In a store specializing in selling equipment for cafés and restaurants in the Khadra neighborhood in Tunis, Zakaria strains to stand up as he holds a sore back.  Still, he manages to smile through his thick beard.

Zakaria, 30-years old, hails from the ‘Meknassy’ area in Sidi Bouzid State. He has come to Tunis with his wife and one-year old child, for whom he hopes to provide a decent life and to raise him in accordance with the ethics of Islam.

In a store specializing in selling equipment for cafés and restaurants in the Khadra neighborhood in Tunis, Zakaria strains to stand up as he holds a sore back.  Still, he manages to smile through his thick beard.

Zakaria, 30-years old, hails from the ‘Meknassy’ area in Sidi Bouzid State. He has come to Tunis with his wife and one-year old child, for whom he hopes to provide a decent life and to raise him in accordance with the ethics of Islam.

“Islam should not be imposed on anyone,” he says. “Rather, people should be invited to it by goodly words and fair preaching.”  Zakaria finds faults with some Salafists who have exercised violence and coercion.

Unlike extreme Salafists who believe that changing society and ‘guiding it to Islam’ entitles them to use violence, impose a certain pattern on citizens and charge anyone who doesn’t go along with them with infidelity, Zakaria believes that Tunisians are Muslims by nature.  “No one is entitled to accuse anyone of disbelief,” he insists.  “Unless that person publically declares that he or she is an infidel.”

Worship at will

Zakaria renounces forcing women to wear hijab or niqab and considers this a violation of personal freedom. “But I do regret that women in general do not wear cloths in accordance with Sharia.  I wish they would be guided by God.”  Zakaria says he doesn’t force his wife to wear a niqab; rather, she chooses to do so by her own free will, and he says he is happy with her choice.

Zakaria’s perception of things differs from that of his fellow Salafis given that he has no-ill feeling toward art or artists and condemns spoiling some cultural and art activities by Salafis.

“I belong to a new generation of Salafists characterized by openness and acceptance of others,” he says.  “Even if those others are non-Muslims.”  Also characteristic of his generation, he says, is a distance from politics. For Zakaria, politicians are of two types: “The first is unaware of what it does and lacks experience and knowledge,” he says.  “While the second is deeply involved in sideline confrontations, which distract it from vital issues.”

A changed man

Zakaria is very proud to be a Salafist, but he doesn’t categorize political activists from a religious perspective, i.e. Muslims and anti-Muslims.  His academic education, he says, lends to his openness.  Zakaria was studying law when he was sent to prison for one year.

Zakaria was detained through a security campaign in the aftermath of clashes between the police and army forces on the one hand and members of al Qaeda on the other, in the Suleiman area in the Mediterranean State of Nabeul (60 km away from Tunis). The clashes resulted in the death of one from the armed group and a number of security personnel.

Zakaria tends to avoid talking about the details of that period and prefers to live in the present, which has some positives despite being ‘unclear and foggy’.

Religious freedom

“Among the achievements brought about by the revolution is freedom of worship, ending the prosecutions of religious people and repealing the terrorism law under which I was imprisoned,” he says.

Like many he believes that development, employment and improved living conditions still remain as dreams.  “Everyone in the government is too busy fighting invented battles over offices and positions instead of dedicating their attention to the demands of the Tunisians,” he said.

Zakaria is discontent with the behavior of some Salafis who joined in after the revolution, and he deplores their physical and verbal abuse against citizens in streets and mosques.

Hinting at the increasing incidents of violence at mosques, which are prompted by differences between Salafis, of all affiliations, and members of the Ennahda Movement – the ruling party – Zakaria insists that mosques are ‘the houses of God and should not be a scene of battles over earthly gains’.

Bad rap in the media

Zakaria criticizes not only the action of some Salafis but also national and foreign media and considers that the latter have ‘exacerbated the situation’ either ignorantly or ill-intentioned. “But I can not hold the media fully accountable for what is going on.  Everyone is responsible, especially the Troika parties.”

Zakaria also criticizes politicians for their engagement in controversial issues, such as the inclusion of a chapter in the coming constitution stating that Sharia is a main source of legislation. For him, the situation in Tunisia requires conciliation in order to achieve public interest, but he also publically declares that he supports applying Sharia gradually in Tunisia, which means, “uniting Tunisians around the word of God rather than dividing them.