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Othman Battikh

Othman Battikh
Battikh in 2011
Grand Mufti of Tunisia
Personal details
Born(1941-04-17)17 April 1941
French Protectorate of Tunisia, France
Died25 October 2022(2022-10-25) (aged 81)
Tunisia
NationalityTunisia
OccupationIslamic scholar

Othman Battikh (Arabic: عثمان بطَيخ; 17 April 1941 – 25 October 2022) was a Tunisian Islamic scholar and Grand Mufti of Tunisia from 2008 to 2013. He 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 spending the first two years attached to the Saheb Ettabaâ Mosque 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) and comparative law with a specialty in the Code of Personal Status (Tunisia) which bans polygamy, 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. 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,[1] the phenomenon of giving sexual services to terrorists fighting in Syria under the name of religion.[2][3] In July 2013, President Moncef Marzouki replaced him as Mufti with Saied Hamda;[4] Battikh alleged that he was replaced as punishment for speaking out.[1] On 2 February 2015, he was appointed Minister of Religious Affairs in the government of Prime Minister Habib Essid.[5]

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 pilgrimage to Mecca.[6] On the next day, he was replaced by Mohamed Khalil at the head of the Ministry of Religious Affairs.[7] On 12 January, he was re-appointed Mufti of the Republic by President Béji Caïd Essebsi.[8]

Battikh was seen as a moderate[9] and was critical of Salafi and Wahabi doctrine.[10]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b BBC: "Tunisia's 'sexual jihad' - extremist fatwa or propaganda?" 26 October 2013
  2. ^ El Alam: "Mufti: serving Syrian terrorists sexually is haram - Giving sexual services to terrorists under the name of religion (jihad) in Syria constitutes adultery, which is religiously haram (forbidden), according to the Mufti of Tunisia." 20 April 2013
  3. ^ Hastings, Deborah (20 September 2013). "Women, girls travel to Syria to commit 'sex jihad' by sleeping with multiple Islamist fighters". New York Daily News. Archived from the original on 27 September 2013. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
  4. ^ Chennoufi, A. (7 July 2013). "Tunisie, Affaires religieuses: Nouveau Mufti pour la Tunisie: Hamda Saied remplace Cheikh Othmane Battikh à 3 jours de Ramadan" [Tunisia, Religious Affairs: New Mufti for Tunisia: Hamda Saied replaces Cheikh Othmane Battikh 3 days from Ramadan]. Tunivisions (in French). Archived from the original on 7 July 2013. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
  5. ^ Business News Tunisia: "Composition de la version nouvelle du gouvernement Essid" 2 February 2015
  6. ^ "Le ministre des Affaires religieuses, Othman Battikh dans le collimateur de la justice" [Minister of Religious Affairs, Othman Battikh, in the Crosshairs of Justice] (in French). 5 January 2016. Archived from the original on 26 January 2016. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
  7. ^ "liste complète des ministres du nouveau gouvernement Essid" [Complete List of Ministers of the New Essid Government] (in French). 6 January 2016.
  8. ^ "Othman Battikh nommé mufti de la République" (in French). 12 January 2016.
  9. ^ "Othman Battikh". Islamopedia Online. 5 April 2016. Archived from the original on 5 April 2016. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
  10. ^ Feuillatre, Cecile (15 February 2012). "Tunisia activists file suit against female circumcision preacher; Activists sue visiting Egyptian Muslim preacher Wagdy Ghoneim for inciting hatred, advocating polygamy, female circumcision". Middle East Online. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
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