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Jamal Al-Din Al-Afghani And The Egyptian National Debate

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2009

Rudi Matthee
Rudi Matthee
Affiliation:
Los Angeles
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Extract

A remarkable man in his own lifetime, Jamal al-Din al-Afghani became a legend after his death.1 For many people, Afghani evokes an image that combines the medieval ideal of the cosmopolitan Islamic scholar with the romantic aura of the 19th-century revolutionary. Since the late 1960s, Afghani has been the object of particular attention and controversy in both the West and the Islamic world. Iranian and Western scholars have radically reinterpreted his background and beliefs.2 This reevaluation of Afghani on the basis of new information about him has, however, not been generally accepted in the Islamic world. If anything, recent attention to Afghani's unorthodoxy and possible irreligion has only served to harden his defenders by giving credence to his own statements. Afghani plays an important role in the historical image of Muslim unity and sophistication presented by many Islamic groups and governments in this age of revived panIslamism. His plea for Islamic renewal through solidarity never lost its relevance as a powerful symbol linking the past with hopes for the future. The image of Afghani as the indefatigable fighter against Western imperialism who helped make the Muslim world aware of its distinct identity remains equally as suggestive.

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Articles
Information
International Journal of Middle East Studies , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , May 1989 , pp. 151 - 169
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

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References

NOTES

Author's note: I would like to thank the participants in the 1987 summer seminar on Iran at UCLA and Ibrahim Karawan for their criticism and suggestions, and Juan Cole for providing literature.

1 I use this generally accepted name, although it has been proven he was born in Iran.

2 The most important of these reinterpretations are, in chronological order, Afshār, Iraj and Mahdavī, Asghar, Majmū'eh-ye asnād va madārek-e chāp nashodeh dar bāreh-ye Sayyed Jamāl ad-Dīn mashhūr beh Afghānī (Tehran, 1963);Google ScholarKedourie, Elie, Afghani and 'Abduh: An Essay on Religious Unbelief and Political Activism in Modern Islam (London, 1966);Google ScholarPakdaman, Homa, Djamal-ed-Din Assad Abadi dir Afghani (Paris, 1969);Google Scholar and Keddie, Nikki R., Sayyid Jamal ad-Din “al-Afghani”: A Political Biography (Berkeley, 1972).Google Scholar

3 Egypt is not the only Arab country in which reinterpretations of Afghani have provoked angry reactions. For an Iraqi attempt to reestablish the notion that Afghani was born in Afghanistan, on the basis that those who claim Iranian origins for him are by definition his detractors, see al-Hamīd, Muhsin 'Abd, Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī al-musallih al-muftarā ' alayhi (Beirut, 1403/1983).Google Scholar

4 The first author to mention the discrepancy between Afghani's own account of his origins and the true story was apparently the Iranian historian of the Constitutional Movement in Iran, Nāzem al-Eslām Kermānī, in his Tārīkh-e bīdārī-ye Irāniyān, 2nd ed. (Tehran, 1945–1946), pp. 60–61.Google Scholar

5 For a perspective in line with the present regime's ideology, see Motahhari, Mortaza, Nahzathāye Eslāmī dar sad sāleh-ye akhīr (Tehran, 1362/1983), pp. 14–20;Google Scholaridem, A Discourse on the Islamic Republic (Tehran, 1405/1985), pp. 32–36. An official Islamic Republican view on Afghani can be found in Hojjat Zanjānī, al-Eslām 'Amīd, Mabānī-ye feqhī-ye qānūn-e asāsī-ye Jomhūrī-ye Eslāmī-ye Irān (Tehran, 1362/1983), pp. 12–13.Google Scholar At the same time, material on Afghani continues to be published in the Islamic Republic in which his position and role is examined critically. See, for example, Mojtahedī, Karīm, Sayyed Jamāl al-Dīn Asadābādī va tafakkor-e jadīd (Tehran, 1363/1984).Google Scholar For a recent Iranian study of Afghani, see Halabī, 'Alī Asghar, Zendegī va safarhā-ye Sayyed Jamāl al-Dīn Asadābādī (Tehran, 2536/1977–1978).Google Scholar

