Journal of Islamic World and Politics
Vol. 5, No. 1, June 2021 ISSN: 2614-0535, E-ISSN: 2655-1330

Transforming The Post-Muwaḥḥiddūn Man: 
Malik Bennabi’s Critique of The Contemporary 
Muslim Society

Muhammad Yusuf Patria

International Islamic University Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia
Email: patrialisyusuf@gmail.com

Abstract
Since gaining independence, the contemporary Muslim society still unable 
to overcome the backwardness it has experienced. This article is aimed at 
discussing the critical analysis of a Muslim thinker, Malik Bennabi, of the state 
of contemporary Muslim society. This paper is literary research and using a 
descriptive-analytic approach to analyze the collected data from Bennabi’s 
works as the primary sources and other relevant works as secondary sources. 
Bennabi’s definition of a society, especially its origin, basic elements, and its 
stages, is described in detail as a basis for understanding Bennabi’s thoughts. 
then, the article discusses Bennabi’s analysis and criticism of the current state 
of Muslim society. For him, the root of all the problems experienced by Muslim 
society today is an internal weakness or what he calls “colonisability”. This 
situation, according to him, creates vulnerable individuals and societies to be 
“colonized” again. Bennabi referred to these individuals in Muslim society as 
“Post-Muwaḥḥiddūn man”, as a sign that internal weaknesses began to emerge 
in Muslim society after the Muwaḥḥid dynasty. Based on his explanation, it 
can be concluded that the current Muslim society is disoriented and has lost 
its identity. The author also concludes that Bennabi’s approach and analysis 
are able to describe the current state of Muslim society and the root of the 
problems it is experiencing.

Keywords: Bennabi, Colonisability, Post-Muwaḥḥiddūn, Muslim Society

Abstrak
Sejak mendapatkan kemerdekaan, masyarakat Muslim kontemporer masih 



56 Journal of Islamic World and Politics
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INTRODUCTION
Af ter b eing f reed f rom 

colonialism, the Muslim society 
which divided into many countries 
began to “clean up” and to revive 
the glory of the past. Various 
attempts were made to free the 
Muslim society from the shackles 
of backwardness, decline, poverty, 
and ignorance, and to rebuild their 

civilization. This situation drew 
attention from many thinkers and 
scholars. To achieve their goals, 
they tried to find out the root of the 
problem and then suggested their 
thoughts about winning the politics 
or gaining economic control, or 
even proposing a new method in 
understanding Islam. Among them 
were Taqī al-Dīn al-Nabhānī, Abul 

belum mampu mengatasi kemunduran yang dialaminya. Tulisan ini bertujuan 
untuk membahas analisa kritis seorang pemikir Muslim, Malik Bennabi, 
terhadap keadaan masyarakat Muslim kontemporer tersebut. Tulisan ini 
adalah sebuah studi pustaka dan menggunakan pendekatan analisa deskriptif 
untuk menganalisis data yang dikumpulkan dari karya-karya Bennabi sebagai 
sumber primer dan karya-karya lain yang relevan sebagai sumber sekunder. 
Definisi Bennabi tentang sebuah masyarakat, terutama asal usul, elemen dasar 
dan tahapan sebuah masyarakat, dipaparkan secara detail sebagai dasar untuk 
memahami pemikiran-pemikiran Bennabi. kemudian, tulisan ini membahas 
analisa dan kritik Bennabi terhadap keadaan masyarakat Muslim saat ini. 
Menurutnya, akar dari semua masalah yang dialami masyarakat Muslim saat 
ini adalah kelemahan internal atau yang ia sebut sebagai “kolonisabilitas”. 
Keadaan ini, menurutnya, menciptakan individu-individu dan masyarakat 
yang rentan untuk kembali “dijajah”. Bennabi menyebut individu-individu ini 
dalam masyarakat Muslim sebagai “manusia Pasca-Muwaḥḥiddūn”, sebagai 
penanda bahwa kelemahan internal mulai muncul dalam diri masyarakat 
Muslim pasca dinasti Muwaḥḥid. Berdasarkan penjelasannya, dapat 
disimpulan bahwa masyarakat Muslim saat ini mengalami disorientasi dan 
kehilangan identitasnya. Penulisan juga berkesimpulan bahwa pendekatan 
dan analisa Bennabi mampu menjabarkan keadaan masyarakat Muslim saat 
ini dan akar dari masalah yang dialaminya.

Kata Kunci: Bennabi, Kolonisabilitas, Pasca-Muwaḥḥiddūn, Masyarakat 
Muslim



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A’la Maududi, Sayyid Qutb who 
offered a political winning, and 
Mahmoud Mohammed Taha and 
Mohammed Arkoun who proposed 
a new method for understanding 
Islam.

However, since gaining inde-
pendence until now, the Muslim 
society has not been able to realize 
these aspirations. According to Malik 
Bennabi, this happened because of 
the inability of the Muslim society 
to analyze and criticize the root of 
all the problems they experienced, 
even before they were colonized. 
This inability resulted in errors in 
formulating various actions and 
policies to rebuild their society 
and realize their goals.(Bennabi, 
1984) Then, Bennabi comes with 
his analysis of the current state of 
Muslim society.

Some studies have been con-
ducted on Bennabi’s analysis of the 
current state of Muslim society. 
Among those studies is the work of 
Shāyif ʽUkāshah (1986), al-Ṣirāʽ al-
Haḍārī fī al-ʽĀlam al-Islāmī, Dirāsah 
Tahlīliyah fī Falsafah al-Haḍārah 
ʽind Mālik Bin Nabī. He analyzes the 
main problems of the Muslim society 
according to Bennabi and elucidates 
that the main problems are the lack 
of methodology and colonization. 
Another work is al-Takhalluf wa al-
Tanmiyyah fī Fikr Mālik Bin Nabī 

of Al-Tāhir Sa’ūd(2006). He deals 
with the concept of backwardness 
(al-Takhalluf) and development (al-
Tanmiyyah) of Bennabi.

