Why did Tunisia prohibit polygamy under its 1957 Law of Personal Status?

Tunisia’s prohibition of polygamy in the 1957 Law of Personal Status was rooted in a radical interpretation of Islamic jurisprudence (ijtihad) that prioritized modern social and economic realities.1

While traditional Islamic law often viewed the Qur'anic injunction for a husband to treat co-wives with complete impartiality as a moral exhortation, Tunisian reformers argued that this requirement constituted a strict legal condition precedent to polygamy. They maintained that because such impartial treatment is a practical impossibility under modern social and economic conditions, the essential requirements for a plural marriage cannot be fulfilled. Consequently, the law concluded that polygamy must be prohibited.1

This reform was part of a broader effort by the Tunisian government to improve the status of women and establish legal equality between men and women, reflecting a functional approach to law that sought to relate the divine will to contemporary social environments.213