Athar Ibn Badis
- Author died
- 1359 AH
- Editions
- al-Sharīkah al-Jazāʼirīyah
Athar Ibn Badis (The Works of Ibn Badis) is a multi-volume collection compiling the writings, lectures, Quranic exegesis, hadith commentaries, and journalistic essays of the Algerian Islamic scholar and reformer Abd al-Hamid ibn Badis (d. 1359 AH / 1940 CE).
Compilation and Publication
Ibn Badis did not leave behind many standalone authored books during his lifetime, famously remarking that he was preoccupied with shaping men rather than composing books. Most of his intellectual output remained dispersed across periodicals such as al-Shihab, al-Muntaqid, and his teaching circles.
The collection was assembled and classified by the Algerian scholar Ammar Talbi. Its first edition was published in four parts across two major volumes in 1388 AH / 1968 CE by Dar wa-Maktabat al-Sharika al-Jaza'iriyya in Algiers, in collaboration with Dar al-Yaqaza al-Arabiyya. A committee of senior scholars in Damascus was commissioned by Dar al-Yaqaza al-Arabiyya to proofread and correct the text during its printing. Subsequent editions were issued in 1403 AH / 1983 CE and 1417 AH / 1997 CE. The work also features an introductory preface written by the Algerian thinker Malek Bennabi.
Structure and Contents
The four-part edition is structured thematically according to Ibn Badis's fields of study and social activism:
- Volume 1 (Parts 1 and 2): Opens with an overview of the intellectual and cultural history of the Islamic Maghrib and a biographical study of Ibn Badis's life, followed by his contributions to Quranic exegesis (tafsir) and hadith commentary.
- Volume 2, Part 1 (Part 3): Gathers Ibn Badis's essays on religious reform and campaigns against blameworthy innovations (al-islah wa-l-thawra didd al-bida'), education and pedagogy, politics, telegrams and official protests, social issues, public speeches, and his poetic verses.
- Volume 2, Part 2 (Part 4): Contains his articles on Islamic and general history, the Arabs in the Quran, biographical profiles (tarajim), religious and historical narratives, travelogues, the editorial development of the journal al-Shihab, invocations of blessings upon the Prophet ﷺ, as well as jurisprudence and legal responsa (fiqh wa-fatawa).
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