In the work Method of Studying 
Civilization according to Malik Ben-
nabi, Abdul Aziz Berghout (1998) 
examines Bennabi’s inte grative 
method in studying the phenome-
non of civilization as applied to the 
context of Islamic civilization. He 
explains that Bennabi was able to 
develop a linkage method that con-
sists of the theoretical framework, 
tools of analysis, and applications. 
The theoretical framework contains 
certain consistent concepts which 
were used to discern the nature of 
the problems of the Islamic society. 
in the work The Formative Influence 
of French Colonialism on the Life and 
Thought of Malek Bennabi, Philip 
Chivigas Naylor (2006) deals with 
the French influence on Bennabi. 
He found that Bennabi recognized 
that decolonization was a process 
continuing into the postcolonial pe-
riod. In Bennabi’s opinion, Algerian 
decolonization was incomplete, and 
colonisability remained a postcolo-
nial reality.

From the foregoing discussion, 
it can be concluded that Bennabi’s 
analysis on the contemporary 
Muslim society is less studied, 
particularly, his ideas of the main 



58 Journal of Islamic World and Politics
Vol. 5, No. 1, June 2021

reasons for the backwardness of the 
contemporary Muslim society and 
the way to overcome it. Therefore, 
this paper aimed to describe 
Malik Bennabi’s critical analysis of 
contemporary Muslim society. The 
discussion uses the descriptive-
analytic approach to elaborate on 
the thoughts of Bennabi. The data 
used are taken from his works as the 
primary sources and other relevant 
works as secondary sources.

The significance of this paper 
can be viewed from the perspective 
of Bennabi who a prolific author 
and prominent thinker of the 20th 
century whose ideas have inspired 
many intellectuals in the Muslim 
society. He was a scholar of the 
highest standing having studied 
not only all the rational religious 
sciences, but also modern sciences. In 
an interview with Azzam S Tamimi, 
Rachid Ghounnuchi asserted that 
“Bennabi undoubtedly represents 
an element of the Islamic culture 
of rationalism and particularly a 
revival of Ibn Khaldun’s historical 
culture of rationalism” (Tamimi, 
n.d., 20). On the other hand, Asma 
Rashid, in the introductory chapter 
of Islam in History and Society, 
mentioned that Bennabi as a writer 
and thinker is probably the first 
social philosopher produced by the 

Muslim society since the era of Ibn 
Khaldun (Bennabi, 1987b). 

Though Bennabi graduated 
as an electrical engineer and was 
no trained as a social scientist, he 
presented us with a comprehensive 
and systematic interdisciplinary 
approach with a worldview of 
Islam as the bedrock to study (El-
Mesawi, 1998) and understanding 
the socio-cultural problems and 
historical challenges faced by the 
Muslim society for centuries. The 
importance of Bennabi’s works is 
based on their comprehensiveness 
and complexity. They cover 
almost all parts of human socio-
political issues, including religion, 
philosophy, history, education, 
economics, and politics. 

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 
AND RESEARCH METHOD

The framework employed in this 
study was colonialism. Colonialism 
comes from the English word colony 
that is derived from the ancient 
Latin term colonia, denoting an 
outpost or settlement. Colonialism 
is the system by which a country 
maintains foreign colonies, (Webster 
New World Dictionary, 2016) or the 
policy of acquiring colonies and 
keeping them dependent.(Oxford 
Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 
1995) It is the domination of a 



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society by settlers from a different 
society. 

Bennabi described colonialism 
as “a lousy little seed, it would not 
have sprouted and borne fruit if 
the fertile soil is not prepared in 
our minds and souls” (Bennabi, 
2005). Bennabi explained that 
the activities of colonialism are 
tangible and intangible and follow 
the spirit of the maxim ‘divide 
and rule’. Unfortunately, we bear 
in our personality structure some 
short lenses which oddly distort 
our vision in the respect that we 
can perfectly perceive the tangible 
activities of colonialism and we 
are no longer able to perceive once 
these activities become subtle and 
sophisticated.(B ennabi, 1998) 
Furthermore, Sartre explains that 
colonialism creates a system that 
attempts to separate the colonized 
people from their identities and to 
bar them from the road of history.
(Sartre, 2001)

The literary research adopted by 
the researcher analyzes the discourse 
of Bennabi. The researcher used a 
descriptive-analytic approach to 
elucidate the thought of Bennabi 
from the collected data. The primary 
sources are the major works of 
Bennabi, where the researcher 
extracted the thought of Bennabi. 
Then, the researcher referred to 

the works on Bennabi and other 
relevant works as secondary sources, 
to elaborate his thought.

The paper began with the 
definition of society according 
to Bennabi. This is important as 
a basis as well as a reference for 
understanding the thoughts of 
Bennabi, especially those relating 
to the Muslim society. This is then 
followed by an explanation of the 
critical analysis of the current state 
of Muslim society and the roots of 
its decline according to Bennabi. 
Then, the last part provided the 
conclusion.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION
Bennabi’s Definition of Society

In his book Mīlād Mujtamaʽ, 
Shabkah al-ʽAlāqāt al-Ijtimāʽiyyah 
(On the Origins of Human Society, 
The Social Relations Network), 
Bennabi stated that, fundamentally, 
there are two origins of the society: 
the natural or primitive society and 
the historical society. The natural 
or primitive society is a society 
which has not changed in any 
tangible manner the characteristics 
of its personality since it came into 
existence such as the African tribe 
of the pre-colonial era and the 
Arab tribe of the Jāhilī period. And 
the latter, the historical society, is 
a society born in each primary 



60 Journal of Islamic World and Politics
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situation and has subsequently 
transformed its fundamental 
features in accordance with the laws 
that have governed the evolution of 
the society. (Bennabi, 1998)

In its development, the 
historical society is not uniform 
in its nature. It may come into 
existence in two different ways. 
First, it may be made up of the new 
elements from its beginning. Such a 
society is built on new components 
which were not found before in any 
historical transformation. Among 
this category are the early historical 
societies during the agricultural 
revolution in the new stone age. 
Secondly, the historical society 
may be formed by elements of the 
previous society which have been 
left because they disintegrated 
or due to expansion. The present 
American society is an example 
of this category. The elements that 
constitute this society were the 
borrowing from European society 
in the 16th century which was in the 
state of expansion. (Bennabi, 1998)

