Islamic Salvation Front
Islamic Salvation Front الجبهة الإسلامية للإنقاذ | |
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| Religion | Sunni Islam |
| Slogan | "And ye were on the brink of the pit of Fire, and He saved you from it." (Al Imran: 103) |
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The Islamic Salvation Front (
Officially made legal as a political party in September 1989, less than a year later the FIS received more than half of valid votes cast by Algerians in the
Goals
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The founders and leaders of the FIS did not agree on all issues, but agreed on the core objective of establishing an Islamic state ruled by sharia law. FIS hurriedly assembled a platform in 1989, the Projet de Programme du Front Islamique du Salut, which was widely criticized as vague.
Its 1990 electoral victory, giving it control of many local governments, led to the imposing of the veil on female municipal employees, pressuring of liquor stores, video shops and other establishments perceived as un-Islamic to close, and segregation of bathing areas by gender.[5]
Elimination of the French language and culture was an important issue for many in the FIS such as co-leader Ali Benhadj, who in 1990 declared his intention "to ban France from Algeria intellectually and ideologically, and be done, once and for all, with those whom France has nursed with her poisoned milk."[5][6] Devout activists removed satellite dishes of households receiving European satellite broadcast in favor of Arab satellite dishes receiving Saudi broadcasts.[7] Educationally, the party was committed to continue the Arabization of the educational system by shifting the language of instruction in more institutions, such as medical and technological schools, from French to Arabic. Large numbers of recent graduates, the first post-independence generation educated mainly in Arabic, liked this measure, as they had found the continued use of French in higher education and public life jarring and disadvantageous.[8]
Following the first National Assembly ballot, the FIS issued a second pamphlet. Economically, it strongly criticized Algeria's
Socially, it suggested that women should be given a financial incentive to stay at home rather than working outside, thus introducing sexual segregation (Ali Belhadj called it immoral for men and women to work in the same office) with the supposed goal of increasing the number of jobs available to men in a time of chronic unemployment.[10]
Politically, the contradiction between Madani and Belhadj's words was noteworthy: Madani condemned violence "from wherever it came",[11] and expressed his commitment to democracy and resolve to "respect the minority, even if it is composed of one vote".[12]
Belhadj said, "There is no democracy in Islam"[13] and "If people vote against the Law of God... this is nothing other than blasphemy. The ulama will order the death of the offenders who have substituted their authority for that of God".[14]
In an interview with Daniel Pipes and Patrick Clawson, Anwar Haddam rejected this view of Belhadj, saying, "He has been misquoted. He has been accused of things out of bitterness. He wrote a book in which he expressed himself clearly in favor of democracy. In it, he writes on page 91 that "the West progressed by defeating tyranny and preserving freedoms; this is the secret of the Western world's remarkable progress." Belhadj refers many times to the Western world and to those very values that people are trying to deny us within our own borders."[15][16]
History
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Background
Social conditions that led to formation and popularity of the FIS included a population explosion in the 1960s and 70s that outstripped the stagnant economy's ability to supply jobs, housing, food and urban infrastructure to massive numbers of young in the urban areas;[Note 1] a collapse in price of oil, whose sale supplied 95% of Algeria's exports and 60% of the government's budget;[17] a single-party state ostensibly based on socialism, anti-imperialism, and popular democracy but ruled by high level military and party nomenklatura from the east side of the country;[17] "corruption on a grand scale";[17] and in response to these issues, "the most serious riots since independence" occurred in October 1988 when thousands of urban youth took control of the streets.[17]
Earlier Salafist movements in Algeria included the Association of Muslim Ulemas founded in 1931 by Abdel Hamid Ben Badis, which like the Muslim Brotherhood believed that religion should be the "absolute focus of private life and society", preached against the "superstitions" of popular Islam and French culture or secularism in Algeria, but did not venture into politics or promotion of an Islamic state.[18]
After independence the government of
In the 1980s the government imported two renowned Islamic scholars,
Another Islamist, Mustafa Bouyali, a "gifted inflammatory preacher" and veteran of the Algerian independence struggle, called for the application of the sharia and creating of an Islamic state by jihad. After persecution by the security services he founded the Mouvement Islamique Arme (MIA), "a loose association of tiny groups", with himself as amir in 1982. His group carried out a series of "bold attacks" against the regime and was able to carry it fight on underground for five years before Bouyali was killed in February 1987.[19]
Also in the 1980s, several hundred youth left Algeria for camps of Peshawar to fight jihad in Afghanistan. As Algeria was a close ally of the jihadists' enemy the Soviet Union, these jihadists tended to consider the Afghan jihad a "prelude" to jihad against the Algerian FLN.[21] After the Marxist government in Afghanistan fell, many of the Salafist jihadis returned to Algeria and supported the FIS and later the GIA.[21]
Also adding to the strength of salafist "Islamic revivalism" and political Islam in Algeria was the weakness (or nonexistence) of any alternative in the form of popular Muslim brotherhoods which had been dismantled by the FLN government in retaliation for lack of support and whose land had been confiscated and redistributed by the FLN government after independence.[22]
During and after the
Founding
On 3 November 1988, the
Ali Belhadj, a high school teacher, appealed to a younger and less educated class. An impassioned orator, he was known for his ability to both enrage and calm at will the tens of thousands of young hittiestes who came to hear him speak. However, his radical speeches alarmed non-Islamists and feminists. He purportedly represented a Salafi mindset. Madani sometimes expressed support for multiparty democracy, whereas Belhadj denounced it as a potential threat to sharia. Their support of free market trading and opposition to the ruling elite also attracted middle class traders, who felt left out of the economy.