6 An illustration of this is a series of stamps the Islamic Republic of Iran has issued in honor of “precursors of the Islamic movement” (pīshgāhān-e nahzat-e Eslāmī), with, among others, Jamal ad-Din al-Afghani, Fazlollah Nuri, and Ayatollah Kashani. See Chelkowski, P, “Stamps of Blood”, The American Philatelist 101, 6 (06 1987), 556–66.Google Scholar

7 See Ende, Werner, “Wer ist em Glaubensheld, wer ist em Ketzer?, Konkurrierende Geschichtsbilder in der modernen Literatur islamischer Länder”, Die Welt des Islams, 23–24 (1984), 70–94.Google Scholar

8 After the 1952 revolution in Egypt, the non-Egyptian background of Muhammad 'Ali's family was emphasized in order to stress the claim that with Nasser Egypt had its first authentically Egyptian government after 2,000 years of foreign domination. In the 1970s, however, Muhammad 'Ali's foreign origin was once again downplayed. He was now presented as the ruler who, like Nasser, contributed to Egypt's independence and whose national project was brought down by the imperialist West.

9 For a discussion of Egyptian self-perceptions, see Shamir, Shimon, ed., Self-Views in Historical Perspective in Egypt and Israel (Tel Aviv, 1981).Google Scholar

10 See, for example, Husayn, Ahmad, Mawsū'at tārīkh Misr (Cairo, 1973), pp. III, 1042–43;Google ScholarWahīda, Subyā, Fī usūl al-mas'ala al-Misriyya (Cairo, n.d.), pp. 225 ff.Google Scholar For a more balanced account of Afghani's role, see 'Īsā, Salāh, al-Thawra -al-'urābiyya (Beirut, 1972), pp. 223 ff.;Google ScholarShukrī, Ghālī, al-Nahda wa al-suqaū fī al-fikr al-Misrī al-hadīth, 2nd ed. (Beirut, 1978), pp. 164 ff.Google Scholar

11 The Muslim Brotherhood interpretation of Afghani may be found in numerous references in the magazines al-Da'wa, al-l'tisām, and al-Mukhtār al-islāmī until they were surpressed in September of 1981. Lack of access has prevented me from checking these publications since their reappearance in 1984. An Islamic leftist interpretation, which hails Afghani as an advocate of social justice and an Islamic Luther, may be found in Hanafī, Hasan, ed., al-Yasār al-islāmī (Cairo, 1981).Google Scholar

12 See Gershoni, Israel and Jankowski, James P., Egypt, Islam, and the Arabs: The Search for Egyptian Nationhood. 1900–1930 (New York, 1987).Google Scholar

13 For some of these cultural and intellectual controversies and scandals, see Hourani, Albert, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age 1798–1939 (London, 1962);Google ScholarReid, Donald Malcolm, “Cairo University and the Orientalists”, International Journal of Middle East Studies, 19, 1 (1987), 51–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

14 The prominent Egyptian author Tawfiq al-Hakim argued, after the 1978 peace accord with Israel and Egypt's expulsion from the Arab camp, for Egyptian neutrality in the superpower conflict and a political and military withdrawal from Arab allegiance. For the important discussion that ensued, see lbrāhīm, Sa'd al-Dīn, ed., 'Urūbat Misr, Hiwār al-saba'īnāt (Cairo, 1978).Google Scholar

15 See 'Awad, Luwis, “Bahth jārī 'an Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī al-Irānī al-ghāmid fī Misr”, at-Tadamon, 1:1–1:22 (April 16-Sept. 10, 1983).Google Scholar

16 Information in “Gamal al-Din al-Irani”, Revue de la presse égyptienne, 11 (12 1983), 48.Google Scholar

17 Al-Ahrīm, from August to October of 1983, published the comments of a series of critics under the title “al-Afghānī… bayn al-haqīqa wa al-iftirā”. See, for example, Sāmih Karīm, “al-Afghānī wa taqārīr al-jawāsīs”, al-Ahrām, Aug. 29 and 30; Jābir Qamīha, “Qusūr al-bahth… wa ghiyāb al-minhaj”, al-Ahrām, Sept. 5; idem, “al-tazwīr… wa amānat al-kalima”, al-Ahrām, Sept. 6.

