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The Christians Between Ottomanism and Syrian Nationalism: The Ideas of Butrus Al-Bustani

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2009

Butrus Abu-Manneh
Butrus Abu-Manneh
Affiliation:
Haifa UniversityHaifa, Israel
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Extract

In the Ottoman system the population of the Empire was organized upon a confessional basis, not upon a territorial or linguistic one. It was composed of religious communities each of which had its own internal organization and was controlled by a religious hierarchy. Socially and culturally each community (millet) formed a separate entity, each kept apart from the other. There was no attempt to create uniformity. Consequently, no intercommunal solidarity or social integation evolved in Ottoman society.

Type
Research Article
Information
International Journal of Middle East Studies , Volume 11 , Issue 3 , May 1980 , pp. 287 - 304
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1980

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References

NOTES

Author's Note: This article was originally part of a D. phil. dissertation written under the supervision of Professor Albert H. Hourani of St. Antony's College, Oxford, to whom my thanks are due.Google Scholar

2 English translation in Hurewitz, J. C., Diplomacy in the Near and Middle East (Princeton, 1956), 1, 149–153.Google Scholar

2 The non-Muslims were mainly Greek, Orthodox, Greek Catholics, Maronites, and Jews, and a number of other smaller communities. The non-Sunnis were Alawis, Ismailis, Druses, and Matawilah.

3 See for instance Hadīqat al-Akhbār, June 5, 1858; Aug. 7, 1858; Jan. 1, 1859; Oct. 2, 1859; Nov. 17, 1859; Dec. 29, 1859.Google Scholar

4 On Butrus al-Bustani see: Hourani, Albert, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, 1789–1939 (London, 1962), pp. 99–102, 276 f.;Google ScholarTibawi, A. L., “The American Missionaries in Beirut and Butrus al-Bustani,” St. Antony's Papers No. 16, ed. Hourani, Albert (London, 1963);Google Scholaral-Bustani, Butrus, ed. Dairāt al-Ma 'ārif. Vol. 7, ed. by his Salim, son (Beirut, 1883), pp. 589–593, 599–608;Google Scholaral Muqtataf (Beirut) VIII (1884), 1–7;Google ScholarZaidan, Jurji, Mashāhir al-Sharq 2 (Cairo, 1911), 25–33,Google Scholar where the author drew heavily on the article of al-Muqtataf: Sawāyā, Mikhha'il, al-Mu'allim Butrus at Bustani (Beirut, 1963);Google ScholarSalibi, Kamal S., The Modern History of Lebanon (London, 1965), pp. 144 f;Google ScholarAntonius, George, The Arab Awakening (London, 1938), pp. 47–51.Google Scholar For additional references see Zirikli, Khayr al-Din, A'lām, (Cairo, 1959), 1, 31.Google Scholar

5 al-Bustani, Butrus, Khutba fī Ādāb al-'Arab (Beirut, 1859), p. 37.Google Scholar

6 On 'Ayn Waraqa see Harik, Iliya, Politics and Change in a Traditional Society: Lebanon, 1711–1845 (Princeton, 1968), pp. 162 ff.;Google Scholaral-Dibs, Yusuf, al-Jami' al-Mufassal fi Tārīkh al-Mawarinah al-Mu'assal (Beirut, 1905), pp. 516 f., 572 f.Google Scholar

7 Bustani, Khutba fī Ādāb al-'Arab, p. 37.Google Scholar

8 On Bustani and the mission see Tibawi, “The American Missionaries in Beirut”.Google Scholar

9 Ibid., p. 166.

10 Ibid., pp. 167–168.

11 al-Jinān, 7 (1876), 594.Google Scholar

12 Ibid.

13 Ibid., 638.

14 Ibid. Presumably because of his relations with some missionaries he could not voice those views soon after he left the mission, and allowed some time to pass before doing so.

15 Bustani, Khutba fī Ādāb al- ' Arab, p. 40.Google Scholar

16 al-Jinān, 1 (1870), 386; see also 645, 706.Google Scholar

17 Hurewitz, J. C., Diplomacy in the Near and Middle East, 1, 149.Google Scholar

18 Bustani, Khutba fī Ādāb al-' Arab.

19 Ibid., p. 19; see also Nasifal-Yaziji, Majma' al-Bahrain (Beirut, 1856, pp. 311–314, where he complains of the negligence of Arabic by the Arabs.

