What is Algeria religion?
Christianity in Algeria
Currently, North Africa is primarily Muslim: Islam is the state religion of Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia. While the practice and expression of other faiths is guaranteed by law, the same legal framework tends to restrict minority religions from actively seeking conversion to their religion, or even building or repairing churches. Converts to Christianity may be investigated and searched by the authorities as well as punished. There is some evidence that there has been an increase in conversions to Christianity among North African Muslims in recent years, even though in many cases the government will not change the religion from Islam on any citizens' identity cards. Despite this, the total number of Christians remains very low relative to the populations of these countries. In 2009, the percentage of Christians in Algeria was less than 2%. In this same survey, the UNO counted 100,000 Roman Catholics and 45,000 Protestants in the country. Although Christians are a religious minority in Algeria, churches built during French rule can still be found.
Islam in Algeria
The recent rise of a number of radical religious movements involving Ahmadism, Salafism, Shiism, Wahhabism and takfiri ideology have raised concerns among officials in the Algerian Ministry of Religious Affairs and Endowments, which has decided to take action by strengthening the monitoring and control of places targeted by the radical Islamists for recruits.
Medieval Muslim Algeria
Medieval Muslim Algeria was a period of Muslim dominance in Algeria during the Middle Ages, roughly spanning the millennium from the 7th century to the 17th century. Unlike the invasions of previous religions and cultures, the coming of Islam, which was spread by Arabs, was to have pervasive and long-lasting effects on North Africa. The new faith, in its various forms, would penetrate nearly all segments of society, bringing with it armies, learned men, and fervent mystics; in large part, it would replace tribal practices and loyalties with new social norms and political idioms.
Ba'ath Party (Iraqi-dominated faction)
The party branch in Algeria, the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party of Algeria ( "Hizb Al-Ba'ath Al-'Arabi Al-Ishtiraki fi Al-Jaza'ir"; French: "Parti Baath arabe socialiste d'Algérie"), is led by Ahmed Choutri (secretary of the Regional Command). The party is banned and Choutri was forced to flee to Iraq during the 1990s because of governmental repression against the Algerian Ba'ath movement. The party sympathises with the Iraqi ba'athist insurgency and supports Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, leader of the Iraqi branch. Following his return to Algeria in 2003, Choutri wrote "The Baathist Faith of President Saddam".
Religion in Algeria
After independence, the Algerian government asserted state control over religious activities for purposes of national consolidation and political control. Islam became the state religion in the new constitution and the religion of its leaders. No laws could be enacted that would be contrary to Islamic tenets or that would in any way undermine Islamic beliefs and principles. The state monopolized the building of mosques, and the Ministry of Religious Affairs controlled an estimated 5,000 public mosques by the mid-1980s. Imams were trained, appointed, and paid by the state, and the Friday khutba, or sermon, was issued to them by the Ministry of Religious Affairs. That ministry also administered religious property, the habus, provided for religious education and training in schools, and created special institutes for Islamic learning.
Islam in Algeria
While in Islam, a Muslim society subject to non-Muslim rulers is acceptable (see Qur'an)""which verse"", the discrimination against Islam led it to be a strong element of the resistance movement to the French in the Algerian War of Independence. The independence fighters were termed "moudjahidine" - practicers of jihad - and its fallen are called "chouhada", martyrs, despite the revolution's avowed socialism; even during the revolution, the FLN made symbolic efforts to impose Islamic principles, such as banning wine and prostitution.
History of Algeria
Since 4000 BC, the indigenous peoples of northern Africa successfully resisted Phoenician, Roman, Vandal, Byzantine, Turkish, and French invaders but accepted Islam between the 7th to 9th century, and Arabic is now the language spoken by a majority in the country.
Human rights in Algeria
The government's main opponent in the war was the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), an Islamic terrorist organization and Al Qaeda affiliate that was described by John R. Schindler in The National Interest in July 2012 as "supremely violent" and as the perpetrator of "a wave of bombings in Paris in the summer of 1995" that were "Al Qaeda's first attacks on the West". Schindler notes that "Algeria's nightmare years of 1993–1997 were a focus of the international human-rights community" but that "the terrible fratricide [of] the 1990s got little coverage in Western media, despite the fact that it probably claimed twice as many lives as the Bosnian conflict, which ran concurrently and received nonstop Western attention." Schindler added that "Algeria's bloody civil war, which began twenty years ago, never really ended."
Protestant Church of Algeria
On 18 July 2011, the EPA was granted re-registration by the Algerian government. This has opened the door for formal dialogue between the EPA and the Algerian government on the issues faced by Algerian Christians in the country, including initial discussions on reform and the possible abolition of Ordinance 06-03.
Association of Algerian Muslim Ulema
The Association of Algerian Muslim Ulema (, AOMA), commonly known as Jam'iyat al-'Ulama, was a cultural and religious movement in French Algeria.
Politics of Algeria
Under the 1976 Constitution (as modified 1979, and amended in 1988, 1989, and 1996) Algeria is a multi-party state. All parties must be approved by the Ministry of the Interior. To date, Algeria has had more than 40 legal political parties. According to the Constitution, no political association may be formed if it is "based on differences in religion, language, race, gender, or region."
Awlad Sidi Shaykh
The Awlad Sidi Shaykh (or Ouled Sidi Cheikh) was a confederation of Arab tribes in the west and south of Algeria led by the descendants of the Sufi saint Sidi Shaykh. The Awlad had religious authority, and also owned agricultural settlements and engaged in trade. During the French occupation of Algeria they alternately cooperated with and opposed the colonialists.
Muslim Brotherhood
The Muslim Brotherhood reached Algeria during the later years of the French colonial presence in the country (1830–1962). Sheikh Ahmad Sahnoun led the organization in Algeria between 1953 and 1954 during the French colonialism. Brotherhood members and sympathizers took part in the uprising against France in 1954–1962, but the movement was marginalized during the largely secular FLN one-party rule which was installed at independence in 1962. It remained unofficially active, sometimes protesting the government and calling for increased Islamization and Arabization of the country's politics.
