Calls by Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi for “full gender equality, including equal inheritance rights for women” have provoked an outcry from Al-Azhar clerics, who denounced the concept as “running counter to Islamic teachings.” They also sparked condemnation from Egypt’s loyalist media, with some anti-reformists calling the idea “blasphemous” and others even inciting violence against the Tunisian leadership.

Essebsi’s comments came in a speech marking National Women’s Day Aug. 13, which commemorates the promulgation of Tunisia’s Personal Status Code in 1956 — a “pioneering” set of laws regulating marriage, divorce, custody and inheritance that profoundly changed the legal status of women in the predominantly Muslim country. By promoting education for girls, abolishing polygamy and outlawing repudiation of a wife outside court-mandated divorce, Tunisia’s personal status code paved the way for greater gender equality and remains to date among the most progressive in the Arab world.

Essebsi requested the formation of a committee of male and female jurists to study his proposal, which — if approved by the experts — would be followed by amendments to Tunisia’s law on inheritance. Realizing that he was treading on dangerous ground, the Tunisian president sought to allay the concerns of ultra-conservatives, assuring them that “we will not push for reforms that would shock the people, but we are moving toward equality in all fields.”

“We are confident that Tunisian legislators will be able to strike a balance between gender equality on the one hand and religion and the constitution on the other,” he added.