and erodes the social fabric and agrarian identity that once defined life.
Ilyssa Yahmi
Paper
“Greening” the Maghreb or Exploiting It?
Unless the European Union-led energy transition provides economic development to Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, the process may be perceived as a new form of extraction.
Yasmine Zarhloule
Commentary
Diwan
When Football Is More Than Football
The recent African Cup of Nations tournament in Morocco touched on issues that largely transcended the sport.
Issam Kayssi, Yasmine Zarhloule
Article
Rethinking Power-Sharing Agreements in Libya
The UN Support Mission in the country should reassess its approach so that consensus between the warring parties becomes the eventual goal, rather than a procedural matter that dogs the negotiating process at every turn.
Soraya Rahem
Commentary
Diwan
Has Sisi Found a Competent Military Entrepreneur?
Mustaqbal Misr has expanded its portfolio with remarkable speed, but a lack of transparency remains.
Yezid Sayigh

More Work from Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center

Article

Climate Pressures in Algeria: The Crisis in Rural Kabylie

Understanding how farmers in the Oued Sahel-Soummam Valley grapple with climate change is essential for addressing the paradoxes through which adaptation, operating at both individual and institutional levels, deepens the region’s vulnerability and erodes the social fabric and agrarian identity that once defined life.

Ilyssa Yahmi

Paper

“Greening” the Maghreb or Exploiting It?

Unless the European Union-led energy transition provides economic development to Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, the process may be perceived as a new form of extraction.

Yasmine Zarhloule

Commentary

Diwan

When Football Is More Than Football

The recent African Cup of Nations tournament in Morocco touched on issues that largely transcended the sport.

Issam Kayssi, Yasmine Zarhloule

Article

Rethinking Power-Sharing Agreements in Libya

The UN Support Mission in the country should reassess its approach so that consensus between the warring parties becomes the eventual goal, rather than a procedural matter that dogs the negotiating process at every turn.

Soraya Rahem

Commentary

Diwan

Has Sisi Found a Competent Military Entrepreneur?

Mustaqbal Misr has expanded its portfolio with remarkable speed, but a lack of transparency remains.

Yezid Sayigh