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – Algeria Province
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – Algeria Province (, "ad-Dawlah al-Islāmiyah fī 'l-ʿIrāq wa-sh-Shām – Wilayah al-Jazā’er"), or ISIL-AP, is a branch of the militant Islamist group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), active in Algeria. The group was formerly known as Jund al-Khilafah fi Ard al-Jazair (, meaning "Soldiers of the Caliphate in Algeria" or "Caliphate Soldiers of Algeria").
Workers' Party (Algeria)
The Workers' Party, PT abbreviation, is a left-wing party, advocating for the protection and promotion of trade union movements in Algeria, from its claims, including a figure egalitarian doctrine is to claim that a better distribution of wealth on the people of country. The creation of this party back to the year 1990, one year after the constitutional reform which introduced a multiparty system, its Secretary General Louisa Hanoune, who in 2004 was the first woman in the Arab world to stand as a candidate for a presidential election.
Blasphemy law in Algeria
Despite the provisions of the Constitution, Algeria severely restricts what anyone can say or what anyone can do as a religious practice. The penal code forbids anyone from insulting, or inciting hatred against, anyone who belongs to an ethnic or philosophical group or to a religion. Freedom of speech must be exercised with respect for "individual dignity, the imperatives of foreign policy, and the national defense."
Workers' Party (Algeria)
The Workers' Party (, Arabic "Hizb al-Ummal" حزب العمال, Berber: "Akabar Ixeddamen") is a Trotskyist political party in Algeria, closely linked with the Independent Workers' Party of France. The party is led by Louisa Hanoune.
Christianity in Algeria
Since Independence, there has been a rise of Islamic fundamentalism. The 1996 murder of Pierre Claverie, bishop of Oran was an act of violence by Islamic extremist terrorists against the Christian community.Translated from : Introduction and Christianisme en Algérie sectionsVöcking, Hans. "Algeria." In "The Encyclopedia of Christianity", edited by Erwin Fahlbusch and Geoffrey William Bromiley, 39-40. Vol. 1. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1999.
Religion in Algeria
During the 7th century, Muslims reached North Africa, and by the beginning of the 8th century the Berbers had been for the most part converted to Islam. Sunni Islam, the larger of the two great branches of the faith, is the form practiced by the overwhelming majority of Muslims in Algeria, while there is a small Ibadi minority. There is no significant Shia presence.
Christianity in Algeria
Conversions to Christianity have been most common in Kabylie, especially in the wilaya of Tizi-Ouzou. In Tizi-Ouzou, the proportion of Christians has been estimated to be between 1% and 5%. Christians have at times been subjected to religiously motivated attacks. In 1996, Pierre Claverie, bishop of Oran, was assassinated by terrorists. This murder occurred soon after that of seven monks of the Trappistes of Tibérine, and of six nuns. This terrorist act was part of a general trend of violence during the Algerian Civil War in the 1990s, commonly known as the Black Decade. During this time, between 100,000 and 200,000 Algerians lost their lives.
Religion in Algeria
The Bahá'í Faith in Algeria dates from 1952. Though the religion achieved some growth and organization through 1967 including converts, the period of the independence of Algeria when the country adopted Islamic practices in rejection of colonial influences and subsequently the religion was effectively banned in 1968. However more recently the Association of Religion Data Archives and Wolfram Alpha estimated the population of Bahá'ís at 3.3–3.8 thousand Bahá'ís in 2005 and 2010.
Algeria
Algeria has given the Muslim world a number of prominent thinkers, including Emir Abdelkader, Abdelhamid Ben Badis, Mouloud Kacem Naît Belkacem, Malek Bennabi and Mohamed Arkoun.
Ahmadiyya in Algeria
Ahmadiyya is a religious sect in Algeria, with around 2,000 followers. Its presence in the country dates back to the 1970s.
Algerian Party for Democracy and Socialism
The Algerian Party for Democracy and Socialism ("Parti Algérien pour la Démocratie et le Socialisme") is a communist political party in Algeria. When in 1993, during the Algerian Civil War, Ettehadi was realigned as a democratic movement resisting Islamism, the orthodox communist wing split apart under the leadership of Abdelhamid Benzine to retain its communist legacy.
Languages of Algeria
The 1963 constitution of Algeria made Arabic the official language, and this was retained in the 1976 constitution. The 1976 constitution states in Article 3 "Arabic is the national and official language". Neither constitution mentions Berber. The Permanent Committee on Geographical Names for British Official Use (PCGN) stated "Arabic was chosen at the outset as the language which was to represent Algeria’s identity and religion, and official attitudes towards both Berber and French have been largely negative." The PCGN stated that French, not Arabic, is the actual lingua franca of Algeria. Arabic is not commonly used in the Kabylie region.
Religion in Algeria
Christianity came to North Africa in the Roman era. Its influence declined during the chaotic period of the Vandal invasions but was strengthened in the succeeding Byzantine period, only to disappear gradually after the Arab invasions of the seventh century. There is also a small growing Pentecostal and evangelical community.
The Roman Catholic Church was reintroduced after the French conquest, when the Diocese of Algiers was established in 1838. Proselytization of the Muslim population was at first strictly prohibited; later the prohibition was less vigorously enforced, but few conversions took place. The several Roman Catholic missions established in Algeria were concerned with charitable and relief work; the establishment of schools, workshops, and infirmaries; and the training of staff for the new establishments. Some of the missionaries of these organizations remained in the country after independence, working among the poorer segments of the population. In the early 1980s, the Roman Catholic population numbered about 45,000, most of whom were foreigners or Algerians who had married French or Italians. In addition, there was a Protestant community. Because the government adopted a policy of not inquiring about religious affiliation in censuses or surveys to avoid provoking religious tensions, the number of Christians in the early 1990s was not known.
