The Conditions of Renaissance

Author(s): MALEK BENNABI and ASMA RASHID

Source: Islamic Studies, Vol. 40, No. 2 (Summer 2001), pp. 305-314
Published by: Islamic Research Institute, International Islamic University, Islamabad
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IslamicStudies 40:2 (2001) pp. 305-314

The Conditions ofRenaissance*

MALEKBENNABI
ASMARASHID
(tr.)

XVI

THE COLONISER COEFFICIENT

Undoubtedly one would notwish thata studyclaiming tomake an assessment

of the renaissance inAlgeria would pass over in silence the colonial fact.Such
a silencewould certainlyappear odd at thepresentmoment. Let us thenhave a
look at thequestion.
The efficiencyof an individualas a factorof civilization? and this is the
entirequestion? is linked to two values: one is fundamentaland the other,
accidental. The individual gains his fundamentalvalue from his biological
inheritance.It ishis aptitude tomake use of his genius,his soil and his time. In
this respect,no one doubts that theAlgerian as well as the rest of human
St. Augustine to Ibn Khaldun,
species has his share. From the Algerian genius
has not ceased to affirmitselfbrilliantly.
As forhis accidentalvalue, the individualowes it to his socialmilieu. It
essentiallyconsists in themethod and thepossibility thathe borrows ormust
borrow fromthe social surroundingsfordeveloping his personality; that is to
say, his fundamental value. There lies precisely the role of the social
institutionof thepublic order? the school, thehospital and the rest. It ishere
that the colonial fact steps in for theAlgerian, finallyaffectinghis existence
with an accidentalcoefficient.InAlgeria, thiscoefficienthas itshistory.

' Bugeaud1who representsa worthy pendant to the noble personality of

Abd al-Qadir during theperiod of conquest,was the firstFrenchman to grasp
theAlgerian realityand to formulateaccordinglya principle of colonization.

*
This is the last instalmentof the translationofMalek Bennabi's book Les Conditions de la
Renaissance.The firstinstalmentof the translationapeard in Islamic Studies,36: 1 (Spring 1997).
1
Thomas as governor the
Bugeaud, Duke of Isley (1784-1849), French Martial who, ( 1840-1847), organized
conquest of Algeria.

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 ASMA RASHID
306

This "reality"was precisely the "fundamentalvalue" of theAlgerian people as

it came to be defined. Itwas clearly apparent to Bugeaud. Having realized it,
the latter felt that French colonization must be composed of the selected
colonial elements to correspond to this "native"value, honestly recognized by
him. Perhaps therewas, in this viewpoint, the notion of prestige that
subsequently became so harmful; but therewas also the basic esteem and
respectof theman that the successorsof Bugeaud would so terriblylack from
1875 onwards.
As a matter of fact, from 1870 a dangerous colonial policy, bearing a
defeatistcomplex,was undertaken inAlgeria. This policywas no longerbased
on the principle of inductingfirstrate colons? and it goeswithout saying?
first rate administrators, to to the "fundamental value" of the
correspond
Algerian people, but of diminishingin thisvalue to conform to themediocrity
of the colons, recruited no matter from where or how. Henceforth, the
individualfound himself systematicallydiminished as ifhe had been affected
by a reducingcoefficient,that is to say, the colonizer coefficient.
As a child, the conditions of his physical and intellectualdevelopment are
in a social no one has made either for
very precarious setting where provision
a job forhis fatheror a school forhim. Ifhe is an orphan, there is no public
assistance; inevitably,he becomes either a shoe-shineboy or a littlebeggar in
rags. If he passes through the net, if he has the rare privilege of going to
school? how many pitfalls stillawait him! There are the examiners; there is
the advice of the administrator;there is his opinion, there is ....But what is
not there for aMuslim child inAlgeria wishing to obtain is a small,humble
job!
Finally aMan ...What he should do? Buying, selling,travelling,talking,
writing, telephoning?To bringall theseordinaryacts of lifewithin his reach, a
Muslim must pass througha tightnetwork of stupidprejudices, gratuitously
hostile interests,and at times,alas, incomprehensiblehate.He can only do this
or that, in a very smallway that the avaricious key of the administration
leaves open to him. It seems as if an invisiblehand constantlydisturbs the
milestones showinghim theway, always pushing back the signpoststhatmark
the goal towardswhich he keeps on marching indefinitely.It is a task of
Danaids2 thatgobbles up all his efforts,invain.
Consequently, there is the colonial fact, the colonizer coefficient. Some
have expressed it in political terms,opposing the interestof the one against
thatof the other. It is one of themost pathetic aspects of themodern human

