One of the pioneers of the reform and scientific movement in Algeria, and the founder of the Association of Algerian Muslim Scholars, he was called by many titles. He is the revolutionary reformer, the journalist poet, the interpreted scientist, the teacher, the educator, and the political writer. His name has been associated with the Algerians with science, so they celebrate on April 16 of every year the Flag in honor of his memory.
Birth and upbringing
Abd al-Hamid ibn Muhammad ibn al-Makki ibn Badis was born on 11 Rabi’ al-Thani 1307 corresponding to December 4, 1889 in Constantine, Algeria.
He grew up in an ancient and religious family of high standing. His father, Muhammad al-Mustafa ibn Badis, was a memorizer of the Qur’an and one of the notables of the city. He worked as a judge and a member of the Algerian Supreme Council. Among the famous men of his family, al-Mu’izz ibn Badis, who announced the separation of the Sinhaji state from the Fatimid state and announced the Sunni doctrine in it. and the congregation.
Study and training
Ben Badis received his first education in the sciences of religion and language, starting in 1903 in his hometown, at the "Sidi Mohamed El-Najjar" mosque at the hands of Sheikh Hamdan Lounisi, one of the scholars of Algeria at the time.
He memorized the Holy Qur’an at the age of 13, at the hands of Sheikh Muhammad ibn al-Madasi, the most famous reciter in Constantine, and in 1910 he moved to Tunisia and joined the Zitouna Mosque, and there he completed his education at the hands of an elite of scholars such as Muhammad al-Nakhli al-Qayrawani, Muhammad al-Taher ibn Ashour, and Muhammad al-Khidr ibn Husayn. and others.
In 1911, he obtained the "International Adaptation" certificate and was ranked first. He continued his studies in Tunisia for a year, after which he returned to Algeria. In his hometown, Constantine, he began in the Great Mosque to give a series of lessons about the book "Al Shifa" by Judge Ayyad, and by a decision of the French administration, he was prevented from attending. Continue the lessons.
He performed the Hajj in 1913. During his stay in Medina, which lasted for three months, he got to know Sheikh Al-Bashir Al-Ibrahimi, one of the most prominent Algerian scholars at the time, and with him he founded the Association of Algerian Muslim Scholars, and in it he met Sheikh Hamdan Al-Wanissi and a group of senior scholars, and in their presence he gave a lesson at the Prophet’s Mosque.
During his stay in Medina, his sheikh, Al-Wanissi, offered him permanent residence in Medina, but he took the advice of Sheikh Hussein Ahmed Al-Hindi to return to Algeria in the service of religion and the Arabic language.
On his return to Algeria, he went to Egypt, where he met the Grand Mufti of Egypt, Sheikh Muhammad Bakhit Al-Mutai'i, who wrote to him in his handwriting Ijazah in his leave book.
The reform path
Ben Badis gave education a great interest in his reform activity, and this culminated in the establishment of an office for Arab primary education in 1926, from which emerged in 1930 the School of the Islamic Education Association, an association that has about 170 branches in various regions of Algeria.
He used the press to spread his reformist ideology through the publication of Al-Muntaqid newspaper in 1925, which he took as editor-in-chief, and then Al-Shehab newspaper in the same year.
Together with 72 scholars from various religious trends, he established the Association of Algerian Muslim Scholars (1931) and was elected its president, making its motto “Islam our religion, Arabic our language, Algeria our home.”
His positions and opinions contributed to enriching political thought by talking about the nation’s issues. In 1936, he called for an Islamic conference to be held in Algeria to thwart the idea of Algeria’s merger with France. He also participated in the delegation of the Islamic Conference held in Paris in July 1936.
He interviewed the Research Committee of the French Parliament in April 1937, and called on deputies to boycott the parliaments in August 1937. He also called for a boycott of French celebrations marking the centenary of the colonization of Algeria in 1937.
In his lifetime he did not leave any published works
and it is said that he composed men and did not write books.
However, he left many traces collected by his students in published works, the most important of which are: Tafsir Ibn Badis, printed by Ahmed Boushamal in 1948, then printed by the Ministry of Religious Affairs in Algeria under the title “Councils of Remembrance from the Words of the Wise Expert” in 1982, and it was printed again by the Ministry of Religious Affairs in Algeria under the title Councils Recall from the hadith of al-Bashir in 1983.
He also left the Book of Islamic Creeds from the Quranic Verses and Hadiths of the Prophet, which was printed by his student Muhammad Al-Salih Ramadan in 1963, then by Sheikh Muhammad Al-Hassan Fadla in 1984. Also, Tawfiq Shaheen and Muhammad Al-Saleh Ramadan printed the book Men of the Salaf and Women in 1966, then the book Principles of Fundamentals which Edited and published by Dr. Ammar Talbi in 1988.
He left many traces that were published in the form of articles, speeches, lectures and poems in newspapers, including Al-Muntaqid, Al-Shehab, Al-Najah, the Purified Sharia, the Muhammadan Sunnah, and Insights.
Death
Abd al-Hamid bin Badis died on Tuesday evening, Rabi` al-Awwal 9, 1359, corresponding to April 16, 1940, in his hometown of Constantine. The students of the Green Mosque carried his body the following afternoon, and they buried him in a funeral attended by tens of thousands of people who flocked from all regions of Algeria.