Freedom of religion in Algeria
Eating in public during Ramadan (particularly for people who "look Muslim") is legal but attracts public hostility in most areas, except for some areas of Kabylie; most restaurants close during Ramadan.
Tourism in Algeria
Djamaâ El Djazaïr (Mosque of Algeria, in Arabic : جامع الجزائر); or Great Mosque of Algeria (in Arabic : مسجد الجزائر الأعظم) Is a mosque in the process of completion, located in Mohammedia in Algiers. Is the largest mosque in Algeria and Africa and the third largest mosque in the world in terms of the total area after each of Great Mosque of Mecca in Mecca and Al-Masjid an-Nabawi Mosque in Medina.
Freedom of religion in Algeria
People without religious affiliation tend to be particularly numerous in Kabylie (a Kabyle-speaking area) where they are generally tolerated and sometimes supported; notably, Matoub Lounes is widely seen as a hero among Kabyles, despite (or because of) his lack of religion. In most other areas of the country, the non-religious tend to be more discreet.
Maghreb
Recently, the Protestant community of Berber or Arab descent has experienced significant growth, and conversions to Christianity, especially to Evangelicalism, is common in Algeria, especially in the Kabylie, Morocco and Tunisia. A 2015 study estimates 380,000 Muslims converted to Christianity in Algeria. The number of the Moroccans who converted to Christianity (most of them secret worshipers) are estimated between 40,000-150,000. The International Religious Freedom Report for 2007 estimates thousands of Tunisian Muslims have converted to Christianity. A 2015 study estimate some 1,500 believers in Christ from a Muslim background living in Libya.
Algerian nationalism
European influences had some impact on indigenous Muslim political movements because Ferhat Abbas and Messali Hadj even with opposite views, essentially looked to France for their more secular ideological models. Ben Badis, however, believed that "Islam is our religion, Arabic our language, Algeria our fatherland." Abbas went as far as summing up the philosophy of the liberal integrationists to oppose the claims of the nationalists by denying in 1936 that Algeria had a separate identity. However, Ben Badis responded that he, too, had looked to the past and found "that this Algerian nation is not France, cannot be France, and does not want to be France … [but] has its culture, its traditions and its characteristics, good or bad, like every other nation of the earth." He was opposed to French colonial rule.
Sahrawi people
In 2018, thirty Sahrawi refugees were dead in an air crash of Algerian Air Force Il-76. They had been visiting Algiers for various medical and bureaucratic reasons. Sahrawis from the refugee camps are regularly provided with free flights in Algerian military transport aircraft.Religiously, the Sahrawis are Sunni Muslims of the Maliki rite or school. Historically, religious practice has been pragmatically adapted to nomad life and local tradition. Also, since the late medieval period, various Sufi "Turuq" (brotherhoods or orders), have played an important role in popular religious practice; the most important among these are the Qadiriyya and Tijaniyya. Further, among the Hassaniya tribes, certain lineages reputed to be descended from the Prophet Mohammed, the chorfa, have played an important role in intertribal religious society.
Algeria
Algeria is classified as an upper middle income country by the World Bank. Algeria's currency is the dinar (DZD). The economy remains dominated by the state, a legacy of the country's socialist post-independence development model. In recent years, the Algerian government has halted the privatization of state-owned industries and imposed restrictions on imports and foreign involvement in its economy. These restrictions are just started to be lifted off recently although questions about Algeria's slow diversifying economy remains.
Blasphemy law in Algeria
More than ninety-nine percent of Algeria's population is Sunni Muslim. The Constitution of Algeria declares that Islam is the state religion but Article 36 of the Constitution provides for freedom of belief. The Constitution does not provide for Sharia courts in Algeria's court system. Article 35 guarantees freedom of conscience and of opinion. Article 41 says all citizens are entitled to the freedom of expression. Algeria has signed and ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
Algerian nationalism
A new generation of Muslim leadership emerged in Algeria at the time of World War I and grew to maturity during the 1920s and 1930s. It consisted of a small but influential class of "évolués", other Algerians whose perception of themselves and their country had been shaped by wartime experiences, and a body of religious reformers and teachers. Some of these people were members of the few wealthy Muslim families that had managed to insinuate themselves into the colonial system in the 1890s and had with difficulty succeeded in obtaining for their sons the French education coveted by progressive Algerians. Others were among the about 173,000 Algerians who had served in the French army during World War I or the several hundred thousand more who had assisted the French war effort by working in factories. Many Algerians stayed on in France after 1918, and sent the money they earned there to their relatives in Algeria. In France they became aware of a standard of living higher than any they had known at home and of democratic political concepts, taken for granted by Frenchmen in France, which "colons", soldiers, and bureaucrats had refused to apply to the Muslim majority in Algeria. Some Algerians also became acquainted with the pan-Arab nationalism growing in the Middle East.
Blasphemy law in Algeria
In February 2008, authorities arrested Christian converts Yousef Ourahmane, Rachid Seghir (or Esseghir), and Hamid Ramdani for blasphemy and for uttering threats against a man who allegedly converted from Islam to Christianity to Islam. At the trial, which began on 21 October 2008, the prosecutor asked the court for three years imprisonment and a fine of 50,000 dinars for each man. The court acquitted the men on 29 October because the prosecution did not prove that the men had committed a crime.
List of Islamic educational institutions
Algeria
Islam in Algeria
However, the emergence of the religious scholar and reformer Abdelhamid Ben Badis would go some way to reversing these trends. Beginning in the 1910s, he preached against the traditional marabouts and the saint cults, they believed in voodoo dolls,and urged the importance of Arabic and Islamic education; his disciples founded an extensive network of schools, and rapidly brought the saint cults into widespread disrepute, making Algerian Islam substantially more orthodox.
Aïn Touta
Religion: 
Like all Algeria Islam is the religion of Aïn Touta's people there is too many masjids like The antique masjid (al masjid al atiq) masjid ennacer and others.
