The Arab Nahdah: The Making of the Intellectual and Humanist Movement

268 Pages·2013·1.094 MB·English

by  Abdulrazzak Patel

Contents
Series Editor’s Foreword vi
Acknowledgements ix
Preface x
Introduction: Perspectives, Paradigms and Parameters 1
1 Contemporary Interpretations of the Nah∂ah: Tradition,
Modernity and the Arab Intellectual 12
2 The Reintegration of Pre-modern Christians into the Mainstream
of Arabic Literature and the Creation of an Inter-religious
Cultural Space 36
3 Guardians of the Pre-modern Arab-Islamic Humanist Tradition:
Legends without a Legacy, a Tradition without Heirs 75
4 Language Reform and Controversy: The al-Shartūnīs Respond in
Defence of the Pre-modern Humanist Tradition 102
5 Arabism, Patriotism and Ottomanism as Means to Reform 127
6 Arab Intellectuals and the West: Borrowing for the Sake of
Progress 159
7 Education, Reform and Enlightened Azharīs 181
8 Enacting Reform: Local Agents, Statesmen, Missionaries and the
Evolution of a Cultural Infrastructure 201
Conclusion 224
Bibliography 234
Index 251
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Series Editor’s Foreword
The Edinburgh Studies in Modern Arabic Literature is a new and unique
series which will, it is hoped, fill in a glaring gap in scholarship in the
field of modern Arabic literature. Its dedication to Arabic literature in the
modern period, that is, from the nineteenth century onwards, is what makes
it unique among series undertaken by academic publishers in the English-
speaking world. Individual books on modern Arabic literature in general or
aspects of it have been and continue to be published sporadically. Series on
Islamic studies and Arab/Islamic thought and civilisation are not in short
supply either in the academic world, but these are far removed from the study
of Arabic literature qua literature, that is, imaginative, creative literature as
we understand the term when, for instance, we speak of English literature or
French literature, etc. Even series labelled ‘Arabic/Middle Eastern Literature’
make no period distinction, extending their purview from the sixth century
to the present, and often including non-Arabic literatures of the region. This
series aims to redress the situation by focusing on the Arabic literature and
criticism of today, stretching its interest to the earliest beginnings of Arab
modernity in the nineteenth century.
The need for such a dedicated series, and generally for the redoubling of
scholarly endeavour in researching and introducing modern Arabic literature
to the Western reader has never been stronger. The significant growth in the
last decades of the translation of contemporary Arab authors from all genres,
especially fiction, into English; the higher profile of Arabic literature interna-
tionally since the award of the Nobel Prize for Literature to Naguib Mahfouz
in 1988; the growing number of Arab authors living in the Western diaspora
and writing both in English and Arabic; the adoption of such authors and
others by mainstream, high-circulation publishers, as opposed to the aca-
vi
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series editor’s foreword | vii
demic publishers of the past; the establishment of prestigious prizes, such as
the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (the Arabic Booker), run by the
Man Booker Foundation, which brings huge publicity to the shortlist and
winner every year, as well as translation contracts into English and other
languages – all this and very recently the events of the Arab Spring have
heightened public, let alone academic, interest in all things Arab, and not
least Arabic literature. It is therefore part of the ambition of this series that it
will increasingly address a wider reading public beyond its natural territory
of students and researchers in Arabic and world literature. Nor indeed is
the academic readership of the series expected to be confined to specialists
in literature in the light of the growing trend for interdisciplinarity, which
increasingly sees scholars crossing field boundaries in their research tools
and coming up with findings that equally cross discipline borders in their
appeal.
Studies of the Arab nah∂a (awakening) or renaissance, as it is sometimes
called to suggest comparability with the European Renaissance, its main fig-
ures, trends, influences, locations, etc. are not in short supply: the nah∂a,
dating back to the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and gener-
ally associated with the beginnings of increasing contact between Europe and
the Arab East, culminating in Napoleon’s conquest of Egypt in 1798, marks
the region’s introduction to modern times. Almost every feature of the Arab
social and intellectual life of today has its root in the nah∂a, whether by being
a continuation of a trend of thought or social or political principle that had
its germination in the nah∂a period, or by being one that is resisted today by
traditional social forces as a product of the Westernisation process that also
started with the nah∂a.
But abundant as studies of the nah∂a may appear, we just cannot have
enough of them: the nah∂a and its main figures and texts are constantly
being revisited, revaluated and reinterpreted, and the present study is a new
endeavour in this continuing fascination with the origins of Arab modernity.
Abdulrazzak Patel argues that so much attention has been given by generations
of scholars to the towering secularist figures of the nah∂a and to European
influence in bringing about the Arab awakening, with the result that the
more traditional, self-referential, but nonetheless rejuvenating, c urrents of
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viii | series editor’s foreword
the nah∂a and their exponents were largely neglected. This monograph is an
attempt at redressing this situation.