18 'lmāra, Al-Duktūr Muhammad, Jamāl al-Dimacr;n al-Afghānī al-muftarā 'alayhi (Cairo, 1984).Google Scholar

19 'Awad, LuwisTārīkh al-fikr al-Misrī al-hadīth min 'asr Ismā'īl ilā thawrat 1919. Al-Bahth al-thānī: al-Fikr al-siyāsi wa al-ijtimā'i (Cairo, 1986), vol. 2, pt. I.Google Scholar

20 See 'Awad, “al-Asātīr al-siyāsiyya”, al-Ahrām, April 7, 1978. This article is part of the Tawfiq al-Hakim debate referred to earlier. Incidentally, 'Awad also took part in that debate and agreed with al-Hakim that Egypt is a separate and unique entity. Contrary to al-Hakim, however, 'Awad argued that Egypt was inevitably part of the Arab world in strategic and political terms, that the country's security could therefore only be ensured in a larger Arab framework, but that this fact did not imply the existence of an Arab nation or umma.

21 See 'Awad, “Misr tuwājihu mādīhā”, al-Musawwar, Sept. 12, 1982. 'Awad contributes regularly to al-Musawwar. He mostly reports on Western culture and discusses literature and philosophy.

22 'Awad, ‘Ma'na al-qawmiyya”, al-Ahrām, May II, 1978. See also, Luwis 'Awad, The Literature of Ideas in Egypt, Pt. I (Atlanta, 1986). For a critique of 'Awad's ideas and theories, see Rajā Naqqāsh, al-Ini'zāliyyūn fī Misr (Beirut, 1981).

23 'Awad calls himself a 20th-century humanist (in the autobiographical part of his The Literature of Ideas in Egypt, pp. 210–25). A good overview of 'Awad's interpretation of the history of secularism and humanism in Egypt may be found in his “Qissat al-'ilmāniyya fī Misr”, al-Musawwar, Sept. 23 and 30, Oct. 7, 1983.

24 See, for example, Farag Fuda's “secularist” response to the radical-Islamic treatise al-Farīda al-ghā'iba; al-Haqīqa al-ghā'iba (Cairo, 1986), and the eloquent plea for the separation of religion and state by Amīn, Husayn Ahmad, Dalīl al-Muslim al-hazīn, 3rd ed. (Cairo, 1987).Google Scholar Recent examples of debates are “al-Tatarruf al-siyāsi al-dīnī fī Misr”, al-Fikr lī al-dirāsāt Wa al-ittijjāhāt, 2, 8 (Dec. 1985), 31–111; and the 1987 discussion series in the magazine al-Watan al-'Arabī led by Ghālī Shukrī. It should be emphasized that what distinguishes the “secularist” intellectuals from others is less their concern about religious extremism and terrorism–which is shared by all—than their apprehension that a growing political role for religion threatens the country's pluralism and chances for democracy.

25 For a discussion of the origin and present-day Egyptian interpretation of the term 'ilmāniyya, see Shukrī, Ghālī, ed., “al-Salafiyya wa al-'ilmāniyya fī Misr”, al-Watan al'Arabī 07 3, 1987, pp. 28–32. Following the definition of “'cilmāniyya” given in this debate, which comes closer to the French term “laicité” than to English “secularism”, Muhammad 'Abduh was as much “'ilmānī” as those who today oppose the interference of religion in state affairs.Google Scholar

26 The nature of the case makes it impossible to speak about the degree of representativeness of these intellectuals and their ideas. However, the fact that many write for widely circulated, albeit government-endorsed, dailies and weeklies like al-Ahrām and al-Musawwar indicates that they are not marginal.

27 The Afghani part of 'Awad's 1986 book is dated January 1975. That copies of his study must have circulated prior to its publication is indicated by the reference to it in Ghālī Shukrī, al-Nahda wa al-suqūt, p. 165.

28 'Awad, Tārīkh al-fikr, p. 9.

29 'lmāra, Muhammad, ed., Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī: al-A'māl al-kāmila, 2 vols., 2nd ed. (Beirut, 1979).Google Scholar See also 'Imara's Muslimūn thuwwār (Cairo, 1972), especially the chapter on Afghani, pp. 143–206.

