A moderate Islamic party in Algeria.
Hamas is Algeria's second most popular Islamic party, after the Islamic Salvation Front. It was established in 1990 by Shaykh Mahfoud Nahnah (1942 - 2003), after constitutional amendments allowed for political pluralism, as the Movement of the Islamic Society, with the Arabic acronym HAMAS. To conform to a law requiring that the name make no reference to Islam, in 1991 the party changed its name to the Movement for a Peaceful Society. Influenced by the teachings and methods of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, the party's origins go back to the 1970s, when Shaykh Nahnah was arrested for opposing the state's socialist orientation. In 1989, he formed a social and cultural society, Jamʿiyyat alIrshad wa al-Islah (Association of Guidance and Reform), which became Hamas in 1990 and drew its following from among students, teachers, and professionals. In the 1991 legislative elections, the party garnered over 450,000 votes. Since the cancellation of these elections, Hamas has maintained a moderate and nonviolent stance and advocated national reconciliation and the preservation of the republic and the institutions of the state. It has been criticized by some for taking a conciliatory position toward the military-backed regime. Others see its program as realistic and pragmatic. Shaykh Nahnah ran as a candidate during the presidential elections of 1995 and came in second, winning over three million votes. In the 1999 presidential elections, the party supported the candidacy of Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Since the 1997 legislative elections, Hamas has participated in several ministerial cabinets and placed representatives in the Algerian parliament. It has advocated a moderate Islamic position; adherence to the country's fundamental cultural components (Islamic, Arab, and Amazegh [the indigenous population]); the restoration of order and national peace; pluralism; the peaceful transfer of power; women's participation in society; and respect for human rights. In 2003 Shaykh Nahnah died of leukemia, leaving behind a movement that is expected to survive its founder.
Bibliography
Harakat Mujtama al-Silm. Available from www.hmsalgeria.net.
Shahin, Emad Eldin. Political Ascent: Contemporary IslamicMovements in North Africa. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1998.
— EMAD ELDIN SHAHIN