Rasheed El-Enany
Emeritus Professor of Modern Arabic Literature
University of Exeter
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Acknowledgements
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Above all, I am thankful to Allah, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the

Universe, who despite numerous setbacks instilled in me the motivation
to pursue my research and helped to fulfil my dreams.
I wish to express my indebtedness and appreciation to all staff and col-
leagues in the Oriental Institute at the University of Oxford for their kind-
ness and diligent efforts to provide a conducive atmosphere for research and
learning. In particular, I would like to mention my two mentors Clive Holes
and Nadia Jamil for their constant support and encouragement.
The pursuit of my book would not have been possible without the gen-
erous financial support that I have received on fellowships at Oxford from
the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Arts and Humanities Research
Council (AHRC). To these institutions, and to the persons involved, I
address my sincere thanks.
I am also grateful to Rasheed El-Enany, the series editor, for his valuable
assistance and guidance through the preparation of this book, and to the staff
at EUP, especially Nicola Ramsey and Michelle Houston, for their care and
help which lasted from first commissioning to final product. It has been a
pleasure to work with EUP.
To my family and friends, it would be impossible to give back the years
of patience and solitude which allowed me to concentrate on my research.
But I can and do express my gratitude and affection. The dedication of this
study to you is but a small token of my appreciation for your devotion,
sacrifices and infinite forbearance.
ix
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Preface
This book is about one of the most important periods in the develop-
ment of Arabic thought and culture. The later part of the nineteenth
and early twentieth centuries in the Arab world is generally associated with
the nah∂ah: the ‘Renaissance or Awakening’ of Arabic literature and thought
under Western influence. The actual origins and development of the nah∂ah
movement remains a matter of controversy, but what is clear is that the
broad use of the term implies an awareness of the dynamic process of social,
cultural and political change that the Arab region underwent during the
nineteenth century. One may also talk in broader terms about other modes
of reform (i‚lāª) in the Arab and Muslim world in this period. There were
parallel movements of resurgence (Wahhābīyah, Sanūsīyah, Mahdīyah) in the
Arabian Peninsula and North Africa that operated within the Islamic histori-
cal tradition of non-modern renewal (tajdīd) and revival (iªyā’), and vibrant
reform movements in the Maghreb and elsewhere linked to Ottoman central
power and its intellectuals. In contrast to movements of Islamic resurgence,
however, the nah∂ah can be understood as a vast intellectual and cultural
movement of renewal, involving both Christians and Muslims, secular and
religious reformers. Geographically, moreover, the countries mainly associ-
ated with the nah∂ah, at least in its early phases (early to mid-1800s), are
Egypt and Greater Syria, including Lebanon. Although there is no rigid date
marking the end of the nah∂ah, sources generally concur that it had ended by
the First World War or at the latest by 1920. Since then, any attempt at reju-
venating Arab-Islamic thought has become so inextricably tied to the nah∂ah
that it continues to dominate much of the contemporary Arab-Islamic dis-
course on tradition and modernity.1
The story of the nah∂ah, however, remains to be written. Not only do
x
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preface | xi
we lack a comprehensive account in English of the nah∂ah, but the research
to date has focused too exclusively on the contribution of external forces at
the expense of important internal factors, which – together with an undue
emphasis on certain thinkers – has painted a confused and incomplete picture
of the rise and development of the whole movement. Established studies have
approached the nah∂ah and its intellectuals from modernisation-influenced
perspectives, and have focused almost exclusively on those thinkers and
movements that accepted ideas coming from the West, while ignoring those
who either did not or tried to incorporate them within a framework of their
own cultural values. Consequently, modernisation theory has greatly influ-
enced most subsequent studies, which have served largely to support these
early findings. Moreover, the narrow focus on certain thinkers has meant
that many of their close associates and contemporaries, who were equally
concerned with the reform of their societies but pursued practical careers
over philosophical ones, remain unknown. Such men, linguists, litterateurs
and educationalists – whom I refer to as the humanists in this book because
of their tendency to focus on the humanities – contributed significantly to
the nah∂ah. They were the guardians of Arabic and Islamic tradition, the
transmitters of culture, and promoters of learning in general. The uneven
emphasis of research to date has therefore failed to capture the complexity
and distinctiveness of the nah∂ah and its intellectuals.
Based on an extensive study of original sources in Arabic, this book
hopes to address a lacuna in an authoritative and comprehensive account
of the nah∂ah, and contribute to a fuller more nuanced understanding of
this important period in the development of Arabic thought and culture.
