Mohamed Talbi

Talbi was born in Tunis on 16 September 1921, attending school there and going on to study in Paris.[3] Talbi wrote prolifically on a wide range of topics, including the history of the medieval Maghreb, Islam and its relationship with both women and democracy, and Islam's role in the modern world.[4]

Talbi died in Tunis on 1 May, 2017.[5]

Talbi spent most of his educational career teaching Mediterranean and North African history. He taught the Institute of Higher Education of Tunis.[6] In 1966, he became the first dean of the School of Letter and Human Sciences of Tunis,[7] as well as chairing the school's history department. He later directed the scientific journal Les Cahiers de Tunisie.[8]

In 1968, Talbi defended his Ph.D. thesis, The Aghlabid Emirate, a political History, at the Sorbonne. It was focused on Tunisia's first Muslim dynasty,[9] addressing especially the history and key role of slavery in the Emirate’s agriculture and economy.[10]

Talbi was appointed president of the Tunisian Academy of Sciences, Letters, and Arts between 2011 and 2012.[11]

On the subject of Islam and democracy, Talbi rejected any direct association between Shura and democracy.[12] He argued that shura originated before Western and Islamic concepts of democracy had even developed, and that the two were not analogous .[13] Talbi also argued that democracy as rule by the people and notions of human rights, religious pluralism, and equality under the law, embodies values which Talbi believed constituted authentic Islam.[14]

Talbi participated in a number of interfaith dialogues with North African and European Christians, but also criticized the practice often. In a 1987 article, Talbi criticized the (at the time) current poverty of Muslim initiatives or even responses to Euro-Arab or Muslim-Christian dialogue.[15] Talbi also explicitly declared Islam to be open to dialogue with other faiths and cultures.[16] Talbi viewed Muslim-Christian dialogue as a significant religious matter.[17]

Portrait of Talbi, artist unknown

• Member of the Real Academia de la Historia (1970)[23]
• Member of the editorial team of the Encyclopaedia of Islam (1978)[24]
• Member of the Universal Academy of Cultures (1994)[25]
• President of the Tunisian Academy of Sciences, Letters, and Arts (2011-2012)[26]

• 1979 : Premio letterario internazionale del Mediterraneo (Italy)[27]
• 1985 : The Léopold Lucas Prize (Germany)[28]
• 1987 : The Cultural National Prize (Tunisia)[29]
• 1991 : The Literature National Prize (Tunisia)[30]
• 1994 : Hiroshima Prize for Peace and Cultural (Sweden)[31]
• 1997 : The Senator Giovanni Agnelli International Prize (Italy)[32]
• 2017 : Ibn Khaldun Award in Humanities (granted posthumously ; Tunisia)[33]