However, the historical society 
is not incidental, but rather the result 
of a continuous transformation 
affected by many factors. These 
factors are the historical source of 
the process of perpetual change, the 
elements which may be transformed 
from a pre-social into a social stage, 

and the universal laws and norms. 
Therefore, Bennabi stated that there 
are two kinds of historical societies, 
which are the geographical type of 
society and the ideological society. 
The geographical type of society is 
the historical society whose birth 
takes place in response to the 
challenges posed by the natural 
circumstances of its environment. 
On the other hand, the ideological 
society is the historical society 
which comes into existence in 
response to the appeal of certain 
ideals. (Bennabi, 1998)

For the types of historical 
society, the present American 
society belongs to the first type, 
the geographical type of society. 
The people of America migrated 
from Europe and had to adapt to 
the natural conditions in the new 
continent. In contrast, the Islamic 
society and the early European 
society belong to the second type. 
(Bennabi, 1998)

In addition, Bennabi pointed 
out that there is also a variation of 
historical societies which originated 
from its very structure. There are 
societies whose structure is based 
on several layers and the societies 
based on one layer only. The Hindu 
society is a historical society which 
is based on multi-layer structures. 
This society is divided into super-



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imposed castes: the Brahmins, the 
Kshatriyas, the Vaishyas, and the 
Sudras. (Cush, 2008) The European 
society in the 19th century is 
another example of the multi-
layer structured society. On the 
other hand, the Islamic society 
is an example of the one-layer 
society type. Its structure involves 
a homogeneous form. (Bennabi, 
1998)

However, there are a few 
number of common characteristics 
to all the above-mentioned types.  
There are also a number of constant 
fundamentals where a society is 
indebted to its continuity to its 
individual members. Bennabi stated 
that it might be a society lost in 
history because of some reasons, but 
its members are not affected. These 
members preserve their instinct to 
live in a group, and therefore they 
are ready to affiliate with a new 
social entity. Otherwise, it might 
be a society that lost all its member, 
but the society still exists. Under 
this circumstance, the society will 
attract newcomers and strangers to 
assimilate into it. The Gallic society 
is an example for the first model 
and the Manchu and the Mongol 
society is an example for the second 
model which is by assimilating into 
Chinese society. (Bennabi, 1998)

Based on the origins of society 
mentioned above, Bennabi criticized 
the definition of society according 
to the ordinary lexical meaning, that 
is an association of individuals who 
have common habits and customs, 
living together under the rule of 
the same legal system and sharing 
common interests. He stated that 
the definition does not provide 
any explanation on the historical 
function fulfilled by the association 
nor does it give any information 
on the internal organization of 
the association which enabled it 
to fulfill such function. Then he 
urged to substitute that descriptive 
definition with a dialectical one, 
with references to the time factor. 
(Bennabi, 1998)

Accordingly, an association 
cannot be categorized as a society if 
its internal relations have not been 
modified and its activities do not 
change with the passage of time. 
The primitive societies in which 
life does not change its form also 
cannot be categorized as a society 
according to Bennabi’s definition. 
He asserted that “any group which 
does not progress and adjust itself in 
the course of time does not therefore 
conform to the dialectical definition 
given here by the term society”. 
Therefore, for Bennabi, a society is 
an association of individuals which 



62 Journal of Islamic World and Politics
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starts from a certain point in time 
which is called ‘birth’. (Bennabi, 
1998)

Moreover, talking about the 
birth of a society, what is meant by 
Bennabi is that an event that marks 
the emergence of a collective life 
and becomes a starting point of a 
transformation of it. The new form 
of collective life arises in the form of 
relations between individuals in the 
group. However, Bennabi asserted 
that this form of collective life could 
begin only with one individual 
who would later become the 
nucleus of that society. To support 
his argument, Bennabi quoted a 
Qur’anic verse, 16:120, that says that 
the Prophet Ibrahim was an ummah 
or a society. (Bennabi, 1998)

Furthermore, Bennabi asserted 
that a society is not merely an 
association of individuals, but it 
is a specific organism bearing a 
human nature based on a given 
pattern. The pattern consists of 
three major factors; (1) movement 
as a characteristic feature of the 
human group, (2) generation of 
the means of movement, and 
(3) function and direction of the 
movement. (Bennabi, 1998) The 
idea of movement is equivalent to 
that of change and evolution. This 
idea can also help to distinguish 
between a society and all forms of 

human society which do not bear a 
social characteristic. 

Hence, Bennabi describes a 
society as:

a group of human beings which 
perpetually changes its social 
features by creating itself the 
means of change, and which 
perceives the objectives it seeks to 
achieve through such a process of 
change”. Furthermore, he stated 
that “the human group acquires 
the quality of society when it 
starts moving, when it begins 
changing itself in order to achieve 
its goals. This event coincides, in 
the historical perspective, with 
the moment when a civilization 
emerges. (Bennabi, 1998, pp. 
15-16)
To conclude, every movement 

either leads a society to progress 
and civilization or to decline and 
decadence. On the other hand, when 
a society stops moving, it ultimately 
loses its history and becomes an 
entity without purpose. 

The Three Elements of Society
As pointed out earlier, a group of 

human beings can be called a society 
when they move continuously to 
achieve their goals. This continuous 
collective movement carried out 
by the persons, ideas and objects 
is engraved in history. Therefore, 



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B ennabi mentioned that the 
making of history is the result of 
the interaction of three elements 
of society: (1) the realm of persons, 
(2) the realm of ideas, and (3) the 
realm of objects. These realms are 
related to one another and cannot 
act separately. The action pattern 
is determined by the paradigms 
which originate from the realm of 
ideas applied in the realm of objects 
to achieve specific objectives in the 
realm of persons. (Bennabi, 1998)

Accordingly, any historical 
movement is an outcome of the 
dynamic relations of these three 
realms. Thus, it is obvious that no 
concerted action can be achieved 
without the existence of a set of 
relations which are integrated in a 
concrete link. This synthetization of 
these social realms will actualize the 
transformation of the aspects of life 
and the evolution of human history. 
Then, it will be manifested in the 
form of a civilization and implied 
in the existence of the fourth realm 
which represents the sum-total 
of the necessary social relations, 
or what Bennabi called the social 
relations network. (Bennabi, 1998)

The Realm of Persons
In developing a society, for 

Bennabi, transforming the human 
being from the state of being an 

individual into that of a person is 
the first task. This transformation 
will occur when the primary 
qualities of the person that link 
him to the species can be changed 
into social trends that link him to 
the society. Then, it will become 
specific relations within the realm of 
persons which provide the necessary 
bounds between ideas and objects. 
(Bennabi, 1998)

The bounds between ideas and 
objects in the realms of persons 
that concerted in a specific action, 
a given place, and a certain time 
undertaken by a society indicate 
that the civilization has already 
started. 

