Tunisian naturalization issue

First naturalization laws

The first laws allowing Tunisians to obtain French citizenship were enacted in 1887, six years after the protectorate's establishment. The law of July 29, 1887, specified:

Article 1 :

May, after the age of twenty-one, be allowed to enjoy the rights of French citizens, the Tunisian subject that will have served three years in the French army of land or sea, or who has performed duties or civilian jobs paid by the French Treasury.

Article 2 :

The three-year time limit is reduced to one year for the individuals mentioned in the previous article that would have rendered France with exceptional services.

Article 3 :

Will also be allowed to enjoy the rights of French citizens the Tunisian subjects who, without having served in the armies or performed duties or civilian jobs paid by the French Treasury, will render France with exceptional services.

Article 4 :

The naturalization request is applied to the civil controller of the district in which the applicant has established his residence. The civil controller shall automatically make a survey of the history and character of the applicant [...] In each case, the result of the investigation, with the request and supporting documents are sent to the Resident-general, who passes on the folder, with his reasoned opinion, to the Ministry of Foreign affairs.

This law was repealed without major amendment by the decree of February 28, 1899 and that of October 2, 1910, August 20, 1914 and the decree of November 8, 1921. The 1910 law only expanded the possibility to request naturalization for Tunisian spouses of French women (with children) and for holders of advanced degrees (therefore, acquiered in France), on the condition of having been refused a voluntary commitment.

However, the reactions to the 1921 decree, which eased the access to French citizenship for foreigners born in Tunisia, were vivid. Some Tunisian newspapers criticized this "attack on Tunisian citizenship" and reckoned the French government could give foreigners Tunisian nationality if needed by reforming Tunisian courts. On the other hand, others found it normal for Christian foreigners born in Tunisia to obtain French citizenship rather than Tunisian.

The first "official" opposition came from An-Nasir bey on April 8, 1922, when he threatened to abdicate if his 18 requests were not satisfied. The ninth point demanded the "absolute abolition of the Tunisian naturalization decree, both for those who have served in the army and for those who have not". However the Bey was soon compelled to withdraw his demands.

Anyway, the number of naturalizations were, at the time, negligible.:

Law of December 20, 1923

The worry of the French government towards the importance of the Italian population in Tunisia and the ascending of fascism in Italy, encouraged France to enact the law of December 20, 1923 easing access to French citizenship for Tunisians. Therefore, those who could appeal for French citizenship were: ·

One of the first Tunisian to oppose the law was Tahar Haddad who feared desertion of his countrymen interested in the material benefits of naturalization. On November 13, 1923, he denounced "the opening for naturalizations that involves, the least we can say, that France wants Tunisians to become French one day. Is not this enough to prove that the French government is eager to suppress the Tunisian nation and the state that represents it, state that France is committed to by conventions, in order to respect it and even defend it?"

The Destour party also tried to oppose this law by organizing a campaign of telegrams. Their attempts to obtain a condemnation of religious authorities was vain because naturalization was optional. The signature of the bill by al-Habib bey put an end to their campaign, weakening the nationalist party.

Naturalizations following the 1923 law

The major beneficiaries of this law were the Jewish, eager to escape Tunisian courts whose laws were inspired from muslim texts. From the beginnings of the protectorate, they were numerous to integrate French schools. Thus, they met the conditions to obtain French citizenship. In 1924, they were 284 to be ask for naturalization while 62 muslims applied for it. Between 1924 and 1930, the number of candidates increased to 5300 jewish and 1150 muslims. The motivations of these are more prosaic: almost all of these candidates were small officials attracted by the colonial third, this "expatriation bonus" of 33% granted to all French.

Lucien Saint, the Resident-General of France who was the origin of this law, wanted to weaken the nationalist movement by attracting its better educated members. However, he only managed to attract the sarcasm of the most racist colonialists, who were mocking these new citizens who barely spoke French. When he left Tunisia on January 2, 1929, he did not know that he left his successor with a time bomb that will start the Tunisian national movement, once again.

