Another Road to Damascus: An Integrative Approach to ’Abd Al-Qadir Al-Jaza’iri (1808-1883)

266 Pages·2017·27.42 MB·English

by  Tom Woerner-Powell

Tom Woerner-Powell
Another Road to Damascus

Tom Woerner-Powell
Another Road
to Damascus
An Integrative Approach to ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jazā’irī
(1808–1883)
ISBN 978-3-11-049699-4
e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-049951-3
e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-049769-4
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Contents
Foreword 1
Introduction 2
The Many Lives of ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jazā’irī 2
Aims and Methods 4
An Overview of Sources 8
Chapter Outline 12
. Chapter One – Sīrah Sayfiyyah: ʿAbd al-Qādir in North Africa, 1833–
1848 15
. First Steps and Interpretive Framework 15
. Origins 21
. ʿAbd al-Qādir’s Internal Policy 27
. ʿAbd al-Qādir’s Relations with France 37
. ʿAbd al-Qādir’s Relations with Morocco 49
. Conclusion 58
. Chapter Two – ʿAbd al-Qādir’s Risālah on Hijrah 62
. Style and Presentation 65
. Sources 67
. Forms of Inference and Argumentation 70
. Further Themes: Sincerity and Hypocrisy 73
. Faith, Nation, and Legitimation – The secondary literature in light of
the Risālah on Hijrah 78
. Chapter Three – Exileand Imprisonment on the Road to Damascus;
1848–1852 95
. Imprisonment 96
. Trial and Tribulation 100
. Release 104
. A ‘Road to Damascus’ Moment? 107
. Continuity 115
. Chapter Four – From Istanbul to Damascus, 1853–1864 120
. An Algerian Island off the Sea of Marmara 120
. A Reminder to the Reasonable and an Admonishment to the
Negligent 125
VI Contents
. The Dhikrā and a European Conversion 131
. Arrival in Damascus, 1855 140
. Riot, Rescue, and Representation 145
. Chapter Five – Sīrah Ṣūfiyyah: Sufism, Suspicion, and the Kitāb al-
Mawāqif; 1864–1883 155
. Major Themes in the Kitāb al-Mawāqif 163
. ʿAbd al-Qādir’s Later Lifeand Politics: Reading Conversion into the
Kitāb al-Mawāqif 171
. ʿAbd al-Qādir’s Conversion to Pluralism: Investigating the
Evidence 178
. The Western Roots of ʿAbd al-Qādir’s Spiritual ‘Conversion’ 187
. Conclusion 198
. Another Road to Damascus 198
. Reflections on the Road Onward 206
Afterword 219
Bibliography – Archival Sources 227
Texts by ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jazā’irī 229
Additional Primary Sources 230
Secondary Sources 231
Appendix A – ʿAbd al-Qādir’s Risālah on Hijrah 239
Appendix B – ʿAbd al-Qādir’s Mawqif #254 (‘He Is [Like] That’) 251
Index 255
Author Index 259
Foreword
I would very much like to thank all of the people and institutions which have
made this work possible. I would like to thank Oxford University and the Arts
and Humanities Research Council for arranging and funding my doctoral stud-
ies, as well as to the Fondation Ousseimi’s Prixde la Tolérance for funding fur-
therresearchwhichhasalsoenrichedthepresentwork.Specialthanksmustbe
given to my supervisors Ronald Nettler and Michael Willis.
Mostofall,Iwouldliketothankmyparents,RiccaandMarkus,mybrother
Christopher, and most especially Abby, my wife.
Inthisbook,transliterationwillbroadlyfollowtheconventionsoftheEncy-
clopaediaofIslam–withtheexceptionsthatqāfwillberepresentedbyq,jīmby
j, and shīn by sh (hence ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jazā’irī rather than ʿAbd al-Ḳādir al-
Dshazā’irī). ‘Sun’ and ‘moon’ letters will not be distinguished. In some cases,
conventional spelling will be retained where the word in question has entered
into sufficiently wide usage in English to justify this, or so as to reproduce the
source material.
In what follows, all translations from German, French, and Arabic (unless
otherwise stated) are my own – with the exception of Qur’ānic excerpts,which
are from the Yūsuf ʿAlī version.
All errors are myown.
