The Story
In the spring of l996 armed men broke into a Trappist monastery in war-torn Algeria and took seven monks hostage, pawns in a murky negotiation to free imprisoned terrorists. Two months later their severed heads were found in a tree; their bodies were never recovered.
The village of Tibhirine had sprung up around the monastery because it was a holy place protected by the Virgin Mary, revered by Christians and Muslims alike. But napalm, helicopters, and gunfire had become regular accompaniments to the monastic routine as the violence engulfing Algeria drew closer to the isolated cloister high in the Atlas Mountains.
Excerpts
From a certain angle, the Basilica of Notre Dame d’Afrique looks like a giant camel on its haunches, contemplating the Aleppo pine and eucalyptus covered hills that form an amphitheater around the port of Algiers. Its tall neck is formed by an elegant Byzantine tower connected to a large redbrick body trimmed with blue tile, surmounted by an enormous gilded cupola that for over a hundred years was a beacon for Christian Europe to come and civilize the land the Arabs called the maghreb-where the sun sets. The newcomers did their work well. French visitors sailing into the Bay of Algiers experienced a sense of homecoming and breathtaking beauty. Algiers was the Nice of North Africa, France’s Mediterranean pearl with promenades along the sea, bustling cafes, elegant gardens with elegant women, and imperial architecture. La Grande Poste, la rue de la Republique, la place Delacroix provided a reassuring sense of familiarity.In the spring of 1996, Algiers, “la blanche,” looked like a scabrous bag lady. Once admired for the brilliant snowiness of the white washed Casbah rising up the Sahel Hills, she now reeked of decay and failure with crumbling, pock marked buildings, ubiquitous stray cats and putrid, garbage filled streets. Churches that had been mosques before the French arrived were again mosques. Notre Dame d’Afrique is the last citadel of a Christian presence that measures itself in hundreds in a country of twenty nine million Muslims.
On Sunday afternoon, June 2, mourners had gathered on the steps to watch the seven coffins be carried into the basilica. There were simple fellaghs in white skullcaps, sun baked Algerian working men in ill fitting dress jackets and a scattering of European men and women. Each casket was covered with a blanket of red roses, supported by four sapeurs pompiers in the traditional dress of the French fireman: white spats, gray uniform with red stripes down the pants, topped by an oversized silver helmet of medieval proportions, polished to a mirror finish. Soldiers with Kalashnikovs patrolled the area around the basilica and kept watch from rooftops. Killing people who came to the funerals of their victims was a favorite tactic of the terrorists…
he monks had been advised not to hire Mohammed as le gardien. The responsibility of watchman, they were told, would put him in the awkward position of having to say “no” to friends. He might also be criticized by other Muslims for protecting foreigners. The monks did not regret having ignored the advice. For an Arab, the monks found Mohammed unusually candid. He knew how to say what was on his mind, but always with courtesy and sensitivity. To these good qualities were added a strong sense of responsibility and a diplomatic way of getting others to do things right.Surveying the monastery and its neighbors from the summit, a few hundred yards higher, was another guardian, on top of Abd el-Kader Rock. She was the one to whom the monks sang Salve Regina each night at the end of Compline before going to bed. To the local Muslims, she was Lalla Mariam, the Virgin mother of Jesus who, by a miraculous birth, gave the world a holy apostle, free of sin.
Over the years, Muslim women from the surrounding villages had worn a path to her feet through the dense cork-oak forest to seek her aid and blessing for sick children or a safe pregnancy. Women having difficulty getting pregnant might well have thought that this particular Lalla Mariam had special powers. She was one of the few statues in existence that depicted her in a family way. Rarer still, both her arms were broken off at the elbow and her stomach had been gouged with a chisel.
When the attack first occurred, the monks felt as though their own mother had been violated…
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Reviews
“In the wake of the September terrorist attack on the United States, The Monks of Tibhirine gives us an essential lens through which to examine the violent forces rending the Muslim world… His book paints a surprising picture of the bonds of faith between Christians and Muslims, and provides a ray of hope for the future.”
– Dan Morgan, The Washington Post
“The story of seven men who literally lost their heads for Christ is an especially valuable book to read in this present moment in history. Kiser weaves into his narrative rich, warm portraits of all the Cistercian martyrs [and] the Muslims who touched their lives.”
– M. Basil Pennington, America
“The riches contained in this book are many and varied…Chief among them may be the heightened appreciation that it offers for the rigors and allure of monasticism. Committed to lives of prayer and contemplation they became men of action summoned to achieve greatness and bravery under conditions of enormous duress. Life in what most of us call the “real world,” appears pale by comparison.