2
The daughters ofDanaiis, King ofArgos, who murdered theirhusbands on thewedding night
and were condemned eternally to fill sieve-likevesselswith water?denoting endless and futile
work.

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THECONDITIONSOF RENAISSANCE
307

drama. Gandhi preferredto express it inmoral terms, in tryingto open one

conscience to another. And he succeeded in saving all the interests,and
presenting, at the same time, a human drama where theHindu and the
English, having undertaken theirroles as enemies, concluded them as friends.
A singularlyQur'anic view held by thisprophet of Brahma!3 But I do not
wish here to deal with eitherpolitics or morality, but to make a technical
study of the balance-sheet of our renaissance.*
To view the colonial fact,in this connection, letus move back in history
a little.It is even necessary to enlarge the perspective for seeingunder its true
a that does not only govern the relations between France
angle phenomenon
andAlgeria, but also the relationsof a civilizationwith a world where ithas
been predominant for four centuries.

Historically, colonization is a regressionin human history. It is a return

to the Roman age after the expansion of theMuslim empire,which was,
however, an experimentof a new kind inhistory. Indeed,neither the South of
France, nor Spain, nor North Africa have been the "colonies" of theMuslim
in the same capacity as Syria or Iraq. And one must
empire, but its provinces
not retort that the Muslim empire did not have to make political
unitywas the resultof a pre-established
discriminationsince the administrative
religiousuniformity.That would be absolutely false. Everywhere the local
Christian and Jewishcommunityhad, nonetheless lived freely,evenwith full
freedom for a monk Gerbert to be educated inMuslim science to become
Pope SylvestreII4 and the instigatorof the firstcrusade.
Evidently, itwould not have been possible, had not a Muslim culture
in history a renovated conception of relations among men.**
produced
Unfortunately this political experience has remained a dead letter for
European consciousness. Indeed, as Dr Gustave le Bon5 so truly remarks,

every effort has been made to ensure that so it remains thus. To feel

comfortable, the promoters of this pernicious culture have cut the process of

3While a Malek Bennabi had his firstglimpseof the sub-continentthroughYoung India by

student,
Romain Rolland whose writings are imbued with a cult of heroes. The latter's idealized picture of Gandhi
seems to have left a lasung impression on Bennabi who apparently had no means at hand to give him a
balanced view of politics and political leaders in the Indo-Pakistan sub-continent
*
For a detailed study of the colonial fact particularly in Algeria, one can consult the study of Dr Khalidi
Problem. It is the only one, to my knowledge, inwhich the question
published under the title The Algerian
is tackled in depth and in all conscience. (Note by the author).
4
999 to 1003, known also for his learning and reform of
Sylvestre II (Gerbert) (938-1003), Pope from
ecclesiastical abuses.
**
The famous remark of Khallfah 'Umar to the governor of Egypt illustrates in a striking manner the new
to his subordinate 'Amr ibn al-'As who had a great inclination for material
spirit. The Khallfah recalled
interest that: "Islam did not come in the countries for collecting taxes, but for enlightening the souls". (Note
by the author).
5
Gustave le Bon (1841-1931), a French doctor and sociologist.

