Mohamed Talbi

Doctor of History Mohamed Talbi
محمد الطالبي
Talbi in 11 November 2012
Born	(1921-09-16)16 September 1921 Tunis, Tunisia
Died	1 May 2017(2017-05-01) (aged 95) Tunis, Tunisia
Nationality	Tunisian
Education	Doctorate in History from the Sorbonne University
Occupation(s)	author, professor, Islamologist
Employer(s)	University of Tunis, Tunisian Academy of Sciences and Arts (2011-2012)
Known for	Islamic studies
Title	Professor
Movement	Islamic democracy

Mohamed Talbi (Arabic: محمد الطالبي), (16 September 1921^[1] – 1 May 2017) was a Tunisian author, professor, and Islamologist.^[2]

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 [fr].^[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]

Ribbon bar	Country	Honour
	Tunisia	Grand Officer of the Order of the Republic[18]
	Tunisia	Commander of the Order of Merit[19]
	Tunisia	Officer of the Order of the Independence[20]
	France	Officer of the Legion of Honour[21]
	Spain	Commander of the Order of Civil Merit[22]

• 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]

• Al-Mukhassass d'Ibn Sïda : études et index, ed. Imprimerie officielle, Tunis, 1956
• Histoire générale de la Tunisie (collective book), tome II « Le Moyen Âge », ed. Société tunisienne de diffusion, Tunis, 1965
• L'émirat aghlabide (186-296/800-909) : histoire politique, ed. Adrien Maisonneuve, Paris, 1966 (ISBN 2-7200-0493-6)
• Biographies aghlabides extraites des Madarik du Cadi Iyād (critical edition), ed. Imprimerie officielle de la République tunisienne, Tunis, 1968
• Ibn Khaldûn et l'Histoire, ed. Société tunisienne de diffusion, Tunis, 1965, republishing. Maison tunisienne de l'édition, Tunis, 1973, republishing. Cartaginoiseries, Carthage, 2006
• Islam en dialogue, ed. Maison tunisienne d'édition, Tunis, 1970
• Islam et dialogue, réflexion sur un thème d'actualité, ed. Maison tunisienne d'édition, Tunis, 1972
• Étude d’histoire ifrîqiyenne et de civilisation musulmane médiévale, ed. Université de Tunis, Tunis, 1982
• Réflexions sur le Coran (with Maurice Bucaille), ed. Seghers, Paris, 1989 (ISBN 2-232-10148-7)
• Études sur la tolérance (collective book), ed. Beït El Hikma, Carthage, 1995
• Un respect têtu (with Olivier Clément), ed. Nouvelle Cité, Paris, 1995 (ISBN 2-85313-188-2)
• Plaidoyer pour un islam moderne, ed. Desclée de Brouwer, Paris, 1998 (ISBN 2-220-04251-0)
• Penseur libre en islam. Un intellectuel musulman dans la Tunisie de Ben Ali (with Gwendoline Jarczyk), ed. Albin Michel, Paris, 2002 (ISBN 2-226-13204-X)
• Universalité du Coran, ed. Actes Sud, Arles, 2002 (ISBN 2-7427-3605-0)
• Oriente-Occidente : cartografías de una distancia [Direction], ed. Fondation Marcelino Botín, Santander, 2004
• Réflexion d'un musulman contemporain, ed. Fennec, Casablanca, 2005
• Afin que mon cœur se rassure, ed. Nirvana, Tunis, 2010
• Gaza, barbarie biblique ou de l'extermination sacrée et humanisme coranique, ed. Mohamed Talbi, Tunis, 2010
• L'Islam n'est pas voile, il est culte : rénovation de la pensée musulmane, ed. Cartaginoiseries, Carthage, 2010
• Goulag et démocratie, ed. Mohamed Talbi, Tunis, 2011
• À Benoît XVI, ed. Mohamed Talbi, Tunis, 2011
• Ma religion c'est la liberté : l'islam et les défis de la contemporanéité, ed. Nirvana, Tunis, 2011 (ISBN 978-9973-855-35-0)
• Histoire du Christ. Histoire d’une fraude textes à l’appui, s. ed., Tunis, 2011^[34]
• Méditations sur le Coran : Vérité, rationalité, I'jaz scientifique, ed. Mohamed Talbi, Tunis, 2016
• Dieu est amour : guide du musulman coranique, ed. Nirvana, Tunis, 2017

