Gasprinski _Nahda

8/22/2019 Gasprinski _Nahda

1/43

Thomas Kuttner

Russian jaddism and the Islamic world : Ismail Gasprinskii in

Cairo, 1908.In: Cahiers du monde russe et sovitique. Vol. 16 N3-4. Juillet-Dcembre 1975. pp. 383-424.

Rsum

Thomas Kuttner, Le djaddisme russe et le monde islamique. Ismail Gasprinskii au Caire, 1908.

La publication phmre d'un journal en arabe, al-Nahdah, par Ismail Bey Gasprinskii pendant son bref sjour au Caire, en

fvrier-mars 1908, est passe inaperue jusqu' ce jour. Pourtant elle revt une grande importance car elle souligne le rle

considrable que le djaddisme et les penseurs djaddistes jourent dans la modernisation de l'Islam. Al-Nahdah servit de

vhicule aux ides socio-cono miques de Gasprinskii. En outre, pour la premire fois, il s'aventurait dans le domaine du

commentaire politique, un domaine auquel il n'avait jamais touch encore, en raison du svre contrle que le gouvernement

exerait sur la presse musulmane de Russie. Enfin, grce al-Nahdah, Gasprinskii put diffuser sa proposition d'un Congrs

islamique universel, proposition qui fut boude par les cercles officiels et qui ne devait jamais se raliser.

Abstract

Thomas Kuttner, Russian jaddism and the Islamic world Ismail Gasprinskii in Cairo, 1908.

The short-lived publication by Ismail Bey Gasprinskii of an Arabic newspaper, al-Nahdah, during his brief sojourn in Cairo in the

months of Feb.-March, 1908, has hitherto gone unnoticed. However, the appearance of al-Nahdah is of no little significance, for itunderscores the important role which Russian Jaddism and the Jaddist thinkers played in the development of Islamic

modernism. Al-Nahdah served as a vehicle for Gasprinskii's socio-economic ideas and was his first outright venture into the field

of political commentary, an area in which he had not hitherto entered, due to the stringent government control of the Russian

Muslim Press. Finally the newspaper served as an organ to broadcast Gasprinskii's proposal for a Universal Islamic Congress, a

proposal frowned upon in official circles and one which never came to fruition.

Citer ce document / Cite this document :

Kuttner Thomas. Russian jaddism and the Islamic world : Ismail Gasprinskii in Cairo, 1908. In: Cahiers du monde russe etsovitique. Vol. 16 N3-4. Juillet-Dcembre 1975. pp. 383-424.

doi : 10.3406/cmr.1975.1247

http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/cmr_0008-0160_1975_num_16_3_1247
http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/author/auteur_cmr_744http://dx.doi.org/10.3406/cmr.1975.1247http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/cmr_0008-0160_1975_num_16_3_1247http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/cmr_0008-0160_1975_num_16_3_1247http://dx.doi.org/10.3406/cmr.1975.1247http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/author/auteur_cmr_744


2/43

Problmes de nationalits en Russie et en URSS

THOMAS KUTTNER

RUSSIAN JADIDISM AND THE I SLAMIC WORLDISMAIL GASPRINSKII IN CAIRO - 1908

A call to the Arabs for the rejuvenationof the Islamic world

IIntroduction*

In a brief seven-day period covering the final days of February andthe initial days of March 1908, an unpretentious yet remarkable Arabiclanguage newspaper styling itself as "sociological, political, progressive-reformist, and literary" in content appeared in Cairo: al-Nahdah /LaRenaissance.1 Certainly, the radiantly shining rising sun boldly emblazoned across its masthead and serving as a visual image of its messagesuffered an abrupt eclipse, for some sixteen issues had been envisionedof which only three saw the presses: those of Friday February 28th, Tuesday March 3rd and Friday March 30th.2 Ephemeral as its existencemay have been, al-Nahdah proves to have been a periodical worthy ofnote by virtue both of the particulars of its publication and of the materials which it contained.What distinguished al-Nahdah above all else was the person of itseditor-publisher and chief contributor, Ismail Bey Gasprinskii, CrimeanTatar educator, journalist, and crusading politician an acknowledgedleader of the Islamic modernist /reform movement (Jaddism) in MuslimRussia.3 To be sure, Gasprinskii's was not the first journal in Cairo tobe edited by a non-Arab Muslim already for several years Turk, acontroversial periodical of high quality, had been published there by agroup of Ottoman Turk political exiles who, like many of their co-religionists of radical persuasion elsewhere in the Islamic body politic, found

Cahiers du Monde russe et sovitique, XVI (3-4), juil.-dc. 1975, pp. 383-424.


3/43

384 THOMAS KUTTNERin British occupied Egypt a place of refuge. But in two respects Gas-prinskii's small project differed significantly from this and other moregrandiose endeavors: Gasprinskii himself was not a political exile, butrather a Tatar national figure admittedly if begrudgingly respected bythe Russian authorities; and, unlike its counterparts al-Nahdah waspublished in Arabic rather than in Turkish (despite Gasprinskii's ownlack of knowledge of this language), belying its appeal to quite anotheraudience.It is this dual uniqueness which lends to al-Nahdah its special interestto the scholar. Viewed from one perspective al-Nahdah might appearto be nothing more than what it was most probably consciously intendedto be by its editor: a distillation in highly concentrated form for thebenefit of an Arab audience of his social message to the Turkic worldin particular and to the Islamic world in general. Often propoundedelsewhere, this message proclaimed the need for the Westernization ofMuslim society to be effected by the implementation of various culturaland socio-economic reforms. But here unconsciously, and one suspectsperhaps not so unconsciously, Gasprinskii has taken the opportunityto expand in a new direction and to express his ideas, tentative andcontradictory though they may be, on the very critical question of thepolitical relationship between Islamic and Western societies in generaland on the political situation in Russia in particular. That he shouldhave done so is in retrospect not surprising.Gasprinskii like the majority of the Russian Muslim leaders of hisgeneration, was in outward appearances a political conservative, studiously correct in his show of loyalty towards the Tsarist regime.4 Thisattitude was of course necessitated by force of circumstance, yet it hadthe net effect of casting him in an unfavorable light in the eyes of hisyounger contemporaries, especially towards the end of his career. Thebrief respite from political repression afforded by the 1905 Revolution,and more importantly the wave of enthusiasm which had swept acrossAsiatic Russia after the Japanese victory in the Russo-Japanese War(1904-05), fired these younger men with an impetuousness and desirefor action which was intolerant of the cautious attitudes and hesitantactions so long pursued by their mentors. They chose to ignore thesevere disabilities under which these latter had been forced to live.Testimony of this fact is to be seen in the short reminiscence of the Bash-kiri nationalist Zeki Validov (Togan): 'I remember saying to him thatIsmail Bey (Gaspirali) had been too servile [. . .] It was dangerous for usto encourage the Russians to approach us in the guise of a big brother [. . .]make love to us in order to betray us . It was better for the future of thecolonial peoples to refrain from close mingling, as the English did. . .Ebubekir replied, "The ideas of that period were different; moreover,had Ismail Bey said that, his book would never have passed the censorship.In bad times he brought us at least some comfort". . .'5Indeed the key to understanding Gasprinskii's political quietism isto be found in the issue of censorship. In many ways Gasprinskii's mostremarkable feat was his success at publishing in Bahesaray his provocative, widely read and influential paper Terjumdn (The Interpreter)continuously and uninterruptedly for some thirty years from 1883 until


