With the decline of the city, the centre of intellectual thought moved to the University of Ez-Zitouna
It is claimed to be the oldest teaching establishment in the Arab world, since the Ez-Zitouna madrassa was founded in 737 C.E. (120 A.H) as the teaching arm of the Olive-Tree Mosque (Djemaa ez-Zitouna) and has been in continuous existence since then.
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As time passed, graduates from Sadiki College took the high level positions in the party, while Zitouna graduates were the lower and medium cadres of it.
Zitouna education continued to expand, running four-year secondary schools at Tunis, Sfax, and Gabes, and also a program at the university level, while remaining a traditional Islamic institution.
Born in Akouda, just north of Sousse, he studied at the University of Ez-Zitouna in 1947, he chaired the Sahelian cooperation within the Tunisian General Labour Union.