One of the pioneers of the reform and scientific movement in Algeria, and the founder of the Association of Algerian Muslim Scholars, he was nicknamed by many titles, including the revolutionary reformer, the journalistic poet, the interpreting scientist, the educator teacher, and the political writer, and his name has been associated with science among Algerians, so they celebrate on April 16 of each year Flag Day in memory of him.

Birth and upbringing

Abd al-Hamid ibn Muhammad ibn al-Makki ibn Badis was born on 11 Rabi' al-Thani 1307 corresponding to 4 December 1889 in Constantine, Algeria.

His father Muhammad al-Mustafa ibn Badis was a memorizer of the Qur'an and one of the notables of the city, and worked as a judge and member of the Algerian Supreme Council, and one of his famous family men was al-Muizz ibn Badis, who announced the separation of the Sinhaji state from the Fatimid state, and declared the doctrine of Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama'ah.

Study and training

Ben Badis received his first education in the sciences of religion and language beginning in 1903 in his hometown of the Sidi Mohamed Najjar Mosque, by Sheikh Hamdan Ounissi, one of the scholars of Algeria at the time. He memorized the Holy Qur'an at the age of 13, by Sheikh Muhammad bin 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 elite scholars such as Muhammad al-Nakhli al-Qayrawani, Muhammad al-Taher bin Ashour, Muhammad al-Khidr bin Hussein and others.

In 1911, he received the certificate of "International Adaptation" and was ranked first, and he continued his studies in Tunisia for a year to return then to Algeria, and in his hometown of Constantine, he began in the Great Mosque to give a series of lessons on the book "Al-Shifa" by Judge Ayyad, and by a decision of the French administration he was prevented from continuing the lessons.

He performed the Hajj in 1913 and during his stay in Medina, which lasted three months, he got to know Sheikh Bashir Ibrahimi, one of the most prominent Algerian scholars at the time, and with him founded the Association of Algerian Muslim Scholars, in which he met his 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. Upon his return to Algeria, he visited Egypt, where he met the Grand Mufti of Egypt, Sheikh Muhammad Bakhit al-Mutai'i, who wrote a leave in his own handwriting in his vacation book.

The Reform Path

Ben Badis paid great attention to education in his reform activity, culminating in the establishment of the Office of Arab Primary Education in 1926, from which emerged in 1930 the school of the Islamic Education Association, which now has about 170 branches in various regions of Algeria.

He used the press to spread his reformist thought by publishing Al-Muntaqed newspaper in 1925, of which he was editor-in-chief, and Al-Shehab newspaper in the same year.

He created with 72 scholars of various religious tendencies the Association of Algerian Muslim Scholars (1931) and was elected its president, making its slogan "Islam is our religion, Arabic is our language, Algeria is our homeland".

In 1936, he called for an Islamic conference in Algeria to thwart the idea of Algeria's integration with France, and participated in the delegation of the Islamic Conference held in Paris in July 1936.

He interviewed the French parliament's research committee in April 1937, called on deputies to boycott parliaments in August 1937, and called for a boycott of French celebrations marking the century's anniversary of the colonization of Algeria in 1937.

Literature

In his lifetime he left no published works, and it is said that he composed men but did not write books. However, he left many traces collected by his students in published works, the most important of which are:

  • Ibn Badis's interpretation was printed by Ahmed Bouchemal in 1948, then printed by the Ministry of Religious Affairs in Algeria under the title "Majalis al-Dhikr from the Words of the Expert Hakim" in 1982, and again printed by the Ministry of Religious Affairs in Algeria under the title Majalis al-Dhikr from the hadith of Bashir al-Nazir in 1983.
  • He also left the "Book of Islamic Beliefs from Quranic Verses and Prophetic Hadiths", which was printed by his student Muhammad al-Saleh Ramadan 1963 and then by Sheikh Muhammad al-Hassan Fadla in 1984.
  • Tawfiq Shahin and Muhammad al-Saleh also printed Ramadan the book "The Men and Women of the Salaf" in 1966.
  • Then the book "Principles of Origins" was edited and published by Dr. Ammar Talbi in 1988.

He left many monuments published in the form of articles, speeches, lectures and poems in newspapers, including Al-Muntaqed, Al-Shihab, Al-Najah, Al-Sharia Al-Mutahhar, Al-Sunnah Al-Muhammadiyah, and Al-Basa'ir.

Death

Abdelhamid Ben Badis died on Tuesday evening, 9 Rabi' al-Awwal 1359, corresponding to April 16, 1940 in his hometown of Constantine, and the students of the Green Mosque carried his body the next afternoon, and mourned him in a funeral attended by tens of thousands of people who flocked from all regions of Algeria.