Fi Mahabb al-Maaraka
- Author died
- 1393 AH
- Editions
- Dar al-Fikr al-Mu'asir
Fi Mahabb al-Ma'raka (In the Gust of Battle; subtitled Premonitions of the Revolution) is a book by the Algerian intellectual Malik Bennabi (1323–1393 AH / 1905–1973 CE), compiling essays on the intellectual, political, and social dynamics preceding the Algerian Revolution .
Background and Publication
The essays comprising the book were originally written in French by Bennabi while residing in Paris during the late 1940s and early 1950s . They were initially published in two French-language Algerian periodicals: Le Jeune Musulman (al-Shabab al-Muslim) and La République Algérienne (al-Jumhuriyya al-Jaza'iriyya) .
Following Bennabi's move to Cairo in 1956, he undertook the translation of these articles into Arabic, and the compilation was first published in Cairo in 1961 . Bennabi selected the title Fi Mahabb al-Ma'raka to frame these writings as early harbingers and justifications of the Algerian national liberation struggle . The book includes Bennabi's dedication to the martyrs of the Algerian Revolution . Later editions were published by Dar al-Fikr in Beirut and Damascus as part of Bennabi's series Mushkilat al-Hadara (Problems of Civilization), featuring a presentation by Bennabi's disciple and executor Omar Meskawi dated 20 Sha'ban 1398 AH (25 July 1978 CE) and an introduction by the Egyptian scholar Mahmoud Mohamed Shakir .
Purpose and Themes
The work reflects Bennabi's philosophical endeavor to examine the situation of Algeria and the broader Third World under colonial rule . Rather than resorting to populist rhetoric, the articles analyze the psychological, cultural, and structural mechanisms of French colonialism, alongside internal societal decay . Bennabi connects these analyses to his foundational conceptual frameworks established in earlier books—such as Shurut al-Nahda (The Conditions of Renaissance) and Wijhat al-Alam al-Islami (The Direction of the Islamic World)—including the concept of "colonizability" (al-qabiliyya li-l-isti'mar) . The essays aim to refine national discourse, critique ineffective political postures, and establish objective cultural and ethical prerequisites for effective societal renewal .
Structure and Contents
The book is arranged into four major thematic sections :
- Colonialism Under the Microscope (al-Isti'mar Tahta al-Mijhar): Contains studies examining colonial psychology, systemic disorder, and colonial policy in North Africa, including essays such as "The Psychology of Colonialism" (Saykulujiyyat al-Isti'mar) and "Colonial Chaos" (al-Fawda al-Isti'mariyyah) .
- In the Mud of Politics (Fi Wahl al-Siyasa): Gathers political critiques covering North African and international affairs, discussing events like the Colombo and Geneva conferences, colonial propaganda apparatuses, and diplomatic maneuvers surrounding figures such as King Muhammad V (Muhammad bin Yusuf) .
- In the Social Field (Fi al-Haql al-Ijtima'i): Addresses internal Algerian social and economic questions, including agricultural reform, the status of Muslim women, the necessity of guiding national efforts, and critiques of societal superficialities and imported civilizational commodities .
- In the Garden of Culture (Fi Hadiqat al-Thaqafa): Explores broader philosophical, cultural, and spiritual topics, including Bennabi's famous dichotomy between "dead ideas and deadly ideas" (bayna al-afkar al-mayyita wa-l-afkar al-qatila), critical thought, Indian cultural unity and non-violence, Romain Rolland, the metaphysical basis of human philosophy in Islam, and modern studies of Islamic Sufism .
Reception and Subsequent Connection
In his introduction to the book, Mahmoud Mohamed Shakir evaluated the collection as among Bennabi's most valuable writings, praising it for offering an immediate, contemporaneous record of a profound thinker diagnosing colonial subjugation and warning against collective complacency . Meskawi contextualized Fi Mahabb al-Ma'raka as the pre-independence counterpart to Bennabi's later collection, Bayna al-Rashad wa-l-Tayh (Between Guidance and Wandering); while the former engaged the preparatory phase of the liberation struggle, the latter addressed the political and socioeconomic challenges facing the newly independent Algerian state in the 1960s .
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