Similarly, a strong and genuine 
expression of its social networks 
would be carried out by gathering 
people together with a society’s first 
task. For example, in the Muslim 
society, the Friday congregational 
payer which gathers the Muslims 
in the mosque reflects in its content 
the sublime values which remind 
the society of its birth. Indeed, 
that reflection can be found in 
the other specific gatherings of 
individuals. Bennabi stated that that 
is a universal phenomenon which 
exists in every society formed by a 
certain belief system. For instance, 
the Sunday mass gathering in the 



64 Journal of Islamic World and Politics
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churches of the Christian society. 
(Bennabi, 1998)

Bennabi distinguished between 
the individual and the person. The 
individual is the disintegrated man 
who is still incapable of realizing his 
civilizational role. Otherwise, the 
person is the integrated man, the 
transformed individual.  The realm 
of persons represents this category. 
It also denotes the sum total of 
relations among certain groups and 
emphasizes the significance of those 
relations. (Benlahcene, 2013)

Moreover, Bennabi explained 
that the relations of the person 
to one another depend on the 
fundamentals of a given culture. 
Culture, according to him, is 
“the climate which moulds the 
personality of the individual and 
that it is a set of ethical and aesthetic 
values and norms”. (Bennabi, 1998)

The Realm of Ideas
According to Bennabi, the 

realm of ideas consists of the 
impressed and the expressed ideas. 
The first category originates from 
a universal philosophy which is 
peculiar to the entire social context. 
It is a general frame of thought that 
orients and guides to certain values 
and ethics. The second category, the 
expressed ideas, bears a personal 
aspect as it is a brainchild and a 

specific way of viewing things. 
Moreover, Bennabi argued that the 
impressed ideas would transform 
the human being and the expressed 
ideas would transform the objects. 
(Bennabi, 1994) Nevertheless, the 
expressed ideas got an impression 
from the impressed ideas as their 
original plasma. If the expressed 
ideas lost their roots in the original 
plasma, they are no more able to 
express anything. (Bennabi, 1994)

For Bennabi, the realm of ideas 
is the real measurement of the wealth 
in a society. It cannot be measured 
by the quantity of objects that it 
possesses. It might happen that a 
society loses its realm of objects or 
is destroyed by circumstances such 
as flood or war, yet the disaster 
would become more devastating 
when a society loses control over its 
realm of ideas. However, if a society 
could save its ideas, it would be able 
to reconstruct its realm of objects. 
(Bennabi, 1998)

For instance, Japan underwent 
such severe circumstances after their 
defeat in World War II. This country 
witnessed the war that destroyed 
their realm of objects when the 
atomic bombs hit Hiroshima and 
Nagasaki in such a manner that 
almost nothing was left. (Ishikawa, 
1981) And yet, they reconstructed 



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everything because they preserved 
their realm of ideas. (Bennabi, 1994)

In spite of that, the task of 
reconstruction is insufficient 
only with ideas. Furthermore, the 
realization of the reconstruction 
is impossible in the absence of the 
social relations network. This is 
because the network would regulate 
and channel the reconstruction 
towards a concerted action and 
specific ends. To prove this 
statement, Bennabi examined the 
history of Muslim society. He stated 
that the realm of ideas of the Muslim 
society was still embryonic and 
vague, compared to other civilized 
society, while it was beginning its 
ascendancy in the 7th century. 
Then, six centuries later, the Muslim 
society started declining where they 
had the richest library of the world 
at that time and it collapsed under 
the new nations. (Bennabi, 1998)

Thus, Bennabi concluded that 
the libraries cannot help to avoid the 
decline, and the efficacy of the ideas 
depended on the social relations 
networks. He asserted: 

the efficacy of ideas therefore 
depends upon the network 
of relations, i.e., we cannot 
think of a harmonious action 
incor porating the persons, 
ideas and objects without these 
indispensable relations. Such an 

action is efficacious and effective 
inasmuch as the network of 
relations approaches firmness 
and compactness. (Bennabi, 
1998, p. 42)

The Realm of Objects
In transforming a society, the 

realm of objects, which is part of the 
elements of society, must be linked 
with other elements or realms and 
utilized in a good manner. The 
realm of objects provides tools, 
channels, instruments, and natural 
resources for developing a society. 
Significantly, it also provides the 
materials needed for the historical 
movement of a society and 
expresses the position of society in 
the civilizing process. Therefore, the 
importance of the realm of objects 
is not only in its availability but also 
its relationship with people and how 
people consider and deal with those 
objects psychologically and socially. 
(Bennabi, 1986a)

In this regard, B ennabi 
asserted that the development or 
the degeneration of society is not 
the reflection of the amount or the 
size of the objects but of the will and 
the capacity of society to direct its 
objects. (Bennabi, 1998) Hence, it 
is not necessary for society to have 
objects to be synthesized, since 
it can be borrowed from other 



66 Journal of Islamic World and Politics
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societies, but the wrong use will 
lead to dis-harmonization of the 
social relations. In other words, the 
use of the realm of objects depends 
on the quality of the people and the 
originality of their ideas.

As mentioned above, the 
Muslim society began falling into 
a state of decadence and collapsed 
catastrophically when it had the 
richest libraries in the world as well 
as a wide range of material and 
instruments. Thus, the efficiency 
of the objects is determined by the 
position of objects in the psychology 
of the people. 

