The ‘Islam of the Government’: The Islamic High Councils in Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania and Tunisia

Abstract

Islam, in its relation between state and politics, has often been used to strengthen the sense of national identity or as a tool of self-legitimation by Arab regimes to gain the support of the people. This happened in Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania and Tunisia, where the state not only co-opted religion for official purposes but absorbed the ‘ ulamā’, the religious establishment, in the administration as simple employees of newly created institutions, such as the High Islamic Councils. This article aims to shed light on these little-known organizations, one of the regime’s keystones to having a firm hold on their power.