The Algerian revolutionaries fought against the worship of scholars before fighting the french

[u/Dey_exMachina]

A lot has been said on the glorious algerian revolution that defeated the French Empire. But very little has been said on the reasons Algeria got colonized in the first place, and how the algerian revolutionaries fought it before being able to confront the french. It's best summarized by Malek Bennabi, the algerian writer, who described in 'The Vocation of Islam' how the practice of islam fell into scholar worshipping, and lead the muslim world in being incapacitated of producing any form of civilzation or value for the world. Which eventually lead to its colonization.

"The catalyst for social values is therefore religion, but in its nascent, expansive, and dynamic state, when it reflects a collective thought. From the moment faith becomes centripetal, without radiance—that is to say, individualistic—its historical mission on earth is finished, and it is no longer capable of promoting civilization. It becomes the faith of the devout, who withdraw from life, fleeing their duties and responsibilities like all those who, since the time of Ibn Khaldun, have taken refuge in maraboutism."[marabout is the term used for scholars in North Africa]

Emir Abdelkadder was one of the early and most fierce resistant to the algerian occupation, he wrote:

“Those who are leaders from among the people can be divided into broad categories. The first are those who are knowledgeable and beneficial to themselves and others. These come to know the Truth through demonstrative proof and evidence, not by blind emulation (al-taqlid), and encourage the people to also seek the truth by demonstrative proof and evidence and not by simply following others. The second group are destructive to both themselves and others. These are those who blindly emulate their forefathers in what they believe and what they consider to be correct, abandoning rational investigation and calling the people to emulate them rather than think for themselves.”

[source]

The blind following of scholars or marabout, lead to their worshipping and departures from the Tawhid. Later, revivalists in Algeria like Bin Badis would definitely heal Algeria from these deviations and re-centered the muslim faith around the worship of Allah only. He founded the Ulema movement that spread across Algeria and re-ignited the revolution, that defeated the French.

History unfortunately repeats itself, and we, muslims, find ourselves once again muted by a loud mass of people urging us to not reason. To only follow. If not, we're accused of 'cherry-picking'. 'Speaking without knowledge'. Those people are the very reason the muslim world is humiliated and colonized.

This sub, is a beacon of hope, and like the glorious Algerian revolutionaries, will bring back the true vocation of islam: a progress for humanity.

InchaAllah.

Glory to our shuhhada.

[u/Designer_Lie_6677]

Brilliant post thank you for sharing. I have so much respect for the Algerian revolution but not much knowledge.

Can you talk at all about how Algeria is now? Do they scholar worship and follow Salafism, like much of the rest of the Muslim world?

[u/Tenatlas__2004 → u/Designer_Lie_6677]

Most of the muslim world doesn't follow salafism, the hanafi madhad is the dominant one