Mohamed Salah Ben Mrad was a Tunisian theologian, journalist and intellectual.
Background
Born in the Medina of Tunis near the Tourbet El Bey, Mohamed Salah was the son of the Hanafi Bach-mufti, Sheikh H"mida Ben Mrad, a specialist in rhetoric and the elder brother of the sheikhs Neji (who served as qadi and mufti) and Brahim Ben Mrad (who served as imam,teacher at the Zaytuna,judge at the Tunis tribunal).
Education
He completed his studies at the Zaytuna and left in 1900.
Career
In 1931 he published Mourning on Haddad"s Woman (ﺍﻟﺤﺪﺍﺩ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻣﺮأﺓ ﺍﻟﺤﺪﺍﺩ) objecting to the expanded rights for women which were advocated by Tahar Haddad in his book Our Women in the Sharia and Society published one year earlier. Youth He came from a family of Tunis scholars and intellectuals of Ottoman origin, from Turkey. Religious Leader After the removal of the latter, on the occasion of the inauguration of the new Bey Lamine by General Alphonse Juin, he insisted, in his speech to the king, on his role as guarantor of the monarchy and the Husseinite throne, suggesting that there is a void left by Moncef Bey in the heart of Tunisians.
Under pressure from the Resident General of France in Tunisia Charles Mast, Sheikh Ben Mrad was dismissed from his post in 1946, because of his political commitment to nationalist leaders of the Neo-Destour imprisoned and exiled, and in favor of the union movement of the General Union of Tunisian Workers - Farhat Hached.
Views
He defends the idea of wearing "sefseri" by Tunisian women which he finds is not a sign of religious identification, but a more traditional dress akin to a national uniform that was shared by all social groups.