4/43

GASPRINSKII IN CAIRO 385his death in 1914.* He was a master at deftly outmanoeuvring the heavyhand of the censor, but the price he paid was silence and the abdicationof the right to a forthright exposition of his political views. Now suddenly for a brief time he found himself free from this burdensome weightand, casting aside his accumulated inhibitions, he ventured gingerlyinto the arena of politics.Al-Nahdah then affords to the reader the unique opportunity of readingmaterial imited and ambiguous though it may be written or edited y a Gasprinskii unhampered by the threat of the political censor.That he miscalculated in assessing the freedom of expression which Cairoas a locale for broadcasting his views afforded, is borne out by the hastysuppression of the organ. Whether this action was taken independentlyby the British censor admittedly more liberal than his Russian counterpartut ever present all the same or under pressure from some outsidepower, either the Ottoman Government which was at the time hostiletowards Gasprinskii's proposed project for an Islamic Congress, or theRussian Government which was portrayed most disparagingly in thepaper, cannot be determined. Be that as it may, a hastily insert noticein the third issue of the paper announced its immediate suspension ofoperation, optimistically termed "temporary," but as events proved tobe, permanent, due to the "indisposition" of the editor whom physiciansadvised to "refrain from mental exertion."7Nevertheless, Gasprinskii managed in the short week of freedom allotted im to reveal a political thinking which if somewhat ambiguous wasdefinitely more radical than that propounded by him in his Russian basedjournal. These writings, in many cases only brief and oblique references,and more importantly several longer exposs of Russian domestic andforeign politics chosen for publication by Gasprinskii although writtenby an anonymous correspondent in Petersburg, illumine for us hithertohidden aspects of the man's thinking.From the Arab viewpoint too al-Nahdah was unique. Even if the moreblatantly political articles were immediately of interest to the TurkicMuslim populace of Russia, their impression on the Arabs must have beenconsiderable as well. Gasprinskii wanted to broaden the consciousnessof his Arab readers ocial, cultural, historical and political o intensifytheir awareness of the tremendous diversity present in the Islamic worldwhich had the potential for coalescing into a dynamic cultural unity.The healthy tension inherent in this "diversity in unity" was Gasprinskii'sanswer to the crushing uniformity of cultural and socio-economic decaythen besetting the Islamic world. The Arab reader here viewed Muslimhistory, culture, geography, ethnography and literature as through akaleidoscope whose focus was in the hands of the Crimean Tatar. Theeffect could not have been but startling.The extent to which Gasprinskii's very mode of expression had beenheavily influenced by Russian political concepts then currenta phenomenonost probably unrecognized by him but effected over a periodof time by a type of cultural osmosis s most strikingly evident in a longarticle entitled: "To the dear Egyptian peasant."8 This open letter isin effect a joint panegyric celebrating the worth and achievements ofthe Egyptian fellah and a clarion call bidding him rise up and assert his


5/43

386 THOMAS KUTTNERdignity and inherent right to full possession of the land and its fruits,all done in the best tradition of Russian populism. Small wonder thenthat one French observer cautiously referred to it as written "dans unstyle nouveau pour le journalisme arabe."9 To the typical Arab reader,a literate and articulate member of the urban middle and upper classesfor whom the fellah was lower on the scale of human values than a goodpack animal, the message conveyed and not just the style was outrageousif not revolutionary.This then wul be the dual perspective through which we wish to analyze the contents of al-Nahdah in depth, ever conscious of the particularbackground of its editor destined to influence the choice of content ofthe paper as well as the manner of its presentation, and equally consciousof the audience to which he addressed himself and of the response whichthe paper must have evoked from it.

II"al-Nahdah": Description

In physical characteristics al-Nahdah was a modest venture, attractivelynd simply laid out and modestly priced. Subscriptions were encouraged nd at ten Egyptian piastres for sixteen issues more than reasonable; nsolicited copies sold for less than this amount at one-half piastreapiece or a total of eight piastres for all sixteen issues.10 Gasprinskiiused his lodgings in the Hotel Minerva in the European quarter of Cairoas his business office, to which was directed all correspondence as wellas subscription inquiries.Al-Nahdah was scheduled to appear twice-weekly on Fridays andTuesdays. Of the three issues printed each consisted of four pages ofwhich the last was composed entirely of advertisements and politicalcartoons. These latter were taken either directly or via Terjumn fromwell-known papers published in Muslim Russia hose from the Azerisatirical review Molla Nasreddin (published at Tiflis) being the mosteasily identifiable.11 Apart from these cartoons, six in number, al-Nahdahwas liberally illustrated throughout boasting seven accompanying photographs for several different articles no mean feat for a publication ofits size. These are as varied as a portrait of a contemporary Muslimruler, a map of the Eastern hemisphere, and photographs of severalIslamic architectural masterpieces, a Muslim handicraft display and thesummer residence of an Islamic potentate.In the space of these three issues a total of some twenty major articlesand numerous lesser notices, announcements and editorial comments wereprinted. These could be roughly broken down into five major categories.Two major articles dealt with the on-going plans for Gasprinskii projectedUniversal Islamic Congress tentatively scheduled to be held in the followingyear, and these occasioned numerous letters of response from throughoutthe Islamic worldprimarily Asiatic Russia as well as editorial comment from several Egyptian dailies reprinted for the benefit of the reader.


6/43

GASPRINSKII IN CAIRO 387By far the greatest amount of space was allotted to five major articlesoutlining in some detail the editor's major criticisms of the socio-economicnd cultural dereliction then prevalent in the Islamic world and hissuggestion for remedying this state of affairs.

Political news and commentary was of two sorts. The politicalsituation in several Islamic countries was generally discussed in fourarticles and as mentioned above, of especial interest were the three length-ly and highly detailed accounts of the contemporary domestic and foreignpolitical scene in Russia. A further five articles dealt with the socialand cultural aspects of several contemporary Muslim societies seldomheard of among the Arabs. These were in the form of historical accounts,ethnological studies and travelogues. Finally, apart from short miscellaneaas the literary supplement, a three-part serialization in Arabic translation of the introductory pages of Gasprinskii's Utopian work RihlahGharbiyah (Sojourn in the West). Thus the several areas of interestclaimed by the paper as within its purview were each adequately represented.But the reader is advised that such schematization serves merely asa convenient and somewhat artificial mode of outlining the scope ofal-Nakdah's contents. Such fractionalization tends to obscure the veryreal integration and unity of theme which actually characterized thesubstance of al-Nahdah due to the fact that seventeen out of the twentymajor articles of the paper (85%) were penned by the hand of Gasprinskiihimself.Because of his lack of fluency in Arabic Gasprinskii depended on hisfellow Tatar national Musa 'Abd Allah al-Oazani,12 at the time residentin Cairo and a student at the al-Azhr University, to translate into Arabichis own articles and the correspondence received in Tatar or Russian.Interestingly, the language employed is often of the highest classicalstyle only rarely exhibiting a stiffness of phraseology or lack of correctidiom which one might expect from a non-native adept.The printing house entrusted with putting out the paper was theMatba'at al-W'z (al-Wu'z Press) which advertised itself in each issueas a "printer of newspapers, journals, scientific and literary books, cardsand invoices."13 Gasprinskii appears to have met the printing costsincurred partially by giving the printer unlimited advertising space inal-Nahdah. Of the seven advertisements carried on the last page ofeach issue six are of the printer and these publicize various works fromhis press. They are chiefly works of a pedagogical nature, some devotedto traditional subjects rhetoric, style and literary criticism and othersto those of a more modern curriculum he biological and physicalsciences. Featured as well in contrast to these was lighter materialgames and puzzles. The seventh advertisement was for Gasprinskii'sown publishing house in Bahesaray, for which he had an Egyptian agent.


