Religion and the sources of law: Sharî‘ah in constitutions

In the Maghreb, this affirmation has given Islam a special importance that is the product of historical and cultural circumstances prior to independence. To analyze religious freedom in the constitutions of the Maghreb, people need to identify the legal bases, in domestic law, for the protection of this essential right. The circumstances of the constitutionalization of religious freedom in Algeria are also closely linked to the fight for independence, the international context and the activity within the country of protest movements pushing for effective democratization and greater respect for individual rights and freedoms. In Algeria, the liberation struggle, beginning in 1954 in the name of popular nationalism and fed by modern revolutionary ideas, had at least the psychological and sociological quality of a jihad. The situation in Tunisia and in Morocco has been evolving since the adoption of the new Moroccan Constitution and the projects of Tunisia's commission for political reform.