Killing Post-Almohad Man: Malek Bennabi, Algerian Islamism and the Search for a Liberal Governance

Abstract

This article introduces Malek Bennabi (1905–73), an Algerian Islamist philosopher who is little known in the Anglophone world. Bennabi's principle ideas, in particular his reconciliation of Algerian nationalism and Islamism, are briefly discussed. Then the article assesses his long-term impact on Algerian Islamism, most particularly within the Front Islamique du Salut (FIS) and its Ja'zara grouping. Through interviews with onetime FIS members, both senior figures and lower level activists, the author reveals the extensive influence of Bennabi on the group, from personal contact with its future leaders at Algiers University as well as his published works. The author concludes that the army's justification of the 1991 coup, that if the FIS won it would cancel future democratic elections, seriously misrepresented the nature of the organisation, the roots of which lay in Bennabi's Islamist nationalism rather than the pan-Islamism of the Muslim Brotherood. In tacitly accepting this justification, western governments may have allowed a chance for the development of genuinely liberal governance, compatible within an Islamist framework, to be extinguished.