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 ASMA RASHID
308

human history in sections.And, for them,civilization is the section that goes

fromAcropolis to the Palais de Chaillot or a very little further.Even
distinguishedintellectualsdo not realize that the section in question does not
exist even in theirmind. We should show to some of them thatbetween the
civilizationofAristotle and thatofDescartes there is an intervalofmore than
a thousand yearswhich inevitablycorresponds to a void in the culture of a
Louis Bertrand6butwhich in realitycorresponds to theMuslim civilization in
theprocess of generalhistory.
In short, since the discovery of America which marks its inauguration,
the contemporary civilization has restored to honour the entire Roman
tradition,so stronglymarked with the colonial notion. One is quite boastful
about this tradition inAlgeria. The colonial fact is truly a regression in the
historyas such.Nevertheless, this fact,situated in the sameprocess,would not
have been useless or always harmful.Doubtless, it is not without reason that
theMuslim world which had been sleepingprofoundly,woke up suddenly,
some fiftyyears ago. Who told it that itwas thehour towake up?
Perhaps someone had forcedopen thedoor, shaken the house and carried
away quite a lot of precious things and the soft carpets on which we had
continued to sleep piously. But if that is really the colonial fact, itmust be
admitted that it has awakened us, more or less no doubt... But too
brutally,
bad (op the delicate souls fallingasleep after a lavishmeal! In any case, the
process of history is implacable; the peoples make the change over
mutually
and wake up.
Of course, there is theRoman traditionor theMuslim spirit.Humanity
has the choice for the future that continues by other awakenings and other
necessary relays. At least the future must not be a profound sleep of all the
peoples tired at the dawn of a new civilization. The latter must not be the
civilization of an arrogant continent or that of a selfishpeople, but of a
humanity putting in common all its potentialities.This alternative is the
Gordian knot of the present times.Would the civilized countries, the "Big
Ones", know how to cut it for resolving thepresent drama for the benefitof
humanity?Howsoever itmay be,we, thenon-big are forcedto bringback the
debate to our levelwhere the colonizer coefficientundeniably acts in the
destinyof each and every one. At this level, it is the duty of everynon-big to
become aware, first of all, of his fundamental value that is non-prescriptive
like the space and the time.
A political power can momentarily distort the social value of an
individual,but inno case can itunderminehis fundamentalvalue that ismade
of his genius,of his time and of a tinypiece of bread which is necessary for

6
Louis Bertrand (1866-1941), a French author with an anti-Muslim bias.

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THECONDITIONSOF RENAISSANCE
309

him to get over a bad patch.When a people has at its disposal these three
thingsand, on waking up, becomes aware of them, it holds in itshands the
key of its destiny. It can still stumble, itmight not enjoy an abundance of
comforts,commodities and opportunities,depending on how precarious its
social conditions are, but itcan no longerfail.
The colonizer coefficientis an illusion for the fanaticsof obscurantism
who wish to ringmidnight at dawn. It is also an alibi for the ludicrous
buffoonsof the electoral fun fair.But neither the twelve strokesofmidnight
tirelesslyrepeatedat our awakening,nor the false lightsof the forum,can any
longerconvince theAlgerian people that theyare still livingin thedarkness of
night, in the kingdom of dreams and nightmares. Irremediably, it is the
DAWN.

XVII

THE COEFFICIENT AUTO-REDUCER

The equation of the Algerian man is systematicallydistorted in a way

prescribed by the working of a system thatmultiplies in some sort the
handicaps on his steps.We have seen how the colonizer coefficienthas acted
for imposingon everymovement of his lifea slow rhythmto conform to the
model of a colonization that has littleof the nature and the freeplay of its
metropolitan laws.However, froma dialecticpoint of view, thisconsideration
is, in some way, external, since it shows us how one acts externally for
creating the prototype of the colonized being: the indigene (i.e. the native).
But there is an internal consideration that seems to us more important,
from the same of view, because it allows us to realize the manner in
point
which this individual is going to evolve in thevery limitsthatone imposeson
his activitiesand life.First of all, the individualaccepts from the outset and in
a generalway, thename of his baptism: the indigene.It is a symptomaticfact,
still evident.Only a fewyears ago, theword 'indigene'or its corresponding
ahll was found even in the titlesof the newspapers and in the style of their
editors; itwas constantlyon thepoint of thepen or on the lipsof the 'indigene
elite'. One has not seen an eunuch call himself an "eunucK" but one has seen
theAlgerian intellectualscalling themselves,at every possible opportunity,
indigene. It means thatwe deliberately adopt the mode of thinking and
behaving that the "indigeneadministration"has every interestin imposingon
us.