30 See, for example, 'lmāra, Nazra jadīda ilā al-turāth (Beirut, 1974). 'Imara has continued to write on the relationship between Arabism and Islam and on the history of the 19th-century renewal movement as a model for the present. For some of his more recent writings, see “al-Islām wa alqawmiyya al-'Arabiyya”, Qadāyā 'Arabiyya, 7 (1980), 67–92; ‘al-Azhariyyūn al-mujaddidūn wa altaghrīb”, al-Hilāl, 91 (July 1983), 48–55; “Tamaddun lslāmī am tahdīth gharbi? al-Hill, 91 (Oct. 1983), 6–9; “al-'Urūba wa al-Islām”, al-Hilāl, 91 (Nov. 1983), 32–36.

31 'Imāra, Muslimūn thuwwār, pp. 148–49.

32 'Imara argued that Islam and Arabism represent above all a culture and a civilization; most recently in an interview on the topic of the Islamic movement in al-Watan al-'Arabī, July 24, 1987, pp. 28–33. His (vague) ideas about Islamic economics are to be found in an interview in al-A hrām al-Iqtisdī Jan. 4, 1988, pp. 32–40, 65.

33 For a recent classification and critical discussion of the different religious and secular intellectual trends, see 'Ālim, Mahmūd AmīnWa'ī wa al-wa'ī al-zāif fī al-fikr al-'Arabī almu'āsir (Cairo, 1986), pp. 229–45.Google Scholar An excellent analysis is also Roussillon, Alain, “Islam, islamisme et democratic: recomposition du champ politique”, Peuples médiserranéens, 41–42 (10 1987–03 1988), 303–40.Google Scholar An inspired example of the kind of intellectual debate between representatives of the trends discussed here, made possible by the new political climate under Mubarak, appeared as “L'Etat: transformations et devenir”, idem, pp. 27–66.

34 'lmāra, Jamāl al-Dīn, pp. 6 ff.

35 Ibid., pp. 9–10.

36 Ibid., pp. 22 ff.

37 See 'Imāra, Jamāl al-Dīn, pp. 77; Sāmih Karīm, “al-Afghānī wa taqārīr”.

38 'Awad was visiting professor at UCLA in 1974–1975. The Afghani part of the 1986 book version of his Afghani study is dated Los Angeles, January 1975.

39 'Imara uses the terms “spy reports” generally for the French and English diplomatic sources on Afghani. The usage of this term parallels that of “Zionists”, which, though not explained, seems to refer to the secondary literature on Afghani.

40 See Keddie, Nikki F., introduction to Sayyid Jamal ad-Din “al-Afghani”.Google Scholar

41 See 'Imāra, Jamāl al-Dīn… al-a'māl al-kāmila, 2nd ed., pp. 20–21, in which the author mentions the fact that Iranian and Western scholars have reinterpreted Afghani and subsequently tries to reestablish the Afghan origins of Afghani by maintaining that his family members bear non-Iranian or non-Shi'i sounding names and by claiming an overall lack of evidence for an Iranian background. All this does not appear in the introduction to the first edition of the collected works. See also 'lmāra, Jamāl al-Dīn, pp. 53–55; Sāmih Karīm, “al-Afghānī wa taqārīr”.

42 An interesting apologetic variant is found in Hasan, Muhammad, Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī (Cairo, 1982). The author introduces his book by noting that Arab interest in Jamal al-Din has been lagging behind that of Western scholars who have dramatically reassessed his role. He subsequently proceeds to discuss Afghani's life and works along established uncritical lines.Google Scholar

43 'Awad, Tārīkh al-fikr, pp. 25 ff.

44 Ibid., pp. 159 ff.

45 Ibid., pp. 130–32.

46 'Imāra, Jamāl al-Dīn, pp. 53–55.

