Islam is the official state religion

State religion

A state religion is a religious body or creed officially endorsed by the state...

 in Tunisia

Tunisia

Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...

. Approximately 98 percent of the population of Tunisia

Tunisia

Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...

 is nominally Muslim

Muslim

A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

. Most of them are Sunni belonging to the Maliki

Maliki

The ' madhhab is one of the schools of Fiqh or religious law within Sunni Islam. It is the second-largest of the four schools, followed by approximately 25% of Muslims, mostly in North Africa, West Africa, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and in some parts of Saudi Arabia...

te madhhab, but a small number of Ibadhi Muslims

Ibadi

The Ibāḍī movement, Ibadism or Ibāḍiyya is a form of Islam distinct from the Sunni and Shia denominations. It is the dominant form of Islam in Oman and Zanzibar...

 (Kharijites

Kharijites

Kharijites is a general term embracing various Muslims who, while initially supporting the authority of the final Rashidun Caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib, the son-in-law and cousin of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, then later rejected his leadership...

) still exist among the Berber

Berber people

Berbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are continuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke the Berber language or varieties of it, which together form a branch...

-speakers of Jerba Island. There is no reliable data on the number of practicing Muslims. There is a small indigenous Sufi Muslim community; however, there are no statistics regarding its size. Reliable sources report that many Sufis left the country shortly after independence when their religious buildings and land reverted to the Government (as did those of Orthodox Islamic foundations). Although the Sufi community is small, its tradition of mysticism permeates the practice of Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

 throughout the country. During annual Ramadan

Ramadan

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, which lasts 29 or 30 days. It is the Islamic month of fasting, in which participating Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, smoking and sex during daylight hours and is intended to teach Muslims about patience, spirituality, humility and...

 festivals, Sufis provide public cultural entertainment by performing religious dances.
The Constitution declares Islam the official state religion and stipulates that the President must be a Muslim.

The government

Politics of Tunisia

The politics of Tunisia function within a framework of a republic organized under a constitution, with a President serving as head of state, Prime Minister as head of government, a bicameral legislature and a court system influenced by French civil law...

 controls and subsidizes mosque

Mosque

A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...

s and pays the salaries of prayer leaders. The President appoints the Grand Mufti

Grand Mufti

The title of Grand Mufti refers to the highest official of religious law in a Sunni or Ibadi Muslim country. The Grand Mufti issues legal opinions and edicts, fatwā, on interpretations of Islamic law for private clients or to assist judges in deciding cases...

 of the Republic. The 1988 Law on Mosques provides that only personnel appointed by the Government may lead activities in mosques and stipulates that mosques must remain closed except during prayer times and other authorized religious ceremonies, such as marriages or funerals. Police stations will often be found near mosques.http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2006/71433.htm. Some people maybe interrogated just for associating or being seen in the street with practising Muslims. New mosques may be built in accordance with national urban planning regulations; however, upon completion, they become the property of the Government. The Government also partially subsidizes the Jewish community.

The following religious holidays are considered national holidays: Eid al-Adha, Eid al-Fitr, Ras Al-Am El-Hejri, and Mawlid

Mawlid

Mawlid or sometimes ميلاد , mīlād is a term used to refer to the observance of the birthday of the Islamic prophet Muhammad which occurs in Rabi' al-awwal,...

. The Government also recognizes the sanctity of non-Muslim religious holidays.

Islamic religious education is mandatory in public schools, but the religious curriculum for secondary school students also includes the history of Judaism

Judaism

Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

 and Christianity

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

. The Zeitouna Koranic School is part of the Government's national university system.

Generally, Shari'a-based interpretation of civil law is applied only in some family cases. Some families avoid the effects of Shari'a on inheritance by executing sales contracts between parents and children to ensure that sons and daughters receive equal shares of property.

According to the State Department's 2004 International Religious Freedom Report, referenced below, there were some reports that the Government did not allow married, interfaith couples to register the birth of their children. In these cases, couples were denied birth certificates if the mother was Christian and the father was Muslim and the parents tried to give their children non-Arabic names.