Moreover, the realm of objects 
is also the result of the relationship. 
Every corrupted relationship in the 
realm of persons as well as in the 
realm of ideas has a direct impact on 
the realm of the objects. According 
to Bennabi, the three realms do 
not act separately. These realms are 
incorporated in common action 
and pattern that are determined 
by ideological archetypes which 
originate from the realm of ideas 
applied to the realm of objects to 
achieve objectives specified by the 
realm of persons. (Bennabi, 1998)

The Social Relations Network
The social relations network 

is one of the concepts of Bennabi 
that has strong links with his 

understanding of the nature and the 
dynamism of society. Based on the 
preceding discussion, the existence 
of the social relations networks is 
the implication and the result of the 
dialectical relationship between the 
realm of persons, ideas, and objects. 
The social relations network is the 
fourth realm which represents the 
sum-total of the necessary social 
relations. (Bennabi, 1998)

Accordingly, this set of relations 
is necessary to provide a link within 
each realm as well as among them 
to one another. The link is necessary 
to mould the three realms into an 
integrated body of relationships. 
When a society can realize this 
twofold link in a united action then 
it can make a historical movement. 
Hence, Bennabi considered the 
social relations as the foundation 
of society because it is the internal 
and external relations between the 
three realms that constitute the 
society and not a mere gathering 
of individuals with simultaneous 
relations. (Bennabi, 1998)

In the absence of the social 
relations network, which is the 
result of the very conditions and 
circumstances that generate the 
historical movement, the three 
realms cannot function. Thus, in 
order to change its status, the first 
task of a society is to carry out the 



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network of relations. (Bennabi, 
1978) Bennabi asserted:

it is a known fact that the first 
task a society carries out in the 
course of changing its status is 
conditional upon the completion 
of the network of its relations. 
Accordingly, one can assert that 
the construction of the network 
of relations is the first historical 
task a society carries out upon its 
birth. (Bennabi, 1998, p. 29)
Bennabi presented an example 

from the history of the early 
Muslims on the importance of the 
social relations network as the first 
task to be carried out by a newborn 
society. The first historical task 
accomplished by Muslims is the 
Hijra or migration as the reference 
point in Islamic history, and the 
covenant of brotherhood between 
the Muhājirūn and Anṣār is the 
first weaving of its social relations 
network. In fact, at that time, the 
three realms of the society had not 
yet taken their distinctive shapes. 
(Bennabi, 1998)

According to Bennabi, history 
may start before the completion of 
the three realms. Likewise, history 
may come to an end even though 
the society abounds with persons, 
ideas, and objects. It happened to 
the Muslim society which, started 
when its three realms had not 

yet taken their distinctive shapes 
and was at the age of decline and 
decadence, and when it was very rich 
in its realm of persons, ideas, and 
objects, the Muslim society became 
backward because of its social 
relations network that was torn 
apart and struck by the coefficient 
of colonisability. (Bennabi, 1998)

The Three Stages of Society
According to Bennabi, every 

human society transfers from one 
situation to another following 
the psychological values of its 
development. it does not fix itself 
in one situation throughout its life. 
Those situations or stages of society 
are: (1) the pre-civilized society, (2) 
the civilized society, and (3) the post-
civilized society. (Bennabi, 1994) 
Throughout history, every human 
society is at one of these specific 
stages which is characterized by 
specific values. 

When a society is in the pre-
civilized stage, it has not yet started 
its civilizing process. However, 
it has its own peculiarities and 
potentialities of making history, 
yet it is still incapable of making 
history. Hence, all of its vital energy, 
civilizing faculty, and capacity 
remain in a state of passivity and not 
capable of performing the important 
action. (Benlahcene, 2013)



68 Journal of Islamic World and Politics
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 However, Bennabi argued 
that the individual in the pre-
civilized society is a natural 
man and ready to undertake the 
civilizing process. He presented an 
example from Muslim history, the 
Arab Bedouin during the Prophet 
Muhammad’s era as the natural 
men joining the cyclical civilization 
when Islam came. (Bennabi, 1986b)

Further, Bennabi argued that 
a society cannot begin its civilizing 
process without the dynamic 
interaction between man, soil, and 
time and yet, these elements of 
civilization are in an unmovable 
position without the force of the 
religious idea. Thus, this religious 
idea is a frame for a dynamic inte-
raction between those elements. 
(Bennabi, 1998)

The second stage, the civilized 
society is the stage in which a 
society has the ability to organize 
and orient its civilizing capabilities 
and faculties to its maximum. All 
the concentrations and skills of the 
individual and society are directed 
towards the accomplishment of the 
civilizing process. Therefore, at this 
stage, the social relations network of 
a society is at its strongest. With the 
strong social relations network, a 
society would have a clear vision, an 
effective and systematic movement, 

and an active culture. (Bennabi, 
1998)

The third stage, the post-
civilized society is the stage in which 
the religious idea of society ceases 
to synthesize the civilizational 
values, and its social relations 
network starts degenerating and its 
dynamic features lose their driving 
forces and motivating functions. At 
this moment, the society arrives at 
the end of its dynamism and goes 
through a state of backwardness and 
decline. (Bennabi, 1998)

However, Bennabi distinguished 
between the third stage and the 
first stage. He argued that usually 
historians make no distinctions 
between the pre-civilized society 
and the post-civilized society. This 
confusion of stages will complicate 
any effort taken to resolve the 
problems of society and create 
delusions. To him, the post-civilized 
society is not motionless like the 
pre-civilized society. After having 
lost its ideal links and deviated 
from the path of its civilization, it 
is moving backwards. (Bennabi, 
1994) In other words, the society 
continues its movement, but it is 
destructive and harmful and leads 
to disintegration and demise. 

The disintegration and demise 
of a society follow a gradual process; 
the society produces a disintegrated 



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man who is no longer able to 
undertake the historical action. 
Then the society loses its criteria 
and standards. This creates chaos 
in the realm of ideas of the society 
and makes the culture of the society 
decivilizing. At that moment, 
the disintegration of society is 
inevitable. This stage coincides 
with the age in which a state of 
colonisability anchors its roots and, 
thus, paving the way to colonialism. 
(Bennabi, 1998)

Colonisability and the Problem of 
the Muslim Society

Colonialism which occurred 
in the Muslim society for several 
centuries caused a variety of 
damages and setbacks, even when 
the Muslim people were able to 
liberate themselves. This situation 
drew attention from many thinkers 
and scholars. They tried to find out 
the root cause of colonialism to 
overcome the damage and setbacks.