In other words, we have settled in life at the scale of the colonial

administration. The latter wants the unemployed so as to have at its
disposal
almost free labour;we remain idlewhile there are somany tasks that can be

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 ASMA RASHID
310

even without finances. One wants the people to remain

accomplished
Who
ignorant. fightsagainst the only seriousvice such as illiteracy?Is it the
responsibilityof the 'ularriaalone? One wants depraved individuals,because
immorality creates the inferior being, the indigene par excellence, the
"humble" for justifyingthe thesis of the colons.Who opposes thework of
moral recoveryundertaken by the 'ulama'} One wants the individuals to be
disorganized, spendthrift,morally inefficient just as they are socially
Who follows a politics of division, ofmanipulated elections and
inefficient.
endless discussions inMoorish cafes?One wants filthy,unsightlybeings, to
turn them into a contemptible herd; who abandons oneself to filthiness,
squalor and the flies?In short, each timewhen an internalfactor combines
with an external factorof colonization, there is something like a coefficient
auto-reducer that comes from ourselves.

Perhaps the social significanceof this internalfactor thatwe owe to our

superb complacency and our lamentable insufficiency would have eluded us
by an easy confusion with the other factor, the colonizer co-efficient,if the
JewishcommunityofAlgeria had not givenus an admirable example enabling
us to discern it.

Indeed,when harsh hours struckfor theJewsduring the lastwar, special

administrativeprescriptions struck them in almost every field: their children
were debarred from schools and colleges, and their economic activitieswere
confined to narrow limits. In short, one applied to their entire life in its

intellectual, and even confessional a reducer coefficient,

professional activity,
aiming therebyto diminish them socially andmorally. But the reaction of the
Israelis was prompt. In each family classes were organized with the doctors,
engineers and lawyers as benevolent masters. The synagogues were never so

full, nor the Jewish commercial activitymore overflowing.Despite the

reducer coefficient,the Jewish community victoriously passed through the
hard times.The Jewishchildrendid not miss a single lesson, theirparents did
not lose a single shop and the synagoguesdid not lose a single faithful.The
Jews triumphedbecause theyhad eliminated from themselvesevery cause of
loss,wastage, disorganization and superfluity.They vanquished the reducer
coefficientbecause they themselveswere devoid of the coefficient auto
reducer. This not merely present a case quite close to
admirable example does
that where we find ourselves today, but at the same time, it shows how one
can escape from it; notably, how one can teach one's children without schools
and without licensed teachers.

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THECONDITIONSOF RENAISSANCE
311

When theAlgerian will know how to taylorise7his thought and his acts,
his time,hismoney and thepiece of breadwhich the soil of his country gives
him, hewould have overcomemost of thepresentdifficulties.In particular,he
will triumphover the coloniser coefficientby gettingrid of his auto-reducer
coefficient.

XVIII

THE PROBLEMOF ADAPTATION

The law of action and reaction is as binding in sociology as inmechanics. The

colonial fact being, on the whole, the particular action of the current
civilizationon the colonized peoples, the latterwere bound to react.We have
today before our eyes the resultof the reaction of theAlgerian people for a
century.One must, at first, make use of the conventional termby which one
can afterwardsarrange the ideas. Indeed, in
biology as in sociology, this
reaction is characterizedas the adaptation of the livingbeing to themilieu and
surroundingsinwhich he lives.
We know thatone of the laws of adaptation lies inmimicry. So, there is
nothing surprisingin encountering in the presentAlgerian life all sorts of
forms,from the archaic formsof the traditionalmilieu to those of the vamp
and the zazu of a certainAlgerian milieu where one does not roll theV.
Thus, theAlgerian social spectre sprawls in an infinityof nuances which
account for all the dissonances, and inharmoniesof a society thathas lost its
traditional equilibrium and is in search of a new equilibrium. A search that has