Starting in the pre-modern period (c. 1700), this book explores the key fac-
tors, both internal and external, that contributed to the rise and development
of the nah∂ah, and examines, for the first time, the humanist movement of
the period which was the driving force behind much of the linguistic, liter-
ary and educational activity. Overall, this book highlights the complexity of
the nah∂ah and offers a more pluralist history of the period. In so doing, it
departs from a long-established genre of studies that approach the nah∂ah
and its intellectuals from modernisation-influenced perspectives, and paves
the way for understanding the period and its intellectuals within a much
wider context than has hitherto been given to them. At the same time, the
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xii | preface
book deals with a number of important themes, from modern Arab intel-
lectual history, literature and culture, to issues of modernity, language and
identity, which will allow for significant engagement with the study of the
intellectual life and discourse of the nah∂ah as a whole.
Note
1. See N. Tomiche, ‘Nah∂a’, EI2, vol. 7, p. 900; Philipp, Gurjī Zaidān, p. 7;
Esposito and Voll, Makers of Contemporary Islam, pp. 18–19; Djait, Europe and
Islam, pp. 137–8; and Salvatore, Islam, Chapters 4–5, 11 passim.
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Introduction:
Perspectives, Paradigms and Parameters
This book is an intellectual history dealing with an aspect of Arab-Islamic
culture. The first question one must thus raise is with regard to the
meaning and nature of intellectual history. What are its main characteristics
and central disciplinary concerns? Intellectual history is interdisciplinary in
nature and as such intellectual historians do not work on the assumptions
of a shared specific method. According to Kelly, primary topics of inquiry
include: philosophy, literature, language, art, science and other disciplines,
and each has its own tradition of historical inquiry.1 Intellectual history thus
lacks one overriding concern. In terms of hermeneutics it is not really a
discipline, but rather a point of view within a discipline, which is history,
and the intellectual historian is to ‘explore those areas of the human past in
which decipherable traces, usually written or iconographic, have survived,
and then to give contemporary meaning to these traces through the medium
of language’.2 Modern Arab-Islamic intellectual history is similarly a multi-
disciplinary area of inquiry rather than an autonomous academic discipline,
and as such it is not immediately clear with what conceptual tools it is best
handled. In fact, traditions and blueprints of practice which suggest ways of
proceeding are scarce. Abu-Rabi‘’s observation in 1996 remains true today:
‘methodological studies of modern Arab/Islamic thought are rare, and, in
many instances, are only partially adequate’.3
Although intellectual history lacks one overriding concern, one of the
central issues in debates on intellectual historiography is ‘contextualisation’
and the problematising of the selection of particular contexts within which to
situate our discussions of specific texts.4 Moreover, one of the main goals of
intellectual history is ‘understanding’, which can be applied to an author or a
text, to the wider cultural environment or to the individual self.5 The two are
1
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2 | the arab nahdah
·
interdependent since the selection of appropriate context is supposed to lead
to improved understanding. One might, therefore, consider the question of
context (method) and ‘correct’ interpretation by turning to some established
studies on the nah∂ah and by asking smaller as well as larger questions.
Interpretation is always conditioned by values and assumptions that
influence the study. The period beginning with the Ottoman conquest of
Syria and Egypt in 1516–17 until Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt in 1798
is arguably the most neglected in the study of the Arab-Islamic world. This
scholarly neglect is symptomatic of a widespread assumption that the Arab-
Islamic world entered a period of perpetual decline after the thirteenth cen-
tury. The period of decline is believed by many to have come to an end in
1798 with Napoleon’s invasion, when a more dynamic and vital Europe
thrust itself upon the region and initiated the dawn of a new ‘modern’
era.
The paradigm of decline is so deeply ingrained in previous scholarship
that a brief survey of scholarly attitudes is appropriate. An early example
is found in Gibb’s and Bowen’s influential book, Islamic Society and the
West (1957). They deployed the eighteenth century as a model of traditional
Islamic society in the Ottoman Empire just before the changes brought by
Westernisation and depicted Arabic scholarly culture and institutions of the
time as degenerate and exhausted, and typical for the entire period stretch-
ing from 1500 to 1800 which, not inadvertently, was regarded throughout
the twentieth century as that of the Empire’s decline.6 In Arabic Thought,
Hourani echoed Bernard Lewis’s grim conclusion that from the beginning
of the seventeenth century the ‘decline of the Ottoman Empire was clearly
noticeable’, and that by the middle of the eighteenth ‘the evidence of decline
was too strong to be ignored’.7 Abu-Lughod endorsed Gibb’s and Bowen’s
view in the Arab Rediscovery of Europe (1963) when he wrote: ‘Several cen-
turies of isolation, staticism, and decay had brought Islamic society to a
nadir by the eighteenth century . . . The decline was general, encompassing
almost every area of human activity.’8 The idea that Arab-Islamic civilisation
entered a period of ‘decline’ after the sixteenth century has remained highly
influential in academic circles. In the 1992 Cambridge volume on modern
Arabic literature, Badawi writes: ‘the Ottoman period marks the nadir of
Arabic literature. Although historians of literature may have exaggerated the
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