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Zawiyet Sidi Boushaki

For other uses, see Boushaki.
Zawiyet Sidi Boushaki
زاوية سيدي بوسحاقي
Other name
زاوية سيدي إبراهيم البوسحاقي
Former name
زاوية ثنية بني عائشة
TypeZawiya
Established1442 CE / 846 AH
FounderSidi Boushaki (1394–1453)
Affiliation
Religious affiliation
Sufism in Algeria - Qadiriyya - Rahmaniyya
Address
Soumâa
,
Thénia
,
Kabylia, Boumerdès Province
,
35005
,
Algeria

36°42′18″N 3°33′15″E / 36.7049702°N 3.5540682°E / 36.7049702; 3.5540682
LanguageArabic, Berber

Zawiyet Sidi Brahim Boushaki (Arabic: زاوية سيدي إبراهيم البوسحاقي) or Zawiyet Thénia is a zawiya of the Rahmaniyya Sufi brotherhood located at Boumerdès Province, in the lower Kabylia region of Algeria.[1][2][3]

Construction

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The zawiya of Soumâa was built in 1442 at Col des Beni Aïcha in the south-eastern heights of the current town of Boumerdès in Kabylia.[4][5]

The founder of this Sufi school was the great scholar Sidi Brahim bin Faïd al-Boushaki (1394–1453), who established this zawiya for the purpose of education, so as to serve as a beacon for the people of the Khachna mountains, thus its scientific light rays extending to every corner of those lands.[6][7]

Missions

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The zawiya of Sidi Brahim Boushaki at Thala Oufella (Soumâa) village was considered a prominent place of religious teaching, for the memorization of the Quran and for the teaching of its basic rulings to young people there, thus providing the various mosques of lower Kabylia region, each year during the holy month of Ramadan, with a preservation of the Muslim holy book that was useful for performing the Tarawih prayers, which are characteristic of that very month, and during which the Quran is recited with the Warsh.[8][9]

This zawiya, which opened its doors for the first time in 1442, enjoyed an important ranking in the field of religious formation, as it annually graduated several Huffaz of the Quran, who were also well-learned of both the latter's rulings and the science of Hadith, and who were crucial in framing the various mosques scattered across the region of the Meraldene river.[10][11]

It was a place to study and teach the Quran, as well as to provide aid for the needy and for those who were about to get married, and also to organize circumcision ceremonies.[12][13]

It was one of the Algerian Zawiyas that played a prominent role in the social life of the Thénia region, and was also considered a Sufi zawiya, as it was based on the traditional way of teaching the Quran and the Sunnah.[14][10]

The learner (talibe) intended to write the Quranic verses by himself using the traditional ink, which was a special ink that the learner made out of sheep's wool, where he melted it on fire until it became black, and then mixed it with water; the characteristic specific to this ink being that it did not disappear from the written tablet except by rubbing it with clay and water.[15][16]

Location

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This zawiya was located on a mountain top of the Tell Atlas, where the village of Soumâa is also found, at an altitude of 410 meters, in Col des Beni Aïcha.[17]

It is thus perched in the northeast of the Khachna Massif which overhangs Oued Meraldene and Oued Isser in the lower Kabylia, and is located to the east of the plain of Issers.[18]

Sufism

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Misbaha for Tasbih.
Raising hands in Dua
Main article: Sufism in Algeria
See also: Qadiriyya and Rahmaniyya

The Talibe who intended to be initiated in the ascetic and transcendent way of this Sufi zawiya had to follow a spiritual path based on the Dhikr, the Wird, and the Wazifa in order to follow the path of the Murids and the Saliks.[19]

The Marabouts and Muqaddams who oversaw this Zawiya worked to initiate each Hafiz and Qari frequenting this institution in order for the latter two to become Wasils and Rabbanis.[20]