7/43

388 THOMAS KUTTNERIII

"al-Nahdah": AnalysisAs Ismail Gasprinskii wrote in his introductory editorial to al-Nahdah,u its purpose was expressed by its very title: to arouse in the readera spirit of endeavor. But this role of the paper as a gad-fly on societywas to be a dual one. On the one hand it was to provide a forum in whichthe important issues then besetting Muslim society were to be openlyand fully discussed. For Gasprinskii this involved a three-fold logicalprocess. First Islamic society, the ummah, had to take the crucial stepof acknowledging to itself its critical state of impotence and its consequentneed for full rejuvenationa renaissance. Once this was achieved thenthe community could examine objectively and dispassionately the retro

gressive elements imbedded within its heritage and the self-delusionsso long rampant in the vociferous justification of that heritage whichtogether hindered the community from development and condemned itto permanent stagnation. This done the community could then exploreand adopt ways to hasten into effect its full and complete rebirth as aprogressive component in modern civilization.Secondly al-Nahdah was to function as the chief organ of propagationfor Gasprinskii's proposal to convene a Universal Islamic Congress. Itwas due to this, its pragmatic role, that al-Nahdah was envisaged as a typeof itinerate journal, published periodically at different locations withinthe Islamic world and in whatever language was locally prevalent. Toensure continuity of form and content its editorship had to remain constant,so Gasprinskii proposed for himself a tour of the major regions of theIslamic world, Egypt being but the first of several stops. l5 The prematuredemise of al-Nahdah at this, its first-way station, apparently dampened theenthusiasm of its editor, for its anticipated reincarnations failed to materialize.The proposed Congress itself also failed to materialize so that in retrospect this, the primary reason for the publication of the paper, looses itssignificance. However, as the general aims of al-Nahdah and the particular aims of the Congress were identical, Gasprinskii did succeed inpromulgating his views on those subjects which were to have been discussedn the Congress through the medium of the paper. We shall examinethese views in some detail in the next pages of this study, for conveniencesake dividing them into several categories: those dealing with social andcultural problems and their remedy; those dealing with the economicsituation; and those touching on the political realities of the day.

A. Social and cultural reformThe programme of social and cultural reform advocated by Gasprinskiithroughout the several issues of al-Nahdah mirrored for the most part

that which he had promoted unceasingly for over a quarter of a century


8/43

GASPRINSKII IN CAIRO 389in his newspaper Terjuman as well as in his various other writings. Inbrief this programme has been described as entailing the following: aneducational reform based on European models; the emancipation of theMuslim woman; the establishment of broadly based philanthropic societieswhich could direct, co-ordinate and underwrite all activity aimed at therealization of the first two goals; the creation of a common Turkish literary anguage.16 This last aspect of the programme aimed as it was atthe creation of a viable medium for the channelling of a nascent pan-Turkic nationalism was of no interest to Gasprinskii's Arab audience andas such was totally ignored in al-Nahdah, whose raison d'tre transcendedpurely national concerns. This willingness on the part of Gasprinskiito forego what to many of his contemporaries was the lynch-pin of hisreformist proposals is of signifiance, for it reveals the essentially univer-salistic character and appeal of his thought. He was no pan-Islamistin the pejorative sense of the term then current,17 but neither was hea committed Turkish nationalist of the Akura mold, and the ease withwhich he adapted his well-integrated reform programme for this non-Turkic, Arabic speaking Muslim community without sacrificing in anyway its essential characteristics is witness to this.18

1. EducationFor Gasprinskii education was a double-edged sword in the service ofnational revival. On the one hand, once given the initial impetus itwould of its own effectively loosen the stranglehold which the traditionalreligious lite, pinioned under the weight of its own obscurantist doctrines,had on the formation of the Islamic community. On the other hand, anenlightened community schooled in an advanced pedagogical system ofthe European type would possess that maturity of spirit and the technological-scientific facility demanded of it to acquire viable political andeconomic independence. Education then is the keystone of the newsociety envisioned by Gasprinskiia society which, while true to its traditions and culture, takes its place proudly among the most advancedsocieties of the West.Gasprinskii had himself pioneered just such an educational reform,the usul-i-jadid, in Russia and its phenomenal expansion (over 5,000 jadidschools in Russia by 1916) attested to its success. Although possessedof a ready model then by which to edify the Egyptians, Gasprinskii chose

not to outline in detail a tested system for them to emulate.19 Rather,he used al-Nahdah as a platform from which to broadcast the philosophywhich lay behind the concrete reforms. In numerous articles he forcefully presented his viewpoint that education provided the means wherebythe Islamic revival was to be achieved; without it all hope for such arevival was in vain.Gasprinskii outlined his philosophy of education most broadly forhis readers in a lengthy article entitled "Causes of progress and development."20 He postulated his theories on the basic premise that trueeducation is a two-fold process comprising the unstructured years of achild's early rearing and upbringing followed by the more structuredperiod of formal pedagogy. Given the two institutions of family and


9/43

390 THOMAS KUTTNERsociety, Gasprinskii assigned a critical role to a component of each, in thefirst instance the wife /mother and in the second the school. Contentwith reminding the reader of the responsibility of society to innovateand implement "developed programmes" within its school system, Gasprinskii devoted the bulk of the article to the educational function ofthe mother within the family.Gasprinskii never tired of reiterating for the benefit of his readersthe idea that women played a pivotal role in the modernizing process.He viewed the sexist chauvinism so glaringly apparent in this maledominated society as the cankerous "malady of the East." The dominant view that woman is to serve as the passive vessel of man's reproductive drive, active only in his physical birth and growth but not inany way in his spiritual development, was bitterly criticized by Gasprinskii.n opposition he forthrightly proclaimed that woman is the"touchstone of a progressive society" and indeed "Egypt will be rescuedfrom her debility only by an educated, modern, knowledgeable womanhood ware of its spiritual and temporal duties."This intimate linking of Egypt's future with the heretofore unrealizededucation of her women was for Gasprinskii axiomatic shocking as itmust have been for his readers. Passionately committed to his position,he put forward various arguments to convince his readers of its validity.On the one hand he appealed to the common sense of his reader, insistingthat if he was willing to train an animal of limited potential in order toincrease its productivity, how much more so should he be willing to investtime, money and energy in the actual education much less the trainingof women whose potential was unlimited and whose benefit to societywas unmeasurable, not only in terms of themselves but in terms of theenlightened generation of children which they would raise.In another tack Gasprinskii sought historical justification for hiscontentions. In an interesting sociological excursus Gasprinskii attributedthe German victory over the French in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71to their enlightened feminist position. The reputed high level of education attained by German women coupled with their higher birth rateshad provided Prussia with an unusually competent generation of youngmen beside whom their French counterparts were decidedly inferior.Elsewhere throughout the newspaper while dealing with other issues,Gasprinskii makes references to education and these underscore the importance he attached to it as the primary factor in a successful modernizationof the East. Thus after painting a bleak picture of the state of derelictionto which cultural life in Samarkand had descended, he informs the readerthat in its educational system, the classical curriculum of grammar, syntax,morphology, rhetoric and ethics is still rigidly adhered to.21 Thoughsuch an education is not intrinsically retrogressive, it becomes so if givenexclusive of the Western sciences.In his allegorical novel, Sojourn in the West, this attitude towardstraditional education is borne out in a humorous vein when 'Abbas thenarrator, educated first in Samarkand in the traditional subjects and thenlater in Paris in the modern sciences, chemistry, physics, mathematics,and engineering, addresses the twelve houri whom he has inadvertentlystumbled upon. These sophisticated damsels react but mutely to the