National movement of 1932

The scoundrel decrees enacted by Lucien Saint in 1926 led the members of Destour to secrecy. The economic prosperity of the country in that period did not help them mobilize inhabitants. Waiting for better days, they multiplied Destourian cells in the countryside and created numerous labor unions in each corporation. Literary, artistic or theatrical companies travelled the country in order to maintain the national sentiment. Nationalist newspapers in arabic or French were developing.

On November 1, 1932, was published the first edition of L'Action Tunisienne managed by Habib Bourguiba, Mahmoud El Materi, Bahri Guiga, M'hamed Bourguiba, Tahar Sfar and Ali Bouhageb.

In this context, the Great Depression reached Tunisia and the discontent grew bigger in the country. These young nationalists felt that a good cause would be sufficient to revive the National movement on new bases.

1931 World Islamic Congress of Jerusalem

The nomination of Abdelaziz Thâalbi as a representative of Tunisia to the 1931 World Islamic Congress drew the attention of Tunisians on the conclusions of the meeting, among which "the desperate struggle against the naturalization of Muslims in Islamic countries administered by France". The strong popularity of the Destourian leader in exile brought back the remaining issue, especially as the time was favorable to religious renewal, as shown the motion of the Tunisian section of the Grand Council, in favor of Koranic schools and Ez-Zitouna University.

Bizerte burial

On December 31, 1932, upon the announcement of the death of a naturalized French muslim, Mohamed Chaabane, in Bizerte, individuals gathered in the Muslim cemetery with the firm will to oppose the internment of the dead. Rumors spread which lead the city's Mufti, Idriss Cherif, enacted a Fatwa, justifying this refusal. In order to avoid a bloodshed, his widow, French and Catholic, accepted to bury him in the European cemetery. On that very day, a spahi of Bizerte, also naturalized French, had to call for the local authorities to intervene in order to bury one of his young sons in the Muslim cemetery.

All these glorious acts were celebrated as a great victory by the nationalist media. L'Action Tunisienne started a newspaper campaign that caused violent protests in Hammam Lif, Ferryville and Kairouan.

Fatwa of Muhammad al-Tahir ibn Ashur

In order to remove any ambiguity, Resident-General François Manceron asked for Cheikh el Islam Muhammad al-Tahir ibn Ashur's advice, in April 1933. The fatwa of the "Sharaa" court was very ambiguous; it maintained that a Muslim who adopts the nationality of a non-Muslim country is an apostate, but added that if this one repents, even verbally, before his death, his burial in Muslim lands will be granted. But, learning of this maneuver, Destourians denounced the collusion between the French and the religious authorities. Manceron, therefore, informed the French minister of foreign affairs, Joseph Paul-Boncour, of his failure:

We had every reason to believe that the response of Sharaa would be affirmative and that it would therefore be likely to resolve this difficult issue, but some religious judges' indiscretions caused the unrest that I point out. It is feared that, even if the legal advice is favorable, it cannot usefully serve us because the Destourians press claims that we lobbied the Sharaa and that such a non freely issued opinion has no value.

The Resident-General was not mistaken: When the new fatwa was confirmed, students of Ez-Zitouna started a strike and demanded the removal of its author. Their demand was successful on September 30, 1933.

Upsurge of protests

When rumors regarding the drafting of a fatwa favorable to the Residence spread, the representative of Constantine in the French chamber of deputies, Émile Morinaud, demanded that the Minister of Foreign Affairs accelerate the naturalization policy, on April 6. Therefore, it is no more a hypothesis that a plan was prepared by Tunis, Algiers and Paris to attack Tunisian nationality and Islam.

On April 15 and April 16, 1933, the neighbourhood of Halfaouine started an unrest upon the announcement of the of Moussa Ben Saïd, a naturalized French. Law enforcement could not handle the turmoil and thus, were replaced by Senegalese Tirailleurs who dealt with the insurrection. The events only ended when the protesters learned that Ben Said was alive.

On April 21, the Grand Vizier Hedi Lakhoua published a proclamation by which, Ahmad II bey, declaring himself as a defender of Muslim religion, asked his subjects for peace, defended Sharaa and warned the troublemakers against the harmful aftermaths of their acts. Nevertheless, his speech was ineffective. To avoid riots, naturalized were buried in European cemeteries like in Kairouan, La Manouba, El Kef and Souk El Arba.

