"Brotherhood of Algeria" … Half a Century of Rivalry

Algeria did not deviate from the rest of Arab countries where the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood group has spread. The group had an Algerian wing that adopted the vision of Hassan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood group.

The Brotherhood of Algeria took universities as fertile fields to promote their ideas through religious sessions that brought together some professors and students. An Islamic group was founded in the late 1960s under the name of the Almohad, by Mahfoud Nahnah and Mohamed Bouslimani.

The public appearance of this group coincided with the approval of the Agricultural Wealth Act in 1976 by the then president of Algeria, Houari Boumédiène. The group exploited the approval of this Act and promoted the idea that the Agricultural Wealth Act was a conspiracy against poor families and the middle class. This idea was embraced by a large section of Algerians. They swallowed the poison of that idea which was put in the honey of the Brotherhood's religious rhetoric and their playing on the pretext of deteriorating economic and social conditions at the time.

Many denounced the emerging organization, which declared rebellion against the ruling regime, and rejected the 1976 constitution. The group issued a statement, beginning with "To where, Boumédiène?" and ending with the name of Almohad, demanding the application of Islamic shari’a law and inciting the people to reject the constitution.

The Beginning of Dissidence and Rivalry

There were some cases of dissidence in the Almohad group. Some sided with the view that amendments should be introduced to the National Charter (the Constitution) through discussion with the government while others followed the approach of the public opposition and sided with the view of Nahnah, who joined the Muslim Brotherhood group in 1976, as well as the view of Bouslimani. The two of them were imprisoned until 1980 on charges of resorting to violence and vandalism.

Following the release of Nahnah from prison, Islamic activity began to be more organized than before. The international organization of the Brotherhood, under its central leadership in Cairo, and the operation in Switzerland led by Said Ramadan (the brother-in-law of Hassan al-Banna), decided to stand by Nahnah in the clash that erupted over the official representation of the Brotherhood in Algeria. That was between Nahnah and Sheikh Abdullah Jaballah (head of the Justice and Development Front later), and the two insisted on their legitimacy to the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The recommendation of Nahnah as the general observer of the Muslim Brotherhood in Algeria, by the Muslim Brotherhood leaders in Egypt, has caused divisions that hit the Islamic movement since the 1980s.

The Algerian regime recognized the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) as a Salafist front in 1989. The front was headed by Sheikh Abbassi Madani and had Ali Belhadj as its deputy head. It also formed an Islamic party that ran in the legislative elections of December 26, 1991. It won a landslide victory, which made it be a decision-maker during the reign of Algerian President Chazli Bennid (1979-1992).

In parallel, the name of the movement "Almohad" was changed in the early 1990s to become the "Movement of Society for Peace", known as "Hamas", and which represents the arm of the Brotherhood group in Algeria.

In January 1992, the army contacted the Algerian president and advised him to resign; to save the country from the rise of the Islamists (the Salvation Front) to the decision-making posts in the country. After discussions, Bennid responded with the resignation, resulting in the cancellation of the election results. The elections were won by the Islamic Front, and the electoral process was halted indefinitely.

The "Salvation Front" described these actions as a "military coup," but the Brotherhood in Algeria had another vision. Nahnah sided with the army. This led to a state of fighting between the front and the state and among the Islamists, killing a total of 200,000 people.

After accusing the leader of "Hamas" of standing by the regime in abusing the leaders and elders of the Islamic Salvation Front, Mahfoud said that his position was to protect the state from collapse.

Differences widened between the leaders of Algeria’s Brotherhood, especially the young and the elderly of Hamas movement. After the death of Nahnah in 2003, Abu Jarrah Soltani (one of the founders of the Islamic Movement in Algeria since the 1970s) was coronated, followed by Abdel Razek Makri (a close associate of the founder of the movement Nahnah Mahfoud), who brought about a change in the policy of the movement. He changed the policy from supporting the ruler and avoiding a clash with him to moving to the side of the opposition.

This change was the cause of the dissidence of several leaders of "Hamas" and the establishment of other parties and movements which followed the Brotherhood.