As in other Muslim countries where the political system allowed opposition and free elections for the first time, the FIS benefited from being a religious party. Unlike the secular parties it had "a coherent network of preachers already in place."[23] Its support base increased rapidly with the help of activists preaching in friendly mosques.
1990 local elections victory
The FIS made "spectacular" progress in the first year of its existence.[23] The first edition of its weekly publication, Al Munqidh, was distributed to 200,000. The FIS-inspired doctors, nurses and rescue teams showed "devotion and effectiveness" helping victims of an earthquake in Tipaza Province.[25] It organized marches and rallies and "applied steady pressure on the state" to force a promise of early elections.[25]
In the first free elections since independence on 12 June 1990, they swept the
Once in power in local governments, its administration and its Islamic charity was praised by many as just, equitable, orderly and virtuous, in contrast to its corrupt, wasteful, arbitrary and inefficient FLN predecessors.[28][29]
The victory in local elections was the "high point" of FIS influence, which benefited from widespread disillusionment with the Algerian ruling party.[27] As time went on non-core supporters began to become disenchanted. The secular, educated, salaried urban middle class began to be concerned over the anti-French language policy.[27]
The Gulf War energized the party, but brought fissures. The FIS had condemned Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait, but once it was apparent that Western intervention was inevitable, public opinion shifted and there were massive demonstrations, blood donation drives. When Benhadj delivered a speech in front of the Ministry of Defense building demanding a corp be sent to fight in Iraq's favor, the military took it as a "direct affront" and challenge to the discipline in the armed forces. (Benhadj later appealed unsuccessfully to the armed forces rank and file for a general mutiny.[30]) Furthermore, his co-leader Madani had received much aid from Iraq's direct enemies, Saudi Arabia and other oil monarchies, supported them and was unhappy about having to defer to Benhadj and the pro-Sadam position.[31]
General strike and arrests of leadership
In May 1991, the FIS called for a general strike to protest the government's redrawing of electoral districts, which it saw as gerrymandering directed against it. The strike itself was a failure, but the demonstrations FIS organized in Algiers were huge. Mass sit-ins were held in one of Algiers largest squares for a week, and the FIS succeeded in pressuring the government. It was persuaded in June to call the strike off by the promise of fair parliamentary elections.
However, disagreements on the strike provoked open dissension among the FIS leadership (the Madjliss ech-Choura), and the prolonged demonstrations alarmed the military. Shortly afterwards the government arrested Madani and Belhadj on 30 June 1991, having already arrested a number of lower-ranking members. The party, however, remained legal in the meantime,[3] and passed to the effective leadership of "djazarists"[32] led by Abdelkader Hachani after four days of contested leadership by Mohamed Said (who was then arrested).
Despite activists anger that its demands for the leaders' release went unheeded, after some deliberation (and expulsion of dissenters such as
The army saw the seeming certainty of resulting FIS rule as unacceptable. On 11 January 1992, it cancelled the electoral process, forcing President
40,000 FIS militants and elected FIS officials were interned in tents deep in the Sahara.[33] Mosques were placed under "tight surveillance".[30] Such activists as remained at large took this as a declaration of war, though FIS would not officially call for armed resistance until 1993, attempting to steer a nuanced course of expressing sympathy for the guerrillas without endorsing their actions.
Civil war
Many took to the hills and joined guerrilla groups. The country inexorably slid into a
Soon after taking office in 1994,
Founding of the Islamic Salvation Army
As the radical
It rejected all truces and compromises with the government.[34] The AIS favored a long-term jihad directed against the state and its representatives, not civilians.[34] The GIA appealed to the hittistes urban youth, while the AIS support came from the pious middle class.[35]
By the end of 1994, the Islamic Salvation Army (AIS) controlled over half the guerrillas of the east and west, but barely 20% in the center, near the capital, where the GIA were mainly based. Their main leadership was based in the Beni Khettab mountains near Jijel. It issued communiqués condemning the GIA's indiscriminate targeting of women, journalists, and other civilians "not involved in the repression", and attacking its school arson campaign.
Meanwhile, following letters from Madani and Belhadj expressing a commitment to pluralistic democracy and proposing possible solutions to the crisis, the government released both from jail to house arrest on 13 September. However, no let up was observed in the fighting, and the government was unwilling to allow them to consult with FIS figures that remained in prison; the negotiations soon foundered, and at the end of October the government announced the failure of the second round of negotiations, and published incriminating letters from Belhadj that were allegedly found on the body of GIA leader Cherif Gousmi, who had been killed on 26 September.
