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August 15th, 2017 
Awake Goy 
nsnbc : Tunisian President Beji Caed Esibsi, on Sunday, called on the country’s Prime Minister and Minister of Justice to make changes to legislation that bans Muslim Tunisian women from marrying non-Muslim men.
Essibsi’s statement was made during a speech on the occasion of Tunisia’s national women’s day. Esibsi noted that he believes banning Muslim women from marrying non-Muslim men is unconstitutional because the sixth chapter of the Constitution guarantees freedom of belief and conscience for all Tunisians.
The marriage ban in Tunisia is being enforced on the basis of Publication 73, released by the Ministry of Justice in 1973. According to Publication 73 cannot marry foreigners if the Islamic faith of the foreigner hasn’t been recognized by a Mufti. It’s worth noting that this Publication 73 is currently enforced by so-called “moderate Muslims” in the country.
Based on the consensus of “moderate” Islamic scholars, Muslim women are religiously prohibited to marry men from other religions. Moreover, converting to another religion is considered apostasy – and even many “moderate Muslim human rights activists” would argue that the punishment for that ought to be death.
However, Essibsi is swimming against the “moderately ultra-conservative current” when he argues that Tunisian law no longer should hinder Tunisian women from freely choosing their partners.
But, Esibsi is not merely acting contrary to Tunisian Muslim orthodoxy. Should Tunisia apply changes to Publication 73 it would be the first Muslim majority country to allow all women to marry men from different faith.
Several Muslim women get married to men from different faiths already but these civil marriages lack recognition on the same level as “Mufti-approved” marriages. Several groups, including groups representing “moderate Muslims” view Publication 73 as consistent and the proposed changes to Publication 73 as violation of the fundamental rules of Islamic religion. Others perceive the proposed legislation as progressive and a victory for freedom.
During his speech, the Tunisian President stressed that his country also wants to establish equality between men and women in terms of inheritance. Having announced to form a committee to study the matter, Tunisia will, as well, be the first Islamic country to implement this law. Essebsi said that Islam doesn’t contradict with development and democracy, and the inheritance issue was left to the diligence of people based on the era they are living in.
A/N – nsnbc 14.07.2017
Source Article from https://nsnbc.me/2017/08/14/tunisian-president-essibsi-wants-to-change-law-that-bans-muslim-women-from-marrying-non-muslims/
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