Publisher : L'Harmattan -

French


The legal status of non-Muslims in Algeria. The example of evangelicals and Ahmadis.
This book, which focuses on the situation before 2019, provides keys to explaining the origins of the popular protest movement, the hirak. It shows how the State controls the society, which is predominantly Sunni, but has a religious plurality. The presence of Protestants became known in 2004 following mass conversions to evangelicalism; Ahmadis appeared on the legal landscape in 2016, after a series of arrests. Through the study of the legal status of non-Muslim Algerians, this work examines Algerian law in relation to Algeria’s international commitments. It is based on an analysis of case law, solid fieldwork and numerous interviews. It shows that the State controls the religious field and that Islam serves as an identity reference in an Algerian society that rejects any religious form that is considered alien to its society.
Cet ouvrage, portant sur la situation antérieure à 2019, donne des clés d’explication quant aux origines du mouvement de protestation populaire, le hirak. Il montre comment l’État contrôle la société, laquelle, majoritairement sunnite, connaît une pluralité religieuse. La présence des protestants s’est fait connaître en 2004 suite à des conversions massives vers l’évangélisme ; les ahmadis sont apparus dans le paysage juridique en 2016, après une série d’arrestations. À travers l’étude du statut juridique des Algériens non-musulmans, ce travail examine le droit algérien au regard des engagements internationaux de l’Algérie. Il repose sur l’analyse de la jurisprudence, un solide travail de terrain et de nombreux entretiens. Il en ressort que l’État contrôle le champ religieux et que l’Islam sert de référent identitaire dans une Algérie rejetant toute forme religieuse stigmatisée comme étrangère à sa société.
وضع غير المسلمين القانوني في الجزائر. نموذج الإنجيليّين والأحمديّين كمثال.
يتناول هذا الكتاب وضعَ الجزائر قبل العام 2019 ويقدّم أدوات تشرحُ أصول حركات الاحتجاج الشعبيّة التي عُرفت بالحِراك. ويوضّحُ كيفية سيطرةِ الدولة على المجتمع ذات الغالبية السنيّة الذي يشهدُ تعدّديةً دينيّةً. والواقعُ أنّ الحضور البروتستانتي تجلّى في العام 2004 بعد ظاهرة اعتناقات جماعيّة مكثّفة للإنجيليّة. أمّا الأحمديّون فظهروا في المشهد القانوني في العام 2016 بعد سلسلةٍ من الاعتقالات. ويتفحّص هذا العملُ مدى احترام القانون الجزائري لالتزامات الجزائر الدولية، على ضوء دراسة وضعِ الجزائريين غير المسلمين القانوني. ويستندُ إلى تحليل الاجتهادات، وعمل ميدانيّ متقن ومقابلات كثيرة. ويتوصّل إلى استناج مفاده أنّ الدولة تسيطر على الحقل الديني وأنّ الإسلامَ يُشكّل مرجعاً للهويّة في الجزائر التي ترفضُ أيّ دين تصِمه بالغريب عن مجتمعها.
Resources of this researcher
publication
Muslim Theologies of Religious Pluralism. Proceedings of the Colloquium Held on November 20 and 21, 2021
The laboratory of the Institute of Science and Theology of Religions of Paris (Theologicum, ICP) presents here the outcome of four years of research on the theme of religious pluralism in Islam. Wh...
publication
The legal status of non-Muslims in Algeria. The example of evangelicals and Ahmadis.
This book, which focuses on the situation before 2019, provides keys to explaining the origins of the popular protest movement, the hirak. It shows how the State controls the society, which is pred...
Resources related to
Freedom of Religion
videos
From regulating religious sound to transforming it into light: public, legal and architectural debates on the adhān
Paper presented at the fifth international congress of the University Platform for Research on Islam (Pluriel), held in Cordoba from 10 to 14 February 2026 on the theme "Ethics and Aesthetics in Is...
article
Religious minorities and spiritual assistance. Reflections on the project “Atlas of religious or belief minority rights” in the European Union
- Ilaria Valenzi
Abstract Developed within the multilevel system of legal sources, the category of "religious minority" takes on particular significance within the European Union, where a shared system of protectio...
article
“Inclusive Citizenship, the Right to a Place of Worship and Everyday Peace”, by Antonio Angelucci
- Antonio Angelucci
In an article published in the Italian journal Coscienza e Libertà (no. 69, 2025), Antonio Angelucci, associate professor of law and religion at the University of Insubria, examines the connection ...
article
Public order and religious family rights. Sustainability and limits of an evolving legal relationship
- Ilaria Valenzi
Abstract The public-order clause, which safeguards the fundamental principles of the legal order, is today tested by the circulation of family models rooted in religious legal systems. Ilaria Valen...
videos
Freedom of conscience, a contested yet resilient right
- Dominique Avon
Rome. In a conference given on November 28, 2024, at the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies, Professor Dominique Avon from the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris traced the ...
publication
Speaking freely in Islam
- Hamadi Redissi
What is the Islamic doctrine of blasphemy, insult to God, religion and the Prophet? What about the prohibition of figurative representation of Muhammad? Can one openly believe or abjure in Islam? T...
publication
Religious minorities between the Mediterranean shores: a study of the status of religious minorities in the Mediterranean context (REMiMEsO) – Final Report
- Alessandro Ferrari
The REMiMESo project, led by Ilaria Valenzi and supported by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, explores the situation of religious minorities in five Mediterranean countries: Israel, Morocco...
publication
Religious Freedom in Italy. An Impossible Paradigm
- Alessandro Ferrari
Italy, seat of the Pope and Vatican City, has a long and difficult relationship with religious freedom. Often identified as a quintessentially Catholic nation, Italy owes its unification to a polit...
publisher's website