Sedition And “War Of Words” Jolt Salafist Trend in Algeria

A senior member of the Salafist movement in Algeria, Sheikh Azeddine Ramdani, said that the Salafist “da’wa” or religious preaching is being subjected to attempts to weaken it and to differentiate between its sheikhs while referring to his disagreements with Salafist leader Lazhar Snikra and others.

He therefore called on Salafists in Algeria to “close their ranks and not waste opportunities to stamp out wrongdoing and  eliminate corruption through proper advice”, as he put it.

In a letter entitled “A Message to My Salafist Brothers in Algeria”, that he published at the beginning of the week, Cheikh Ramdani referred to what was said to be a dispute between him and Sheikh Lazhar Snikra, and a difference in approaches between him and Sheikh Ali Farkous on a number of issues and general trends of the Salafist movement.

 “I am not in this place to repeat the words already broadcast and published by the Dar al-Fadila, known as the body of senior theorists of the Salafist trend in Algeria notably regarding the attitude of Sheikh Ferkous, who withdrew a few days ago from the body, as well as that of Lazhar Snikra and Abdul Ghani Ouasset and others, for more than a year, I now say the best and wise option is to unite ranks and to iron out current divergences”.

It is clear from this letter that Cheikh Ramdani was disturbed by the adverse interpretations that accompanied what happened in that broad-based meeting. 

“These untoward interpretations, he said, are liable to disperse the word of the Salafist preachers, to spoil what is good, to demolish what is lofty, and to blow up the sustained efforts deployed for many years at the service of Salafism.”

A few days ago there was a crack in the Salafist camp, after Sheikh Mohamed Ali Ferkous resigned from Dar al-Fadila body, and the reform magazine, which is overseen and framed by the so-called Twelfth Group of the Salafist trend in Algeria.

Sheikh Farkous’s unexpected resignation was attributed to health reasons, but some of his followers asserted that the move was due to a rift and divergence of ideas that occurred between Ferkous and some poles of the Madkhali Salafist trend in Algeria.