ABSTRACT
In spite of their deep absorption in politics, the Tunisian Islamists have always maintained that the issue of reforming Tunisia is primarily cultural. One of the most prominent Muslims to formulate such questions was Khayr al-Din of Tunisia. Some of his views have been presented in the previous chapter with regard to the role of the state in implementing necessary reforms, and the need for Muslims to adopt those aspects of European systems and ideas deemed to be worthy according to Islamic principles. According to al-Najjar, who has no problem with the term "fundamentalism", the fundamentalist approach to the question of Tunisia's identity derives from the fundamentalists' interpretation of Islam in accordance with the model of the first Islamic state led by the Prophet Muhammad. The West has never been a secondary issue for the Tunisian Islamists in their fight to reinstate what they perceive to be their country's Islamic identity.