Demographics of Algeria
96% of the population follows Sunni Islam; the few non-Sunni Muslims are mainly Ibadis from the Mozabite valley at 1.3% and Shia Muslims (see Islam in Algeria).
French Algeria
The French faced other opposition as well in the area. The superior of a religious brotherhood, Muhyi ad Din, who had spent time in Ottoman jails for opposing the bey's rule, launched attacks against the French and their makhzen allies at Oran in 1832. In the same year, jihad was declared and to lead it tribal elders chose Muhyi ad Din's son, twenty-five-year-old Abd al Qadir. Abd al Qadir, who was recognized as Amir al-Muminin (commander of the faithful), quickly gained the support of tribes throughout Algeria. A devout and austere marabout, he was also a cunning political leader and a resourceful warrior. From his capital in Tlemcen, Abd al Qadir set about building a territorial Muslim state based on the communities of the interior but drawing its strength from the tribes and religious brotherhoods. By 1839, he controlled more than two-thirds of Algeria. His government maintained an army and a bureaucracy, collected taxes, supported education, undertook public works, and established agricultural and manufacturing cooperatives to stimulate economic activity.
Culture of Algeria
Algerian culture has been strongly influenced by Islam, the main religion. The works of the Sanusi family in pre-colonial times, and of Emir Abdelkader and Sheikh Ben Badis in colonial times, are widely noted. The Latin author Apuleius was born in Madaurus (Mdaourouch), in what later became Algeria.
Blasphemy law in Algeria
The People's Democratic Republic of Algeria prohibits blasphemy against Islam by using legislation rather than by using Sharia. The penalty for blasphemy may be years of imprisonment as well as a fine. Every Algerian child has an opportunity to learn what blasphemy is because Islam is a compulsory subject in public schools, which are regulated jointly by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Religious Affairs.
National Liberation Front (Algeria)
The National Liberation Front ( "Jabhatu l-Taḥrīru l-Waṭanī"; , FLN) is a socialist political party in Algeria. It was the principal nationalist movement during the Algerian War and the sole legal and the ruling political party of the Algerian state until other parties were legalised in 1989.
Algerian nationalism
Algeria's Islamic reform movement took inspiration from Egyptian reformers Muhammad Abduh and Muhammad Rashid Rida and stressed the Arab and Islamic roots of the country. Starting in the 1920s, the reform ulema, religious scholars, promoted a purification of Islam in Algeria and a return to the Qur'an and the "sunna", or tradition of the Prophet. The reformers favored the adoption of modern methods of inquiry and rejected the superstitions and folk practices of the countryside, actions that brought them into confrontation with the "marabouts". The reformers published their own periodicals and books, and established free modern Islamic schools that stressed Arabic language and culture as an alternative to the schools for Muslims operated for many years by the French. Under the dynamic leadership of Shaykh Abd al Hamid Ben Badis, the reformist ulama organized the Association of Algerian Muslim Ulema ("Association des Uléma Musulmans Algériens", AUMA) in 1931. Although their support was concentrated in the Constantine area, the AUMA struck a responsive chord among the Muslim masses, with whom it had closer ties than did the other nationalist organizations. As the Islamic reformers gained popularity and influence, the colonial authorities responded in 1933 by refusing them permission to preach in official mosques. This move and similar ones sparked several years of sporadic religious unrest.
Algerian Civil War
Islam in Algeria after independence was dominated by Salafist "Islamic revivalism" and Political Islam rather than the more apolitical popular Islam of brotherhoods found in other areas of North Africa. The brotherhoods had been dismantled by the FLN government in retaliation for lack of support and their land had been confiscated and redistributed by the FLN government after independence. In the 1980s the government imported two renowned Islamic scholars, Mohammed al-Ghazali and Yusuf al-Qaradawi, to "strengthen the religious dimension" of the ruling National Liberation Front (FLN) party's "nationalist ideology". Rather than doing this, the clerics worked to promote "Islamic awakening" as they were "fellow travelers" of the Muslim Brotherhood and supporters of Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf monarchies. Al-Ghazali issuing a number of fatawa (Islamic judicial rulings) favorable to positions taken by local "radical" imams.
Human rights in Algeria
A child can inherit Algerian nationality from either parent. The child of a Muslim father is automatically Muslim. Education through high school is free and, up to age 16, compulsory. Although illegal, child abuse is a problem, attributed to a "culture of violence". Child sexual abuse is technically punishable by 10–20 years in prison but offenders rarely receive such long sentences. Algeria is not a signatory of the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.
Culture of Algeria
Traditional Algerian dress includes the burnous, qashabiya, kaftan, and djellaba.
Culture of Algeria
Algeria is a Muslim country, with Christian and Jewish minorities. About 99% of Algeria is Islamic.
History of Algeria
A new generation of Islamic leadership emerged in Algeria at the time of World War I and grew to maturity during the 1920s and 1930s. Various groups were formed in opposition to French rule, most notable the National Liberation Front (FLN) and the National Algerian Movement.
Freedom of religion by country
Freedom of religion in Algeria is regulated by the Algerian Constitution, which declares Islam to be the state religion (Article 2) but also declares that "freedom of creed and opinion is inviolable" (Article 36); it prohibits discrimination, Article 29 states "All citizens are equal before the law. No discrimination shall prevail because of birth, race, sex, opinion or any other personal or social condition or circumstance". In practice, the government generally respects this, with some limited exceptions. The government follows a "de facto" policy of tolerance by allowing, in limited instances, the conduct of religious services by non-Muslim faiths in the capital which are open to the public. The small Christian and tiny Jewish populations generally practice their faiths without government interference. The law does not recognize marriages between Muslim women and non-Muslim men; it does however recognise marriages between Muslim men and non-Muslim women. By law, children follow the religion of their fathers, even if they are born abroad and are citizens of their (non-Muslim) country of birth.
Algeria
Berber has been recognized as a "national language" by the constitutional amendment of 8 May 2002. Kabyle, the predominant Berber language, is taught and is partially co-official (with a few restrictions) in parts of Kabylie. In February 2016, the Algerian constitution passed a resolution that would make Berber an official language alongside Arabic.