20 Bustani, Khutba fī Ādāb al-'Arab, pp. 20 f.Google Scholar

21 Ibid., pp. 22 f.

22 Ibid., pp. 24.

23 Nafīr Sūriyya, Feb. 22, 1861.Google Scholar

24 (Beirut, 1867–1870), 2 vols.Google Scholar

25 (Beirut, 1867–1869), 2 vols.Google Scholar

26 Hourani, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, p. 100;Google Scholar see also Bustani, Khutba fī Ādāb al'Arab, p. 23.Google Scholar

27 Tibawi, “The American Missionaries, in Beirut,” p. 179.Google Scholar

28 In an address to the public signed by Bustani, published in hadīqat al-Akhbār, Dec. 22, 1862. The emphasis is mine.Google Scholar

29 In the Foreword for Qutr al-Muhīt he added, “to render its learning easier is the desire of those who are distinguished by patriotic enthusiasm and Arabic zeal”.Google Scholar

30 Nafīr Sūriyya Feb. 22, 1861.Google Scholar

31 Cf. Hourani, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, p. 100.Google Scholar

32 Bustani, Khutba fī Ādāb al-īqat al-Arab, p. 17.Google Scholar

33 Ibid., pp. 31 f.

34 Ibid., pp. 34 ff.

35 see below, p. 294.Google Scholar

36 Ibid.

37 Hadīqal al-Akhbār, Feb. 23, 1860.Google Scholar

38 Ibid.; see also Tibawi, “The American Missionaries in Beirut,” p. 168.Google Scholar

39 Printed “at the expense of the 'Umda”. This edition saw four impressions in Beirut between 1860 and 1887. See Sarkis, Yusuf, Mu'jam al-Matbuāt (Cairo, 1928), p. 1616.Google Scholar

40 Yaziji, Nasif was the most famous. Among others of less fame, for instance, were Yuhanna Abkarius who published in the 1850s two books on Arabic literature: Nihayat al-'Arab fī Akhbār al- 'Arab (Marseilles, 1852),Google Scholar and Rawdāt al-Adab fī Tabaqāt Shu‘arā’ al- 'Arab (Beirut, 1858).Google Scholar

41 The names of the members in Hadīqat al-A khbār, Feb. 23, 1860. Of these, Khalil Khuri was in his middle twenties, Husain Baihum in his late twenties, Ibrahim al-Ahdab and Niqola Naqqash in their mid-thirties, and Michael Mudawwar in his late thirties.Google Scholar

42 Hadīqat al-A khbār, Jan. 7 and Jan. 28, 1868.Google Scholar

43 The names of the founders in al-Jawàib, Feb. 11, 1868.Google Scholar

44 de Tarazi, Phillippe, Tārīkh al-Sahāfa al- 'Arahiyya (Beirut, 1913–1929), 1, 75–77.Google Scholar See also Tiabawi, , A Modern History of Syria (London, 1969) p. 160.Google Scholar

45 It may not be irrelevant to add that Cairo under Ismail started to develop from the end of the 1860s to become as well a major center of Arabic “secular” culture. Many Syrians, the disciples of Bustani and others, contributed considerably to the movement there. See Radwan, Abu al-Futouh, Tārīkh Matba'at Bulāq (Cairo, 1953), pp. 194 and 204;Google Scholar also al-Jawàib, Mar. 22, 1870.Google Scholar

46 al-Jinān, 1 (1870), 674.Google Scholar

47 According to Tarazi, , Tārīkh al-Sahāfa, 1, 94, thirteen issues were published, but only the first eleven are available (appeared between Sept. 1860 and April 1861).Google Scholar

48 Hourani, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, p. 101.Google Scholar

49 Nafīr Suriyya, Sept. 29, 1860.Google Scholar

50 Ibid., Oct. 25, 1860.

51 Ibid., Jan. 14, 1861.

52 Ibid., Oct. 25, 1860.

53 Ibid., Nov. 10, 1860; Feb. 22, 1861.

54 al-Muqtataf, 8, 6.Google Scholar

55 On it see al-Jinān, 4 (1873), 626–629;Google Scholaral-Dibs, , Tārīkh Suriyya (Beirut, 1893–1905, 8, 779;Google Scholar and al-Khuri, Shakir, Majma' al-Masarrāt (Beirut, 1908), pp. 114 f.Google Scholar

56 al-Jinān, 7 (1876), 595.Google Scholar

57 Ibid., 4 (1873), 627; see also 1 (1870), 70.

58 Ibid., 4 (1873), 627; Hadīqat al-Akhbār, June 16, 1864.

59 al-Muqtataf, 8, 3;Google ScholarZaidan, , Mashāhīr al-Sharq, 2, 27.Google Scholar

60 Hadīqat al-Akhbār, June 16, 1864;Google Scholar see also Tibawi, “The American Missionaries in Beirut,” p. 171.Google Scholar

61 Zaidan, , Mashāhīr al-Sharq, 2, 27.Google Scholar

62 al-Muqtataf, 8, 3.Google Scholar

63 See, for instance, the comment by Tibawi on the Foreword to Bustani's Miftāh al-Misbāh (Beirut, 1862)Google Scholar in Tibawi, “The American Missionaries in Beirut,” p. 170. Bustani also dedicated Muhīt al-Muhīt to Sultan Abdulaziz.Google Scholar

64 Al-Jinān, 1 (1870), 335;Google ScholarZaidan, , Mashāhīral-Sharq, 2, 27.Google Scholar

65 Tarazi, , Tārīkh al-Sahdfa, 2, 10.Google Scholar

66 See al-Jin¯n, 4 (1873), 363: “His beneficial hand leveled the way for ‘al-Jinan’… and it was he who planted the trees of ‘al-Jannah’; cf. also I (1870). 1.Google Scholar

