The Monks of Tibhirine: Faith, Love and Terror in Algeria (review)

In March 1996 seven Trappist monks were abducted from their monastery in the Atlas Mountains of Algeria. Two months later they were executed by their captors. During those two months people became aware of what a special community they were—people throughout the whole world, but especially in France, since they were all French by nationality (although some of them had spent the great majority of their lives in Algeria). For decades, before, during and after the Algerian war of independence of the 1960's, those monks had established deep bonds of friendship with the local Muslim population; and their prior, Father Christian de Chergé, had become one of the leading figures in the dialogue between Muslims and Christians. Their death was a great source of sorrow for the local Muslim population and was condemned by several representatives of the Muslim world as well as by Christians.

Each one of these seven monks was a fascinating personality, and Kiser describes in great details the spiritual journey of each one, situating each in his familial and cultural background, and in the historical context of Algeria. This context is extremely complex. The country was engaged in a civil war between various groups of Muslims and the Army that had been brought on when the Generals had interrupted the electoral process and seized the power. The victims of this war were the ordinary people of Algeria, who found themselves caught between the violence of the Islamic radicals and the violence of the army. Foreigners were told to leave and eventually several Christian missionaries were killed. In spite of the danger, the monks refused to leave, considering that their obligation to monastic stability as well as their solidarity with the local Muslim population demanded that they stay. At the time, a radical group of Islamists called the GIA (Groupe Islamique Armé) claimed responsibility for their abduction and subsequent execution after a botched negotiation with the French secret services. Kiser describes all these events with great objectivity avoiding portraying the monks as victims of "Muslim fanatics". He must be congratulated for that objectivity, since the investigations of the last few years have led several specialists to think that the Algerian secret services (Sécurité militaire) were involved in the abduction, if not responsible for it.

Kiser avoids trying to show that the monks were martyrs who had been killed out of hatred for their faith. In fact they were authentic witnesses to faith, and therefore authentic martyrs, by the way in which they lived, and by the manner in which they practiced friendship and love with their Muslim brothers. Whoever it was who killed them, they died because some found that brotherhood between Christians and Muslims to be a nuisance.

Few books about the Monks of Tibhirine have been written in English, while a large number were published in French. Of all these books, in whatever language, Kiser's is one of the best, precisely because, while being a carefully researched presentation of the facts and their historical and political background, it focuses on presenting the spiritual and human journey of each one of the protagonists with a great deal of empathy and respect.

In this time when some people are trying to create and deepen a rift between cultures, civilizations and religions, and when Islam is often known in the West only through the manifestations of some of its extremist marginal elements, Kiser helps us to know another Islam, the real one, the one of the ordinary people of a small village like Tibhirine where Contemplative Christian monks and devout local Muslims could live in brotherhood and friendship.