10/43

GASPRINSKII IN CAIRO 39Ipoetic raptures with which he describes his home country in classical literary tyle, considering such outbursts to be "quaint" and a reflection of hisrather backward ways.22'Abbs's saving grace was his versatility in the Western sciences, butunfortunately it was in the vested interests of the religious establishmentto see to it that the spread of such knowledge remained severely restricted.In two political cartoons devoted to this subject Gasprinskii villifiesthis class first as the culprits most directly responsible for the exclusionof young girls from any formal education whatsoever,23 and secondly asunprincipled charlatans employing the veil of obscurantism to mulct theignorant masses of what meager returns their harsh toil might have earned.24 In the first, a bearded and turbaned sheikh, young maiden in tow,responds to her inquiries as to the purpose of the building before whichthey stand: 'It's called a "school" but there's nothing of interest herefor you now run along my girl.' In the second, a corpulent mulld,well-dressed and with bejewelled fingers, sits complacently and bemoans:"We are impoverished from worrying over the affairs of the ummah andstriving for its improvement."Many problems indigenous to Muslim society could be tackled onlyby the systematic implantation and regulation of a reformed school programme. It was for this reason that the first concerted action of theIslamic faction in the third Duma was directed at the passage of a schoolreform bill.26 In Egypt itself the elimination of many vices which besetthe society could be accomplished only by the establishment of a strongeducational system. Decrying the high incidence of alcoholism andhashish addiction found in Egyptian society, Gasprinskii, though advocatinghe enactment and enforcement of legislation aimed at curbing theseills, warned his reader that such measures would be efficacious only ifaccompanied by a concurrent spread of education.26

2. The position of women in Islamic societyand their emancipationThe emphasis which Gasprinskii placed on the need for educatedwomen to play their proper role in society was in fact the key elementin his advocating the immediate emancipation of the Muslim woman.Once universal education was established, a new woman would emerge,freed from the bonds imposed on her by a male dominated society.Gasprinskii again spent little time outlining a detailed programme offemale emancipation replete with platforms, slogans and demands,because he rightly foresaw the inevitability of this phenomenon developingf its own accord once the basic requirement had been met: education.Rather, in two scathing articles entitled, "Causes of progress and development"27 and "Enlightened Islamic societies,"28 he indicted Islamic societyas a whole for the "crime" not only of passive neglect of its women, butof active oppression of them as well.Gasprinskii viewed the material and moral degradation of the Islamicworld as well as its occupation by various foreign powers as in a sense,"just recompense" for its total disregard of Natural Law, interpreted

here as equivalent to Islamic Law (the Shar'ah) and Islamic Tradition


11/43

392 THOMAS KUTTNER(the Sunnah). Nowhere was this disregard more blatant nor more inneed of remedy than in the prevalent attitudes toward and treatmentof women.Whereas Qur'an itself enjoined the believer, regardless of sex, to walkin the path of righteousness and whereas both men and women were madesubject to the same law, in actuality Islamic society refused to grant tothe latter equal status. Gasprinskii's accusations are harsh and bluntfor in his opinion, not only is woman's equality of rights denied but evenmore, she is regarded in a sense as sub-human, devoid of those characteristics normally attributed to man. Not only does Islamic societyrefuse to her a role and a share in its life, but it consciously denies to herthe opportunity ever to gain the capability to do so.In a rhetorical jibe Gasprinskii remarks: 'Not to educate one's sonsis considered by Islamic society as inexcusableyet do not one's daughtersoo need "to know" themselves?' This denial of the very existenceof the female intellect was for Gasprinskii morally reprehensible. Denyingo their women the "jewels" of knowledge and culture, Muslim menwere content to adorn them with "baubles" of gold and silver s ifthat should satisfy them.The veil was for Gasprinskii the symbol par excellence of the oppressedstatus of women. Though fallen into general disuse among the Tatarsand other Russian Turks, it still constituted an essential feature of urbanArab society. The idealized houri in Sojourn in the West walked aboutunconcernedly in the company of a strange young man, and of coursewith faces exposed.29 Polish Muslims of his day went about unveiledand Gasprinskii observed: "Yet they are virtuous and no harlots!"30It was the conservative traditionalist lite whom Gasprinskii brandedas most blatant in their discrimination against women. Again throughthe use of several well-chosen cartoons, this was graphically portrayedfor the reader.31 In one, a sheikh in traditional garb, seated on a donkeyand riding-whip in hand, journeys contentedly while his two wives andnumerous children trudge alongside the road, loaded down with fuel andfurniture. The subscript: "This sheikh has certainly received his share ofgood fortune for he owns a donkey and two wives;" and the order inwhich his goods are enumerated is not insignificant. A second cartoonwith the suggestive subscript: "This needs no explanation. ..." must havebeen much more shocking for the average reader. It depicts a ratherfrail-looking elderly mulld seated on his divan, lasciviously fondling anubile young maiden on his knee. Now this insinuation of outright sexualimmorality on the part of the traditional religious lite is in itself mostdaringbut Gasprinskii meant thereby to say much more.This degradation of woman, despite pious justifications continuouslyvoiced, stemmed in fact, so Gasprinskii maintains, from the consciouseffort on the part of one class to exploit another. Now what Gasprinskiifound most discouraging and indeed the greatest stumbling block inthe realization of his reform goals, was a phenomenon which social reformersoth before and after him so often faced. As he put it, the veryclass which is oppressed n this case womenhas become "conditioned"not only to accept its status, but indeed to be satisfied with it as well.Women were content to be "begettors of two-legged primates capable


12/43

GASPRINSKII IN CAIRO 393of standing upright," and in so doing they forfeited the case for theiremancipation to that class in whose vested interest it was to ensure theiroppression. The innocent victims of this vicious cycle would be of coursethe children, consigned to an upbringing devoid of any value.

But this traditional class is not alone in its oppression of women.Indeed, just as callous in their attitude is the newly westernized litemen who through casual contact with Europeans resident in the East,have adopted a veneer of Western sophistication, reveling in the newlydiscovered virtues libert and galit. This superficially westernized manhas been well described by Vambry as possessed of the following attributes:"(i) a suit of the finest broadcloth, after the latest cut and fashion;(2) tight patent leather shoes;(3) a small, jaunty fez, rakishly worn on one side of the head, and,as a matter of course, gloves too;(4) an easy, graceful step, accompanied by a fashionable carriageof the arms and hands; and(5) French conversation."32Just such a "gentleman" is portrayed in one of Gasprinskii's cartoons, arather gaudy-looking young "mademoiselle" in European attire on onearm, instructing his servant: "Muhammad, I'm going for a walk in thepark. See to it that the woman of the house [his wife] does not glanceout of the window t would offend public taste." So much for hisespousal of the cause of female emancipation.33Gasprinskii decried the position to which women in Islamic societieswere condemned for broader reasons than merely concern for their welfare.He was convinced that their emancipation was crucial for the future ofthe entire society. As he told his reader, the progress and advancesachieved by the women of the West had been the critical factor in the progressively raised standards of living there. Where such advances wereaccomplished among Muslim women, similar developments in the societyas a whole occurred. Poland afforded adequate proof.The Muslim women of Poland34 were distinguished by the level ofaccomplishment to which they had attained in the social sphere. Indistinguishable from their Russian and Polish Christian compatriots in dress,language, or behavior, they were educated in the same schools. Onefound them economically productive as well, actively engaged in government ervice as employees in the postal service and the telegraph andtelephone exchange. Many worked as well as secretaries, governessesor school teachers the latter in the State system as specialized Muslimschools did not exist.As Gasprinskii pointed out elsewhere,85 the progress achieved bythe women of the West in the realization of their emancipation had beenone of the critical factors in the rise of national standards of living, andthe concomitant strengthening of the Western nations. Were the Eastto follow the West in this regard it could be assured of a vigorous lifetoo, for in essence enlightened society was dependent on a changed attitude towards, and treatment of , its women. In short, Polish Muslimwomen served to illustrate this conviction; they were an advanced, pro-


13/43

394 THOMAS KUTTNERductive element in an enlightened Polish society, by far the most progressiveroup of women within the Islamic world and a model to be emulatedby all.

