Analyse textuelle et comparée de la pensée du Tunisien Rached Ghannouchi (1941 – ) sur la liberté de religion dans l’État islamique
This thesis provides a critical analysis of Rached Ghannouchi’s thought and methodology in regards to the concept of the freedom of religion. This critical analysis is done on the basis of a comparison between his thought and that found in major works reflecting the four traditional Sunni schools of jurisprudence. The research question is how to identify the degree of conformity between his intellectual stance and those of traditionalist sources concerning the freedom of religion in the Islamic society. After having presented why Rached Ghannouchi is an important contemporary thinker and religious leader especially in Tunisia, we explain why it is difficult to categorize him in one or another current of thought among current Muslim thinkers and researchers of contemporary Islamic thought.    This thesis begins with a documentary analysis of Ghannouchi’s writings on the problématique of freedom of religion in the Islamic State. It then compares his thought on that specific topic to that of five major scholars of the traditionalist school of Sunni thought, four classical representing Maliki, Hanafi, Shâfi’i and Hanbali schools and one contemporary representing a Maliki Tunisian thinker, Al-Habîb Ben Tâhir (1958 — ). Finally, this thesis presents an analysis of the methodology by which Ghannouchi extracts his legal opinions from religious texts (Qur’an and Sunna), comparing it with the methodology used by those above five specialists of the foundations of Sunni Muslim law. This thesis reaches the conclusion the methodology Ghannouchi used to derive his concept of the freedom of religion is analogous to the premodern traditionalist school of Sunni thought, although it differs on three important methodological points: the reading of scriptural texts in light of a new contemporary context, the rereading of juridical laws according to the current interest in the Muslim community, especially in Tunisia, and the broadening of the research corpus to current knowledge both internally and externally to Muslim communities worldwide.
Rached Ghannouchi Apostasie Islam Rached Ghannouchi Islamic State Religious Freedom Freedom of Choice Apostasy Equal Citizenship Religious Minorities Islam Traditional Schools of Thought Islamic Jurisprudence