A religious reference to confront extremism in Algeria

Rabab El-Hakim

Algerian Minister of Religious Affairs Mohammed Isa is initiating calls to combat sectarianism in the wake of rising assassinations of mosque imams throughout the country. Minister Isa has called for a national religious reference based on the Maliki doctrine [Sunni doctrine founded by Imam Malik ibn Anas].

However, Algerian scholars, led by Sheikh Ibn Hanafiyah Al-Abidin, doubted the success of the call.

Sheikh Al-Abidin, head of the advisory committee of the Association of Muslim Scholars, said in a post of his Facebook account on October 30 that the minister’s call to set up a national religious reference would be unworthy, citing unstable religious conditions.

Sheikh Al-Abidin noted that those who call for dropping sectarianism in Islam are either zealots who stick to Sunna or ignorant people who call for abandoning religious intolerance.

According to Sheikh Al-Abidin, doctrinal fanaticism grew due to dominance of religious authorities.

Sheikh Al-Abidin has said that sectarianism feeds on tradition and imitation which are away from true Islamic learning, which is not accessible to most people.

He added that a religious reference would ban any reading of of the Holy Qur’an other than the reading of Imam Nafie, and only sticking to the Moroccan calligraphy, which is hard for many people to read in the present.

Sheikh Al-Abidin said that the doctrine of Malik, or any other doctrines, is not taught at Algerian schools.

In June, Minister Isa introduced a bill to protect the national religious reference based on the eradication of extremism and the return to moderation, love and tolerance.

Minister Isa said a national religious reference would protect mosque imams from robberies and killings.

In July, Minister Issa said during a meeting on the sidelines of the Islamic Cultural Center in Algiers that the death toll of imams has increased. According to the minister, there have been 93 attacks on mosque imams since 2016.

Minister Issa suggested the introduction of legal provisions to protect the religious refernce against sectarianism.

Abdel Rahim Rahmouni, international relations & security studies researcher, said that a religious reference would be essential to stability and to the establishment moderate Islamic principles, ushering in tolerance and love.

Rahmouni told THE REFERENCE that a national religious reference would be based on numerous key issues like religious stability, citing the global political circumstances, and its impacts on the local environment.

Meanwhile, Salman Hossam, professor of political science at the University of Algiers, said that Algeria had enjoyed freedom accepting all religious trends, i.e. Sufism, Salafism and the Muslim Brotherhood.  The professor has stressed that there is no sectarian issue in Algeria.

He told THE REFERENCE that the Minister of Religious Affairs and Waqfs wants to set up a national religious reference to include all religious trends in Algeria.

Professor Hossam said such a reference would prevent extremism that emerged in the 1990s. He stressed that a religious reference prevent the exploitation of religion that may bring about division and conflicts in the society.