Looking into a text: an analysis of a document "Min al-Gaza'ir al mugahida ila huggag bayt Allah al-haram (1957)" of the Gabhat al-tahrir al-watani al-Gaza'iri

This study offers a particular interpretation of an important document in Arabic language of 1957 entitled “Min al-Gaza'ir al mugahida ila huggag Bayt Allah al-haram". The object of the analysis is a historical record: not a simple datum, but a fragment of universe. In fact it needs to be grasped through the means of questioning; and it is clear that the answer and/or the answers will be given in accordance with the used procedure; the tools that I employ as a scholar of the field and the language I resort to. In this sense, I consider worth noting that Contemporary history of Algeria is here intended as an integral part of the Arab-Islamic World; even if some representative Algerian historians refer to the different levels of the “totality”: Maghrib and Arab Maghrib, Arab Homeland, World of Islam.1 This involves some historiographical problems; by analysing terms and concepts utilized in the document, it is possible to note the use of an Islamic language on the one hand, a Nationalist essay of European derivation on the other hand.