Tourism in Algeria
Djama'a al-Djedid, also referred to as the Jamaa al-Jadid, Jamaa El Jedid, or the New Mosque, () is an Ottoman mosque located in Algiers, the capital of Algeria. It was built in 1660 in accordance with the traditions of the Hanafi school. During the French colonial rule, the mosque was called the Mosquée de la Pêcherie and in English the Mosque of the Fisherman's Wharf.
Algeria–Morocco relations
During the Algerian civil war, Algiers accused Rabat of hosting and supporting the Armed Islamic Group of Algeria, an Algerian Islamist terrorist group. The charge was rapidly denied by Moroccan authorities, but the quarrel led to the border closure in 1994, after Morocco accused the Algerian GIA along with the Algerian Services of the Marrakech attack of 1994, where two Spaniards were killed. The borders are still closed, costing $2 billion yearly to the Moroccan economy. In 1999, the newly elected Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, attended Hassan II of Morocco's funeral, and declared 3 days of official mourning in Algeria for "his brother"'s death. The same year the Algerian president accused Morocco of hosting GIA bases, from which some attacks on Algerians were planned and directed. A few days later he again accused Morocco of exporting drugs into Algeria. In July 2004, the king abolished visa requirements for Algerians entering Morocco; in April 2006, Algerian President reciprocated the gesture. In 2012 Algerian prime minister Ahmed Ouyahia said border reopening was not a priority for his government. Other official declarations imply that this issue is not to be solved soon.
Berber Spring
Since its independence in 1962, Algeria has a single-party system, governed by the FLN. After 132 years of French colonization, one of the goals of the Arab nationalist party FLN is to institute Arabization measures that will implement Arab as the national language in administration, schools and public services in general. Like most ex-colonies, the independence of Algeria stressed the need for "recovery" of the language, as a symbol of the "recovery" of a nation. Under French colonization, Arab language was disregarded. In 1938, the French government even implemented a law that declared Arab a foreign language in Algeria. The nationalist party of the independence, the FLN, has therefore a sort of "arabic" conception of Algeria, an Arab and Muslim Algeria, that does not recognize the pluralism of cultures, identities and languages in Algeria. For example, the 1976 National Charter did not take into account any Berber claims for recognition.
Religion in Algeria
Before the Arab incursions, most of the Berber inhabitants of the area's mountainous interior adopted traditional Berber mythology. Some had adopted Judaism, and in the coastal plains many had accepted Christianity under the Romans. St. Augustine of Hippo, one of the most important theologians in Roman Catholicism, was born in Thagaste (Souk Ahras) and taught in Hippo (Annaba). A wave of Arab incursions into the Maghreb in the latter half of the 7th century and the early 8th century introduced Islam to parts of the area.
Tourism in Algeria
Algerian Cuisine is influenced by various cultures such as Berber, Arabic and French. Most of the Algerian dishes are centered around lamb or beef, olive oil, fresh vegetables and fresh herbs. Traditionally, no Algerian meal is complete without bread, normally a long French baguette or more traditionally a flat semolina bread. Pork consumption is forbidden to devout Muslim inhabitants of Algeria in accordance with Sharia, religious laws of Islam.
History of Algeria (1962–99)
Despite occasional efforts to restore the political process, violence and terrorism characterized the Algeria landscape during the 1990s. In 1994, Liamine Zéroual was appointed Head of State for a 3-year term. During this period, the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) launched terrorist campaigns against government figures and institutions to protest the banning of the Islamist parties. When it took to massacring civilians not involved in politics, a faction based in the east-central region broke away in protest, establishing the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), which continued fighting for some time after the effective demise of the GIA. Some government officials estimate that more than 100,000 Algerians died during this period. "See also:" List of Algerian massacres of the 1990s
Demographics of Algeria
There were an estimated 10,000 Christians in Algeria in 2008. In a 2009 study the UNO estimated there were 45,000 Catholics and 50,000–100,000 Protestants in Algeria. A 2015 study estimates 380,000 Muslims converted to Christianity in Algeria.
Languages of Algeria
The official languages of Algeria are Modern Standard Arabic (literary Arabic) and Tamazight (Berber), as specified in its constitution since 1963 for the former and since 2016 for the latter. Berber has been recognized as a "national language" by constitutional amendment since 8 May 2002. In February, 2016, a constitutional resolution was passed making Berber an official language alongside Arabic. Algerian Arabic and Berber are the native languages of over 99% of Algerians, with Algerian Arabic spoken by about 72% and Berber by 27.4%. French, though it has no official status, is widely used in government, culture, media (newspapers) and education (from primary school), due to Algeria's colonial history. Kabyle, the most spoken Berber language in the country, is taught and partially co-official (with a few restrictions) in parts of Kabylie.
Muslim Brotherhood
When a multi-party system was introduced in Algeria in the early 1990s, the Muslim Brotherhood formed the Movement of Society for Peace (MSP, previously known as Hamas), led by Mahfoud Nahnah until his death in 2003 (he was succeeded by present party leader Boudjerra Soltani). The Muslim Brotherhood in Algeria did not join the Front islamique du salut (FIS), which emerged as the leading Islamist group, winning the 1991 elections and which was banned in 1992 following a military coup d'état, although some Brotherhood sympathizers did. The Brotherhood subsequently also refused to join the violent post-coup uprising by FIS sympathizers and the Armed Islamic Groups (GIA) against the Algerian state and military which followed, and urged a peaceful resolution to the conflict and a return to democracy. It has thus remained a legal political organization and enjoyed parliamentary and government representation. In 1995, Sheikh Nahnah ran for President of Algeria finishing second with 25.38% of the popular vote. During the 2000s (decade), the party—led by Nahnah's successor Boudjerra Soltani—has been a member of a three-party coalition backing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
Protestant Church of Algeria
Protestantism has been present in Algeria since the early days of French rule in Algeria. The first synod of the Reformed churches was held in 1843 and the French Methodists began mission work in Béjaïa around 1883. By 1914, American Methodist missionaries were also well established in Algeria. After the traumatic independence of Algeria, many local Christians fled the country and by 1970, mission run schools and properties have been nationalised.