Work in exile
A few FIS leaders, notably
Despite the government's extremely hostile reaction to the Rome Platform, though, a third attempt at negotiations took place, starting in April with a letter from Madani condemning acts of violence, and hopes were raised. However, the FIS did not offer enough concessions to satisfy the government, demanding, as usual, that FIS leaders should be released before FIS could call for a ceasefire. In July Zeroual announced that the talks had failed, for the last time.
In 1995, the GIA turned on the AIS in earnest. Reports of battles between the AIS and GIA increased (resulting in an estimated 60 deaths in March 1995 alone), and the GIA reiterated its death threats against FIS and AIS leaders, claiming to be the "sole prosecutor of jihad" and angered by their negotiation attempts. On July 11 Abdelbaki Sahraoui, a co-founder of FIS, was assassinated in Paris; the GIA said that they were responsible, although there was no evidence supporting this. On November 22, 1995, the FIS asked to meet with President Zeroual in order to disband the cycle of violence that was occurring in Algeria[36]
Declaration of ceasefire
The AIS, faced with attacks from both sides and wanting to dissociate itself from the GIA's
On 2 July 2003, Belhadj and Madani were released (the former had been in jail, the latter had been moved to house arrest in 1997). Foreign media were banned from covering the event locally, and FIS itself remains banned. However, their release has had little apparent impact.[citation needed] After a decade of vicious civil conflict, there was little enthusiasm in Algeria for reopening old wounds.
As the civil war jihad impoverished the pious middle class, the AIS lost support to the "moderate" Islamic parties, especially the Hamas party of Mahfoud Nahnah.[35]
See also
Notes
References
- ISBN 978-0-8108-7919-5. Archivedfrom the original on 17 July 2023. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
- ISBN 978-1-4724-0269-1.
- ^ a b Dalacoura, Katerina (2011). Islamist Terrorism and Democracy in the Middle East. Cambridge University Press. p. 106. Retrieved 27 May 2015.
FIS was banned.
- ^ "Dissolution en Algérie de l'Armée islamique du salut (AIS)". Le Monde.fr (in French). 8 January 2000. Archived from the original on 12 March 2023. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
- ^ a b Kepel, Jihad, 2002: p.170-1
- ^ Interview with Slimane Zeghidour, Politique internationale, Autumn 1990, p.156
- ISBN 9780231119979. Archivedfrom the original on 22 May 2024. Retrieved 27 May 2015.
- ^ Kepel, Jihad, 2002: p.173
- ISBN 9781555876395. Archivedfrom the original on 22 May 2024. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
- ISBN 9780313310713. Archivedfrom the original on 22 May 2024. Retrieved 27 May 2015.
- ^ El Moudjahid, 26 December 1989
- ^ Jeune Afrique, 12 February 1990
- ^ El-Bayane, Dec. 1989
- ^ Horizons 23 February 1989
- ^ "Anwar N. Haddam: An Islamist Vision for Algeria" Archived 22 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine, Middle East Quarterly
- ^ see also: Shaykh Abdul-Malik ar-Ramadani al-Jaza'iri, Madarik un-Nadhr fi's-Siyasah: Bayna't-Tatbiqat ash-Shar'iyyah wa'l-Infia'lat al-Hamasiyyah [Perceptions of Viewing Politics: Between the Divinely Legislated Application and Enthusiastic Disturbances],(KSA: Dar Sabeel il-Mumineen, 1418 AH/1997 CE, 2nd Edn).
- ^ a b c d e Kepel, Jihad, 2002: p.159-60
- ^ Kepel, Jihad, 2002: p.161-2
- ^ a b Kepel, Jihad, 2002: p.162-3
- ^ Kepel, Jihad, 2002: p.165
- ^ a b Kepel, Jihad, 2002: p.164
- ^ Kepel, Jihad, 2002: p.166
- ^ a b c d e Kepel, Jihad, 2002: p.166-7
- ISBN 90-04-10469-0. Archivedfrom the original on 21 May 2024. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
- ^ a b c Kepel, Jihad, 2002: p.169
- ^ "algeria-interface.com". Archived from the original on 10 January 2016. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
- ^ a b c Kepel, Jihad, 2002: p.171
- ^ Kepel, Jihad, 2002: p.170
- ^ Luis Martinez, La guerre civile en Algerie, (Paris: Karthala, 1998), 53-81
- ^ a b Kepel, Jihad, 2002: p.175
- ^ Kepel, Jihad, 2002: p.172-3
- ^ a b Kepel, Jihad, 2002: p.174
- ^ Kepel, Jihad, 2002: p.258
- ^ a b Kepel, Jihad, 2002: p.260
- ^ a b Kepel, Jihad, 2002: p.254
- ^ The Sydney Morning Herold (November 22, 1995). "Islamists want talks"
- ^ "Lycos.com". Archived from the original on 10 February 2005. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
- ^ "Al-Ahram Weekly - Region - Algeria's FIS lays down arms". Archived from the original on 27 March 2013. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
- Kepel, Gilles (2002). Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674008779.
Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam.
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