47 Ibid., pp. 142–43.

48 Ibid., pp. 147–54.

49 Ibid., pp. 127–29.

50 'Imara as usual when dealing with non-Arabic sources, does not specify his references here, but presumably refers to Nikki Keddie and Hamid Algar's translation of the Refutation, in An islamic Response to imperialism: Political and Religious Writings of Sayyid Jamal ad-Din “al-Afghani” (Berkeley, 1968). While this translation was done from the Persian original, 'Imara evidently has looked only at the Arabic translation which is indeed longer due to the translator's additions to unclear passages on the basis of what he thought Jamal al-Din must have meant. On the other hand, the Arabic version contains no sections not found in the Persian original or its English translation (personal communication by Prof. Keddie). See also the introduction to the 1983 edition of An Islamic Response.

51 'Imara, Jamāl al-Dīn, p. 40.

52 For this current revisionist view, which does not seem to be restricted to “Muslim revivalists”, see Radwan, Fathi, “al-Dawla al-'Uthmāniyya, dawla muftara 'alayha”, al-Hilāl, 93 (01 1986), 42–46; Salāh al-'Aqqād, “Yu'addu al-hukm al-'Uthmānī mas'ūulan can takhalluf al-'Arab?” al-Hilāl, 93 (April 1986), 46–52.Google Scholar For a discussion of the Arab perception of the Ottoman Empire, see Haarmann, Ulrich, “Ideology and History, Identity and Alterity: The Arab Image of the Turk from the 'Abbasids to Modern Egypt”, International Journal of Middle East Studies, 20 (1988), 175–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

53 'Awad, Tārīkh al-fikr, pp. 18–19. It should be stressed that none of these allegations regarding Afghani in Egypt is supported by Keddie or Pakdaman.

54 Ibid., pp. 94–95. Tawfiq Pasha succeeded Isma'il as Khedive of Egypt in 1879 and subsequently expelled Afghani from the country. Riyad Pasha was Minister of Education and Afghani's patron during the latter's stay in Egypt.

55 Ibid., p. 170.

56 Ibid., pp. 109–11.

57 'Imāra, Jamāl al-Dīn. p. 178.

58 Ibid., pp. 176–77.

59 For this view, see 'lmāra Jamāl al-Dīn, pp. 170 ff.; idem, “al-Jamī'a al-'Arabiyya”. 'imara has been criticized for this revisionist view of Mamluk and Turkish rule by Ahmad Bahā al-Dīn in the latter's al-Aārām column “Yawmiyāt” (Diary), in a series entitled “Difā'an 'an al-Islām”, June 10–19, 1987.

60 Although 'mara makes it sound as if this Islamic League was an institution or an organization, it never existed in reality. 'Imara alternates the term with Islamic project (mashrū' Islāmī), which presumably means the same.

61 See 'Imāra, “al-'Urūba wa al-Islām”, al-Hilāl, 91 (Nov. 1983), 42–46. For 'Imāra Islam acquired nationalist traits as soon as it spread among the Arabs, who mixed Islam's universalism with the national reality. Henceforth, Islamic universality was expressed in a national framework. A tendency to exclude non-Arab Muslims from the Islamic heritage is similarly expressed in 'Imara's conception of turāth. The usage of just Arab turath, 'Imara states, would not sufficiently distinguish between pre-Islamic (jāhiliyya) and Islamic times; just Islamic turath, on the other hand, has the drawback of incorporating non-Arab Muslims such as Indians and Indonesians. See'Imāra, “Turāthunā: al-Nazra al-'āmma wa l-minhaj al-'lmī”, Nazraéjadīda, p. 17.

62 'lmāra, Jamāl al-Dīn, pp. 188–90. For a summary account of Afghani's belief that language constitutes a more essential ingredient of national identity than religion because of the relatively unchanging nature of language, see Mehdi Hendessi, trans., “Philosophie de l'union nationale basée sur la race et l'unité linguistique”, Orient, 2, 6 (1958), 123–28.

63 A recent critique of the traditional approach of much Arab historiography, its determinism, romanticism, and tendency to portray in moral, black and white terms can be found in Husayn Ahmad Amin, Dalīl al-muslim al-hazīn, pp. 265–76. The differences in approach between the Arab “apologetic” and the “revisionist” schools are discussed in Emmanuel Sivan, “Arab Revisionist Historians: Historiography and the Second Nahda”, idem, Interpretations of Islam: Past and Present (Princeton 1985), pp. 45–72.