Algeria
Despite the dominance of the Berber culture and ethnicity in Algeria, the majority of Algerians identify with an Arabic-based identity, especially after the Arab nationalism rising in the 20th century. Berbers and Berber-speaking Algerians are divided into many groups with varying languages. The largest of these are the Kabyles, who live in the Kabylie region east of Algiers, the Chaoui of Northeast Algeria, the Tuaregs in the southern desert and the Shenwa people of North Algeria.
LGBT rights in Algeria
The criminals laws originate from the prevailing mores in Algeria that view homosexuality and cross-dressing as against the Islamic faith.
Religion in Algeria
Since the mid-20th-century Algerian War, led by the French, also called the Algerian Revolution, regimes have sought to develop an Islamic Arab socialist state, and a cabinet-level ministry acts for the government in religious affairs. Although the Boumediene regime consistently sought, to a far greater extent than its predecessor, to increase Islamic awareness and to reduce Western influence, the rights of non-Muslims continued to be respected. The Bendjedid government pursued a similar policy.
Ballet company
Algeria
Freedom of religion in Algeria
The majority of cases of harassment and security threats against non-Muslims come from the now nearly destroyed Armed Islamic Group, an organization fighting the government who are determined to rid the country of those who do not share their extremist interpretation of Islam. However, a majority of the population subscribes to Islamic precepts of tolerance in religious beliefs. Moderate Islamist religious and political leaders have criticized publicly acts of violence committed in the name of Islam.
Ahmadiyya in Algeria
In 2013, the Algerian Ministry of Religious Affairs expressed concern over the rise of a number of radical religious movements, including Ahmadism which according to them "is becoming as deeply entrenched in North Africa as takfiri Salafism and Wahhabism", and decided to take action by strengthening the monitoring and control of the places targeted by the radical Islamists for recruits. In 2016, Ahmadi sect members had been detained and accused of various offences with detentions occurring in Larbaâ, Algiers, Skikda, Sidi Ameur, M'Sila. and Beni Saf.
Algerian Constitution of 1996
The Algerian constitution was amended in 1996 to address years of sectarian strife. This violence started in January 1991, when Muslim groups began violently protesting in response to the cancellation of the first ever multiparty election of Algeria by the military junta, where the Islamic Salvation Front was expected to come out victorious. The Algerian military declared a state of emergency and adopted a "transitional rule" for the next few years. While violence had been simmering from January 1991 to the summer of 1995, Islamist groups started more actively fighting with the Algerian military in response to multiparty elections announced in November 1995. This clash led to the opposition parties of Algeria boycotting the election and assuring the election of Liamine Zeroual, the incumbent. Seeking to address the political conflict in Algeria, newly-elected President Zeroual announced on 5 May 1996 that he would put in place a three-part plan to reform the Algerian Constitution and restore order to Algeria. These three parts were: generating nationwide interest and ideas through a conference in the summer of 1996, holding a referendum on the results of the conference at the end of 1996, and holding elections for the Algerian legislature in 1997. The referendum passed the new constitution on 28 November 1996, although opposition parties claimed a fraudulent election. While violence continued after the ratification of the new constitution, the Algerian economy improved and the World Bank loaned the Algerian government $656 million in 1997. The new constitution changed the form of the legislature to a bicameral system, banned political parties based on religion, gave more powers to the president, imposed presidential term limits of two terms lasting five years, and included Islam as the official religion of Algeria.
Christianity in Algeria
After Algeria became independent in 1962, about 800,000 "Pieds-Noirs" of French nationality were evacuated to European France. The majority of those who evacuated were Christian or Jewish. Approximately 200,000 Algerian inhabitants of French nationality chose to remain in Algeria. The number of people with French nationality has continued to decrease over the decades. There were approximately 100,000 in 1965 and about 50,000 by the end of the 1960s.
Charles Lavigerie
This action, however, did not meet with the approval of Marshal MacMahon, governor-general of Algeria, who feared that the maghrebian would resent it as an infraction of the religious peace, and thought that the Muslim faith, being a state institution in Algeria, ought to be protected from proselytism; so it was intimated to the prelate that his sole duty was to minister to the colonists. Lavigerie made it clear that he had come to serve the whole population of Algeria.
Islam in Algeria
Islam took longer to spread to the far south of Algeria, whose history is to a large extent separate: only in the 15th century were the Tuareg finally converted to Islam.
Islamic Salvation Front
The Islamic Salvation Front (Arabic: الجبهة الإسلامية للإنقاذ, "al-Jabhah al-Islāmiyah lil-Inqādh"; ) was a Sunni Islamist political party in Algeria. The party had two major leaders representing its two bases of its support. Abbassi Madani appealed to pious small businessmen, and Ali Belhadj appealed to the angry, often unemployed youth of Algeria.
Apostolic Nunciature to Algeria
The Apostolic Nunciature to Algeria is an ecclesiastical office of the Roman Catholic Church in Algeria. It is a diplomatic post of the Holy See, whose representative is called the Apostolic Nuncio to Algeria with the rank of an ambassador. The office of the nunciature is located in Bologhine-Alger.
