The Muslim Consistory that Never Was
Religion and Legal Identity in French Algeria
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Abstract
During the 1860s and early 1870s, a series of decrees famously redefined the legal identity and rights of Algerian Muslims and Jews. These decrees were part of a broader reappraisal of French colonial rule and the implications of France's founding treaty in Algeria, the Convention of 5 July 1830. This article traces the role of Ismaÿl Urbain and his push to gradually regenerate Algerian Muslims by formalizing a relationship between France and Islam, which echoed efforts to integrate Catholic and Protestant settlers and Algerian Jews within French colonial society. Yet, in his effort to safeguard Islam, and Muslim personal status law more specifically, as necessary tools of Franco-Muslim fusion, Urbain inadvertently helped to ensure the long-term marginalization of Algerian Muslims under French rule.
Contributor Notes
Rachel Eva Schley is an Assistant Professor of History and a Lacroute Scholar in the Liberal Arts at Linfield University. Dr. Schley earned her BA, MA, and PhD in History from UCLA.