plantedAlgerian lifewith unexpected discordant details, sometimesnaive or

ridiculous, and sometimes even as when a certain father of a
tragic, respectable
family commits suicide because his daughter put in school, in a morally
undesirable environment, turns out for lack of knowing how to copy
badly
properly the role of a student.
This search is even reflectedin our looks. There is the self-important
look of the intellectualnourished in a self-sufficient
science,who dates human
happiness from the 19th century.There is the sceptical look of theman who
sees in the present civilization only the bitternessof its economic struggle.
This scepticbelieves; he believes that the salvationof a people will come from
certain mercenary scams, from certain disasters in the stock market or the
black market. There is the hateful and demagogic look of theman who has
discovered civilization in his political rallies and electoral banquets and who

7
A term coined to Frederick Winslow
by the author with reference Taylor (1856-1915), the American
economist and engineer who presented a system of scientific organization of work.

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 ASMA RASHID
312

believes in changingthe social order by certainwell-applauded speeches.There

is the nostalgic look of the young "bddissi"*who believes in changing this
social order by purifyinghis language.
There is also the alcoholic look of the one overpowered by the
atmosphereof thebars and forwhom the ideal of civilizationholds out in the
bottom of his glass.There is the lewd expression of theman who dreams of
conquering civilization with the complicity of a woman. There is the
bewildered look of the one who does not see anything,does not look for
anything,of someonewho pays his taxeswithout askingwhy. Very rarely,
there is the ascetic look of someonewho sees that a civilization is not a thing,
a nuance, an attitude, but a and that, above all, it is or it was, a
synthesis
a a soul.
thought, spirit,
This mass of expressionsdenotes the differentdegrees of adaptation that
one encounters in Algeria. It denotes the contrast of dress, of opinions and

tastes, and of the divergences. The earth is still not round for everyone. Some
live in 1368 and some^1948! Others are in between these two extremes.This
is the drama of our adaptationwith all its acuteness, even in our friendlyand
familyrelations.One has the impressionof living in a hybridmilieu madeup
of thousandsof people, and of tensof thousandsof cultures.
These discords are imputable, firstand forempst,to a fragmentaryand
incomplete vision of the new milieu where we are, and to an erroneous
attracts us to its universities, its
appreciation of the civilization that irresistibly
banks, its meetings, its bars and its nightclubs. And we owe to this

fragmentary vision
some very curious
psychological phenomena such as the
cult of the unique man or of the unique thing. One must not talk towards

1936, against our first indispensable and irreplaceableman!9 This cult still
seems in vogue. there is also a new brotherhood,
But that of the "the unique
save-us". That the trade of this man has,
things-that-will by chance, prospered,
there is no doubt whatsoever. He sighs
to everyone who cares to listen:
"salvation lies in the economyFor another, it is in literature and science that
thekey to the situation is to be found.Must we wait foryears to ascertain the
impotenceofmillions of theuniversitydiplomas, the small green flagsand of
all the "unique things" thatwill not save us? Must we lose years before

8
I.e., a follower of the reform movement led by 'Abd al-Hamid ibn B adis (1887-1940).
9
The author is obviously referring to Messali Hadj, leader of a revolutionary, proletarian party, L'Etoile
nord-africain, founded in 1926. An ex-army man, with little education, Messali Hadj was a charismatic
orator and organiser. Bennabi's misgivings as the za, 'lm and
regarding his inordinate love for self-projection
his autocratic temperament were fully justified. This because evident when Messali Hadj refused to join
forces with F.L.N at the time of the commencement of the Algerian revolution in November 1954. He
a tool of the French to stir up internecine strife in a vain attempt to arrest the
ultimately became policy
march of the revolution.