3. Social responsibility and community organizationIn the lengthy article just cited, "Enlightened Islamic societies,"Gasprinskii broadly outlined the direction in which he felt Islamic societymust go if it were to overcome obstacles entrenched within itself, whichhindered the realization of his programme of reform. A modernizededucational establishment and an emancipated womanhood, the hallmarks of the progressive society, seemed almost unattainable in theEast due to the monolithic nature of Islam as lived by the masses. Popularslam was for him characterized by two features a "maze of superstition" which entrapped the hapless believer and the "shackles of taqld"(lit. "imitation"), the doctrine enjoining blind obedience to the moresand practices of the past not in spirit but in form.To cut through this maze of superstition Gasprinskii proposed thesharp-edged sword of education, but to loosen the chains of taqlid wouldrequire the displacement of the entrenched clerical classes from theirposition of authority in traditional society. As he pointed out, to accomplish he first without the second would result only in a Pyrrhic victory,for the forces of tradition, if left untouched, would ultimately triumph.The spearhead of Islamic reform had to be a two-pronged weapon, whichwould provide a new educational basis on which to forge a viable, renascent society, and at the same time which would destroy the decayingedifice of traditionalism, housing only a brittle and fragmented society.But how was this reform to be effected? Again as was his want,Gasprinskii did not provide a detailed blueprint, but rather suggesteda broad framework on which the new society would be built. Centralto his view of a re-built Islamic society is the concept of social responsibility. The inculcation of this sense in the consciousness of the individualember of society, especially from among its upper classes, is asine qua non for Gasprinskii; and worthy of mention and emulation whenevidenced. It is for this reason that he took pains to report of the "handsome donation" of Prince Hussein Pasha Psh Kaml of 500 E.L. tothe Child Welfare Society and his pledge to donate a further 100 E.L.annually. Others of his wealth and status were exhorted to do likewisefor the less fortunate.36But if such largesse is to be effective it is essential that it be properlychannelled, and as such Gasprinskii advocated that private social responsibilitye co-ordinated in programmes sponsored by structured communityrganizations. Of significance is the fact that Gasprinkii envisagedsuch organizations as springing up spontaneously among groups of like-minded individuals committed to the new society, rather than as offshootsrooted in the traditional charitable institution of established Islam,the Waqf.Despite distinct elements of populism in his philosophy and eventinges of egalitarianism, Gasprinskii basically accepted the class basisof society and projected his sociological ideas upon it. Doubtless he was


14/43

GASPRINSKII IN CAIRO 395aware of the more radical social ideologies then current, especially in post-1905 Russia, which had by that time definitely penetrated Muslim Russiain tangible form. Nevertheless, the scheme which he presents to the Arabreader reveals his acceptance of an elitist view of society. As he saw it,advanced societies invariably possessed an upper stratum of intellectuals,influential in counsels, who actively engaged in the reform of social institutions and structures, and continually sought for the best means ofaccomplishing social progress. This class served as a model for all others,and if emulated on its innovative leadersliip, ensured the advancementof the entire society .Now Islamic society as yet possessed no such integrated intellectualleadership. True, a group of enlightened 'ulama (clerics) did exist, butits influence in the circles of authority was at most limited and moreusually non-existent. Moreover, members of this group often lacked thestrength of their convictions and often displayed an abysmal moralcowardice when confronted by a hostile and powerful opposition.Likewise, there was that group of Muslims who, educated n Europe, returnedo their home countries enamoured of European culture and firedwith a spirit of reform. But all too often their adoption of Europeanways was but a veneer superficially covering an underlying characterstill deeply entrenched in Islamic traditionalism. From the likes ofsuch as these nothing of permanence could be expectedFinally Gasprinskii did acknowledge that enlightened strata didexist in selected places within the Islamic world of which he enumeratedthree: Baku, Alexandria and Cairo. But unfortunately these lacked asense of social responsibility and gathered for little else but self-gratification. Sarcastically he derides their partying circuit, from celebrationst the end of the Ramadan fast to weddings and funerals. Themore Europeanized of them frequent the many Western sporting andsocial clubs, or hob-nob at the racesnot exactly the most conducivesettings for the implementation of social reform programmes!What was needed for social progress was the creation of multitudesof voluntary associations dedicated to the advancement of every facetof society. The problems of mass poverty, hunger, ignorance, disease,poor hygiene and lack of sanitation each had to be attacked by the concertedfforts of a group of concerned individuals. (Significantly, the onlyspecific institution recommended for Egypt was a Normal School forGirls to be established in every town and city.) Co-ordinating the workof a plethora of social agencies would be a National Club, established inevery city, which would ensure the pursuit of common goals in a spiritof co-operation by the implementation of specific and definite programmes.Tragically, as he noted, no such activity was manifest in Egypt andthis was not because of lack of money nor opposition on the part of theoccupying British. Rather, dereliction in the social sphere had its rootswithin Islamic society itself, weak and debilitated after centuries of inertia. Gasprinskii beseeched his readers, especially those of the newlyeducated lite: "Your minds have been enlightened and changed, nowchange the convictions of the heart and the spirit as well. "


15/43

THOMAS KUTTNER4. Models for reform

(a) The WestThere was no doubt in Gasprinskii's mind that if the East were todevelop in the manner he envisaged, it would have to integrate itselfharmoniously and totally in Western civilization. In an address deliveredo a large and politically heterogeneous group of Egyptian notablesduring his first visit to Cairo in the Autumn of 1907, he succinctly statedthis view as follows: "Je n'ai d'autre but que de rechercher les causes dela dcadence de la nation musulmane, de sonder les voies des progrs etd'arriver au choix des moyens qui nous permettent d'avoir notre partdans la civilisation occidentale. "37 Just what the phrase "la civilisationoccidentale" signified for him, Gasprinskii clearly expounded in an articleof utmost importance which he wrote for the third edition of al-Nahdahand entitled "The means to civilization and reform."38First Gasprinskii defined the West as comprising Europe and America, nd in both two principal features characterized their societies:modernization and enlightened statecraft. Because of the first, theyhad come to be reckoned the teachers of the entire world in science andtechnology. The second was a direct political result of the "lofty ideals"and "outstanding social principles" upon which their societies were based.Technologically and industrially advanced, politically mature and sophisticated, the West represented for him "an example to be emulated withoutxception." Were Western civilization and the basis on which it rested

to spread to the East, there was little doubt in his mind but that the Eastwould in fact take its rightful place in that civilization.Gasprinskii realized the consternation and more than this, the vigorousopposition which such sentiments would arouse in many of his readers.He attempted therefore to cushion the shock of his statements by redefining and broadening the concept of "Western civilization," so as tomake it less foreign for the East and more acceptable as an archetype.He declared that in reality, what was thought of as "Western civilization"was tantamount to "human civilization," rooted as it was in the greatcivilizations of the past from which it had gradually but steadily developed.These civilizations included those of Babylon and Egypt, of the Greeksand the Romans, and finally that of Islam.To a certain extent, what Gasprinskii said here foreshadowed similar

sentiments expressed by the Turkish reformers. Abdullah Cevdet pennedthe phrase "Civilization means European civilization" in 1911,39 and ofcourse in the mid-Twenties Mustafa Kemal Ataturk inaugurated the eraof full-scale westernization in the Turkish Republic which was to radically alter Turkish society. But in some respects Gasprinskii's ideasand their formulation were quite different from those of the Turkishwesternizers. For these latter, European civilization was in itself anabsolute, whereas for Gasprinskii it was more a guide and model foremulation.Gasprinskii was in fact something of a social Darwinist. On the onehand, Islamic civilization and the societies which developed within itwere neither of them ultimate realities which were of supreme value.