On May 1, Tunis inhabitants started, once again, protests in order to stop the internment of Mrs Kebaïli whose husband was the chairman of the Muslim League of France. The Resident-General yielded, days later, ordering the burial of French Muslims in specially-designated cemeteries.

On August 7, a bloodshed occurred in Monastir. Despite the Resident's decree forbidding the burial of naturalized French in Muslim cemeteries, Sousse's civil controller, André Graignic, forced the burial of a naturalized official's child, Abdesselem Essayadi. People decided to protest against this decision and soon violence was used: The crowd started throwing stones at the funeral oration while soldiers shot the protesters, leading to numerous injured and a dead man, Chaabane El Bhouti nicknamed Kherfoucha. Following the events, Graignic and the caïd of Monastir were mutated. ·

Distribution of an anonymous fatwa on May 4

To express his disagreement with al-Tahir ibn Ashur, Mohamed Bechir Naifer (1889-1974), imam in Ez-Zitouna Mosque, wrote a fatwa specifying that a Muslim seeking naturalization was considered to have renounced his faith. The fatwa also made clear the conditions of repentance so that a naturalized had the right to be buried in a Muslim cemetery. This fatwa was countersigned by his brother Ibrahim Naifer. In order to avoid reprisals against the writers of the text, it was copied and signed by Muhammed Salah Naifer (1902-1993) who transmitted it to L'Action Tunisienne journal.

The fatwa was published anonymously on May 4:

The Muslim who adopts the naturalization of a non-Muslim power governed by laws not conforming to Islamic law is considered, upon this act, as a non-Muslim [...]

Regarding the admissibility of repentance of the Muslim who puts himself in the above case, the Hanafi rite is categorical: it does not admit him [...]

For the Maliki rite, the admissibility of repentance is subject to known conditions that are:

The repentant must proclaim his repentance, therefore conform his actions, not commit the sin of which he repents and repair what can be repaired.

The naturalized can not be declared repentant (tâib) unless he meets these conditions.

Hence it results for the naturalized husband, who comes to repentance, that he must renew his marriage contract. If he cannot return to the situation that he has committed to leave, he is obliged to emigrate to a country where it is possible for him to comply with the commandments of his religion.

The absence of signatures was justified by the editors of the paper: "In order not to put these teachers in an awkward position towards the administration and avoid the retaliation of "Sidi Tahar," we will not publish their names that we keep for ourselves". However, Muhammed Salah Naifer was suspended from his duties, in the midst of May.

Creation of special cemeteries

A decree enacted on May 6, 1933, established special cemeteries for naturalized. Civil controllers were responsible for the creation of these cemeteries in towns where the state of mind of the inhabitants made it necessary. These special cemeteries were known to common people as "carrion cemeteries". It was heartbreaking for those Muslims who could not be buried near their families. At least 70 sought to restore their Tunisian citizenship in their letters addressed to the Resident-General. In these letters, they begged him to "erase their French citizenship" and to give them back Tunisian citizenship so they can be buried with their dead and save their families from shame and despair. One of them, a retired peacekeeper in Kairouan wrote:

MERCY, MERCY, MERCY minister for this misfortune that during all his life has only been sadness and pain [sic]

MERCY, MERCY, MERCY minister for the one who is considered as an enemy by his own descendants. And that old loyal heart will always remain friendly for France that will be his only love [...] Your obedient servant begging you, begging you MERCY, MERCY, MERCY.

Tunisian socialists relayed these requests to Paris, but the government responded that "French citizenship cannot be lost unless the French government determines that it should deprive the one who freely sought it".

Reviving Tunisian nationalism

The success of popular mobilization galvanized activists at such a point that they claimed the holding of an extraordinary Destour Congress, which happened on May 12 and May 13 in Tunis, Mountain street. Successful in their press campaign, all the group of L'Action Tunisienne was elected unanimously in the executive Destour committee.

But the joy did not last: On September 4, following a shooting in Monastir cemetery, Habib Bourguiba, lead a protest delegation of Monastirians to the bey. The members of the executive committee, blaming him for taking this decision on his own, without informing them. Storming, Bourguiba resigned form the committee on September 9. It was the beginning of the split-up that lead to the creation of the Neo Destour on March 2, 1934.