Conceptualization of “Algerian Muslim <i>Umma</i>”: With Reference to the Views of the Association of Algerian Ulama, Concerning the Issues of “Naturalization” and Application of the Law of Separation of Church and State

WATANABE Shoko

doi:10.24498/ajames.27.1_65

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「アルジェリア・ムスリムのウンマ」の概念形成：帰化問題と政教分離法適用問題に対するアルジェリア・ウラマー協会の見解を題材に
アルジェリアムスリムノウンマノガイネンケイセイキカモンダイトセイキョウブンリホウテキヨウモンダイニタイスルアルジェリアウラマーキョウカイノケンカイオダイザイニ
Conceptualization of "Algerian Muslim Umma": with reference to the views of the association of Algerian Ulama, concerning the issues of "naturalization" and application of the law of separation of church and state

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In comparing Middle-Eastern and Algerian Ulama’s reactions to some important sociopolitical questions, this study seeks to clarify the originality of political thought within the Association of Algerian Ulama (founded in 1931) before the Algerian War of Independence (1954–62). Although being strongly influenced by the Egyptian Islamist school of al-Manār, the Algerian Ulama showed some creativity of thought and method when they reacted to two major problems of the colonial period: the polemic about naturalization of a Muslim “indigenous” person as a French and the question of application of the law of separation of church and state. The difference in opinion between al-Manār and the Algerian Ulama came mainly from the particularity of the Algerian situation under direct colonial rule. Struggling with the political/economic/cultural illegalities, the Ulama began to call for their collective identity as Algerian Muslims, a newly discovered agency in both cultural and political terms. The Ulama conceptualized their nationhood or “Algerian Muslim Umma” as follows. They assumed that there was a distinct religious community (umma) composed only of Muslims on the Algerian homeland (waṭan), and they distinguished this “Algerian Muslim Umma” from the French Umma, claiming the Algerian Muslim Umma’s ethnic affiliation (jinsīya qawmīya) as distinct from its political affiliation (jinsīya siyāsīya), which was French. The Ulama insisted also on the Algerian Muslims’ affiliation to both their homeland (waṭan) and the worldwide Islamic Umma, guaranteed by their juridical Muslim Status. Thus, the Algerian Ulama succeeded in combining the worldwide Islamic framework and the idea of Algerian nationhood without any conflict.

Journal

Annals of Japan Association for Middle East Studies

Annals of Japan Association for Middle East Studies 27 (1), 65-88, 2011

Japan Association for Middle East Studies (JAMES)

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