La dichotomie ulémas / marabouts en question « [Special Feature] Les intellectuels algériens musulmans en Algérie à l’époque coloniale: l’Islam à l’épreuve de la modernité économique et politique coloniale »

This paper unpacks the stereotyped view that polarizes two groups of religious authorities in the Maghrib. This view has conventionally divided the Islam practiced in the Maghrib into the scripturist ulama (Muslim scholars) and that of the “marabouts,” the personalities whom the Muslim community believes possess transcendent powers. <br> The paper begins by tracing this dichotomous view back to the French sociology of Islam, established in the 19th century by colonial administrators, who served as fieldworkers researching Algerian Islam. Second, it discusses the heritage of the French sociology of Islam found in today’s scholarly works on Muslim society. The new discourse associated Islamic reformism with capitalism, whereas marabouts were understood as being rooted in preindustrial society. Third, it deals with how Algerian intellectuals have adopted this view by using the term “marabout” as a category. Finally, it presents a case study of the development of the Islamic reform movement in Biskra (southern Algeria) to demonstrate the way in which colonial policies of surveillance and intervention created two conflictual fields (that of the Islamic reformists and the Sufi orders). Islamic reformism, involving both independent Muslim scholars and elements of Sufi orders, reacted against the colonial socioeconomic system rather than the preindustrial orders.