DOI10.1515/9783110499513-001
Introduction
The Many Lives ofʿ Abd al-Qādir al-Jazā’irī
AgreatdealhasalreadybeensaidaboutʿAbdal-Qādiral-Jazā’irī.Hewasandis
afigureofremarkablehistoricalsignificance,popularenthusiasm,andscholarly
interest.Yetdoubtsremain.Whileallagreethathewasafascinatingfigure,dis-
agreement reigns over why this is the case.We are told both that he was apio-
neeronthecuspofmodernity,andthathewasaromantic,bentonreturningto
along-gonepast.WelearnthathewasacosmopolitanFrancophile,andthathe
wasthepioneerofAlgeria’sstruggleforindependencefromFrance.Heisdescri-
bed as a selfless and ascetic man of God, and as an ambitious manipulator of
others for the sake of personal advancement. Heis presentedto us as an inno-
vativemetaphysicianwhoembracedmodernEuropeanphilosophies,andasthe
unerringlyfaithfulspokesmanforaMuslimmysticsomeeightcenturiesdead.¹A
great deal has been said about ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jazā’irī, and all too much of it
has been paradoxical and contradictory.
That so much has beenwritten about him is only right. His influences,direct
and indirect, deliberate and accidental, practical and symbolic, are manifold. In
the1830sand1840shewastheforemostleaderofAlgerianresistancetoFrenchcol-
onialism,oftennamedalongsideShamyl(ImāmShāmil)astheage’sforemostmujā-
hid:aholywarriorinthecauseofjihād.Sympathiserssawachevalier,opponentsa
fanatic. His heroic defence of thousands of Christians during the Syrian sectarian
riotsof1860justlymadehimacausecélèbreacrossthewesternworld.Inbetween,
his name had become a potent political tool in contestations between Moroccan
centres of power, between French monarchists and republicans, between English,
French, and Ottoman imperialists, and between all of these and new varieties of
cosmopolitans.Manystill drawinspiration from hismemorytoday.
ʿAbdal-Qādirhascometobemanythingstomanypeople.Yetthepanoplyof
radicallydifferingimagesnowconfrontingusshareacommontheme.Itiswith
this theme that this book will concern itself.This study will aim to question a
crucial narrative structure imposed on ʿAbd al-Qādir’s life even by perspectives
whichseemirreconcilablyopposed.Remarkedorunremarked,yetinvariablyun-
challenged,itformsthemostfundamentalpresuppositionassumedbyhismany
 Thesepairsofopposingviewsarerespectivelytobefoundin,forinstance,intheworkofJohn
Kiser[2008]andPeshahShinar[1965];BrunoÉtienne[2003]andBadīʿahAl-Ḥasanīal-Jazā’irī
[2000]; ʿAbd al-Razzāq Al-Bayṭar [1963] and Raphael Danziger [1977]; and Itzchak Weismann
[2001]andMichelChodkiewicz[1995].
DOI10.1515/9783110499513-002
TheManyLivesofʿAbdal-Qādiral-Jazā’irī 3
biographers.Whatthebroadgamutofaccountsofhislifeshareisadramatically
bipartite structure.Two starklycontrasting images of the man are typically pre-
sented:the first and second halves of his life are separated by a‘Road to Dam-
ascus’ narrative of dramatic conversion – typically related to his period of cap-
tivityinFrance.Notonlyishismemoryfracturedbythecompetingperspectives
which have reflected it, each in their own image, but it is dichotomised within
each account. ʿAbd al-Qādir,whose body was twice buried, seems also to have
lived twice: once in Damascus² and once in Algeria.³
NomatterwhichperspectiveonʿAbdal-Qādironeexamines,thispatternman-
ifests itself. It is less an argument than a discursive formation, the unquestioned
structure within which the overwhelming majority of writing on the subject oper-
ates. It shows itself both implicitly,through the presumption thatonlyone half of
hislifeisworthdiscussinginlieuoftheother,andexplicitly,throughovertperiodic
juxtapositionandpsychologicalaccountsofpersonaltransformation.Itarisesasthe
result of overt authorial intention, and as an unintended product of convention.
