علم الزمن والوقت
How many hours does Imam Ibn Badis work a day? When does he take rest? How long does he sleep?
How does he organize his schedule? What are his daily fixed commitments? What are his flexible commitments?
How does he combine between his family needs and his educational, religious and civilizational goals?
What are the boundaries between his work and his rest? Between himself, his family and his nation?
These are lots of questions that we searched in the sources first, before asking those who learned from Imam Ibn Badis’s thought or learned about his life in details; until we collected the information we needed and realized that the perspective of time for Imam Abdelhamid is variant, prosperous and outstanding, which corresponds to his theoretical introductions, his intellectual convictions and his strong and well-established belief.
He wasn’t writing about the importance of the moving and making the best use of time just for fun or for semantic, stylistic and theoretical explanation, but was illustrating for himself and for those who follow his steps a path to success and a the wide horizon for change, not for allegation but as an example to follow.
1. Lecturing:
Ibn Badis never misses prayers and delivering lectures at the mosque; In an article published by Shihab Magazine, he wrote “I lost my only son and my beloved brother, but this has never disrupted my schedule or prevented me from pursuing my lectures and my career”1.
It was reported by Mohamed Salah Ramdan that Imam Abdelhamid “spends his entire day and some of his night –most of the time- on delivering lessons one after another, which can reach up to thirteen lessons per day”2, which proves what was stated in al-Basair Magazine, ed. 28, January 1938 the following “nowadays the head teacher is delivering fifteen lessons every day”.
Sheikh Abdelhamid was known for highly respecting time that is devoted only on teaching, lecturing, writing something, reading a book or performing good deeds … even when traveling between Algiers and Constantine aboard the train, he always reads a book, writes something or recites the Holy Qur’an” 3.
In the month of Ramadan, Sheikh Ibn Badis’s activities increase, as he usually includes the lecture of “Sharh Sahih al-Bukhari” into his lessons, according to the common traditions followed in the Maghreb region in general.
On the top list of the lessons he delivers at the mosque is a lesson about the interpretation of the Holy Qur’an, which is delivered on a daily basis after Isha prayer in Lakhdar mosque, except for the weekends …
His average length of a lesson is often short, which is remarked specifically in the lessons reported by Shihab magazine, which do not exceed one hour per each lesson, if we count thirteen lessons per day, the average will be thirteen hours (13h) without preparation, breaks, prayers, meetings and writing books.
Witnesses state that Sheikh Abdelhamid’s last lecture was delivered to women, as indicated in a letter issued three days after the death of Sheikh Ibn Badis by Ahmed Bouchemal, who was Ibn Badis’s closest companion who knows best about him. The letter was reported by Pr. Mohamed El Hadi El Hassani in his book “Ashiaat Ashuruq” describing very well the last three days of Sheikh Ibn Badis’s life 4.
2. Writing Books:
Imam Ibn Badis once apologized to the readers of “Shihab Magazine” for not being able to complete the episodes of “Majalis at-Tadkir”, which they are used to read in every edition. His apology was stated due to the amount of time devoted for writing, which often takes some hours of his day as well as night time”, the statement of his apology was as follow:
“What you read as a reminder by this Nobel verse in this chapter was actually written on Monday evening and early morning of the day after, because on Tuesday morning the trail of the jurist Ben Dali who falsely and unjustly accused Sheikh Tayeb EL OKBI and Mr. Abbas Tourki, so I had to attend all the trial sessions, which destructed my attention from focusing on “Majalis at-Tadkir”. Today, this issue concerns Islam, Arabic language and Algeria, it is not a personal or a community matter, therefore I apologize to you dear readers, I ask Allah to cause the truth to triumph and prove falsehood false 5.
Nevertheless, Imam Ibn Badis left behind a number of books written about the interpretation of the Holy Qur’an, Hadith, articles, poetry and reports, which were not unfortunately given a sufficient care, despite the exerted efforts on publishing them 6.
3. Food Habits:
Mr. Cherifi Amrou the head of Algiers national library, who was one of the companions of Imam Abdelhamid and knew a lot about him said:
“Sheikh Abdelhamid once left his room in Sidi Kemmouch mosque of Constantine and asked Mr. Zouaoui Mouloud, who was one of the traders of Beni Abbas to find someone to buy him half a litter of milk and supplied him with a bowl. The man took a chance to reward the Imam, so he went to a barbecue shop and bought a delicious meat then returned with a big smile on his face. However, when he gave him the plate, Imam Ibn Badis got very angry and yelled at him in an angry voice: don’t you know that I am the son of Mustapha Ibn Badis, who enjoys eating different types of food prepared in his house, I wish I could eat, but my values prevent from doing so, knowing that my students only eat bread with olive oil or maybe with water” 7.
