The Monks of Tibhirine by John W. Kiser describes the kidnapping and murder of 7 Catholic monks from a
monastery in Tibhirine,
Algeria, in 1996.
The book concentrates on the monks’ philosophy of sharing their life with the local Muslims and being the face of the West to them but it is the history of Algeria that places their untimely death in larger context.
From the early Berber days through Arab and Ottoman conquests to French occupation in 1830 one gets exposed to the area’s major historical events as an introduction to Algeria’s modern history with independence in 1962 and the successive
political struggles and military coups.
Noting the absolutely horrid characteristics of
violence in Algeria perpetrated against foreigners and Algerians alike, the terror was, and to some extent remains, all encompassing. Torture, kidnapping and murder not just of opposing fronts’ proponents but “regular” Algerian citizens on the slightest notion of ‘undue’ support such as walking down the street with a bearded friend, a beard considered a sign of a Muslim supporter.
The monks of Tibhirine, respected in the nearby community for providing employment, selling produce from their garden at below going rates in the market and offering medical services and medications, were used for a high profile kidnapping in political struggles between GIA (Group Islamique Arme) and the government and for a power struggle within GIA itself.
The monks and especially Christian de Charge strongly believed in inter-faith dialogue, spoke Arabic and knew more of Islam and Koran than a lot of self-appointed GIA imams. Along with a lot of Algerians they understood that not only violence would breed more violence, bad will and resentments but that it was against Islam as much as it was against Christianity.
A delegate of just one party that lost 300 members due to violence by the end of 1995 commented:
“They are simply criminals, <…> I don’t know why the papers call them Islamic terrorists. They have nothing to do with Islam.”
Christian de Charge’s fascination with Islam and his view that Christianity was only one of the ways to God has earned him a reputation of ‘being too much’ in and outside of the monastery in the clerical circles.
Two years prior to the 1996 Tibhirine incident all foreigners were warned to leave yet the monks chose to remain. Numerous attempts at providing the monks with some security were then made yet the monks decided not to violate their anti-weapon rules.
In 1994 the monastery was invaded by a local strongman Attia. Upon a brief exchange between Christian and Attia, the militants left. The good fortune of being able to negotiate the militants’ leave built up the monks’ confidence and led to a conclusion that they had Attia’s ‘permission’ to remain in the Tibhirine area.
Yet being urged by their bishop to stay, the monks started to prepare for the next incident without much hope of being able to avoid the unavoidable: death. Christian wrote his testament and sent it sealed to his family in France.
The monks chose the Tibhirine monastery for its life of ‘true’ poverty over their monasteries of origin mostly in France. Supporting themselves from the products of their manual labors in the garden appealed to them. Ministering by example to the local community in the Atlas mountains of Algeria was also very important to their calling. There had been a longstanding prohibition on evangelizing in Algeria already and over time the church in Algeria was being pushed farther and farther away.
The brutality of fighting in Algeria at the time was such that finding cut off human heads, as those of the seven monks eventually were, was not an isolated incident.
Unbelievably enough the monks’ ‘sacrifice’ did make a difference and their prayers and published wishes for better times in Algeria came true. The GIA’s newspaper in London lost sponsors and Zitouni, GIA emir, was killed in an ambush.
“In retrospect,there were many signs that the monks’ death had indeed been a turning point. For a country that seemed drunk on violence, their assassination in God’s name was, for many Algerians, like hitting rock bottom. It was the final and highly publicized insult to an already-abused Islam.”
Kiser visited Algeria in the fall of 1999 and although the widespread violence was mostly gone, the country was still a dangerous place to both live in and visit despite thousands of militants having turned themselves in on the Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s government clemency offer.
Algeria is a country rich in mineral resources including oil and gas. It is a predominantly Muslim country of 33 million people today although Berbers were its original inhabitants between 3000 B.C. and 647 A.D. 75% of Algerians are under 30 years old. Per capita GDP was $2,752 in 1987 and declined to $1,570 in 1992. Official 1990 unemployment rate was at 26%. This includes only figures for males actively seeking work.