Bennabi is one of the thinkers 
who produced several works in 
analyzing the current state of the 
Muslim society. According to 
him, the Muslim society today is 
a product of a mixture of residual 
inheritance of what he referred to 
as, the Post-Muwaḥḥiddūn and 
from new cultural deposits brought 
by reformists and modernists. 

This situation is not the result of a 
reflected orientation or scientific 
planning but rather a mixture 
of various remnants of the past 
and non-filtered innovations. 
Furthermore, Bennabi asserted 
that the syncretism of elements 
of different cultures and different 
periods, without dialectics, had 
endangered the Muslim society even 
for some time. (Bennabi, 1987b)

In their attempt to revive, 
Muslims adopted many things from 
outside of their own civilization. 
However, instead of adopting 
notions and means, they adopted 
objects and needs in the place of 
those things. (Bennabi, 1987b) 
As it can be seen, some Islamic 
countries are importing a lot of 
technologies produced by western 
countries without understanding 
the spirit behind these objects. More 
specifically, we can find schools 
in the Muslim society that were 
designed to restore the state of the 
Muslim society as before, falling into 
the duplication of schools founded 
by their colonials. There have been 
changes in buildings, classrooms, 
desks, and chairs, but without 
changes to a better curriculum.

When a new society develops 
itself, it has traditional elements 
which are a legacy from other or 
previous societies and modern 



70 Journal of Islamic World and Politics
Vol. 5, No. 1, June 2021

inspiration obtained from a society 
that has developed and advanced. 
The latter, borrowed from a society 
that has been established and 
organized itself, demanded proper 
assimilation and adaptation that 
constitute an effort of creation 
and synthesis. (Bennabi, 1987b) 
Nevertheless, this is not new in 
the history of the Muslim society. 
Since Prophet Muhammad was 
sent, Muslims have adapted 
and assimilated all the habits of 
the people in accordance with 
Islamic teachings. This process of 
Islamization (see Al-Attas, 2018) 
continued in the following centuries 
when Muslims began to encounter 
other civilizations. For instance, al-
Fārābī and Ibn Sīnā Islamized Greek 
philosophy in their works. (Bennabi, 
1986c) In addition, they and other 
Muslim philosophers, developed 
their own Islamic philosophy based 
on Islamic religious teachings. 
(Acikgenc, 2017)

In his explanation, Bennabi said 
that Muslims today are faced with 
two crucial problems, namely, the 
problem of the current situation 
and how to overcome it and the 
problem of borrowing from modern 
civilization. He stated:

The Muslim dilemma concerns, 
on the one hand, the problem 
of borrowings from modern 

civilization and falls in the bio-
historical order, and on the other, 
constitutes a psychological and 
dialectical problem, concerning 
the attitude of Muslim towards 
his current life. (Bennabi, 1987b, 
p. 42)
For the latter problem, even 

though there was no civilization 
that has not adopted some foreign 
elements to it,(Al Faruqi, 2013) 
some sociological elements that 
characterize different cultures 
and civ i lizat ions were not 
always interchangeable. Thus, 
it is dangerous to adopt foreign 
solutions for solving the problems 
that the Muslim society was facing 
because it deals with different 
stages of development and different 
attitudes and objectives of a society. 
(Bennabi, 1984)

Consequently, new sociological 
elements must be assimilated in 
certain determined conditions 
provided by an imperative need 
and a superior imperative. Yet, the 
Muslim society has failed to take 
into account these conditions due 
to their snobbism and spiritual 
bankruptcy. The snobbism and 
spiritual bankruptcy, according 
to Bennabi, happened because of 
the confusion that reigned in their 
intellectual, moral, and political 
domains. This confusion was a 



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result of a mélange of decayed 
ideas inherited from the past 
and borrowed ideas. Those ideas 
became dangerous because of their 
displacement from their historical 
and rational context. Therefore, it 
demanded a filtration of the dead 
and deadly ideas consciously and 
systematically. (Bennabi, 1987b)

The other problem, concerning 
the attitude of the Muslims toward 
their current life, can be witnessed 
in their incapacity to think and to 
act. This incapacity is due to the 
absence of a dialectical link between 
thought and its concrete finalization 
in the psychological domain.  The 
root of this inertia of the Muslim 
spirit is also a confusion that reigns 
in their thoughts. Muslims could not 
differentiate between the essence of 
phenomena and their appearance. 
In fact, it is the influence of the 
western sciences borrowed by 
Muslims. These sciences did not 
mean “being better” but it means 
“appearing better”. (Bennabi, 1987b) 
Therefore, the Muslim society 
could not produce any outstanding 
personality in the realm of human 
knowledge as the early Muslim 
society produced many outstanding 
scholars such as al-Shāfi’ī, Ibn 
Manẓūr, al-Ghazali and many more. 

The organic cause of the 
weakness of the Muslim intellectual, 

according to Bennabi, lay in the 
absence of the intellectual domain. 
He stated “Intelligence is constantly 
the function of the spirit: when the 
latter no longer possesses its purity, 
the former no longer has all its depth” 
(Bennabi, 1987b: 44).

Hence, Muslims who have lost 
their spiritual power are unable to 
develop their intellectual attitude. 
Consequently, Muslims always 
fail to liberate themselves from 
apathy and incoherence. Bennabi 
analogized the state of the Muslims 
as a man who has been awakened 
but does not know what he must do. 
(Bennabi, 1987b)

Bennabi showed how the current 
state of Muslims is experiencing 
spirit degradation. Nowadays, 
people consider themselves to be 
perfect by concluding that Islam is 
a perfect religion, and when he/she 
becomes a Muslim, he/she becomes 
perfect. The feeling of being a 
perfect person makes people do 
not want to develop themselves and 
feel comfortable in a lazy situation. 
In the end, these people will find 
their ideas petrified and assume 
that reason is not needed anymore. 
Consequently, the people abandon 
or even reject the “Ijtihad” ,or the 
effort and the critical thinking 
necessary to arrive at properly 
formulated legal conclusion, and 



72 Journal of Islamic World and Politics
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only depend on “Taqlid”, or the effort 
and the critical thinking necessary 
to arrive at properly formulated 
legal conclusion. (Bennabi, 1987b) 
Eventually, people fall into the abyss 
of “individual cults”.