16/43

GASPRINSKII IN CAIRO 397Rather, they represented stages in the broader history of human civilization, which had an unlimited potential for progress and development.Western civilization, which at this time represented the latest and mostprogressive stage of that continuum, was not an absolute but would alsodevelop into something of greater perfection. Islamic civilization neednot be castigated as deviant but rather recognized for what it was, butone stage in this great evolutionary process.Gasprinskii sought in this way to establish a dichotomy between Islamas a philosophical /theological system and Islam as a society and civilization. Though this dichotomy is never articulated by him here, it isdefinitely implied, and evidenced by his absolute avoidance of any discussionf the purely religious issues of the day. If he could but influencehis reader to view Islam not as a monolithic structure embracing allaspects of human endeavor, but rather as one with component parts,some of which were eminently changeable, then Gasprinskii felt that thenecessary social evolution would occur. It is however interesting tonote how his philosophy of social evolution echoes the motif of evolutionpresent in the Islamic doctrine of successive revelation, whereby Islam asa religious system supersedes but does not reject previous dispensations.In his schematization Islam as a society too has taken part in a progressivevolutionary process but as a transitional development only. Unfortunately, due to the precipitous demise of al-Nahdah Gasprinskii wasunable to develop these ideas further in the follow-up article which hehad promised the reader.(b) Contemporary Islamic societies

"The Easterners yearn for the past, the Westerners look forward tothe future."40 This saying epitomized for Gasprinskii the faults of theformer and the virtues of the latter. The phenomenon of backwardMuslim societies recently outdistanced even by those peoples among themlong considered more primitive the Jews in Algeria, the Greeks in Crete,the Bulgarians in Bulgaria and everyone in Russiawas lamented byGasprinskii in an editorial in his paper Terjiimn.*1 In al-Nahdah Gasprinskii pointed to the Japanese, the Armenians, the Copts, and theAbyssinians (!) as evidence of vitality among Eastern peoples. To thosewho attributed the continual backwardness of the Muslim people to racialinferiority Gasprinskii countered during his November address at theContinental Hotel that the Finns and the Hungarians, of the same racialstock as the Turks, held their own with the West.42No, the brilliance of Arab history and of Muslim history in generalproves the aptitudes and capabilities of the Arab and Muslim peoples.But to hearken back to the past age of greatness as a refuge and a meansof avoiding the challenges currently facing Muslim society was fruitless,for the grandeur of those years was far outweighed by the decadenceof the present.Rather what had to be re-discovered in the Islamic past was the well-spring of its material strength, the inner force which propelled its civilization into the center of the world stage. As he told his listeners, Islamfavors spiritual development, not stagnation, and if present Islamic


17/43

398 THOMAS KUTTNERsociety would but affirm its potential for development as had past Islamicsocieties, then it would open itself up to the positive aspects of Westerncivuization.It is with this world-view that Gasprinskii provided the Arab readersof al-Nahdah with a series of articles on other Islamic societies, past andpresent. These included a pot pourri of material ranging from historicalssays and travel accounts to a Utopian novel and photographs ofIslamic monuments. In all however, the stress was not on nostalgiclonging and reminiscing but rather on delineating the inner strength whichoccasioned these societies, thereby broadening and deepening the Arabawareness of their own potential for development.Gasprinskii used the convention of reporting his travels to differentregions of the Islamic world in order to present to his readers a picture oftwo Muslim societies which, because of historical circumstances and theirresponses to these, had developed into two radically contrasting societies.The one, the Central Asian Emirate of Bukhara, possessed of a past ofsplendor and of strength, had betrayed that past and so presented to thecontemporary world nothing but a squalor and decadence of immeasurableproportions. The other, the small community of Muslims Tatars inPoland, despite its paucity in numbers and its geographical dispersion,by remaining faithful to the creative spirit of its past, had succeeded indeveloping into a community vibrant and responsive to the modern age.It is Gasprinskii's description of this community to which we will firstturn.(b.i) The Muslims of Poland. Gasprinskii opened his article "The Muslims in Poland"43 with the observation that this small community,numbering only some 14,000 persons and dispersed over the seven Westernmostrovinces of the Russian Empire, was a group unique in the Islamicworld.44 He displayed a familiarity with its earlier history, extendingback into the fifteenth century, and despite a certain factual inexactitudee did convey the main motifs of that history.Recruited as body-guards and warriors by the early kings of Lithuaniaand in a later period those of Poland, bands of Tatar cavalry or Oglanlar(still called Olan by the Slavic peoples), once dreaded marauders, becamean integral component of the Polish State. They gradually acquiredfor themselves various privileges, including entrance into the Polishnobility and hereditary title to landed estates. Settlement on the landled eventually to assimilation into the society, both biological and cultural. Despite the loss of many of its members to the dominant Christiancommunity, as well as the extinction of its language and mores, a hardenedand tempered core of this group did retain that one essential ts Islamicfaith, the traditions of which it preserved in its adopted language, Polishor Russian.Turning to the present-day Muslim community of Poland Gasprinskiifirst discussed its religious life. Mosques with resident imam were existent in Vilna, Novogrudok, Minsk and several other of the larger towns.However, no religious schools of the primary or secondary type (kuttband madrasah) existed, and instead, itinerant teachers traveled from community to community instructing the youth. Some few youths were


18/43

GASPRINSKII IN CAIRO 399sent to other regions of Islamic Russia to attend religious schools, butthe only Muslim-funded high school, that of Minsk which was establishedby Kazan' Tatars, was secular. The great number of Polish Muslimsattented state-run schools of either the Polish or Russian type, togetherwith their Christian countrymen.In their mode of life there was little to distinguish the Polish Tatars.There was no differentiation between them and Christian Poles in dress, language or mores. True, despite a marked degree of biological assimilation,a number of them still exhibited racial characteristics of the mongoloidtype of which Gasprinskii noted facial features, a yellowish complexionand the epicanthal fold of the eyes. But this in no way affected theirsocial integration into greater Polish society.Means of livelihood were varied with most engaged as tillers of thesoil, craftsmen or in the government service either civil or militaryanda few in commerce. Their role in government service was a traditionalone made possible by their non-partisanship in Russian-Polish frictionand the trust and confidence that they enjoyed in both these communities.t was not at all uncommon to discover Tatars in positions ofhighest authority ncluding the general staff often closed to Polishcitizens of the Empire for religious reasons. We have earlier discussedthe high level of achievement attained by the women of this Muslimcommunity.In general what Gasprinskii describes to his Arab reader is a Muslimcommunity which, faithful to the essentials of its Islamic past, has integrated itself fully into the society in which it lives and moreover, contributedo the advancement of that society. The implication is clearPolish Islam, forced to give up not just mores and dress but even itslanguage and racial exclusivity, in its adaptation to Western civilization,was to serve as a beacon to the remainder of the Islamic world. Withoutundergoing the great sacrifices its Polish counterpart had to undergo,that world too could enter into the mainstream of Western civilizationby adoption of the social principles on which it was based, withoutnegating thereby the essential elements of its pastnamely, its Islamicfaith.(b.ii) The Muslims of the Emirate of Bukhara. In stark contrast to thismost vibrant of Islamic societies stood that of the Emirate of Bukhara,in a state of debilitation and utter ruin. In a series of articles entitled"My visit to the Emir of Bukhara" Gasprinskii described to his readers,in a vivid travelogue style, his journey to that backwater of Islamiccivilization made in May, 1893. 45 His visit seems to have been a semiofficial one, as his initial reception by the Russian political agent residentin Bukhara, Messr. Kilm would indicate.He traveled as a personal guest of the Emir who, absent from thecapital, saw to it that he was properly received by an official entouragecomprising the Grand Wazr, Jn Mirz, the Chief Qd, and the Ministerof Finance.46 These provided him with all the amenities of life commensurateith the dignity of one of his status o, much to his amusementGasprinskii acquired a retinue comprised of a valet, two manservants,a courier and guard, three maidservants, and horsedrawn carriage. He


19/43

400 THOMAS KUTTNERwas of course billeted in great style. Though he obviously enjoyed himself, Gasprinskii was quick to point out the great disparity between hisown luxurious treatment, accorded in the tradition of Eastern potentates,and the general situation of the country.