– Andrew Bacevitch, in First Things
“By Mr. Kiser’s own evidence, Muslims in general are not at war with the West in general, or Christianity in particular… What he does quite well is tell the story, at once sad and inspiring, of very good men who took their vocation seriously and died for it.”
-Roger Kaplan, The Wall Street Journal
“After two years of research and interviews, Kiser chronicles the vision that inspired the monks and the idealism and commitment that kept them in Algeria despite the increasing violence and approaching danger. Recommended for larger public and academic libraries as well as special collections on Islam, monastic studies, and North Africa.”
-From Library Journal (see more Amazon reviews)
“A heart wrenching story of French monks slaughtered by Islamic extremists in Algeria. Kiser builds up the drama leading to the monks death with the skill of a novelist… His painstaking characterization of each monk makes this an incredibly emotional story.”
-Kirkus
“Kiser’s book is an attempt to find an answer to what is perhaps the central question of our humanity: How to live with our neighbor? What is the meaning of community? The lives of these monks gives thought provoking answers. Maybe we should all study the Benedictine Rule.”
-Anne Aldrich, East Hampton Star
“Despite being a story of tragedy, The Monks of Tibhirine is ultimately an uplifting book and an educational one. Kiser offers lengthy carefully researched history of the political turmoil in Algeria and the on-going terrorist violence in the country…”
– Carmela Ciuraru, San Francisco Chronicle
“Mr. Kiser’s work is beautifully researched, and very, very difficult to put down. It serves a dual purpose, each one worthy of a book on its own. The first is to provide a contrast between the terrorist factions who abuse Islam as a tool, and the people of Tibhirine, who practice Islam as brotherhood.”
-Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, Islamic Horizons Magazine
“This book is a timely view of an Islam that is not just about hatred and brutality. The book is spiritually uplifting and extremely moving.”
-Harriet Little, Roanoke Times
“An extraordinary and uncannily timed book about real modern martyrs as opposed to the current vulgar variant. A tragic story, thoroughly reported and beautifully rendered with compassion and grit.”
-Christopher Buckley, Author, The White House Mess
“Couldn’t be more timely. A fascinating tale of Trappist monks swept up in a story of militant Islam.”
-Leslie Cockburn, Producer, 60 Minutes
“Kiser’s evocation of the friendships that grew between the monks and their Muslim neighbors is particularly poignant… He also does a good job of describing the kind of extremists who murdered the monks…”
-George Weigle, Catholic Advocate
“This is an important and very timely book….Tragedy can be transformed into hope if we do not turn away from our neighbor, whoever he may be.”
-Alliance for International Monasticism Bulletin.
-Peter Bechtold, US Foreign Service Institute
“An intellectual and emotional journey through the transcendent themes of faith, hate, war and reconciliation. The Monks of Tibhirine is not only a penetrating account of recent historical events, but of ideas and ideologies driving them.”
-Susan Eisenhower, Director, Eisenhower Institute
“Kiser makes the case that living together in community is possible for those religious peoples with an expansive inclusive understanding of their faiths; the Trappists had such a large attractive vision of Christianity and large hearted Muslims met them half way… For those interested in Algeria, in Islamism and the disciplined spiritual life, this book is a must.”
– Gary Hamburg, Professor of History, Notre Dame University
“The Monks of Tibhirine is a work of great sensitivity…his insightful prose weaves complex themes from Algeria’s history into a single life-affirming whole. It transforms tragedy into hope for the future of Christian-Muslim relations… most inspiring!”
-Abdul Aziz Said, Director, Center for Global Peace, American University
“I felt bereft when I finished … The Monks of Tibhirine is a well-researched, thoroughly engaging story of the Christian presence in Algeria today. This is an important book for the informed reader and for specialists interested in Islam, its relation to Christianity, and in the delicate dance of politics and religion in Muslim societies.”
-Dawn Chatty, Dulverton Senior Research Fellow, International Development Center, Oxford University
“Kiser’s book adds much to what has been written about the monastic martyrs of Algeria… He gives a good account of Algeria’s complex political situation.”
-Lawrence Cunningham, Professor of Theology, University of Notre Dame(in Commonweal)
“This is the best book about Algeria in the 1990s that I have read.”
