El-Hachemi Chérif

Hachemi Chérif (الهاشمي الشريف), commonly known as El-Hachemi Chérif, born October 5, 1939 in Atallah (Commune of Toudja). He is the son of Smail Chérif and grandson of Cheikh El-Hocine Chérif, a great “faqīh” (specialist in Islamic jurisprudence), who lived at the beginning of the 20th century in Ihaddaden (Toudja) in a house converted provision by the Ihaddaden family to teach Arabic and the Koran to the children of Toudja and contribute as much as possible to their education. Following Cheikh El-Hocine, it was his son Larbi, a graduate of the Benbadis Institute in Constantine and member of the Association of Algerian Ulemas, who replaced him around the mid-thirties, in order to continue the mission started by his father. The latter married the sister of Aami Salah Oul-Mahdi (Mahdi Salah), from the town of Ibourdjiouen. El-Hachemi was raised in his early youth by his uncle Cheikh Larbi Ben Cheikh El-Hocine in Toudja where he received his primary education in both Arabic and French. His father Smail had emigrated to Algiers where he was recruited at the Hamma test garden in Belcourt as a gardener. El-Hachemi joined his father in Algiers to continue his studies, which he completed at the Franco-Muslim high school of Ben-Aknoun, whose teaching was bilingual. Then, he worked as a scriptwriter and assistant director at RTF at the time from 1957 to 1960, when he joined the maquis in the historic Wilaya IV until independence. First appointed head of Daïra in Lakhdaria (Bouira),…