Lamahat min Hayat al-Shaykh Umar al-Arbawi

Lamahat min Hayat al-Shaykh Umar al-Arbawi (Glimpses from the Life of Shaykh Umar al-Arbawi) is a biographical study by Algerian researcher Mahdi Jidal, published in 2012 in the journal al-Islah, documenting the life, educational career, and reformist activism of the Algerian scholar and preacher Umar al-Arbawi (c. 1324–1405 AH / 1907–1984 CE) Lamahat min Hayat al-Shay…+1.

Background and Sources

The work appeared in the thirty-third issue of Majallat al-Islah (Sha'ban–Ramadan 1433 AH / September–October 2012 CE), issued by Dar al-Fadilah, under the biographical section A'lam La Tunsa Lamahat min Hayat al-Shay…. Jidal composed the study to address the scarcity of comprehensive biographical literature on al-Arbawi, whose public reformist career spanned both the colonial era and the post-independence period in Algeria Lamahat min Hayat al-Shay…. The author noted that al-Arbawi himself had consistently refused during his lifetime to record or recount his personal milestones, maintaining that his efforts were solely for the sake of God Lamahat min Hayat al-Shay….

To reconstruct al-Arbawi's life, Jidal relied on several direct and indirect sources:

• Oral interviews conducted across multiple periods in El Harrach with members of al-Arbawi's family, especially his cousin Abd al-Rahman al-Arbawi Lamahat min Hayat al-Shay…+1.
• A two-page biographical leaflet prepared by al-Arbawi's family, titled al-Da'iyah al-Qudwah Lamahat min Hayat al-Shay….
• Direct testimonies and interviews with al-Arbawi's students and associates, including Farid Azzouk, Muhammad al-Ilji, Abu Abd al-Rahman Mahmoud Laqdar, and Abd al-Ghani Aoussat Lamahat min Hayat al-Shay…+1.
• Historical articles published in the journals al-Basa'ir and al-Tahdhib al-Islami, official lists of teachers from the Association of Algerian Muslim Scholars, and fatwas from the Supreme Islamic Council Lamahat min Hayat al-Shay…+1.

Structure and Scope

The study is arranged chronologically and thematically into distinct headings tracing al-Arbawi's life, pedagogical methods, intellectual stances, writings, and death:

• Early Life and Education: Covers his birth in Sidi Aissa around 1324 AH (1907 CE) to Salih ibn Abd al-Karim al-Arbawi and Fatimah bint al-Qasim, belonging to the al-Arsh al-Ahmar clan; his official administrative name (Hamlawi); his memorization of the Quran by age fifteen at Zawiyat Sidi Sa'id al-Boutouili; his legal and religious studies at Zawiyat Sidi al-Mahdi in Blida; and his relocation to Bir Khadem in Algiers, where he sustained himself by harvesting on colonial farms Lamahat min Hayat al-Shay…+1.
• Wartime Conscription and Teaching: Relates his forced conscription by the French military into World War II on the Belgian front, his escape via Tunisia, and his subsequent return to Blida (Halaouia in Boufarik and Ouled Yaich) and Sidi Aissa to establish schools and lead prayers Lamahat min Hayat al-Shay….
• Work with the Association of Algerian Muslim Scholars: Details his affiliation with the Association following World War II, his influence by al-Tayyib al-Uqbi and association with Muhammad al-Bashir al-Ibrahimi, al-Arabi al-Tebessi, and Abd al-Latif Sultani, his founding of schools in Bir Khadem and Saoula, his teaching at al-Madrasah al-Tahdhibiyyah in Bologhine, and his leadership of the Association's branch in Algiers until 1956 Lamahat min Hayat al-Shay….
• Revolutionary Role and Imprisonment: Documents his involvement in the Algerian War of Independence, collecting funds and weapons for fighters under instructions from al-Arabi al-Tebessi, his arrest by French police during a Friday sermon at Belcourt Mosque in Ramadan 1375 AH (April 1956 CE), and his consecutive detention in Berrouaghia prison (alongside Ahmad Sahnoun and Misbah al-Huwaydhaq), Bossuet camp in Oran, Arcole prison, and eventual house arrest until independence Lamahat min Hayat al-Shay…+1.
• Post-Independence Activism: Highlights his educational and preaching posts in Bab El Oued and Belcourt, his move in 1967 to El Harrach, where he taught across several mosques including the Grand Mosque (later known as al-Shafi'i Mosque), and his membership in the General Secretariat and literary committee of Jam'iyyat al-Qiyam Lamahat min Hayat al-Shay…+1.
• Social and Religious Stances: Analyzes al-Arbawi's critiques of moral laxity, Westernization, and atheism after independence; his strict rejection of emergent armed militant groups in the late 1970s; and his theological opposition to Shiite influence following the Iranian revolution, including an incident at al-Shafi'i Mosque during the 1981 Islamic Thought Conference in Algiers Lamahat min Hayat al-Shay…+1.
• Pedagogical Method and Friday Sermons: Describes his dual teaching style: simplified practical lectures for the general public focusing on basic obligations and ethics, and rigorous academic circles for students of knowledge at Middle School al-Farazdaq and local mosques Lamahat min Hayat al-Shay…+1. His jurisprudence circles prioritized textual evidence over rigid school partisanship while teaching texts such as Ibn Rushd's Bidayat al-Mujtahid, al-Shatibi's al-I'tisam and al-Muwafaqat, and al-Sayis's Tafsir Ayat al-Ahkam Lamahat min Hayat al-Shay…+1. His Friday sermons are characterized as concise, authoritative, and linguistically eloquent Lamahat min Hayat al-Shay….
• Writings and Selected Excerpts: Details al-Arbawi's published and unpublished works—including his book al-I'tisam bi-l-Islam, his creed treatise al-Takhalli 'an al-Taqlid wa-l-Tahalli bi-l-Asl al-Mufid (approved for print by Ahmad Hammani on behalf of the Supreme Islamic Council in 1984), lost prison notebooks on Quranic exegesis and jurisprudence, and recorded lectures—concluding with representative excerpts from his published articles and books Lamahat min Hayat al-Shay…+1.
• Illness and Death: Concludes with al-Arbawi's final illness, his death on the morning of Sunday, 9 Rabi' al-Awwal 1405 AH (2 December 1984 CE), his large funeral procession in El Harrach, and his burial in the Sidi Rzine cemetery according to his request Lamahat min Hayat al-Shay….