As in his account of Poland, he spends some time detailing the historyof the region. In the age of Timurlane and his immediate successorsSamarkand had been the intellectual capital of Asia. It had reached itsheyday under the reign of Ulugh Bey (1393-1449), grandson of Timur,whose greatest claim to fame rested in his erection of the astronomicalobservatory of Samarkand.47 How ironic that five centuries later students in this same city were condemned to the study of Arabic grammar,syntax, morphology and rhetoric, and rote memorization of the theological sciences.This contrast between past and present Gasprinskii saw graphicallydisplayed in the state of ruin to which many of the great medieval architectural monuments had sunken. He caustically remarks that theWaqf foundations entrusted with the care of these priceless monumentshad "as everywhere in the Islamic world" utterly neglected their duty.As a result it was left to the alien Russians to restore these edifices totheir former state of grandeurwhich they had proceeded to do immediately upon conquest in the late nineteenth century. He provides uswith the photographs of two such monuments he interior of Timur'stomb and the facade of the Shir-Dar Medreseh, both at Samarkand.48As mentioned earlier, these articles are cast in the mold of traveloguesand throughout one senses his disappointment at the country's stateof affairs. Unlike his report on Poland he is reduced to producing a diaryaccount of his most mundane affairs, but with brief references to thesociety around him. He refers to the modern living quarters of theRussians in Samarkand nd his silence as regards the Muslim quarterin contrast to these speaks more than words. Elsewhere, he describesthe tomb of Muhammad ibn Muhammad Naqshband (1317-1389), founderof the Naqshband Sufi order, now a place of pilgrimage for his followersand devotees. Again, his silence as regards any other facet of religiouslife in Bukhara other than this manifestation of external piety betrayshis disappointment.With these brief references then he negligent Waqf authorities,the ruined monuments, pietistic pilgrimages and a hollow educationsystem, coupled with the pomp of his own reception, and all contrastedwith the past grandeur of the medieval Timurid EmpireGasprinskiihas presented his reader with a society diametrically opposed to that ofthe Polish Muslims.Isolated from greater Islamic society as was its Polish counterpart,we see here the material decline of a society which, unlike that counterpart,as betrayed the spiritual basis of its past. The great danger nowwas that greater Islamic society, already stagnant, would also go the wayof this most debilitated of Muslim societies. A return to the spirit of thepast, as evidenced in the creative openness of the Timurid Empire, notone to the antiquated forms of the past, would ensure the reversal of thisdisintegrating process. Polish Muslim society had done just this, Bukha-rian Muslim society had not.


20/43

GASPRINSKII IN CAIRO 4OI(b.iii) The Muslims of the Abode of Tranquillity. In the same spirit asthe above articles Gasprinskii published a series in quite another genre,that of the Utopian novel. Each issue of al-Nahdah contained a literary section entitled "Rafraf al-Nahdah" /Feuilleton of al-Nahdah),*9in which there appeared the first three instalments of a projected full-scale serialization of his work "The Muslims of the Abode of TranquillityA sojourn in the West."50 Despite the limited portion of the workwhich was printed, enough did appear to convey the general gist of theplot and the theme which the author wished to develop.Set in the early years of the last century, the story is narrated bya young man of Tashkent, 'Abbas by name, who having been schooledin the traditional Islamic subjects at Bukhara and Samarkand, had goneto the great centers of learning in Europe as well, to study the Westernsciences. Anxious to visit the sites in Europe in which Islamic civilization had once flourished, he journeyed to Southern SpainAndalus tothe Arabs and the fabled cities of Cordoba and Granada. The settingof the storymarvellously depicted by a photograph of the interior ofthe great mosque at Cordoba51 was particularly fitting for an Arabaudience, for whom Andalus conjures up the image of a golden age ofgreatness and splendor, Islamic civilization at its pinnacle.Drunken with ecstasy at the sight of the al-Hamrd fortress (Al-Hambra), where he was wont to spend his days, 'Abbas wakens one dayfrom his reverie to discover himself in the presence of twelve beautifulmaidensArabic-speaking houri in traditional Arab garb. He approachesthem and they flee from him startled, but at that instant are stayed bythe appearance of another figure, their guardian Sheikh Jall whom'Abbas recognizes from his student days in Paris. With Sheikh Jallas guide and mentor and the marvellous maidens as entourage, 'Abbsis led through a series of tunnels and dark chambers to a subterraneankingdomThe Abode of Tranquillity. The story breaks of f just uponhis arrival at this most amazing of places, but during the course of hisdownward journey we learn enough of its life to grasp the significanceof the narrative.The Abode of Tranquillity is an idyllic land peopled by a Muslimsociety directly descendant from that of medieval Andalus. Unlike itsterrestrial counterparts, this society has continued to develop in all ofthe spheres of human activity. It is possessed of a technology equalto that of the West as is exhibited by the electric lamps used by thehouri to light the way through the twisting tunnels. Its educationalsystem is of the most progressive and modern type, with its studentssteeped in the knowledge of the pure sciences. And the houri themselvesare proof of this, and of the advanced social principles on which the societyis based ts women are of equal status to its men.Worthy of note are the many Our'nic references liberally interspersedin the text of the narrative. The Abode of Tranquillity itself is reminiscentf the Muslim paradise, verdant and fruitful, watered by icy mountain treams, as are the houri a variant of those doe-eyed maidens whoare said to minister there.The work is highly romantic and definitely Islamic in essence and instyle. Yet it is more than a tale of the Thousand and One Nights' variety.


21/43

402 THOMAS KUTTNERFor again Gasprinskii wishes to convince his reader of the inherent validityf this idealized Muslim society. Significantly, he is projecting hisimage of the progressive society on a Muslim community which has beenso to speak, hermetically sealed off from the world, both Islamic andWestern. Once again, he is affirming his belief in the evolutionaryconcept of society.In the first two examples, Islamic societies were faced with the challenge of the West to which they had to respond if they were to survive(the Polish), or failing this to perish (the Bukharian). Finally, here hehas stressed the absolute nature of this evolutionary process, for the idealized society of the Abode of Tranquillity has also developed despiteits total isolation. His vision of Andalus is of a vibrant and continuallycreative Islamic society, not the fossilized relic so yearned for in Arabicliterature. All three examples have served to illustrate Gasprinskii'sconviction that Islamic society must be viewed as something separateand distinct from Islam as a religious system. The former is eminentlychangeable and of the latter he does not speak.