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 THECONDITIONSOF RENAISSANCE
313

pronouncing the failureof the "unique thing" as we have lost years before
decreeing thedecline of the "uniqueman"?
Our searchhas made us commit quite a fewmistakes thathave led us to
our current mess. Is it to say that we must stop our present momentum
towards civilization, thatwe must suspend our march for fearof accidents or
of ridicule?But our searchmust not remain empirical. Ifwe do not wish it to
become an a chaos, dominated or the
anarchy, by the "unique man" "unique
thing",we must render it scientificand rational. It is the onlyway that allows
us to adapt ourselves to the present civilization, not by fragmentsand
appearances, but by an essence and a synthesis.And it is this synthesisthat
would absorb the discords and the disharmonies of the present Algeria by
melting them in a general culture conscious of its end and the firstcondition
of homogenization and unification of a society in search of its new
equilibrium.

Conclusion

Is there a conclusion to draw from this study?What historical conclusion is

there in our era?Has our generation a perspective?A definite decline or
regenerationby themiracle of a renaissance?This question does not arise only
for theAlgerian people. The entirehumanity is before a terribledilemma at
the crossroadsof destiny.There ismuch talk about it.There is thequestion of
blocs:Western bloc, Eastern bloc, North-Atlantic bloc. What is there that
concerns my
destiny?
I myself talk here of theAlgerian renaissance.Another partial solution!
What to do in an insolvency that is the only universal thing?The civilized
man is a coloniser. The man to be civilized is automatically colonized, a
colonial product called the indigene.There lies thedrama!
The civilizedman accuses "the other" of passing a judgementon his
civilizationfullof ingratitudeand disrespect.Stillmore serious:he imputesthe
reason to this "loss of to a of his material power. Hence
prestige" weakening
he deploys his forcewhich aggravatesthe offendingjudgement,
which in turn,
aggravates the condemned force. Here, we are in a vicious circle. Who would
be the firstto become aware of that?
It is precisely at themoment when scientificenergyplaces the absolute
? ?
energy of the matter isn't it there the maximum of the material force at
the disposal of the civilizationwhose moral bankruptcy seems consummate
even to the eyes of theprimitivewho buys from itsarsenalshis hunting rifle.
The civilizedman must ponder over it profoundly rather than abandon
himselfto thenarrow-mindedviews of his specialistsof "native affairs".
For my part,when I search inmy memory the formertestimonyof the
white-beardedvenerable personswho have surroundedmy infancy,I recall a

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 ASMA RASHID
314

verse that one murmured as a "God hath promised to those of you

mea-culpa:
who (believe and) do the things that are right, thatHe will cause them to
succeed others in the land, as He gave succession to those before them".

(Qur'an 24: 54)

Thus, our fathersoffered their loyal homage to the civilization of the
telephone,the good doctor, the steam and electricity.But what would be their
verdict today ifwe could hear them? I can imaginewith what a disillusioned
smile theywould say: "It isnot a civilization,but an industry,a business".
But a greatmany civilizedmen and women who are neither charlatans
nor dealers deny thispithy judgement.A terriblecase of conscience beyond
which the simple intelligencesees a glimpse of the danger of doubt creeping
close to theheart of theman to be civilized.But thewrong is there.Our rags,
our famines,our unrestrained ignorance, the soil that is dying on our high
plateaux, theplants and beasts on themdisappearing, thedestructionof riches
that have missed and miss our
misery. All this abandonement, all these non

realizations, all this negativework, has its authorswho claim to officially

However, a good many
representthe civilization.Categorization is difficult.
honestmen, the civilized,having had their fillof beautifulwords, and sick of
the sad realities,bear the same terriblejudgement.This, because one has more
andmore, the impressionof livingat a fairwhere one trades inhuman destiny
by abusing sacredwords. In these conditions, can our epoch give birth to a
civilization that would be a civilization of humanity and not of a people, or of
a bloc?
There must be 'civilizers' who carry in them the radiance, the magnetism
by which a civilization its respect on the man-to-be-civilized and its
imposes
duties on the civilizedman.
Howsoever thatmay be, it is by accomplishing its own renaissance,and
bymaking itsownway towardsmoral and scientificprogress, thatAlgeria can
effectivelycontributeto thebuildingof thehuman city.

###

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