Mohammedanism.
Though it is an undoubted fact that the various races of Berbers and Arabs have preserved much of their identity, it is also noticeable that, to a stranger arriving in the country for the first time, the inhabitants appear, as it were, to be fused into one race. This fusion is the result of their creed, for Mohammedanism has been drawn like a veil over the whole country.
Mohammed, through the Koran, gave to even daily labour the stamp of religion, and in a marvellous way moulded all the various races, who thus became “the faithful,” into one mode of thought and life, which gradually shaped them all to one pattern, although hereditary inclinations and customs contended, and are still contending, against such constraint.
The features which appear most strongly marked in these various races who have become Mussulmans, are their individual absorption in their religion and their family organisation.
The stubborn influence of Islamism on the community is entirely expressed in the phrase “Mektub” (it is written). Fatalism has destroyed all initiative, all progress. How men may act is immaterial. “It is written.”
To the Mussulmans, authority is of divine origin. Their creed ordains that everyone must bow to authority. This has given rise to the most complete absolutism, alike from the Bey, whose title is “The chosen of God and the owner of the kingdom of Tunisia,” down to the lowest of officials.
But yet the yoke may prove too heavy—then the oppressed revolt, as has so often happened.
The influence of religion is manifest in the treatment of the insane, whose utterances are held as sacred. The number of real and pretended lunatics is consequently very great. Hospitality is not exactly gladly offered to such afflicted persons, but they are permitted to take whatever they please from a house, a liberty often very widely interpreted. Latterly a madman in Tunis declared several houses to be under a ban. All the inmates at once fled, and could not be persuaded to return. This individual was also inspired with the sublime idea of erecting a barricade in one of the most populous streets, by means of doors which he lifted from their hinges.
The Prophet organised the family on the lines best adapted to the nomad tribes, who were destined to be great conquerors. He ordained the absorption of the vanquished into the family; while the males were killed or, if fortunate, made slaves, the women were allowed to enter the family.
This was the foundation of the rapid conquest of North Africa by Islam.
To ensure unity in the family, composed of so many and varied elements, the man is invested with the most absolute authority. He does not marry but he buys his wife, who becomes his property. He is unquestionably her lord and master, he can maltreat her, kill her if she is untrue to him, without risking injury to a hair of his own head. All that he owes her is the “hak Allah.”
Crimes against women are more rare now through fear of the French; but as there is no legal census, many murders may be committed which are never brought to light.
Religious influence first and foremost, also life in common under equal conditions of many generations of different extraction, have obliterated many of the characteristics of the natives of Tunisia. Many Berber tribes have been entirely transformed into Arabs, and, on the other hand, many Arab tribes have been Berberised. Indeed, there are tribes forming a subdivision, of which it is well known some are Berbers, some Arabs.
Of the religious brotherhoods, so numerous elsewhere under Islam, there are comparatively few in Tunisia. We find the “Tidyanya,” “Medaniya,” and the “Aissaua,” and, besides these, many scattered “Shorfa.”
In the towns there is more fanaticism than in the country. In this respect “those who can read and write are the worst.”
Yet many customs and reminiscences may be found of a former age before Mohammedanism was forced on the Tunisians.
For instance, the people hang bits of rag all over sacred trees; many fear the “evil eye,” or honour five as a peculiarly lucky number. For this reason they set the mark of their own five fingers on their houses to protect the latter. Indeed, it is not uncommon for a man who has more than five children, if questioned as to their number, to reply that he has five, rather than be obliged to name an unlucky number.
If rain is long delayed, they take refuge in exorcism, and will on occasion even dip their kaid in a fountain so that his beard may be wetted—that surely brings rain.