In these circumstances, these 
people would not be able to rise even 
a little to rebuild their civilization 
that was once glorious. Bennabi 
stressed that Islam and Muslims are 
not the same, and likewise, Islam 
and civilization are different. Islam 
is a religion that was revealed by 
the God of the universe, or “God-
made”, whereas civilization is “man-
made”. Further, he stated that Islam 
will never change even by one 
letter, even if humanity has changed 
completely, while civilization 
continues to change throughout 
history. (Bennabi, 2005)

The absence of this direct 
link between thought and action, 
according to Bennabi, led Muslims 
to perform blind and incoherent 
actions. Furthermore, it has led 
to an appreciation of the facts 
subjectively, under-estimation or 
over-estimation. This attitude has 
paralyzed the Muslim mind with 
the psychosis of ‘easy things’ and 
‘impossible things.’ In Algeria, 
Bennabi stated there were three 
well-known axioms that paralyzed 
its people. These axioms are ‘we 

cannot do anything, because we are 
ignorant’, ‘we cannot realize that, 
because we are poor’, and ‘we cannot 
undertake this work, because there 
is colonialism’. (Bennabi, 1987b) 
In fact, these axioms paralyzed the 
morality and mentality of Muslims 
all over the world with the same or 
different narratives. 

It is a fact that we are ignorant, 
but this stemmed from colonialism. 
The colonizers exerted all efforts 
to close every access to education 
for the colonized people. The 
existing schools are directed to 
teach their students a curriculum 
that is in accordance with the 
desires and interests of colonialism. 
Nevertheless, some colonized 
people who became educated did 
not use their education then as 
elementary and immediate means 
to fight general illiteracy. If so, the 
myth of ignorance is dangerous 
because it becomes a mask for the 
profound problem of colonisability 
under the problem of an illiterate 
man. (Bennabi, 1987b)

The second myth, which is 
equally dangerous, is the myth of 
poverty. In fact, there were always 
rich Muslim bourgeoisies in the 
Muslim society. In spite of that, 
according to Bennabi, it would 
suffice to consider that their social 
efficiency of financial means is 



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ranked below that of the poor 
class. It indicates that the entropic 
evolution has reigned in all fields of 
modern Muslim life. Therefore, the 
problem in the Muslim society is not 
financial, but rather psychological 
and technical orientation of the 
capital. (Bennabi, 1987a)

The third myth is colonisation 
which paralyses all good wills. 
Colonisation is considered as the 
reason and at the same time, is 
blamed for all setbacks, and even 
considered as the justification for 
the veritable moral and political 
deceptions. Bennabi stated that, 
indeed, colonisation strangulated 
thoughts and intellectual efforts, 
and tentative of moral and economic 
recoveries, but the suppressing cause 
did not come from outside; it came 
from within. Colonisation does not 
affect the fundamental worth of the 
individual that escapes his power. 
The thing that influences him is what 
he called as colonisability. He stated:

thus, colonialism acts, at the 
same time, as a reality when it 
effectively inhibits action, and 
as a myth when it becomes an 
alibi or a mask for colonisability. 
Now we can find the individual 
inefficacious and inert even 
in domains where colonial 
pressure cannot be incriminated. 
(Bennabi, 1987b, p. 47)

Colonisability is a term coined by 
Bennabi, which came originally from 
the French word colonisabilitè, to 
depict the state of internal weakness 
and susceptibility to colonization in 
the Muslim society. For him, it is a 
universal law that applies to every 
society and civilization. 

Moreover, colonisation, to a 
certain degree, is the most fortunate 
effect of colonisability. Colonisation 
makes the engendered colonisable 
to be aware of his state of being 
colonised and thus, finds himself 
obliged to decolonise himself and 
become incolonisable. In this sense, 
according to Bennabi, colonisation 
is a historical necessity. In addition, 
Bennabi made a distinction between 
a conquered and occupied country 
and a colonised country. The 
former is a pre-existing synthesis 
of man, soil and time which implies 
an incolonisable individual and 
the latter is a social condition that 
has been exposed to colonisability 
and thus colonisation is inevitable. 
(Bennabi, 1987b) For instance, 
Greece was conquered by Rome and 
India was colonised by the British. 

Hence, the primary cause of the 
bankruptcy of men and the lethargy 
of spirit in the Muslim society is 
not colonisation. Colonisation, at 
first, would introduce itself as a 
contradictory factor that helps the 



74 Journal of Islamic World and Politics
Vol. 5, No. 1, June 2021

colonised people to overcome its 
colonisability. By this intermediary, 
these colonised people become 
conscious of their state and thus 
force themselves to decolonise. Thus, 
the positive aspect of colonisation 
is liberating potentialities that 
remained dormant for a long time. 
On the other hand, it also has the 
negative aspect that tends to destroy 
the same potentialities by paralysing 
the morality and mentality of the 
Muslim. (Bennabi, 1987b)

In fact, in history, colonisation 
never becomes perennial even 
when the colonizers paralyse its 
victim. In the end, the force of 
colonisation transforms the soul 
of the colonised people. Hence, 
these two concurrent notions, 
colonisation and colonisability, are 
quite distinct, and are fundamental 
to consider when examining the 
situation of a colonised country. 
Therefore, whether it is a concern 
of political doctrine or reform, 
the entire success depends on the 
consideration of these two aspects 
of the problem and considering the 
one without the other is distorting 
the problem. (Bennabi, 1987b)

The Post-Muwaḥḥiddūn Man and 
The Decline of the Muslim Society

Based on the preceding 
discussion, Bennabi examined the 

root of the decadence and decline 
of the Muslim society. He explained 
that if the process depicted by a 
curve, the point of inflexion could 
be found somewhere during Ibn 
Khaldun’ time. In spite of that, the 
reversion is not instantaneous and 
marked the distant culmination of 
the battle of Ṣiffīn that had turned 
the Khalīfah’s democratic power 
into dynastic power. This turning 
point had caused a gap between the 
state and the people’s consciousness. 
Furthermore, the turning point 
contained the potential of all the 
future political antithesis and 
separatisms. (Bennabi, 1987b)

