Algerian minister warns against Islamist violence

Algeria's Minister of Religious Affairs, Bouabdallah Ghlamallah, has claimed that the country’s Salafist groups want to seize power and warned against the "dangers of choosing violence as a means of change." Speaking at a public event in Algiers, about the role of religion in Algerian state politics, Ghlamallah said, "I am not worried at all by those who call for Salafism." He dismissed the Islamist movements which threaten stability in mosques, adding, "the threat that may be posed by the Salafist current in Algeria lies in listening to those preaching it. Mixing politics and religion is a cause for conflict and sedition. He also said that his ministry endeavours to ensure that "all Algerians adhere to the national religious standard." Discussing religion openly, he said, "It is religion that unites and opposes foreign licentiousness, and those who want to introduce a manner of worship that conflicts with the methods of the early clerics as well as those who brand Algerians as infidels,” rejecting judgement on the basis of political leanings. The minister questioned Salafist intentions, saying, "What does the Salafist movement want to do with Algeria? Do they want to correct the Muslim religion or seize power? The route taken must be a rational one, and not by force." The minister also said he was not opposed to the Algerian imams’ desire to set up a new syndicate as the law grants them the right to do so. However, he warned that they should not "pre-occupy themselves with worldly pleasures as the imam’s mission requires abstemiousness." Cleric Mohammed Issa also described national religious standards as "the sense of belonging to one family." He warned against "those who seek to destroy what brings Algerians together, which the colonisation failed to achieve, thanks to the men of God who maintained the nation’s unity from the pulpits practitioners of the Sufi paths." Yusuf Belmehdi, similarly described Algerian religious standards and references as "the compass that determines the nation’s direction," adding that it "bears the country’s uniqueness."