Abbas el Hocine Bencheikh called Sheikh Abbas (1912 – 3 May 1989), was an Algerian diplomat, cleric, writer, and rector of the Muslim Institute and the

Great Mosque of Paris The Grand Mosque of Paris (, ; ), also known as the Great Mosque of Paris or simply the Paris Mosque, located in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, is one of the largest mosques in France. It comprises prayer rooms, an outdoor garden, a small lib ...

. Abbas was born in Mila

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

in 1912. After theological studies in family brotherhood and once aged 21, Sheikh Abbas studied at the Islamic University of Zaytuna in Tunis and that of al-Qarawiyyin in Fez. After ten years, he returned to Algeria and became the disciple of the reformer

Abdelhamid Ben Badis ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn Muṣṭafā ibn Makkī ibn Bādīs (), better known as Ibn Bādīs () was an Algerian Salafi educator, exegete, Islamic reformer, scholar and figurehead of cultural nationalism. In 1931, Ben Badis founded the Association ...

. He campaigned with him for religious and political reform (commonly known as "al-iṣlāḥ" by

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

reformists). At independence of

, he was appointed ambassador to Saudi Arabia, following his resignation from the post he has held the office of President of the Supreme Islamic Council of Algeria, a seat he left to pursue weekly preaching in the

Djamaa el Kebir Djamaa el Kebir (), also known as the Great Mosque of Algiers (), is a historic mosque in Algiers, Algeria. It is located within the Casbah of Algiers, Casbah (old city), near the city's harbor. Dating to 1097, it is one of the few remaining exam ...

mosque. In 1982, Sheikh Abbas took charge of the

, succeeding Sheikh Hamza Boubakeur. He restructured the mosque by creating a second prayer room and putting in place additional social services. He allowed the mosque to receive a share of a specific budget from the Department of Endowments of Algeria and secondly to develop a body of 80 imams.Abbas Bencheikh
official website of the Paris mosque He intervened to resolve the painful issue of divorce between binational families, especially in defending the rights of French mothers whose children had been brought in Algeria after the divorce. He also interjected to facilitate the return of many French-Muslims (

Harkis ''Harki'' (adjective from the Algerian Arabic "''ḥarka''", standard Arabic "''ḥaraka''" �ركة "war party" or "movement", i.e., a group of volunteer militia) is the generic term for native Muslim Algerians who served as auxiliaries along ...

) who had left the

since independence in 1962 and stay there instead. Abbas died in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in 1989.

References

See also