Social and Cultural Situation
First: Social situations:
The arrival of the Ottomans, and their eastern Anatolian culture, as well as the Andalusian immigration to Algeria had a significant effect on Algerian social and cultural components. All of these Andalusian and Kwarglian urban components, as well as Algerian societies were combined into one. Algerian society at the period, according to Hamdan Khoja, could be split into various layers:
Gender-wise: They are separated into males and females/ men and women, where men outnumbered the women. This is because the majority of the immigrants and prisoners were males, and women do not interact with men owing to Islam's fundamental precepts.
Ethnicity-wise: It was made up of the people and Turks who held authority in the country, as well as the Jews, a class that competed with the Turks in money, but some of them had more than the father himself. Then there were the Andalusian immigrants, the Kwargilians, the Christian slaves, and the Black slaves. The Kwargilian people sought to be at the top of society, but the Ottomans prohibited them because they saw the Kwargilian element as a danger to their interests because of their emotional attachment to the Algerian people.
It is noteworthy that Christians who converted to Islam were not socially ostracized. Rather, they interacted with citizens in their everyday, professional, and administrative lives. Even Jews engaged in commodities and business transactions in Beylerbeylik's urban population, which has created a blend of cultural and religious history.
The Algerian social system's success and efficiency was founded on the execution of Islamic rules that were incorporated and structured by Hanafi and Maliki judicial authorities. In addition to the formation of administrative bodies oriented to accomplish public benefit, in endowment institutions. Moreover,we should not overlook the social function of jail management in the city urban field, such as repairing, maintaining, and guarding the water canals. In addition to road maintenance and its role that has met the demands of residential districts as the city grew further.
Furthermore, through Hanafi and Maliki judges, the judicial architecture structured the socioeconomic strata. Officials and Janissaries had the authority to implement laws and sensitive members of civil society and craftsmen in order to provide security and pass judgments and laws concerning retribution and punishment. As well as the resolution of disputes, and preservation of Islamic transactions and Algerian customs and norms. As a result, one of the duties and jobs of judges and some workers in the proximity of urban society's movement was to combat and punish prostitution, which was uncommon in a pious Algerian community. In the tribunals for murder and banditry (theft), the judges' penalties were swift, as their right hand is severed, hanged on their shoulders, and they are imprisoned.
Marriage was a facilitated social activity between segments of society since it maintained familial and economic relationships according to Algerian Ottoman customs and traditions. These conventions were incorporated in women's attire, like as the white Hayek and the headpiece, which indicated the woman's family's status.
Second: Cultural Status:
Before France colonized Algeria, there existed cultural variety, which was tied to the religious component. The majority of Algerians followed the Maliki school of thought, whereas the Turks, Kwargilians, and some urbanites followed the Hanafi school. Furthermore, churches existed in Algeria, and they would refer and be judged by Christians from Algerian consulates.
In addition to religious schools where the Qur'an and Islamic sciences were taught - all of which were supported by endowments - . The latter was influential not just in religious and educational circles, but also in economic and social circles. Endowments were mostly ran by a religious institution, independent from the Turkish government, and had a high level of administrative effectiveness. Endowment holdings had significant immunity, so rulers, no matter their status, could not infringe on them. Thus, and thanks to the endowment holdings, and zawiya money, education expanded across Algeria in the countryside.
The role of Science: Algerian society's mingling of social aspects signified the beginning of a blending of cultural legacy with civilizations from outside the nation. This led in the formation of a variety of theological and jurisprudential schools that expanded throughout Algeria to serve as the centers of Arab culture, with the mosque and the corners serving as their foundation. A variety of Muslim academics and intellectuals from the fields of philosophy, law, literature, and other disciplines worked in these cultural centers.
The mosque served as a place of prayer, an educational institution, a courthouse, and a student refuge.
The lack of cultural creativity during this time is obvious given the authority's nonchalance about this important field. Except in a few Algerian cities, where Algerians themselves, looked after the cultural aspect and referred to the science and knowledge they have inherited over the generations whether it be literary, linguistic, or mental domains, all considered a part of the Arab-Islamic legacy.
Libraries: Many libraries were found in Algeria before the modern era, all preserved by its citizens. Books in Algeria were authored locally by authorship, copying, or brought from outside, especially in Andalusia and Egypt.
Manuscripts from the Ottoman Empire and the Maghreb were also carried by Algerians. Furthermore, the majority of the books were carried to Algeria by a group of Ottoman employees. With the modern period's supremacy of religious sciences, the substance of libraries included works of interpretation, religious hadiths, jurisprudence, principles, monotheistic, linguistic and rational sciences.
Literature, grammar, morphology, language, and rhetoric were well-known at schools, but history, geography, philosophy, arithmetic books, medicine, and astronomy were scarce.
The libraries were spread across Algeria, based on the prominence of towns such as Algiers, Constantine, and Tlemcen in terms of cultural and science education. Due to the general presence of professors, educated authors, and intellectuals in Constantine, many locals were fond of collecting books and seeking for manuscripts.
