Advanced for its time around 1930. He pictured the status of women, where some prejudges come from , some of what should be done and why to change that.
First part is about some of Charia interpretations, how does some take it and how it should be taken.( it's all interpretations after all and each have his own mix of social values and " virtues")
The second part is a social stand of the role of women in society and why her education, self confidence, responsibilities at home and out have to be improved. (comparison with the European model,( ,not all shiny sides) is there also)
I read it as a celebration of national woman day in Tunisia 13 August, the day The Code of Personal Status has been promulgated since 1956. This one too was revolutionary of it's time but not anymore as it's not been updated and includes still many controversial acts.
The tunisian exception: Tahar Haddad would be dispappointed.
Here鈥檚 my take on this book: we need it probably more than we did in 1930. Although some of the ideas are anachronistic, but, in general, we deeply need it. The first time I heard of Our women in the Sharia鈥� and Society by Tahar Haddad was when I was in middle school. It was part of the History syllabus in which we study the French colonialism 鈥� or as we still call it the French protectorate. The book was presented as an avant-gardist towards women鈥檚 rights and as one of the books that later contributed to the Code of Personal Status that aimed towards the equality between men and women. The ideas of this book were briefly introduced to our young minds. We never had to read it and we never went into the details of this so called avant-gardist book. We were presented with the general ideas elaborated by Tahar Haddad such as education, marriage, polygamy, divorce. Today, these rights are today acquired, at least by law. Nevertheless, it took me about eighteen years to actually grab this book and read it, and what I personally regret is that we never actually went into the details of Tahar Haddad and why these progressive 鈥� in 1930 鈥� ideas were ferociously fought. Tahar Haddad discussed women鈥檚 rights in two parts: Religion and Society. He did not simply stop at what is supposedly Islamic 鈥� or Sharia鈥�- law. He went beyond religion and studied the importance of women鈥檚 rights in society. In my opinion, Tahar Haddad would be disappointed by the situation of Tunisian women today. He would be disappointed by women themselves. It is undeniable that the situation of Tunisian women is exceptional in the Arab world and maybe beyond the land of the oppressed. Why? Because the situation of the Tunisian woman in 2023 is very similar to that the Tunisian woman in 1930. Tahar Haddad did not stop at marriage, polygamy and education. He talked about education, health care, physical activity, knowledge, social skills, economy, space, architecture and also colonialism. Unfortunately, the victory of Tunisian women stopped at going to school and the abolition of polygamy. That victory is stained with a regressive debate in post-colonial, post-revolution Tunisia. Why? Ignorance, in my opinion is the simple answer. The more elaborated answer is that Tunisian women are still submissive, not to men in particular, but to society in general. In his book, Tahar Haddad talked about the importance of physical activity by suggesting that women must go out for a walk and that this is important for their body and their kids as well. He talked about the importance of reading books 鈥� apart from getting an education 鈥� for entertainment. He also elaborated how having skills and working helps generate more income for the household and how it makes women an active part of the family, society but how it also gives them independence. Where do Tunisian women stand today? Yes, they go to school, they work, the get married, they get divorced but they still follow the teachings of their great great grandmother who taught their mother that 鈥渢his and that is haram鈥� based on no part of the coran whatsoever. We still teach men and women that 鈥淕od said鈥� and 鈥淭he prophet said鈥� based on nothing. Some women chose pain over medical treatment because someone said that this medical act is forbidden by religion and even though there is no verse in the coran that says so, they still believe in the ignorant ideas that they 鈥渉eard鈥�. Almost hundred years later, Tunisian women can read but they can鈥檛 think for themselves. Tahar Haddad wanted women to progressively liberate themselves from the wrong religious teachings, from society, and most importantly from themselves. Unfortunately, most of us are still hostages of our own fear of freedom.