Tahar Haddad

Who was Tahar Haddad?

Tahar Haddad was a Tunisian author, scholar and reformer.

Haddad, was born in Tunis to a family of shopkeepers and attended the Great Mosque of Zitounia from 1911 until his graduation in 1920. He became a notary; he left this career to become a member of the Al-Destour, a political party. He left the party when unsatisfied with the leadership.

Haddad was a feminist. In the 1930 book Our Women in the Shari 'a and Society he advocated for expanded rights for women and said that the interpretations of Islam at the time inhibited women.

Haddad was never exiled at the moment that the French colonial government sent his friend and co-founder of the CGTT labor union into exile. For a short period of time, he became the leader of the trade union movement. Haddad died of tuberculosis.