The realistic renewing dimension of the Muslim Scholars Association in interpretation and hadith: The case of Ibn Badis’

Abstract

This paper addresses the issue of realistic renewal in Hadith and interpretive studies within the writings of the Muslim Scholars Association. Among the association’s leading scholars who embraced this principle in their advocacy and guidance was the scholar Abdul Hamid Ibn Badis, who played an active role in the educational, guiding and awareness-raising movement. He emphasised the importance of Hadith and interpretation in his academic work, carefully selecting the Hadith and interpretive texts he taught. He analysed and explained them, applying them to the challenging situation faced by the Algerian nation and proposing effective solutions. The key realistic issues addressed by this scholar in his written and oral works on Prophetic Hadith and Qur’anic interpretation include education and upbringing; protecting the Algerian identity from those who seek to undermine it; combatting the innovations, superstitions and polytheisms propagated by colonialism; affirming the status of the Book and the Sunnah in the hearts of the Muslim community; and advocating for the dignity and status of Muslim women. These were some of the issues prevalent at that time which he and his fellow scholars from the Association courageously confronted.