• Rispetto nel dialogo. Islamismo e cristianesimo (with Olivier Clément), éd. San Paolo, Roma, 1994
• Un'urgenza dei tempi modern : il dialogo fra gli universi culturali (with Giovanni Agnelli & Marcello Pacini), ed. Fondation Giovanni Agnelli, Turino, 1997
• Le vie del dialogo nell'Islam, ed. Fondation Giovanni Agnelli, Turino, 1999
• Islam e libero pensiero. Laicità e democrazia nel mondo musulmano, ed. UTET Università, Milano, 2005
• Università del Corano, ed. Jaca Book, Milano, 2007

• Dialog mit Afrika und dem Islam (with Léopold Sédar Senghor), ed. Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, 1987

• Al-Turtûshî, al Hawâdith wa-l-Bida (تحقيق الحوادث و البدع لمحمد بن الوليد الطرطوشي أبو بكر), ed. Imprimerie officielle, Tunis, 1959
• Tarājim Aghlabīyah : mustakhrajah min Madārik al-Qādī ʻIyāḍ (تراجم أغلبيّة مستخرجة من مدارك القاضي عياض), ed. Imprimerie officielle, Tunis, 1968
• Manhajiyyat lbn Khaldûn al-Tâ'rîkhiyya (منهجية ابن خلدون التاريخيّة), ed. Dâr al-Hadathâ, Beyrouth, 1981
• Dirāsāt fī tārīkh Ifrīqīyah wa-fī al-ḥaḍārah al-Islāmiyah fī al-ʻaṣr al-wasīṭ (دراسات في تاريخ إفريقيا في الحضارة الإسلاميّة في العصر الوسيط), ed. University of Tunis, Tunis, 1982
• Al-dawlaẗu al-aġhlabiyyaẗ (184-296/800-909) : Al-tārīkẖ al-siyāsī (الدولة الأغلبيّة : 296 - 184 / 909-808 : التاريخ السياسي), ed. Dār al-Gharb al-Islāmī, Beyrouth, 1985
• Nahnou wa al-ġharb (نحن و الغرب), ed. Abdelkarim Ben Abdallah, Tunis, 1992 (Collective Work)
• Iyal Allah : Afkar Jadidah fi 'Alaqat al-Muslim bi-nafsihi wa bi al-Akharin (عيال الله : أفكار جديدة في علاقة المسلم بنفسه و بالآخرين), ed. Cérès, Tunis, 1992
• Fi Tārīkh Ifrīqīyah (في تاريخ إفريقية : أعلام – مواقع – قضايا), ed. Beït El Hikma, Carthage, 1994
• Ummat al-Wasat (أمة الوسط : الإسلام و تحديات المعاصرة), ed. Cérès, Tunis, 1996
• Al-Islâm : Hurriyatun wa Hiwâr (الإسلام حرّية و حوار), ed. Dâr al-Nahâr, Beyrouth, 1999
• Li yatma'inna qālbî : Quādhiyatû el-îmān (ليطمئن قلبي : قضية الإيمان), ed. Cérès, Tunis, 2007
• Quādhiyatû al-Hâquîqua (قضية الحقيقة), ed. Mohamed Talbi, Tunis, 2015
• Dalil al-muslim al-Cor'ānî (دليل المسلم القرآني), ed. Mohamed Talbi, Tunis, 2016
• Al-Ṣiraa' al-lāhoutî fi Al-Qayrawân ayam al-aġhaliba (الصّراع اللاّهوتي في القيروان أيّام الأغالبة), ed. Sotumedias, Tunis, 2017