Tunisia’s Religious Affairs Ministry ends presence of Qaradawi’s Union

Sarah Rashad

After repeated calls to stop the activities of the International Union of Muslim Scholars affiliated with Brotherhood pole Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the Ministry of Religious Affairs in Tunisia decided on Wednesday, October 27, to cancel its agreements with the Center of the Study of Islam & Democracy (CSID) headed by Brotherhood leader Radwan Masmoudi, and the Qaradawi’s International Union of Muslim Scholars.

Escape from Brotherhood’s trap

Since 2012, the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) and other Brotherhood religious organizations have found their way to Tunisia through official agreements that they succeeded in signing with successive governments during this period.

Considering that the Brotherhood’s Ennahda movement was the most important player in the Tunisian scene at the time, these agreements were passed with the movement’s blessing, which was working for the international organization of the Brotherhood more than the Tunisian state.

As a result of these agreements, which transferred the task of rehabilitating Tunisian imams and training courses for young people to Qaradawi’s IUMS, batches of this organization emerged bearing ideas contrary to the vision of the Tunisian state. It was also proven that the union was involved in spreading a letter inciting to travel to conflict areas motivated by “jihad.”

Various statistics on the nationalities of fighters in Syria and Iraq show that Tunisians came in an advanced rank among foreign fighters.

Experts at the United Nations estimated the number of Tunisians who joined terrorist organizations, especially in Libya, Syria and Iraq, in July 2015, with more than 5,500 young people, Tunisia came at the top of the countries exporting terrorists to the regions of Syria, Iraq and Libya.

Two months later, a Tunisian media and human rights delegation estimated the number of Tunisian fighters in Syria between 7,000 and 8,000 fighters, ranking them fourth after Chechnya, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon.

The delegation confirmed that the rate of their enrollment increased within two years, while delegation member Ziad al-Hani revealed reports issued by the Syrian government confirming the killing of more than 2,000 Tunisians in 2014.

Continuing to work

Despite all the accusations besieging Qaradawi’s union and other Brotherhood religious organizations operating in Tunisia, the IUMS insisted on continuing its work in light of the current political situation.

On August 28, the Tunisian branch of the Brotherhood announced the start of registration for upcoming educational courses whose fields vary between Arabic language, Quranic sciences, hadith and jurisprudence.

As this announcement of the new sessions contradicts what the political forces had previously demanded of dissolving the union, political forces and human rights organizations reiterated their calls for the dissolution, demanding the Tunisian president to be serious about the path he adopted on July 25, in addition to calling parties to demonstrate near the IUMS headquarters to demand stopping its activities.

Decision welcomed

As a result of all previous calls to stop the IUMS, Nayla Ben Rahouma, the general coordinator of the the Street Decides movement, welcomed the decision to cancel the agreements with Qaradawi’s organization, describing the step as “an additional step in Tunisia towards closing the outlets for Brotherhood expansion that contributed to spreading terrorism.”

In a press statement, she said, “Qaradawi’s union is the union of religion dealers,” adding, “It is time to close the headquarters of the Ennahda movement and to pursue its leaders, who openly called for terrorism, fighting and jihad, in court.”

For her part, the head of the Free Destourian Party, Abir Moussa, commented in a video clip she posted on her official Facebook page, saying, “This terrorist union has launched its activities since the rule of the Troika (between 2012 and 2014) and was inciting the transfer of jihad in the hotbeds of tension under Brotherhood cover.”

“We must not be satisfied with canceling the agreements only, but we must close the headquarters and freeze the union’s property… At that time, we can be assured of Tunisia’s future,” she continued.