-Christopher Taylor, Professor of Middle Eastern Studies, Drew University
“Your book would be good for my students because it interweaves religious and monastic history with modern social and political issues. It is also excitingly written and carries the reader along in a suspenseful way–just right for undergraduates trying to understand the difficulties facing Christian- Muslim relations in a radicalized setting.”
-Sidney Griffith, Prof of Semitic Languages, Catholic University
-Bishop William Swing of California, United Religions Initiative
“This book is not the first written about the monks of Tibhirine. It is the first of this importance published in English, but it could well be the best among all those written in any language so far. I was struck by the accurate rendering of the portraits of each of the monks, by the description of both the local and national contexts [of the events described], by the depth of his comprehension of the Cistercian calling; and of the vocation of our Algeria Church. I think it certainly merits being translated into French. Thank you to the author for the conscientiousness of his work, and to have written about this drama in a manner that it deserves.”
-Gilles Nicolas, Priest in Diocese of Algiers
“…A remarkable book about love, respect and forgiveness. It should be read by people of all faiths who seek to live in peace… John Kiser makes the monks and the world they inhabit come alive.”
-Elizabeth Swenson, Executive Director, The Friends of St Benedict
“I could not put this excellent book down. I took it everywhere I went and read it when I was stuck in traffic, waiting for an appointment, before going to bed. The book works on so many levels. The prior, Christian de Cherge articulated what I have been trying to convey-that Muslims intuitively view themselves as keepers of Christian and Jewish “orthodoxy,” not in the contemporary, but in the historical sense. The Trappist superior was a mystical adventurer who was convinced that Muslims were saved by their Islam and that Islam had something to tell Christians. The book touched me deeply.”
-Imam Feisal Abdul-Rauf, American Sufi Muslim Association
“Kiser reconstructs patiently and impartially the sad story of an Algeria in which spirituality and violence, peace and war, great hopes and great contradictions are skillfully interwoven. The book is a testimony to the living pain of a country in search of an identity.”
-Marco Impagliazzo, Vice President, Sant’ Egidio, Rome
“This book made me want to live my faith differently.”
-Toohey Cameron, student, Wesley Theological Seminary
“John Kiser has done a wonderful job in writing about this gem of a story. His telling of it is very convincing… the lives of Christian de Cherge and his brothers were a gift of hope.”
-Andrea Bartoli, Director Institute of Peace and Reconciliation, Columbia University
“Kiser’s book helped me to understand better the whole world of Islam through the eyes of these simple monks and it should be required reading for all religious departments in seminaries and universities.”
Brother Patrick Hart, Abbey of Gethsemani
-William W. Warner, Pulitzer Prize winner, Beautiful Swimmers
“An unusual and remarkable book: Part journalism, part psychological analysis, and part Judeo Christian-Islamic ecumenism, the author succeeds on all three fronts. A tour de force.”
-Jacques Loquin, French Intelligence Officer (ret.)
Prior Christian de Cherge believed that Islam and Christianity represented two authentic ways to God through love of one s neighbor and the practice of prayer and good deeds.
-Roger Kaplan, Wall Street Journal
“This excellent book manages the remarkable task of juggling three important themes at once: the touching personal stories of a community of Trappist monks in Algeria, an uplifting investigation of what it means to be a true Christian and “live the Gospels”, and finally an unraveling of the confusing and depressing story of Algeria’s civil war. The framework for Kiser’s book is the sad and unheard (in the US) story of the kidnapping and subsequent murder of seven Trappist monks in 1996 by a group of Islamic extremists. Using a myriad of French-language sources, including the diaries and journals of several of the monks and their personal letters, as well as interviews with family members and friends, and a trip to the monastery in Algeria, Kiser has crafted an fine work of history…”
-T. Ross, an Amazon reader (see more Amazon reviews)
“I love to read good books. It is rare that an author can integrate the chaos of the Muslim terror in Algeria of the last decade and focus it through the eyes of seven Trappist monks so that we can understand man’s inhumanity to man and be willing to accept it. John Kiser deserves all the accolades on the dust jacket of his work.”
-John L. Ryan from Houston, TX (see more Amazon reviews)
“I would recommend this book to anyone who shares Kiser’s desire to truly understand what has “gone wrong” and what might “go right” in Muslim-Christian relations. If used in an academic classroom environment, Kiser’s well-researched and thoughtful prose narrative would provide valuable supplementation to more standard textbook treatment of Muslim-Christian relations and the modern Middle East.
-A Reader from Bethesda, MD (see more Amazon reviews)