Teachings

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Several Islamic sciences were taught in this zawiya of the Rahmaniyya brotherhood, for instance the science of Hadith as it is taught according to the Al-Muwatta, compiled by Imam Malik ibn Anas. The Fiqh was taught according to the Maliki Madhhab, and it was observed in the courts of this zawiya according to the Mukhtasar Khalil, written by Khalil ibn Ishaq al-Jundi.[21]

Another book of the Maliki Fiqh taught in this zawiya was the Risala Al-Fiqhiya, written by Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani, and a third Maliki Fiqh book taught there was the Matn Ibn Ashir, written by Abdul Wahid Ibn Ashir.[22]

The Arabic language was taught in the zawiya on the basis of the text of the Al-Alfiyya of Ibn Malik, composed by Ibn Malik, and the syntax of the Arabic language was taught there on the basis of the text of the Al-Ajurrumiyya, composed by Ibn Adjurrum.[23]

The teaching of this very syntax was based on the text of Qatr al-Nada, composed by Ibn Hisham al-Ansari.[24][25]

French conquest of Algeria

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Battle of the Col des Beni Aïcha (1837)
Main article: French conquest of Algeria
See also: Mokrani Revolt

Zawiyet Sidi Boushaki played a crucial role in the resistance movement of the Kabyles of this area against the French invasion of Algeria since the latter started in 1830, and the zawiya's Murids took part in several decisive battles, including:

Visit of Emir Abdelkader

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Main article: Emirate of Abdelkader

During the visit of the Emir Abdelkader in 1839 to Kabylia, he made a stay in Dellys, where he went to visit the Zawiyet Sidi Amar Cherif on the mountain of Bouberrak, and had lunch there before going to spend the night with the Issers tribe.[26]

During this visit to the Issers, the Emir also went to Zawiyet Sidi Boumerdassi near El-Djebil, and then continued his journey until he stopped at Col des Beni Aïcha, where he was warmly received by the Marabouts of Zawiyet Sidi Boushaki.[27]

He was well received by the descendants of the theologian Sidi Boushaki, and gunshots were fired as a sign of rejoicing for his reassuring presence, then a meal of hospitality for distinguished guests was prepared for him, as his hosts thought that he was going to spend the night at the zawiya, but at nightfall he left to sleep elsewhere, so as to trick the possible spies that colonial France might have deployed there.[28]

Before leaving the village of Soumâa, the Emir Abdelkader had announced to the inhabitants that peace with the French was fragile and would soon be broken at any time.[29]

Algerian Revolution

[edit]
Ferme Gauthier
Main article: Algerian Revolution
See also: Soummam conference

During the Algerian independence revolution, the zawiya was fully involved in the struggle for the freedom of the country, with the Shahid Yahia Boushaki (1935-1960) being one of the emblematic leaders of the revolution in the Fourth Historic Wilaya.[30]

The zawiya continued to supervise the mosques in the villages of the Col des Beni Aïcha area, providing them with Imams so as to maintain the practice of Islamic worship (Ibadah) in such warlike circumstances.[31]

This is how the mosque in the village of Aït Hamadouche had previously been framed by an Imam of the zawiya, and the same occurred with the villages of Djenah, Fekhara, Itoubal and Zaatra, until after the Soummam conference of 20 August 1956, when the entire region was devastated by the French Army in reprisal for the former's participation in the resistance.

The village of Soumâa was destroyed by French colonial artillery in April 1957, and the zawiya was razed by a shell fire that buried several Mujahideen who had taken refuge in it.

Several Murids of this zawiya were caught up and held in the torture center of Ferme Gauthier, near Oued Isser, where some of them suffered the most horrific torments and others died.[32]