From the political angle, Ben-
nabi viewed that the first schism 
in the course of Islamic history 
has constituted one of the crises 
which had changed the institutional 
framework of a country. Then, there 
came a moment when the power 
could not be guarded or seized and 
adapted to new institutions. At that 
moment, Bennabi stated that the 
scepter was broken into a thousand 
pieces and picked up by a thousand 
of petty princes. (Bennabi, 1987b)

In the historical evolution, 
according to Bennabi, this moment 
marked the point of inflexion 
and the reversal of the values of 
civilization and yet, it is no longer 
the problem in political affairs, it is 



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the problem of man himself who 
loses his civilizing élan, capacity 
and capability to apply the ideas of 
his genius to soil and time. Bennabi 
stated:

it is no longer the question 
of a change in the political 
framework: it is the man himself, 
the civilized man, who loses his 
‘civilizing élan’: and is thus unable 
to assimilate and create. It is no 
longer a question of institutions 
but of the human factor: these 
are the men themselves who no 
longer know how to apply their 
genius to their soil and time. It is 
the fundamental synthesis itself 
that disintegrates and with it the 
social life that gives place to the 
vegetative life. (Bennabi, 1987b, 
pp. 12-13)
In other words, the social 

relations network of the Muslim 
society at that time produced 
a disintegrated man who was 
no longer able to undertake the 
historical action. The society also 
lost its criteria and standards, 
leaving its realm of ideas chaotic and 
its culture decivilizing. More than 
that, the social relations network 
of the society degenerated, and the 
dynamic features lost their driving 
force and motivating function. 

In the course of Muslim history, 
Bennabi dated this phenomenon 

from the fall of the Al-Muwaḥḥid 
dynasty which ruled over North 
Africa and Spain from A.D 1130 to 
1269. According to him, that was 
the fall of the Islamic civilization 
and the end of its breath. Then, the 
decadence era commenced with what 
he called the Post-Muwaḥḥiddūn 
man. Even when there was a great 
kingdom like Aghlabid which had 
been the metropolis of a million 
inhabitants, there was no more than 
an insignificant township like other 
townships such as Baghdad and 
Samarqand at that time. (Bennabi, 
1987b) All parts of the Muslim 
society had suffered the same fate. 

From the sociological angle, 
Bennabi maintained that the 
symptoms of political or urban 
problems were the expression of 
the pathological state of the Post-
Muwaḥḥiddūn man, the new man 
who had succeeded as the man 
of Islamic civilization and who 
carried out in himself the germs of 
all the problem faced by the Muslim 
society. The man who is not only 
the predecessor whom we owe 
our sociological heredity, but the 
one who is also our contemporary. 
Bennabi argued that “he is not only 
the invisible instigator of our present 
failures, he is also thereof the co-
actor; he has not merely transmitted 
his psychology born of a moral, 



76 Journal of Islamic World and Politics
Vol. 5, No. 1, June 2021

social, philosophical and political 
bankruptcy: he has transmitted 
himself”(Bennabi, 1987b, p. 13).

Accordingly, Bennabi asserted 
that the renaissance of the 
Muslim society cannot be made 
until its passive inheritance of 
its six centuries of bankruptcy is 
liquidated, and the man renovated 
according to the Islamic tradition 
and the Cartesian experience. Thus, 
he argued that the need for moral, 
social, and psychological sciences 
is far greater than the need for 
material sciences. Evidently, it is 
more difficult to produce a civilized 
man than to produce a technology. 
When the former remains ignorant, 
the latter would constitute danger. 
(Bennabi, 1987b) In other words, 
Bennabi stated that what can be 
offered in the service of peace is 
conscience, not science. (Bennabi, 
1984)

To conclude, Bennabi stated 
that the Post-Muwaḥḥiddūn man 
is none other than the incarnation 
of the colonisability, the typical 
visage of the colonial era. He is 
the clown who accepts all the roles 
made by the colonizers including 
to perform the role of the indigene. 
(Bennabi, 1987b) Moreover, this 
man unconsciously gave away to 
colonialism over himself and let 
himself to be colonized.

CONCLUSION
To conclude, t here are 

several conclusions that need to 
be underlined. Bennabi with his 
definition of the origin of society, 
its basic elements and social 
relations network has provided us a 
comprehensive approach. Although 
in his works Bennabi uses Muslim 
society as an example that he 
analyzes, his approach is universal 
because it can be used to analyze 
other societies.

His analysis of the current 
state of Muslim society is able 
to provide a clear picture of it. It 
can be concluded from the above 
description that Muslim society has 
experienced the disorientation and 
has lost its identity. Many factors 
have made the Muslim society like 
that, either in the political field such 
as colonialism, or in the economic 
sector such as exploitation, or other 
factors such as dependence on 
other countries in various aspects. 
However, Bennabi’s analysis of the 
root of all these problems provides 
a strong and rational explanation for 
why this happened.

Colonisability as a concept 
proposed by Bennabi that represents 
an internal weakness in an individual 
also affects groups of individuals or 
what is known as society. Bennabi 
named individuals experiencing 



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colonisability in Muslim societies 
as the Post-Muwaḥḥiddūn man. 
This is because, based on his 
observations, internal weakness 
plagued the Muslim society in the 
post-Muwaḥḥid dynasty era.

The use of the word Coloni-
sability, which means “susceptibility 
to colonialism”, creates confusion, 
especially by those who do not 
understand the concept it provides. 
However, if observed in more detail, 
the use can be understood because 
Bennabi lived in an era of struggle 
against colonialism and the era 
of independence. Furthermore, 
the word reflects the profound 
consequences of the internal 
weakness experienced by Muslim 
society. The Muslim society has 
experienced colonialism as a result 
of the internal weakness they have 
experienced since after the era of 
the muwahhid dynasty. So, although 
nowadays the Muslim society has 
been in spite of the colonialism, 
the possibility of a repeat of the 
colonialism, in the form of the same 
or different such as colonialism of 
thoughts, economics, and others, 
will continue to exist as long as these 
shortcomings cannot be overcome. 
So Bennabi’s proposal to transform 
the Post-Muwaḥḥiddūn man meets 
its relevance.

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