67 Rāpshid Pasha was foreign minister in the government that deposed Sultan Abdulaziz in 1876. Two weeks after the coup he was killed along with Hüseyn Avni Pasha by Hasan the Circassian. On Rāshid's life see al-Jinān, 7 (1876), 473–475;Google Scholaral-Jawāib, Sept. 6, 1876;Google ScholarSicill-i Osmani, 2, 356–357.Google Scholar

68 On al-Jinān, see also Hourani, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, pp. 263 and 274.Google Scholar

69 al-Jinān, 1 (1870), 515–516.Google Scholar

70 Ibid.

71 Ibid., 3 (1872), 433; 4 (1873), 363.

72 a1-Jawāib, Oct. 11 and Dec. 12, 1871.Google Scholar

73 al-Jinān, 7 (1876), 474;Google Scholaral-Jawāib, Sept. 6, 1876.Google Scholar

74 al-Jinān, 3 (1872), 541–542.Google Scholar

75 Ibid., p. 579.

76 al-Jawāib, Oct. 29, 1873.Google Scholar

77 Ibid., July 2, 1873.

78 al-Jinān, 1 (1870), 385–387.Google Scholar

79 Ibid., p. 386.

80 See, for instance, the article by Sheikh Tahir al-Jazairi of Damascus which attacks Bustani this question, in al-Jawāib, Sept. 17, 1872.Google Scholar

81 al-Jinān, 1 (1870), 641.Google Scholar

82 Ibid., pp. 645, 706.

83 Ibid., p. 643.

84 Ibid., pp. 674, 675.

85 Ibid., p. 673.

86 Ibid., p. 642; see also Hourani, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, p. 99.

87 al-Jinān, 1 (1870), 675.Google Scholar

88 Ibid.

89 See Kuran, E., “Ottoman Historiography in the Tanzimat Period,” in Lewis, Bernard and Holt, P., eds., Historians of the Middle East (London, 1962), pp. 427–428;Google Scholar see also Davison, Roderic, Reform in the Ottoman Empire, 1856–1876 (Princeton, 1963), pp. 177 f.Google Scholar

90 al-Jinān, 1 (1870), 646.Google Scholar

91 Ibid., p. 644.

92 Ibid. In this view Bustani had perhaps been inspired or at least encouraged by Rāshid Pasha the Vali. We have no direct evidence for that, however, and the views of Rāshid Pasha on subject are obscure. But the fact that those ideas were expressed in the time of Rāshid's governorship only, and that he assisted in the appearance of al-Jin¯n, moves us to imply his acquiescence them.

93 Davison, Reform in the Ottoman Empire, pp. 290–291.Google Scholar See also Mardin, Serif, The Genesis Young Ottoman Thought (Princeton, 1962), p. 66.Google Scholar

94 Davison, Reform in the Ottoman Empire, pp. 290–291.Google Scholar See also Sir Elliot, Henry, Some Revolutions and Other Experiences (London, 1922), p. 228, where he recorded that Midhat Pasha spoke of “decentralization”.Google Scholar

95 al-Jinān, 5 (1874), 110.Google Scholar

96 Ibid.

97 Ibid.

98 Ibid., p. 111.

99 Ibid.; cf. 4 (1873), 794–795.

100 Ibid., 5 (1874), 111.

101 Ibid.

102 Ibid.

103 Ibid., 6 (1875), 577.

104 Ibid., 7 (1876), 650.

105 al-Jinān, 2 (1871), 573–574;Google Scholarcf. Zolondek, L., “Socio-Political Views of Salim al-Bustani (1848–1884),” Middle Eastern Studies, 2, 2 (01. 1966), 150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

106 al-Jinān, 4 (1873), 362.Google Scholar

107 Ibid., 5 (1874), 111.

108 Ibid., 2 (1871), 141.

109 Ibid., p. 789.

110 Ibid., 3 (1882), 758; of. Zolondek, “Socio-Political Views of Salim al-Bustani,” p. 147.

111 al-Jinān, 2 (1871), 142; 6 (1875), 195.Google Scholar

112 Ibid., 7 (1876), 434.

113 Ibid., 12 (1881), 578.

114 Ibid., 14 (1883), 130–131, 193–194.

115 Ibid., 2 (1871), 574.

116 Ibid., 1(1870), 614.

117 Ibid., 2 (1871), 180; 5 (1874), 35.

118 Ibid., 1(1870), 388; of. Zolondek, “Socio-Political Views of Salim al-Bustani,” p. 149.

119 al-Jinān, 11 (1880), 321; 14 (1883), 130–131;Google Scholar see also Zolondek, “Socio-Political Views of Salim al-Bustani,” p. 150.Google Scholar

120 See for instance Antonius, The Arab Awakening, pp. 41 ff.Google Scholar

121 Jessup, Henry H., Fifty-Three Years in Syria (New York, 1910), 22, 483;Google Scholar of. Rustum, Asad, Lubnān fi 'Ahd a1-Mutasarrifiyya (Beirut, 1973) p. 273.Google Scholar