Religious Affairs Minister Nourredine Khadmi works in his office in Tunis, September 2, 2013. Credit: REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi
The young man at the entrance to Zitouna, the oldest mosque in the Tunis medina, was adamant. Non-Muslims could no longer enter the building, not even just its outside gallery overlooking the busy souk.
“You can only come in if you declare, ‘There is no god but God and Mohammad is God’s messenger’,” he said – effectively making conversion to Islam the new admission ticket to a monument that used to welcome non-Muslim visitors.
Tom Heneghan, Reuter’s religion editor, reports on tensions between Ennahda, Tunisia’s governing party, and increasingly activist Salafi groups.