Every tellingofʿAbdal-Qādir’sstorynaturallyhas itsownstrengths anditsweak-
nesses, its own inspirations, interpretations, and ellipses. Yet the presumption
thathislifeisbestunderstoodintwoseparatehalves–oneAlgerian,oneDamas-
cene – has played an unexamined role in a deeply unhelpful hermeneutic circle,
needlesslydetractingfromthemanyinsightsofpastaccounts.Thenarrativeofcon-
versionencouragesustoover-stateindividualcharacteristicsofhisearlierandlater
lives, hardening subtle distinctions into black and white contrasts, contemplating
actualitieslessthan archetypes.
This ‘mythology of incoherence’⁴ needs to be questioned by developing a
more continuous and life-like account of the man. An account supported by a
broadgamutofargumentation,primarytextualanalysis,andarchivalevidence.
Thisaccountwillengagewithreception-andWirkungsgeschichte⁵toredresslin-
geringeffectsofEuropeancolonialismonʿAbdal-Qādir’slife’srepresentationup
 Hisinitialburialisrecordedby,forexample,Tuḥfah,p.857;Al-Bayṭār,1963,p.903.
 There-intermenttookplaceonthe5thofJuly1965[King,1997,p.72].AstatueinAlgiershadal-
readybeenerectedin1962,soonafterAlgeriagaineditsindependence[Abun-Nasr,2007,p.205].
 ThisreversaloftheSkinnerianconstruction(’mythologyofcoherence’)isborrowedfromMark
Hulliung’s commentary on Quentin Skinner’s interpretation of Machiavelli. ‘As a corrective…
Skinner’spointiswell-taken.ItistoSkinner’sapparentreversalofanaprioriassumptionof
unity into an a priori assumption of disunity that we must object.’ [Hulliung, 1983, p. 230].
That debate is mentioned not to take sides with respect to the interpretation of Machiavelli,
butrathertoillustratethedegreetowhichassumptionsaboutthestructureofalife’shistory
caninfluenceone’sinterpretationofitscontents.
 Particularlywithrespecttothemannerinwhichsusequentinterpretationsshape,absorb,and
iterateupononeanother[Gadamer,2003,passim].
4 Introduction
to the present. It will throw new light on his character, intentions, ambitions,
and limitations, as well as re-formulating his relationship with enduring ques-
tionsoffaithandpolitics,warandpeace,spiritualityandlegalism,andtheten-
sion between confident faith and inter-religious toleration. Finally, it attempts
thereby to deliver the long called-for ‘re-evaluation of his life that integrates
the various facets and stages of his career’.⁶
Tothisend,theshiftingarrayofaccountsbroughtbysuccessivewavesofbi-
ographers will be compared to their primary sources, and shown to have been
shapedby the pressure of this appealingnarrative arc.The ‘RoadtoDamascus’
narrativewillbecomparedtoalessfracturedreadingofʿAbdal-Qādir’slifeand
revealed as an artificial imposition, whose mainsprings can be traced back to
specificdevelopmentsinEuropeancolonialandculturalhistory.Intheabsence
ofsuchpotentiallymisleadingnarrativeimpositions,contextandcontinuitywill
be brought to the fore, replacingconflict and contradiction.
Amoreconventional,moreconservative,morehumanfigurewillbedescri-
bed as a resultof this interrogation than is reflected in previous accounts – yet
onewhoisnolessremarkableforallofthat.ʿAbdal-Qādir’spathwasnotthatof
severe Saul of Tarsus, whose journey transformed him into loving St Paul: no
blinding light, no great conversion. ʿAbd al-Qādir, it will become apparent,
took another road to Damascus.
Aims and Methods
Whilethisstudywilldrawonawiderangeofprimarymaterials,itdoesnotseek
to simply replace previous accounts with its own. Rather, ʿAbd al-Qādir’s path
throughlifewillbetracedinpartnershipwithpreviousbiographies–particular-
lythemostrecent.Itwillofferthisperspectiveasacorrectivetothenarrativeof
conversion’seffectsonpreviousscholarship.Theaimisconstructive,bothinof-
feringa newdeparture of its own and in presentingcritiques ofearlier scholar-
ship.ThiswillbothenhanceourunderstandingofʿAbdal-Qādir’slifeashelived
it, and contribute meaningfully to debates surrounding his life and ideas.
This effort will be integrative in the sense of resisting the essential separa-
tionoreliminationofsignificantelementsofʿAbdal-Qādir’sthoughtandaction,
and will be concomitantly waryof reductive approaches.The goal is to explain
without explaining away.
 Commins,1988,p.131.