Salafi jihadism
In the Algerian Civil War 1992–1998, the GIA was one of the two major Islamist armed groups (the other being theArmee Islamique du Salut or AIS) fighting the Algerian army and security forces. The GIA included veterans of the Afghanistan jihad and unlike the more moderate AIS, fought to destabilize the Algerian government with terror attacks designed to "create an atmosphere of general insecurity". It considered jihad in Algeria "fard ayn" or an obligation for all (adult male sane) Muslims, and sought to "purge" Algeria of "the ungodly" and create an Islamic state. It pursued what Gilles Kepel called a "wholesale massacres of civilians", targeting French-speaking intellectuals, foreigners, and Islamists deemed too moderate, and took a campaign of bombing to France, which supported the Algerian government against the Islamists. Although over 150,000 were killed in the civil war, the GIA eventually lost popular support and was crushed by the security forces. Remnants of the GIA continued on as "Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat", which as of 2015 calls itself al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
Islam in Algeria
The Almohads were zealously orthodox, and under their rule Algeria gradually acquired its notable religious homogeneity. Sunni Islam and the Maliki "madhhab" became virtually universal, apart from the Ibadhis of the M'zab and small Jewish communities.
History of the Jews in Algeria
After Houari Boumediene came to power in 1965, Jews were persecuted in Algeria, facing social and political discrimination and heavy taxes. In 1967-68 the government seized all but one of the country's synagogues and converted them to mosques. By 1969, fewer than 1,000 Jews were still living in Algeria.
Apostasy in Islam
Freedom of religion in Algeria is regulated by the Algerian Constitution, which declares Sunni Islam to be the state religion (Article 2) but also declares that "freedom of creed and opinion is inviolable" (Article 36); it prohibits discrimination, Article 29 states "All citizens are equal before the law. No discrimination shall prevail because of birth, race, sex, opinion or any other personal or social condition or circumstance".
Economy of Algeria
Algeria's currency is the dinar (DZD). The dinar is loosely linked to the U.S. dollar in a managed float. Algeria's main export, crude oil, is priced in dollars, while most of Algeria's imports are priced in euros. Therefore, the government endeavors to manage fluctuations in the value of the dinar. As of April 2008, US$1 was equivalent to about DZD64.6.
Algeria's foreign currency reserves have grown rapidly since 2000, reflecting rising prices for exported oil. At the end of 2007, foreign reserves totaled US$99.3 billion, up from US$12 billion in 2000 and the equivalent of almost four years of imports. In 2007 the estimated inflation rate was 4.6 percent.
Tourism in Algeria
Religion in Algeria is dominated by Muslims at about ninety-nine percent of the population. The vast majority of Muslims in Algeria adhere to Sunni Islam of Maliki school of jurisprudence. There are also almost 100,000 Christians, mostly Pentecostal Protestants. There are nearly 2,000 Jews still living in Algeria, according to the US department of State.
Islam in Algeria
Islam was first brought to Algeria by the Umayyad dynasty following the invasion of Uqba ibn Nafi, in a drawn-out process of conquest and conversion stretching from 670 to 711. The native Berbers were rapidly converted in large numbers, although some Christian and probably pagan communities would remain at least until Almoravid times. However, as in the Middle East itself, they sought to combine their new Islam with resistance to the Caliphate's foreign rule - a niche which the Kharijite and Shiite "heresies" filled perfectly. By the late 8th century, most of Algeria was ruled by the Rustamids, who professed the strictly puritanical but politically moderate Ibadhi sect and saw the Caliphs as immoral usurpers. They were destroyed by the Shia Fatimids in 909, but their doctrine was re-established further south by refugees whose descendants would ultimately found the towns of the M'zab valley in the Algerian Sahara, where Ibadhism still dominates.
Protestant Church of Algeria
The EPA and other Christian communities in Algeria continued to receive harassment by Algerian government throughout the period with churches being closed and Christians arrested and charged for conversion, proselytization, and blasphemy
History of Algeria
The Almoravid ("those who have made a religious retreat") movement developed early in the 11th century among the Sanhaja Berbers of southern Morocco. The movement's initial impetus was religious, an attempt by a tribal leader to impose moral discipline and strict adherence to Islamic principles on followers. But the Almoravid movement shifted to engaging in military conquest after 1054. By 1106, the Almoravids had conquered the Maghreb as far east as Algiers and Morocco, and Spain up to the Ebro River.
Ghardaïa
Ghardaïa is the traditional heart of the M'zab valley and home of the Ibadi religious sect in Algeria. As a religious Muslim sect, they do not subscribe to the doctrine of Sunnism and Shi'ism. They practice a different way of praying, worshipping of God, and designing mosques compared to Malikis, the majority of Algerians. The wastage of water, and more generally any gift of land, is considered a sin. The Ghardaïa Mosque, built in the 10th century, is of Moorish architecture style. Its tower, simple and elegant, includes a large portal at the top of the shaft, the design of which provides for ventilation flow.
Architecture of Algeria
Islam reached Algeria in the 7th century via the Arab conquest of Northern Africa. Islamic conquest brought many of the hallmark features of Muslim cities to Algeria, including the souq as a commercial center, hammam as a social center, and the mosque and accompanying madrasah as a religious center. The casbah, or fortified citadel, was also introduced to Algeria during this era.
Christianity in Africa
In 2009, the UNO counted 45,000 Roman Catholics and 50,000 to 100,000 Protestants in Algeria. Conversions to Christianity have been most common in Kabylie, especially in the wilaya of Tizi Ouzou. In that wilaya, the proportion of Christians has been estimated to be between 1% and 5%. A 2015 study estimates 380,000 Muslims converted to Christianity in Algeria.
Takfir
During the Algerian Civil War of 1991-2002 the Islamist insurgent group the GIA (Armed Islamic Group of Algeria) under amir Antar Zouabri issued a manifesto in 1996 entitled "The Sharp Sword", presenting Algerian society as resistant to jihad and lamented that the majority of Algerians had "forsaken religion and renounced the battle against its enemies". Zouabri at first took care to deny that the GIA had ever declared takfir on Algerian society itself. But during the month of Ramadan (January–February 1997) hundreds of civilians were killed in massacres, some with their throats cut. The massacres continued for months and culminated in August and September when hundreds of men women and children were killed in the villages of Rais, Bentalha and Beni Messous. Pregnant women were sliced open, children were hacked to pieces or dashed against walls, men's limbs were hacked off one by one, and, as the attackers retreated, they would kidnap young women to keep as sex slaves. The GIA issued a communiqué signed by Zouabri claiming responsibility for the massacres and justifying them—in contradiction to his manifesto—by declaring impious (takfir) all those Algerians who had not joined its ranks. While the GIA had been the "undisputed principal Islamist force" in Algeria two years earlier, the slaughters drained it of popular support and led to the end of "organized jihad" in Algeria. (The issue became complicated by evidence that security forces cooperated with the killers in preventing civilians from escaping, and may even have controlled the GIA.)