There are continuous conversations that took place between Sheikh Ibn Badis and El Ibrahimi; Pr. El Hassani reported about the trader Boumediene that whenever the latter visits them in Tlemcen, he takes them in a car to “Lalla Setti plateau” “In the middle of the day, I buy them piece of bread and milk” he says.
These witnesses including Ibn Badis’s travel reports and others biographical statements all agree that Ibn Badis eats less and does not have a specific time for his lunch and dinner, he does not prefer to eat a lot, which explains why he maintained his health, wellness as well as the beauty of his face and the power of his persistence. This way, he followed the path of the Prophet peace be upon him, his companions and the Nobel Imams 8.
4. Sleeping and Taking Rest:
Most of the sources pertaining to “Time Science Research” and “Sleep and Insomnia Sciences” 8 agree that daily sleeping average is between six hours and eight hours a day (6-8 hours) also time of sleep is more important than the number of hours, however “eight hours a day” is commonly known by specialized sources as a scientific fact 10.
According to this standard, Imam Ibn Badis can be classified bellow average, because he sleeps four hours a day, from midnight to 4 a.m., which is often his sleeping time and does not take any nap.
Sheikh Ammar Metatela reported a story that happened between him and Imam Abdelhamid when he was a student in his school:
“I once fell asleep during the morning session, he said: “wake up, can you guess when did I sleep last night?” He asked me.
“I slept at midnight and woke up at 4 a.m., this is how I usually do” He then said.
5. Summer Trips:
Under the title of “commemoration and exchange”, Ibn Badis sometimes wrote about his travels by himself and sometimes by his favorite student El Ouirtilani about Ibn Badis’s travels across the territory of the country and to Tunisia. These diaries reveal the numbers of hours that the Imam works as a preacher, social reformist, teacher, instructor and supervisor … among his trip conditions are: refusing to have more than one meal during his stay and no multiple types of food are accepted … thus sparing more time for travels. During his trips, he takes a bus, train or some people’s cars. On the train, he takes the second class instead of the first class, where he often spends time reciting the Holy Qur’an, reading a book or having a conversation with passengers about the country’s matters 12.
The Imam also had short holidays, such as the holiday he spent in “Fort-de-l’Eau” (Now Bordj El Kiffan), where he sent a letter to Sheikh Mebark Meli congratulating him on his book “Ancient and Contemporary History of Algeria).
1- Shihab; 6th ed, 15th B, Jumada II 1358 A.H. – July 1939. El Hadi El Hassani, an interview took place in his house in Blida; April. 2016.
2 – Ramdan: The Social Reformist, P193.
3 – The Same Source, P194.
4 – As reported by Sheikh Mohamed Salah Ibn Atik and Professor El Hadi El Hassani.
5 – Shihab Magazine, ed.6, V. 15, Jumada II 1358 A.H. – July 1939.
6 – In reference of course to the efforts of the two professors Mohamed Salah Esseddik and El Hadi El Hassani for publishing six of Imam Abdelhamid’s books, meanwhile professor El Hadi El Hassani regrets saying “Unfortunately, we did not care about his heritage the way it should be”.
7 – Mohamed Salah Esseddik: Ibn Badis through his Opinions and his Positions, P42. El Hadi El Hassani, a dialogue in Blida, April, 2016.
8 – Look – Abu Ghada Abdelfattah: The Value of Time for Scholars; Islamic Printings Library, Aleppo; Ed 1998: 8.
9 – Edmond Schuller : Les Insomnies Et Le Sommeil : ed Robert Laffont: collection comprendre pour quérir : 1997.
10 – Gozit Lion wrote under the title “How Many Hours Do We have to Sleep?”: some people sleep long while others sleep less; there are overweight and slim people. Sleeping average varies from one person to another and can be genetically inherited. It is illogical to say that we need 8 hours of sleep a day “101 Sleep Tips”, El-Kitab al-Arabi publishing house, Damascus; Translation of Heithem Sariya; 1993, P41.
11 – As heard by Sheikh El Hadi El Hassani and Dr. Kacem Guessoum from Sheikh Ammar Metatilah (an interview took place in El Hassani’s house, Blida (2016).
12- Ibn Badis’s Heritage, ed.4, P/221.
Translated by: Toufik Achour
Article title in Arabic: البرنامج اليومي للإمام ابن باديس لـ د محمد باباعمي
