THE RELIGIO-POLITICAL ATTITUDE OF THE SHAYKHF.ASHID RIDA IN RESPONSE TO THE FRENCH AUTHORITY IN TUNISIA BY THE COLONIAL TIME

Abstract

It is a mistake if there is an assumption that a fatwa is always free from political interests. Fatwas are often associated with political issues, such as in the colonial period. This phenomenon was discovered in a fatwa issued by Rashid Rida, a scholar as well as a politician, at the request of the National Party Tunis leader Abd Al-'Aziz Al-Sa'alibi namely Dustur Party, which can not be separated from political interests. This fatwa is a response to Rashid Rida, as well as his political religious response against the French Law of Naturalization applied to those living in Tunisia on December 20, l923. This Fatwa had political propaganda aimed at the Muslim people of Tunisia. He asserted in the fatwa that Muslims who accept French citizenship is apostate. This is due to the fact that Muslims who accept this offer means prioritizing French Law of Naturalization over the Law of God. So, of course, Rida prohibited to accept the offer of French citizenship. Related to the interests of the Islamic people of Tunisia, Rida required them to maintain their Islamic citizenship. This is because Rida had an obsession to re-establish the goverment system of Iranian caliphate, not the French system of government. This is reasonable because he wanted the application of the shari'ah, not French Law of naturalization in their lives.