E/CN.4/2002/73/Add.2 page 74 tunisienne d’édition, 1992; Mohamed Talbi, Les protégées de Dieu (in Arabic), Tunis, Cerès Productions, 1992; and A.M. Charfi, Islam et modernité (in Arabic), Tunis, Dar Al-Tunissia Linnachar, 1991, pp. 225 ff. 198 See the example of Bangladesh, report of the Special Rapporteur on religious intolerance (A/55/280/Add.2, paras. 33, 80 and 90). 199 Report of the Human Rights Committee (A/55/40, vol. I), Cameroon, para. 191. 200 The Koran provided for what is in fact a very elaborate and highly specific system of inheritance, as in surah 4, entitled “Women”, verses 11 and 12. 201 Legal opinion is unanimous in the view that an infidel may not inherit from a Muslim. It is based on surah 4, verse 141: “But Allah will never grant the disbelievers any way of success against the believers”. It also relies on the words of the Prophet, who is believed to have said “The infidel shall not inherit from the Muslim”. A recent, unprecedented decision of the Tunisian Court of Cassation, dated 28 April 2000 (No. 76621.99), referred to that rule and dismissed the suit of a non-Muslim woman who had converted to Islam just after her husband’s death. 202 Some jurists base their position on the words of the Prophet, who is believed to have said “Islam increases and cannot diminish” and “Islam dominates and may not be dominated,” and also on the analogy of the rules of marriage, according to which a Muslim man may marry a nonMuslim woman whereas a non-Muslim man may not marry a Muslim woman. A contrary view has been maintained by the majority of Sunni jurists, who also base their position on a saying of the Prophet: “Neither the Muslim shall inherit from the infidel nor the infidel from the Muslim”. See, for example, Abu-Sahlieh (note 144 above), pp. 658 ff. Tunisian judicial doctrine appears to adopt this second position. See, in the preceding note, the Tunisian Court of Cassation judgment in which the Court cited the rule that there could be no inheritance between two different religions. 203 To the asaba or agnatic heirs established by that tradition the Koran added the fardh or cognatic heirs and gave priority to close relatives, both paternal and maternal. See surah 4, verses 12 and 13. The fardh heirs are all those who are entitled to specific shares of the estate, i.e. close relatives on the male and female sides. In addition to direct descendants, the following are considered fardh heirs: grandfathers and grandmothers, fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers and the husband and wife. The asaba heirs, relatives on the male side, have a right to the estate once the fardh portion has been deducted. That applies to all the male relatives on the male side. See Khédija Cherif and Ilhem Marzouki, “Les facteurs sociaux culturels défavorisant les femmes en matière de succession”, Tunis Symposium (note 21 above), p. 302. 204 See Cherif and Marzouki, loc. cit., p. 318. 205 This is the case in Pakistan. See Shaheed (note 156 above), p. 69. 206 Tunisia did so under the decrees of 31 May 1956 and 18 July 1957.