Tunisia's Shiites Hunker Down Against Rising Discrimination
Shiites in Tunisia say they’ve seen a rise in discrimination against them, particularly from Salafists or fundamentalist Sunni Muslims. “They threaten us online and in the street every day,” said one. “They are narrow-minded.” Mischa Benoit-Lavelle reports for Al-Monitor.
GABES, Tunisia — If you walk by Mubarak Baadache’s home in this palm-filled seaside oasis town near Tunisia’s border with Libya during the Muslim month of Muharram, you will hear a sound blasting from an old cassette that is heard almost nowhere else in Tunisia: Shiite prayers.
Baadache is the self-proclaimed leader of the Shiite population in Tunisia and one of the only Tunisian Shiites to proudly and publicly confess his faith to the media.
“They say that if you drink Sheikh Baadache’s tea, you’ll become a Shiite,” joked Khaled, one of Baadache’s disciples who asked his last name not be published, as he poured a glass.
By “they,” Khaled means the Sunni Muslims of Baadache’s town, who say a lot of things about Baadache that are not very nice. But the sheikh remains defiant and unafraid, calling on his critics to debate him in a voice so loud it’s as if he wished them to hear him from the street.
