Shouts of "Allahu Akbar" greeted Egyptian cleric Mohamed Hassan upon his arrival in Tunis on Tuesday (April 30th).
The Wahhabi cleric was met at the airport by senior leaders from Ennahda, including Sheikh Habib Ellouz, described by opponents as the party hawk.
This latest visit by a radical foreign preacher prompted strong responses from all sides.
Attorney Leila Ben Debba drew attention at Tunis-Carthage Airport by calling for the Egyptian sheikh to be denied entry. Airport security agents had to intervene to protect her from being harmed.
Nasereddine ben Hadid, a Tunisian media figure, later wrote on his Facebook page that he saw El Menzah Olympic Stadium overflowing with fans of the sheikh who came to hear him speak.
Ben Hadid advised secularists to "move beyond ridicule and insults".
As for Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia, they criticised the visit and said in a statement on Tuesday that Sheikh Hassan was a heretic by virtue of his actions, specifically his urging Egyptians to vote.
They described his actions as "contrary to the law of God". The statement added that attending the sermons of Sheikh Hassan in Tunis was "a heresy, and praying behind him is null".
For her part, Mayla Khekid told Magharebia that she was surprised by the exaggerated attention of the authorities to Sheikh Hassan. She mentioned providing him with luxury cars and hosting him in luxury hotels "at a time when our young soldiers and security officials are having bloody clashes with extremists".
"How did our green and safe Tunisia reach this level?" she wondered. "Tunisia, which used to export qualified people and scientists, is today the largest exporter of terrorists.... Tunisia the safe used to worry about firecrackers during football games and is now waking up to the sounds of explosions while our eyes are filled with the blood of our loyal soldiers."
Writer Saleh Souissi told Magharebia that he was not disturbed by such visits: "What worries me is the silence of the ruling Ennahda Party with regard to what is happening in Tunisia in terms of the spread of terrorism everywhere. This terror appears in all its forms and manifestations from exploiting religion to exploiting the topic of Arabisation to the excesses of Tunisian citizens in the name of freedom."
"I don't think we will find solutions to the issues of development and unemployment in the sermons of Sheikh Hassan," remarked Dalanda Laaribi, a human rights activist. "We won't find the solution for our falling behind in science and technology. I wish these expenses were run for important issues relevant to the daily lives of citizens."
Meanwhile, student Tarek Mziou told Magharebia that he saw no harm in the visit. "They raised hell because of a sheikh who came to give us sincere sermons and honest counselling," he said.
As for Ferid Beji, orator in Manouba Mosque and president of the Zitouna Association of the Prophetic Tradition, he said in a televised programme broadcast on Tuesday night that he fears such visits, which he said disseminate thinking that was foreign to moderate Islam.
© Magharebia.com 2013
