In a side street in the Lafayette area, I stood in front of a well-known teashop frequented daily by dozens of customers from different social levels.
I was hesitant to go in and use the main entrance so I stood outside and watched the place while trying to listen to the noise coming from inside the shop. Suddenly, a tall man opened the door for me. He was quick and looked around the place as if he wanted to let me in as quickly as possible and go back to hiding inside.
In a side street in the Lafayette area, I stood in front of a well-known teashop frequented daily by dozens of customers from different social levels.
I was hesitant to go in and use the main entrance so I stood outside and watched the place while trying to listen to the noise coming from inside the shop. Suddenly, a tall man opened the door for me. He was quick and looked around the place as if he wanted to let me in as quickly as possible and go back to hiding inside.
The minute I was in I started to look around the place as if I was searching for someone I knew. All those sitting in the shop began to stare at me as if my presence had surprised them.
The air conditioning in the corner of the shop made the place pleasant despite the heavy cigarette smoke that almost obscured my vision. The lights were dimmed so the place gave the feeling that it was not daytime, rather late evening. Although the place was crowded with people, the noise was not as intense as it used to be during normal days.
Right in front of me, the waiter was bending over slightly to take an order from a young man accompanied by two girls. He suddenly looked at me and asked me in a harsh tone to close the door. I quietly did then chose a table in one of the distant corners of the cafe where I could see everything going on inside of it.
Many of the customers who were sitting in the shop were mostly young men and some women, with the occasional older men. At the table next to mine, there was a man in his fifties, smoking his cigarettes with an addict’s passion. He was also drinking coffee, one sip after the next, and was constantly looking around. Next to the coffee cup, there was a medicine bottle that he had deliberately put on the table to tell any person who might ask him why he is not fasting that he is sick and cannot fast in Ramadan.
Fear hangs over cafes
The waiter came and asked me what I wanted to order. I told him I wanted coffee but he said I should also order water. I told him that this was a conditioned selling and that it would be punishable by law. He smiled and said: It is Ramadan!
When he came back with the coffee and water, he also brought the bill with him. I noticed that the prices were very high but I tried not to comment and to be friendly with him. I asked him about work in Ramadan and how he felt about it.
He was reluctant to answer but then he said that he hates to work during Ramadan because he fasts. “I am obliged to serve customers because I have to and I need my job. I have to deal with non-fasting people throughout the month of Ramadan,” he said in a sad tone. I asked him if all the people in the shop are sick and if this is the reason why they are not fasting but he said that only some of them are actually sick but most of them are not. “They are healthy but they just do not want to fast.”
The shop’s owner is aware of raids by religious militant groups on his shop and the waiter said that after the warnings made by such groups, it became dangerous to open. “The owner has permission from the interior ministry to open his shop during Ramadan but he is still always alert and watches every movement. He never leaves the place while it is opened,” he said.
The minister of halal and haram
My second station was a journey to “fish” for non-fasting people. I visited one of the famous motels located in the Habib Bourguiba Street. It was easier for me to enter this place compared to my adventure at the coffee shop. It was a place full of tourists of different nationalities while the coffee shop seemed to be only for Tunisian nationals.
In this motel, I met many famous and well-know personalities such as a well-known Tunisian poet. When I asked him about the Ramadan environment, he said that the Ennahda Movement is seeking to crack down on public freedoms. And because he is used to not fast during Ramadan, he said that he has noticed a drop in the number of restaurants and coffee shops that are opened during this month. “I have to drink my coffee every day in a very expensive coffee shop, in a four-star place because there are very few places that are open and secure,” he said.
What is observed in all the places open for those who are not fasting, regardless of the reason why they are not fasting during Ramadan, is that customers, as well as owners of these places, feel insecure. They are afraid of possible attacks by some hard-line religious groups who market themselves as observers of debauchery and immorality in society and who want to put an end to such a behavior.
Many law activists feel that personal freedoms are endangered especially after the communication issued by Noureddine al-Khadimi, the Minister of Religious Affairs, a few days before the month of Ramadan “reminding cafes and restaurants to close their doors and not receive visitors during the entire month of Ramadan because it is a holy fasting month and thus it is against the Islamic religion to open during this month.”
This communication was met with angry reactions and people started to call the minister who issued it by the “minister of halal and haram (right and wrong) in the Islamic Wahhabi Republic,” a name which makes fun of the new rules imposed on the Tunisian people.
This communication has also angered the Tunisian League for the Defence of Human Rights. In a statement issued after this communication, the league said that such communication is against the law and that it is a violation of the basic principles of freedom of conscience and belief and that it incites discord, violence and hatred between individuals.
In a startling government contradiction, the interior ministry said in a statement that it has granted some coffee shops and restaurants formal licenses to open during the month of Ramadan to receive non-fasting customers while the Ministry of Religious Affairs forbids people from eating or drinking in Ramadan.
Non-fasting watchdogs
Adel al-Alami, a religious activist and the head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (which is now named the Moderate Association for Awareness and Reform), said that he will file lawsuits against any person who allows himself to show that he is not fasting during the month of Ramadan if caught in any coffee shop or restaurant while eating or drinking. He added that “there are a number of volunteers roaming public places and taking pictures of non-fasting people.”
He also said that he will demand the activation of the Tunisian law provisions that stipulate that sins should be deterred and that professing that one is not fasting during the month of Ramadan is a sin and hurts the feelings of Muslims. He added that he has formed a committee of lawyers to trace those who are not fasting to file lawsuits against them.
Adel al-Alami is one of the most controversial figures in Tunisia. He is an advocate of the idea of polygamy in the country and the one who called for beating Amina 100 lashes and stoning her to death because she is a member of the FEMAN Group and she revealed her naked breast to the public.
A few days ago, al-Alami launched a campaign entitled “Those who do not fast will not go unpunished.” The campaign was met with lots of condemnation by Tunisian society, which is known for its moderation and tolerance. The Tunisian people considered al-Alami’s campaign as a blatant interference in personal freedom and in man’s relationship with his Lord. In a counter campaign, young activists on social networking sites encouraged people to show that they are not fasting. The campaign called people to publish their photos on Facebook and Twitter pages while they are eating and drinking during daytime in the month of Ramadan.
