Malek Chebel

His work Islam and Free Will 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”.

Malek Chebel (1953 – 12 November 2016) was a renowned 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.

He prefaced several books including the translation of Quran made by Edouard Montet. He died of cancer on 12 November 2016.

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 institute of political studies at Paris. He worked at the research direction at the Sorbonne. He worked and gave conferences in Europe, in the Arab world and in America.

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.