Malek

bennabi

Malik Bennabi was one of the most important Muslim thinkers in modern era. Even, regarding the
concept of history and civilization, he is considered to be the greatest Muslim thinker since the time of
Ibn Khaldoun.
His disciple and friend Rachid Benaissa says that Malek Bennabi had the faith of al Ghazali, the
intellectual stature of Ibn Khaldoun , the Promethean tension of Djamel Eddine El Afghani and
Determination of Hassan El Banna.

Throughout his life, Bennabi wrote about human society, particularly Muslim society with a focus on the
reasons behind the fall of Muslim civilization. He is mostly known for the concept of coloniability which
is the inner aptitude of some societies to be colonized. He observed and analyzed history to
understand the new devastating trend of undermining ideas. The lack of new ideas concurrently
spurned the death of new civilizations. Algerian thinker and writer. Wrote over twenty books on Islamic,
cultural, societal, and developmental issues. Produced all his books under the series title The Problems
of Civilization, which he held central in understanding the Muslim peoples' current state of decline.
Urged Muslims to reconstruct themselves individually, change their state of “colonizability,” and elevate
themselves to higher standards of civilization. His ideas influenced segments of Algerian intellectuals,
who later became active members of the contemporary Islamic movement.

Who was Malek Bennabi and why does he matter in understanding

Algerian society and Islamic political thought?

Bennabi was born in Constantine, Algeria in 1905. He spent his childhood there and in Tebessa (near the
Tunisian border). He graduated from public school in 1925 and then went to France to study
engineering. He lived there during the 30s and 40s before returning to Algeria. He also lived in Egypt
from the mid 1950s until the early 1960s, and thus had backgrounds in both French and Arab
educations. He wrote multiple autobiographies detailing his childhood and education in both France and
Egypt. He also studied humanities, social sciences, and religion. These studies proved to be formative
and influential in the shaping of his political, religious, and sociological thought.

What motivated Bennabi to write on the decay of Muslim civilization?

Bennabi was influenced by many different thinkers, most notably, Ibn Khaldūn, ʿAbd al-Ḥāmid Ben Bādīs,
Friedrich Nietzsche, and Arnold Toynbee. He also heavily criticized Orientalism, while acknowledging its
effects and influence. He seemed to be more interested in the decline of Muslim civilization and how a
renaissance could be achieved, than pre- and post-colonial Algeria. His first work, Le Phénomène
coranique: Essai d’une théorie sur le Coran, heavily criticized Orientalism and served as a vehicle for
educating Muslims as well as non-Muslims. In this book, he performs an exegesis on the Qur’an that
depicts a “reconciliation of reason and reform (oxfordislamicstudies.com)”. He also published a novel
entitled, “ Lebbeik: Pèlerinage de pauvres”, that showcases redemption for Islamic society. In Discours
sur les conditions de la Renaissance algérienne he focuses on Algerian society and how there needed to
be a spiritual and secular revival after years of “colonizablity”. In Vocation de l’Islam, he discusses how
the decline of Muslim civilization began with moral and intellectual idleness, beginning in the 14th
century. While living in Egypt during the War for Liberation, he both supported and criticized the Front
de Libération Nationale (FLN). He also supported the emerging third World in his book, L’Afro-Asiatisme:
conclusions sur le Conférence de Bandoeng. He mostly supported the idea of an Islamic
commonwealth, a notion that proved to be especially controversial when he developed and founded the
al-Qiyam discussion group in 1964.

What prompted Bennabi to found the al-Qiyam discussion group?

Bennabi founded the al-Qiyam discussion group in 1964 after becoming Director of Higher Studies at the
University of Algiers. His views on Islamic cultural, social, economic, and political revival led him to co-
found this particular group. This group, however, only came as a result of Bennabi’s careful study of the
Qur’an, Muslim civilization, history, and religions in general. His research of the history of Islamic
cultural development led him to an understanding that there had (according to his writings, ever since
the 14th century) a gradual decline of civilization in intellectual, economic, social, and political realms in
the Islamic world. He attributed this gradual decline to the changing synergy of man (insān), soil (turāb),
and time (zamān). He took a psychological approach to understanding the history of Muslim civilization.
Psychology was only becoming a more popular field of study and Bennabi contextualized this approach
to history in an effort to provide a foundation for developing a new Muslim civilization (or perhaps a
return to the pre-colonial stage). He built much of his thought around the idea of “colonizablity”, which
is the ability of a civilization to be colonized and dominated. He encouraged revival, but to the eventual
demise of the al-Qiyam discussion group. It was disbanded by the government in 1966. Though he died
in 1973, his influence lived on beyond his years and influenced the formation of various groups and
societies, including the Islamic Salvation Front in 1989.

How should one observe contemporary Islamic movements considering

Bennabi and his influence?

One must observe contemporary Islamic political, cultural, and social movements in light of Bennabi and
his works because he profoundly influenced what many know today as the modern “Islamism”
movement. This term, “Islamism”, holds a vast range of meaning and connotation. It is a term favored
by some and rejected by others. Indeed, with a strong contextual understanding of Bennabi and his
writings, one can come to the conclusion that he definitely should be included in one of the greatest
minds of Islamic intellectual history.