Independence Day (Algeria)
Independence Day, observed annually on July 5th every year, is a National Holiday in Algeria commemorating Algeria's independence from France on July 5th 1962.
Protestant Church of Algeria
The Protestant Church of Algeria (EPA ) is a federation of Protestant churches from the Reformed and Methodist traditions established in 1972 in Algeria. It is officially recognised by the government of Algeria as the Association of the Protestant Church of Algeria ().
Martyrs of Algeria
The Martyrs of Algeria were a group of nineteen individuals slain in Algeria between 1994 and 1996 during the Algerian Civil War. Most were priests or professed religious belonging to religious congregations, including seven Trappist Cistercian monks; one was a bishop. Their nations of origin were France (15), Tunisia (1), Spain (2), and Belgium (1).
Algeria
Berber and Modern Standard Arabic are the official languages. Algerian Arabic (Darja) is the language used by the majority of the population. Colloquial Algerian Arabic is heavily infused with borrowings from French and Berber.
Christianity in Algeria
Protestants number approximately 45,000 in Algeria, according to more conservative estimates. A 2015 study, however, estimated 380,000 Muslims converted to Christianity in Algeria. This small population generally practices its faith without government interference but incidences of persecution were more frequently recorded of late. Missionary groups are permitted to conduct humanitarian activities without government interference as long as they are discreet and do not proselytize openly. Since 2006 missionary outreach among Muslims can be punished with up to five years of prison. The Protestant Church of Algeria is a united church formed by the Methodist Church and Reformed Church with about 10,000 members. The Protestant Church of Algeria is one of only two officially recognized Christian organizations in the country. According to the ICC, most Christians meet in homes, to protect themselves. The country's Minister of Religious Affairs has called the evangelical churches "dangerous."
Protestant denominations in Algeria include:
Islamic Salvation Front
Earlier Salafist movements in Algeria included the Association of Muslim Ulemas founded in 1931 by Abdel Hamid Ben Badis, which like the Muslim Brotherhood believed that religion should be the "absolute focus of private life and society", preached against the "superstitions" of popular Islam and French culture or secularism in Algeria, but did not venture into politics or promotion of an Islamic state.
Algeria
Ancient Algeria has known many empires and dynasties, including ancient Numidians, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, Byzantines, Umayyads, Abbasids, Idrisid, Aghlabid, Rustamid, Fatimids, Zirid, Hammadids, Almoravids, Almohads, Spaniards, Ottomans and the French colonial empire. Berbers are the indigenous inhabitants of Algeria.
New Dawn (Algeria)
New Dawn (El Fedjr El Jadid) is a nationalist and conservative political party in Algeria, being established in 2012.
Ministry of Religious Affairs and Endowments (Algeria)
The Ministry of Religious Affairs and Wakfs (, ) is a ministry of Algeria. Its head office is in Hydra, Algiers.
European Broadcasting Area
Algeria
Protestantism in Algeria
Algeria is included in the episcopal area of North Africa of the Anglican Diocese of Egypt, though there is only one current congregation in the country, Holy Trinity Anglican Church, in Algiers. The church mainly serves sub-Saharan African students from such areas as Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Uganda and Burundi.
Algeria–Iran relations
Algeria is one of the few Arab and Sunni nations that has been friendly towards Iran despite Algeria is a majority Sunni while Iran is a majority Shia Islam respectively. However, although enjoying cordial relationship, sometimes relationship between two countries had been strained, with the Algerian Civil War at 1990s, and the current situation of the Arab world towards Iran. Nonetheless, Algeria remains close and friendly tie with Iran due to its neutrality at the expense of Saudi Arabia.
Religion in Algeria
The Jewish community of Algeria is of considerable antiquity, with some members claiming descent from immigrants from Palestine at the time of the Romans. The majority are descendants of refugees from Spanish persecution early in the fifteenth century. They numbered about 140,000 before the Algerian War, but at independence in 1962 nearly all of them left the country. Because the 1870 Crémieux Decrees, which aimed at assimilating the colonists of Algeria to France, gave Jews full French citizenship, most members of the Jewish community emigrated to France. The small remaining Jewish population appeared to have stabilized at roughly 1,000. It was thought to be close to this number in the early 1990s. Although no untoward incidents occurred during the Arab-Israeli wars of 1967 and 1973, a group of youths sacked the only remaining synagogue in Algiers in early 1977.
Algerian People's National Armed Forces
After being structured as a politicized "people's army" in the Boumédiène era, and retaining its allegiance to the FLN during the one-party state years of Algerian history, the military forces were formally depoliticized in 1988, as a multi-party system was introduced. This, however, did not end military influence over Algerian politics. In 1992, fearing the installation of Sharia Law, which would result in Algeria becoming an Islamic state, the Algerian Army stopped free elections that were likely to bring an Islamist party to power. This triggered the Algerian Civil War, a conflict which is believed to have claimed 100-350,000 lives during the 1990s. Both the armed forces and Islamist insurgents have been severely criticized by outside observers for their conduct of the war on humanitarian and human rights grounds. The state and army Islamist resistance in the late 1990s, but local and sporadic fighting persists in 2009, along with occasional bomb attacks against government targets in major cities. The most active insurgent group is al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, formerly known as GSPC. Since major fighting subsided in about 1997, the army has been engaged in refitting itself for the tasks of a conventional army, after more than a decade of anti-guerrilla action.