This section is open to Kairouanese families who have traced their ancestors or drawn up a genealogy.

It is known that in Kairouan there are several families whose lines are intertwined and can be traced through legal documents existing from the times of French colonization. Others are more difficult to uncover. Still their families are known to come from noble lines, “cheriffes”; these are families whose ancestors in times past wore the green turban.

Since this is an area that is not always clear and defined as well as one that is highly influenced by sentiments, it would be impossible to establish a definitive list that would guarantee against all exclusion. Our aim is not to promote the prestigious name of such and such a family from Kairouan… we know that starting with independence (1956), privileged tribal and feudal systems disappeared for good. Today we live in an era of openness and communication where only a man's personal virtues count.

What this page would like to achieve is the awakening the curiosity of its readers, encouraging each and every one to dig into his family's past in order to discover their roots, whether they be illustrious or ordinary. The more precise the genealogical tree they manage to trace, the better and more interesting it will be.

This incentive, so full of nobility and elegance, so new and full of promise, is not something done overnight. Witness the tortoise. It only advances when it sticks its head out of the shell; we therefore await the results of your search with the eagerness of children. Let me underline that genealogy is a science, the aim of which is to search for and study family lines. Other countries have already made this type of search common practice.

As Professor Jacques Berque, teacher at the College de France and a famous sociologist said, « Death is nothing but a guardian of archives which family lines together with the science of genealogy should, and must, continuously update. »

We therefore invite all Kiarouanese families who are justly proud of their ancestors to make themselves known and to transmit to us the family documents they manage to unearth for free publication on this site. Appropriate documents could include, but are not limited to, archives, manuscripts, photos, birth, death, and marriage certificates, et al.

The first person to have responded to this call is Si Ahmed Adhoum who has transmitted the genealogical tree of his six centuries-old family. We hope he will not be the only or the last Kairouanese citizen to collaborate with us on this fascinating project.

Some people attempt to surround their origins with a halo of fictional glory, and task us with courteous yet occasionally acerbic reproaches that we've neglected to mention their family name at kairoun.org. “Rabbi vehidhoum” (may God forgive them), for they've not understood the aim of our project which is totally and exclusively scientific.

Before the advent of the French protectorat in the Regency of Tunis, there were no civil records in the modern sense in Tunisia . Subsequently, a beylical decree, on December 28 1908, initiated the recording of births and deaths, but this law, established by the French administration, seems not to have been strictly observed.

The second decree, December 26 1919, made the declaration of births mandatory for everyone residing within the regency. Coincidentally, a barber by the name of Khemaies Bech Bech already at the dawn of the 20 th Century, kept a private record of births. This record was subsequently adopted and continued by the municipality, created on June 7, 1887.

This is essentially the reason why, apart from a few manuscripts, it is nearly impossible to trace the history of many families back into a distant past.

We therefore urge you to write to us (see contact), even if there is suspicion of cousin intermarriage, and even if you hold rare and ancient documents. You will be urged to hand them over to the care of the Association to Safeguard/Preserve the Medina which has a laboratory capable of preserving such artifacts.

If you possess such documents, please send us an email to let us know. It will cost you only 20 millimes. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

Mohamed Rebai
info@kairouan.org