Sufi Orders in Algeria and their Relationship with Politics : A Study of the Alawiyya Order

What has been observed in recent periods is the strong resurgence of the Sufi trend on the public stage, an issue that has become one of the most debated topics both in the Islamic world and in the Western world. This leads us to discuss Sufism in its confraternal form, as the confraternal structure—through zawiyas, shrines, and other institutions—has made it more widespread and more popular.

As for Algeria, this confraternal Sufism developed more markedly starting from the 9th century AH, and Sufi orders multiplied there as in the rest of the Arab-Islamic world. The opposition of Sufi shaykhs to political authority on the one hand and to the authority of jurists (fuqahāʾ) on the other pushed them to align themselves with the popular classes. Moreover, prominent Sufi shaykhs were known for their efforts to address people’s daily problems, their public advocacy for the rights of the people, and their interventions with rulers to meet the needs of ordinary citizens. These functions continued, with some transformations and adaptations, into the period following Algeria’s independence in 1962.

According to scholars, Sufism is based on the reproduction of meaning by adopting the positive function of reproduction (although some historians speak of a negative role played by Sufi orders). This function becomes particularly evident in times of crisis. During the Fatimid period, Sufism was relied upon to reproduce the new Sunni culture, and during the Mongol era, when political and juridical systems declined, the religious and cultural arena was left almost exclusively to Sufi shaykhs and what is known as Sufi baraka. This enabled them to carry the torch of reviving religious values and preserving social cohesion, at which point zawiyas emerged in a striking manner (E. Geoffroy, 2009).

In present-day Algeria, the stakes appear even clearer, whether for political leaders or for the various forces participating in political, partisan, and intellectual life. All of them seek to promote the spiritual vision of Islam embodied in Sufism as the desired model, as an alternative to the “jihadist” political Islam that—especially during the 1990s—was characterized by violence in all its forms. Most of these political and intellectual forces attribute the dominance of this model (jihadist Islam) to the political regime’s repression after independence, or at least to its neglect of Sufism and the zawiyas.

Algeria’s current situation, as reflected in intellectual and political forums, indicates that Sufism in the religious, spiritual, social, and political spheres has become increasingly present. This is manifested through the rehabilitation of zawiyas and their educational and social roles, as well as through the presence of shaykhs and their participation in major forums and decisions, political events, elections, conflict mediation, and other activities.

The institution that structures Sufi activity at both the individual and societal levels—across culture, politics, and economics—is the zawiya. The zawiya is a space in which the components of the Sufi community live together: the shaykh, disciples, and sympathizers who serve the Sufi path. These individuals may include scholars trained in institutions outside the zawiya who are entrusted with educational tasks such as Qurʾanic memorization and the teaching of the fundamentals of the Arabic language—grammar, morphology, rhetoric, literature in general—as well as other fields of knowledge.

Because the zawiya is embedded within the national fabric of any state in which it operates, it participates in the national projects of that state. From this perspective, the zawiya may assume the status of an “independent” civil association in certain aspects of its activity. Otherwise, it follows an approach that gives Sufi action an interactive dimension on two levels: a specific level related to the spiritual training of disciples, and a second level concerned with reforming society and protecting its religious and cultural identity, thereby transforming the social environment into one that is receptive to the spiritual and moral values of religion, which the Sufi regards as the foundation of true religiosity.

Since the field of research concerns the zawiya as a religious, spiritual, and social institution, it is necessary to examine how it interacts with political programs that shape the destiny of the people and determine their orientation. All of this leads us to question the role played by traditional institutions governed by religious and spiritual principles in practices related to modernity, citizenship, and the rule of law. The zawiya may play the role of the judiciary, the school, civil society, and even political parties.

What explains the fact that zawiyas occupy such a prominent position in political and social life, often surpassing official religious institutions such as mosques ? What is the function of the shaykhs of the orders, and what is the nature of the exceptional status they hold ? To what extent does the Sufi zawiya possess the capacity for mobilization, whether in urban or rural areas ? Finally, is it the zawiyas that influence politics, or is it politics that influences them ?

We examine the relationship between Sufi orders and politics through an Algerian zawiya that has followers throughout the entire country, namely the ʿAlāwiyya Zawiya. We explore the objectives of Sufism and its comprehensive project, from the individual to society, through the texts of this order, whether journalistic publications or the ceremonies and authorizations it has received from political authorities. These sources attest to its cultural and social activities and even to its participation in political decision-making. We also discuss the reality of the zawiya, its history, and its developments—through its shaykhs, from Shaykh Mustafa al-ʿAlāwī to Khaled Ben Tounès—as well as the reasons for its establishment and its institutionalization. This can be further revealed through close observation of the fieldwork activities of the ʿAlāwiyya Zawiya.

Maghrebi religious anthropology has produced several models for studying the importance of zawiyas in the region and in Algeria, whether in resisting colonialism, preserving social cohesion, or participating in political life. By way of example, we refer to the works of Fanny Colonna, Jacques Berque, E. Geoffroy, as well as those of Néji El-Amri in Tunisia on “Sufism and its connection to wilāya,” the research laboratory Études (under the supervision of Mustapha Tlili, Sainteté et politique, 2012), in addition to the works of Halima Ferhat (Sufism and Zawiyas in Morocco, 2003), the publications of the Research Center in Social and Cultural Anthropology (CRASC), notably the journal Insaniyat (2011), the works of Mohamed Brahimi Salhi on the Rahmāniyya order in Algeria, and the issues of Insaniyat that addressed themes such as “the local in transformation,” “the religious,” and various investigations into religion.

All these works have enabled us, at the theoretical level, to re-examine the Sufi order as an institution that appears traditional in its structure but is complex in its functions; some scholars even associate it today with modernity. We build on Eric Geoffroy’s argument (Islam Will Be Spiritual or Will Cease to Be, Paris, 2009), which emphasizes the presence of Sufi zawiyas in all spheres of life. From this perspective, we seek to test the nature of these functions—combining the religious and the worldly—in an operational manner through the ʿAlāwiyya order, whose center is located in Mostaganem, but whose zawiyas are found in all Algerian cities and even worldwide.

Within this framework, we employ content analysis, particularly in dealing with foundational and organizational texts as well as the literature of the zawiya. We also rely on interview techniques by developing an interview guide directed at the relevant actors: the shaykh, the muqaddam, and the disciples (murīdūn).

Accordingly, we will examine the relationship between Sufi orders and politics through four main axes:

the discourse of Sufi orders and their political positions ;the shaykh and his religious, political, and social status, as well as his baraka ;Sufi orders and public affairs, including their contribution to social and economic life ;associative (civil society) activity within the Sufi order.