Notable people

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Zaouïa of Sidi Boushaki". wikimapia.org.
  2. ^ "2012 توشيح الديباج وحلية الابتهاج ، محمد بن يحيى القرافي ، ت د. علي عمر" – via Internet Archive.
  3. ^ موسوعة العلماء و الأدباء الجزائريين. الجزء الثاني، من حرف الدال إلى حرف الياء. Al Manhal. January 2014. ISBN 9796500167794.
  4. ^ شجرة النور الزكية في طبقات المالكية 1-2 ج1. Dar Al Kotob Al Ilmiyah دار الكتب العلمية. January 2010. ISBN 9782745137340.
  5. ^ الألفية الصغيرة المسماة الحديقة في علوم الحديث الشريف. Dar Al Kotob Al Ilmiyah دار الكتب العلمية. January 2018. ISBN 9782745185723.
  6. ^ "الضوء اللامع لأهل القرن التاسع" – via Internet Archive.
  7. ^ تحريم نهب أموال المعاهدين للنصارى. Dar Al Kotob Al Ilmiyah دار الكتب العلمية. January 2012. ISBN 9782745175977.
  8. ^ "نيل الابتهاج بتطريز الديباج" – via Internet Archive.
  9. ^ نور اليقين في شرح حديث أولياء الله المتقين (سلسلة الرسائل والدراسات الجامعية). Dar Al Kotob Al Ilmiyah دار الكتب العلمية. January 2016. ISBN 9782745101891.
  10. ^ a b "كتاب تاريخ الجزائر العام للشيخ عبد الرحمان الجيلالي" – via Internet Archive.
  11. ^ الخطيب. "(معجم المؤلفين (علماء".
  12. ^ "do-dorrat-al7ijal". www.dorat-ghawas.com – via Internet Archive.
  13. ^ "Taarif Khalaf Bi Rijal Salaf" – via Internet Archive.
  14. ^ "معجم أعلام الجزائر من صدر الإسلام حتى العصرالحاضر - لعادل نويهض" – via Internet Archive.
  15. ^ "شجرة النور الزكية في طبقات المالكية - محمد مخلوف ( نسخة واضحة ومنسقة )" – via Internet Archive.
  16. ^ "ص160 - كتاب معجم أعلام الجزائر - إبراهيم بن فائد بن موسى بن عمر بن سعيد أبو اسحاق الزواوي القسنطيني - المكتبة الشاملة الحديثة". al-maktaba.org.
  17. ^ "Atlas archéologique de l'Algérie". bibliotheque-numerique.inha.fr.
  18. ^ https://arachne.uni-koeln.de/Tei-Viewer/cgi-bin/teiviewer.php?manifest=BOOK-ZID874712 [bare URL]
  19. ^ "Sidi Boushaki".
  20. ^ Rédaction, La (April 13, 2017). "Boumerdès".
  21. ^ "شرح منظومة الزواوي" – via Internet Archive.
  22. ^ "الجامع الحاوي لمعاني نظم الزواوي إعداد وتقديم الفقيه الحسين بلفقيه". December 3, 2019 – via Internet Archive.
  23. ^ "إفعام الذهن الخاوي بمعاني نظم الزواوي إعداد وتقديم الفقيه جامع ابو عدي الوجاني". April 23, 2020 – via Internet Archive.
  24. ^ "شرح نظم الزواوي على قواعد الإعراب.. للعلامة أحمد بن عمر الحازمي" – via Internet Archive.
  25. ^ "أرجوزة نظم قواعد الإعراب الزواوي" – via Internet Archive.
  26. ^ "Le Spectateur militaire; Recueil de science, d'art et d'histoire militaires". 1844.
  27. ^ (France), Société de Géographie (1844). "Bulletin de la Société de géographie".
  28. ^ "Algeria: Moniteur algerién. Journal officiel de la colonie. Nr. 532-880 (5 avril 1843-10 fevr. 1848) 2 V". 1843.
  29. ^ Daumas, Melchior Joseph Eugène (1847). "La grande Kabylie: Etudes historiques par M. Daumas et M. Faber ouvrage publie avec l'autorisation de M. Le. Marechal due d'Jsly. 5".
  30. ^ "Guenaïzia rend hommage à la gendarmerie". Djazairess.
  31. ^ "Yahia Boushaki".
  32. ^ "BOUMERDES: L'histoire de la révolution algérienne revisitée". DZAYER24. 19 January 2016.