Islam in Algeria

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Sufi philosophies which arose as a reaction to theoretical perspectives of some scholars.[2]

History

Arrival of Islam

Islam was first brought to

Fatimids in 909, but their doctrine was re-established further south by refugees whose descendants would ultimately found the towns of the M'zab
valley in the Algerian Sahara, where Ibadhism still dominates.

Though it convinced the

Maliki branch, whose popularity had spread widely in the Maghreb. The Fatimids took their revenge by sending the Bedouin Banu Hilal
to wreak havoc on the region, but were incapable of controlling it; Shiism rapidly dwindled, and became virtually non-existent in the area.

The

Almohads were zealously orthodox, and under their rule Algeria gradually acquired its notable religious homogeneity. Sunni Islam and the Maliki madhhab
became virtually universal, apart from the Ibadhis of the M'zab and small Jewish communities.

Islam took longer to spread to the far south of Algeria, whose history is to a large extent separate: only in the 15th century were the Tuareg finally converted to Islam.

During the

Madhhabs represented in the Regency. Major towns had both Hanafi and Maliki mosques, while the Ibadi community had their own mosques and, especially, cemeteries. The dual Hanafi/Maliki system was maintained under French colonial regime.[4]

French colonization

In 1830, the

Abd al-Qadir was particularly notable for his campaign to keep the French out. Even after his defeat, rebellions continued to be mounted until at least 1870, notably that of Cheikh Mokrani
; again, a religious motivation was notable in most, though not all, of these.

Soon after arriving in Algeria, the French colonial regime set about undermining traditional Muslim Algerian culture. By French law Muslims could not hold public meetings, carry firearms, or leave their homes or villages without permission. Legally, they were French subjects, but to become French citizens, with full rights, they had to renounce Islamic law. Few did so. The land of Islamic charitable trusts (habus) was regarded as government property and confiscated. Much of the network of traditional

zaouias
- regarded with suspicion as centers of potential resistance - collapsed, and the literacy rate fell.

However, the emergence of the religious scholar and reformer

Abdelhamid Ben Badis would go some way to reversing these trends. Beginning in the 1910s, he preached against the traditional marabouts
and the saint cults, they believed in voodoo dolls, and urged the importance of Arabic and Islamic education; his disciples founded an extensive network of schools, and rapidly brought the saint cults into widespread disrepute, making Algerian Islam substantially more orthodox.

The discrimination against Islam led it to be a strong element of the resistance movement to the French in the

moudjahidine - practicers of jihad - and its fallen are called chouhada, martyrs, despite the revolution's avowed socialism; even during the revolution, the FLN made symbolic efforts to impose Islamic principles, such as banning wine and prostitution
.

After independence

After independence the Algerian government asserted state control over religious activities for purposes of national consolidation and political control. Islam became the religion of the state in the new constitution (Article 2), and was the religion of its leaders. The state monopolized the building of mosques, and the Ministry of Religious Affairs controlled an estimated 5,000 public mosques by the mid-1980s.

khutba, or sermon, was issued to them by the Ministry of Religious Affairs. That ministry also administered religious property (the habus), provided for religious education and training in schools, and created special institutes for Islamic learning. Islamic law (sharia) principles were introduced into family law in particular, while remaining absent from most of the legal code; thus, for example, while Muslim women were banned from marrying non-Muslims (by the Algerian Family Code
of 1984), wine remained legal.

Those measures, however, did not satisfy everyone. As early as 1964 a militant Islamic movement, called Al Qiyam (values), emerged and became the precursor of the Islamic Salvation Front (

Islamist party) of the 1990s. Al Qiyam called for a more dominant role for Islam in Algeria's legal and political systems and opposed what it saw as Western practices in the social and cultural life of Algerians. This proved to be the most difficult challenge for the immediate post-independent regimes as they tried to incorporate an Islamic national identity alongside socialist policies. Whereas the new leaders of Algeria saw Islam and Socialism as both compatible and features of Algerian culture and society; radical Islamists saw Islam as the only defining characteristic and in fact incompatible.[5]

University of Algiers
in November 1982. The violence resulted in the state's cracking down on the movement, a confrontation that would intensify throughout the 1980s and early 1990s.

The rise of Islamism had a significant impact on Algerian society. More women began wearing the veil, some because they had become more conservative religiously and others because the veil kept them from being harassed on the streets, on campuses, or at work. Islamists also prevented the enactment of a more liberal family code despite pressure from feminist groups and associations.

After the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) won the 1991 elections, and was then banned after the elections' cancellation by the military, the tensions between Islamists and the government erupted into open fighting, which lasted some 10 years in the course of which some 100,000 people were killed. However, some Islamist parties remained aboveground - notably the Movement of Society for Peace and Islamic Renaissance Movement - and were allowed by the government to contest later elections. In recent years, the Civil Harmony Act and Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation have been passed, providing an amnesty for most crimes committed in the course of the war.

Practice

Sidi Boumediene at Tlemcen.[8]

In Politics

The popularity of

Front of Socialist Forces, another secular party.[citation needed
]

The recent rise of a number of radical religious movements involving

Algerian Ministry of Religious Affairs and Endowments, which has decided to take action by strengthening the monitoring and control of places targeted by the radical Islamists for recruits.[9]

See also

References

  1. from the original on 5 March 2022. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
  2. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 22 January 2017. Retrieved 27 April 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. .
  4. .
  5. ^ Dr Jonathan N.C. Hill (2006) Identity and instability in postcolonial Algeria, The Journal of North African Studies, 11:1, 1-16, DOI: 10.1080/13629380500409735
  6. ^ Dr Jonathan N.C. Hill (2006) Identity and instability in postcolonial Algeria, The Journal of North African Studies, 11:1, 1-16, DOI: 10.1080/13629380500409735
  7. ^ Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen Gibb (1967). The Encyclopaedia of Islam. Brill. p. 371. Virtually the only rite practised in Algeria is the Malikite; there are a few followers of the HanafI rite among people of Turkish descent
  8. .
  9. ^ Racelma, Kaci (17 May 2013). "Algerian Ministry of Religious Affairs Warns Against Extremism". Al-Monitor. Archived from the original on 20 February 2017. Retrieved 24 November 2016.

External links