| Malek Chebel | |
| Birth Date: | 12 April 1953 |
| Birth Place: | Skikda, Algeria |
| Death Place: | Paris, France |
| Nationality: | Algerian |
| Education: | Sciences Po |
| Occupation: | Philosopher |
Malek Chebel (1953 – 12 November 2016) was a notable Algerian philosopher and anthropologist of religions . He was one of the most prominent North African intellectuals. He studied in Algeria, then later in France at Paris where he also studied psychoanalysis. He was a teacher at many universities worldwide.
Essayist, author of books specialized in Arab world and Islam, he created the expression: “Islam of lights”. He spoke at numerous conferences in Europe and Africa.
He is known for his reflections about Islam, its culture, its history, intellectual life. He is also famous for his public positions for a liberal Islam, and for its reform. His famous works include 'The Manifesto for an Enlightened Islam'.[1]
Born in 1953 at Philippeville, now Skikda in Algeria, Chebel pursued his primary and secondary studies there and obtained his baccalaureate in philosophy and Arab letters. He entered the university of Ain El Bay (Constantine) in 1977, then he went to France to pursue his university studies. In 1980, he obtained a first degree in clinical psychopathology and psychoanalysis from Paris 7 University.
Then, in 1982, Chebel obtained his doctorate of anthropology, ethnology and science of religions at Jussieu, and in 1984, he earned a doctorate in political science at the Paris Institute of Political Studies. He worked at the research direction at the Sorbonne. He worked and gave conferences in Europe, in the Arab world and in America.
The prolific work of Malek Chebel with his vast experience as a historian, psychoanalyst and anthropologist is mainly devoted to the defense of freedom in all its forms: political freedom, freedom of thought, freedom to live and love and its place in Islam and Muslim culture. Freedom guides his reflection about the body, desire, love, relations between men and women, but also about tolerance, politic engagement, and generosity. He called for the end of violence (in all its forms).
He prefaced several books including the translation of Quran made by Edouard Montet. He died of cancer on 12 November 2016.[2]
His work Islam and Free Will[3] aims to understand Islam and its relation with the Occident. Understanding the ways of thinking, of living, the sensibilities of the other to go beyond hatred, giving him a place in this world. It is also an interrogation about the place of freedom in Islam, and an invitation for new research on Islam and its traditions.He called for a return to the original tenets of Islam to combat fundamental Islamism.“The majority of Muslims are caught between two groups: on the one hand a small group of violent Muslims who want to Islamize the world; and on the other hand the majority of the Western people who don’t understand Islam”.
He reminds us that Islam is plural and alive. He also reminds us that in the past, Islam has been innovative in a lot of aspects of life. He analyzed the evolution and mutations of mentalities in the Muslim world. Chebel affirmed that through the centuries, there were a great periods of peace, creativity and happiness along with periods of brutal violence. He states, “It in the name of these centuries that I work; in the name of many scientists, writers, grammarians, jurists, doctors that I speak."