Abdelhamid Ben Badis was erudite scholar, mujaheed

Abdelhamid Ben Badis was an erudite scholar and a veteran who has devoted his youth and entire life to spreading knowledge in the Algerian society, then combating colonialism,  President of the Republic, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, said Tuesday. Scholar Ben Badis was engaged to "spread science and knowledge, as factors of awareness, in the mosques and the private schools he had created in the four corners of the country and by liberating the people from the influence of charlatans, other mystifying spirits and also treacherous traitors, he prepared its children to fully enter this century and wage combat against the occupant and its allies," said President of the Republic in a message on the occasion of Yaoum El Ilm (Knowledge Day), celebrated on 16 April. "Scholar and activist, he knew how to be an example to his disciples and other followers who flocked from all the territory," said President Bouteflika. "His disciples and followers engaged in the search of science and knowledge they put at the service of their fellows," said the Head of State who stressed that Ben Badis action targeted both young people, without distinction between boys and girls, and adults. His successors adopted the same line of conduct to perpetuate his work, the head of State added. President Bouteflika also insisted to highlight efforts by the Algerian state since the recovery of national sovereignty to "focus on science and knowledge, based on conviction that by this way only that its aspirations and expectations can be fulfilled."