President of the Republic Abdelaziz Bouteflika called, Monday, for “countering with clear-sightedness” to the “alien ideas that the unity of the Algerian Sunnite people is confronted with.”
“Today, the unity of the Algerian Sunnite people is confronted with ideas, that are totally alien to us and with frightening religious theses, which, in recent memory, were sources of Fitna. They could still be if they are not stopped with clear-sightedness,” said President Bouteflika in a message on the occasion of the Knowledge Day (Yaoum El Ilm), read on his behalf by Minister of Culture, Azzedine Mihoubi, at the Opera of Algiers.
Moreover, the president of the Republic stressed that “our country remains exposed to the strong wave of the western civilization. This civilization that imposes on us, a dual challenge, namely our rising generations’ success in acquiring knowledge and the means for the economic and technical development, and the preservation of the attachment of our society, as a whole, to its authentic spiritual and civilizational references.”
The “advent of globalization and the modern means of communication as well as the events which have shaken the Muslim world and the new ideas- that are totally alien to the Algerian people-, have progressively undermined our ideological and intellectual harmony to the point that they affected Algeria’s stability and plunged it in the hell of terrorism which resulted in the national tragedy,” said the Head of the State.
In this regard, he underlined that “Sheikh Ben Badis who was proud of his religion, his Berber roots and his Arab ancestors, drew the high national values of the civilization born in the different regions of our vast country. From all these sources of glory and pride, he established a working method, a reform plan and a code of conduct.”
“By celebrating once more ‘Yaoum El Ilm’, we can boast about the achievements of Algeria, for the materialization of the fundamental message advocated by eminent Sheikh Abdelhamid Ben Badis. His message was a message for the identity, authenticity and moderation. This message has contributed to the outbreak of November Revolution. It has also led to the building of the cultural, civilizational and spiritual identity of Algeria. This message, valid for today and tomorrow must remain the core of our mobilization for the building and the protection of a strong and decent Algeria,” stressed President Bouteflika.
APS
