The Egyptian immam Sheikh Yousef al-Qaradawi made an appearence in Tizi-Ouzou, Kabylia (in the Tizi-Ouzou wilaya) today. Qaradawi, who has a television show on Al-Jazeera (esh-Sharieh wal-Hayat) and founded IslamOnline, recently debated Amr Khaled on the Dansih cartoon controversy (he took the “let us show rage” side of the debate), and openly supports suicide bombings, and jihad against Israelis. He believes strongly that

“Everything will be on our side and against Jews on ÄJudgment DayÅ, at that time, even the stones and the trees will speak, with or without words, and say: ‘Oh servant of Allah, oh Muslim, there’s a Jew behind me, come and kill him.’”

Qaradawi is one of those angry, old, crusty and Jew obsessed Muslims from the Middle East; you know the sort, the kind that tells young boys that if they clear a mine field with their bodies they will be sent to rest with Allah, and that when asked about suicide attacks says that”I consider this type of martyrdom operation as an evidence of God’s justice.” He is similar to Algeria’s own Ali Benhadj and Abassi Madani. Take for instance his position on the American forces in Iraq. Qaradawi is believed to have issued a fatwa calling for the killing of both American soldiers and civilians in Iraq. Qaradawi denies this however. He has said that

I was asked about the permissibility of fighting against the occupation in Iraq, and I answered that it is permitted. Afterwards I was asked concerning the American civilians in Iraq and I merely responded with the question ???????? are there American civilians in Iraq? It is a matter of common knowledge that in Fatwas such as these I do not use the word “killing” but rather I say “struggle,” which is a more comprehensive word than the word “killing” and whose meaning is not necessarily to kill.

This controversy prompted Shaker en-Nabulsi called for the U.N. to put Qaradawi and his followers on trial for supporting terrorism.

Mr Qaradawi has had a lot to say. He has written more than fifty books on various topics. What did Mr. Qaradawi have to say in Tizi-Ouzou today?

He was glad to be there, for sure. But he was not able to spout his usual rhetoric, because Algeria has laws against publicly supporting violence and/or terrorism (recall this past summer when Ali Benhadj applauded insurgents in Iraq for their attacks on American personel). Instead Mr. Qaradawi discussed the history of Kabylia and his opinion that Kabylia “will not sell” its religion (Islam).

Mr. Qaradawi believes that Kabylia will never and can never be converted out of Islam. According to the Angry Sheikh, “La wilaya de Tizi Ouzou a toujours ????t???? la r????gion du Coran, des zaou????as, de la science, du soufisme et du djihad??????? (“The province of Tizi-Ouzou was always the region of the Qur’an, of the zaou????as, of science, and of jihad”) Mr. Qaradawi appearently has not read anything about Tizi-Ouzou before the Zirids. Certainly all of the things that Mr. Qaradawi identifies with Tizi-Ouzou have been present there, but none of these, except perhaps for science, are native to Tizi-Ouzou. Mr. Qaradawi’s belief is that, because Islam has such a long history in Tizi-Ouzou, the people of that wilaya, and Kabylia in general, will not convert to non-Islamic religions or faiths. Kabylia is nothing but Islamic to Mr. Qaradawi, ???????La Kabylie est la terre d????????Islam. elle ne peut se dissocier de l????????Islam comme l????????Islam ne peut se dissocier d????????elle. Ceux qui tentent vainement l????????????vang????lisation de cette r????gion se trompent de soci????t????.” (The Kabylie is the land of Islam. She cannot dissasociate herself from Islam and Islam cannot dissasociate itself from her. Those who vainly attempt to evangelize this region are a mistaken coroporation.”)

Mr. Qaradawi uses big words, for someone who is native neither to Tizi-Ouzou nor Algeria. His statements are meant to reenforce the government’s descion last week to regulate the free excersize of religion in Algeria. The measure, which is primarily aimed at stemming the proliferation of non-Islamic faiths in regions like Kabylia, where many “house churches” have sprung up, was passed in parliament with backing from Islamic parties.

But Mr. Qaradawi was not in Algeria to merely ignore the non-Islamic history of Kabylia, strike fear in the hearts of missionaries, or to simply sing the praises of President Bouteflika. Mr. Qaradawi also had to comment on the “astonishing” outfits of young Algerian ladies on the streets of Tizi-Ouzou, and his disapointment at seeing signs on the streets in French and notArabic. The Angry Sheikh thought that the people of Algeria were closer to the Arabs than to Moli????re, but did not stop to think that the people of Kabylia might perhaps be closer to the Kabyles than to the Arabs, and that the usage of Kabyle language signs is not encouraged by the government. But his visit to Tizi-Ouzou unpleasently surprised him. Appearently, Algerians want to be Frenchmen, and have been “colonized” once again. Mr. Qaradawi called for Algerians to “safeguard” themselves constantly so that Algeria stays a society based on Islam, and not foreign European (or otherwise non-Islamic) decadence.

I find it odd that a preacher like Mr. Qaradawi could draw a large crowd in Tizi-Ouzou, the cultural center of the secular Berberist movement and the hearth of the 2001 riots. Kablyes are among the most secular of all Algerians, often viewing modern “Arabized” versions of the faith as little more than Arab imperialism or colonialism. Kabyles often remind their country men that Kabylia, and Algeria as a whole, has a history that is much deeper and much longer than that of Islam. And it is not odd that Kabylia would be home to the Algerian diversity movement, being one of the few areas that can claim its own language within a set geographic area. Kabyles were among the first Algerian communities to call for the creation of an individual secular Algerian national identity, separate from the éummah and the Arab nation. Kabyles have rarely supported Islamist parties, relying mainly on the FFS and RCD for political representation (though other parties from the region do exist, and some Kabyles did and do participate in Islamist movements). The Kabyles that I have met have been either indifferent to Islam or very secular, which is what I understand to be reflective of the opinion of most Kabyles.

It is very likely that Mr. Qaradawi’s banter fell upon deaf ears. But it is quite strange to see such a supposedly erudite man display such unstinting ignorance of his audience. His visit is certainly part of a political move by the Islamists, seeking to put on the podium a speaker that would tell a audience Kabyle about its “history” and deride this audience as to its modern mode of like and thinking, by identifying this with colonialism and France. I doubt that Kabyles (Muslim ones or converts) will be “wooed” by his remarks, which come off more like a rejection (perhaps made in ignorance) of the Kabyle culture in favor of that of the Middle East/Arab world, something that the government has done for many years to the irritation of most Kabyles. It further seems to come off as an attack on the new Algeria, that is liberal (to an extent), increasingly free, over the jihad, and modern. Did Mr. Qaradawi read the wrong pages for homework on his plane ride to Algeria? Perhaps he read the Muqaddimah instead of a text on modern Algeria? We will perhaps never know. But it is sure that, as is usually the case, an Islamist has missed the point of his setting in the modern world.