B. The economic situation in the EastGasprinskii, a keen social observor and activist, made no pretencesto being an economic theoretician. He revealed however, in al-Nahdahand elsewhere, an understanding of the problem of the economic disintegration and stagnation of the East and of the complex inter-relationshipsetween this phenomenon and the economic policies of the industrialized West. As in other spheres, he offered no simple panacea toresuscitate a debilitated economic structure nor a detailed plan foreconomic reconstruction. Rather, he suggested that a reversal of thecurrent downward economic trend would follow pursuant to the acceptance and adoption of Western economic principles and techniques.In the Continental Hotel address already referred to62 Gasprinskii,with brutal frankness, described the abysmal depths to which Muslimindustry and commerce had descended. Domestic industry had becometotally paralyzed in competition with the West and had been in a stateof progressive deterioration for over one century. He made referenceto geo-political and technological factors which had unquestionably

contributed to this development: the discovery of America, industrializationnd mechanization. He revealed thereby his understanding orat least acquaintance with economic developments at work in the nineteenth century to the disadvantage of the Muslim East and particularly the devastating effect of Western production methods. TheWTestern industrial establishment was characterized by mechanizationand the division of labor, whereas in the East total productionfromprocurement of materials to marketing of productswas characteristicof its dominant cottage industries. But despite this critical externalfactor, Gasprinskii was not content to acquit the native industries fromresponsibility in their own demise. Rather he again berated the Eastfor its inexcusable ignorance, its adherence to outmoded concepts of


22/43

GASPRINSKII IN CAIRO 403manufacturing and marketing and its refusal to adapt itself to the changedeconomic realities.Summarizing the field of commerce and finance, Gasprinskii sketchedessentially the same picture of stagnation and decline. Despite a Muslimworld population totaling some 300,000,000 Muslims (an over-estimationby some 100,000,000), Muslim financiers could claim not a single bankwith assets in excess of 5 million Pounds, nor a single shipping firm witha fleet of over thirty vessels. Of oriental merchants active in the export-import trade, whether in the East or the West, almost none were Muslimsbut rather Levantines of Greek or Armenian nationality, or Indians orChinese. Domestic trade as well was largely dominated by foreign concerns, Muslim Easterners being reluctant to develop their home resourcesin any but the most exploitative of ways. The theme of rapaciousexploitation of the land, rather than of its economic development Gasprinskii deals with in al-Nahdah as well.

Elsewhere Gasprinskii again referred to the preponderance of minorityroup peoples engaged in the financial sphere in Muslim societiesArmenians, Copts, Christian Arabs and Jews.53 The contrast affordedby these "progressive" minority groups who have adapted themselvesto economic realities, served to strengthen the image he wished to conveyof a Muslim financial structure rigidly adhering to financial forms longoutdated. But Gasprinskii realized that external forces did serve todrastically inhibit any contrary developments among Muslims at thatlate date. In one of his more provocative articles entitled "The Islamicworld and foreign aggression," Gasprinskii outlined his analysis of thecurrent challenges facing the Islamic world in the economic sphere.54Gasprinskii provided the reader with a map of the Eastern hemisphere,which graphically depicted his schematization of the world economicsystem then dominant. In brief, he posited a geo-political and religiousenvision of the world into three economic spheres, the first comprisingEurope, the Christian portions of Asiatic Russia, and Australia; the secondmade up of Hindu India, South-East Asia, the East Indies, Japan, China,and pagan Africa; and the third comprising all the Islamic regions in-between, North Africa, the Near East, Central Asia and Indonesia.His basic premise was that this last zone was so situated as to receivethe brunt of the dual expansionist thrust which so characterized thefirst two: economic exploitation and territorial aggrandizement. In hiswords, the Islamic lands "fit all the requirements necessary to be thefield of economic competition for the peoples of the West and the FarEast. They comprise a ready market for the merchants of the Orientand the Occident, and are an excellent area for the settlement of emigrantsfrom these regions."Gasprinskii was well aware of the insatiable demands of the burgeoningestern industrial establishments for ever-expanding markets inwhich to unload their consumer products, as well as for new and untappedsources of raw materials. The Muslim East provided both. Indeed,already the whole of the trade of the Muslim East had been capturedby the West "lock, stock and barrel," and the results had been the almosttotal annihilation of the traditional domestic manufacturing establishmentof which only a ruined hulk remained.


23/43

404 THOMAS KUTTNERMoreover, despite the increased demand for their raw materials tosupply these factories, the inhabitants of the exploited regions faredbadly. For the price of the finished product which was offered themin return quickly nullified any monetary gains earlier realized. To

illustrate the vicious economic circle which had led to the improverish-ment of the Muslims, Gasprinskii gave one example pertinent to Egypt.The foreign merchant buys an oka55 of cotton at ten piastres which heconverts to thread and resells to the grower at forty piastres. Thenwith the thirty piastre profit he buys up wheat and other raw materialsfrom the hapless grower who is left hungry and in debt, with even lessthan he started,and the cycle begins anew.One interesting note is Gasprinskii's warning that before long, theFar East as well would join the West in exploiting the Muslim regions.As proof he pointed to the commercial empire which Japan was thencarving out in the Pacific, her vessels already active in the ports of India.It was but a matter of time before she too would penetrate the Islamicregions and then "our economic blood-line will be exposed to the suckingof the Eastern leeches as it is now to the Western. " This dire predictionreflects the heightened awareness of Japanese imperialist power whichwas awakened by the outcome of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05.It is of special interest that Gasprinskii counteracts the almost euphoricense of victory then common throughout the non-Western world asa result of this first military setback of a Western Christian power by anEastern and non-christian one.56 He warns of the potential dangerswhich Japan's entrance into the circle of industrialized nations posedfor the still economically under-developed nations of the East.67Turning to the dangers inherent in the quest for more lebensraum onthe part of the industrialized nations of the West and the East, Gasprinskii traced the origins of this drive to the expanding populations inthese regions resulting from their higher standards of living. Burdenedwith an evergrowing mass of starved and impoverished inhabitants, thesenations naturally turned to the relatively underpopulated Islamic regionsas areas of potential colonization and settlement. It is quite clear thatGasprinskii is here speaking primarily of the experience of Muslim Russia,long subject to the encroachments of the Russian peasant ever in searchof land, and most especially so after the i860 Emancipation. Elsewherein the Islamic world such a process was limited to Spanish and FrenchNorth Africa and Dutch Indonesia and even in these areas neverapproached the intensity of colonization reached in Russia.Nevertheless, Gasprinskii's treatment of this most explosive of issueswas sure to strike a responsive chord in the hearts of his readers, forthe purchase of land in Egypt by foreign concerns, primarily for thecultivation of cotton, was a phenomenon of the late nineteenth and earlytwentieth centuries.The Muslim East, so Gasprinskii reminded his reader, had experiencedsimilar incursions from both West and East in earlier periods of its history. From the West had come the Crusaders and from the East theMongols, and both had been repulsed in their time. But this presentpenetration was a much more insidious one, predicated on economicnecessities rather than on ideological convictions, and one which could


24/43

GASPRINSKII IN CAIRO 405not be repulsed simply by force of arms. Indeed, one of the most deceitfulf its stratagems was its ability to gain the acquiescence of theexploited in its insatiable quest for land. Like the down-trodden Muslimwoman who accepts her lot as decreed, so the Muslim speculator accomo-dates the Western investor for the sake of quick financial gain.Gasprinskii cautioned his reader that the only way to combat theWest lay in fighting it on its own grounds by developing an economicstructure which would first effectively neutralize and then challenge it.But such a structure rested on a sophisticated technology and mechanizedindustrial establishment which only a modern and progressive societycould hope to attain. A changed social structure and modernized educational establishment, therein lay the future of the Muslim peoples, andthe alternative?. . . A life "as servants to the developed peoples, delectable morsels for them (to feast upon)."58

C. Political realitiesGasprinskii was no political activist. This is not to say that hewas uninterested in political affairshe himself served as mayor ofBahesaray from 1877 -1882. Moreover, in the period of political fermentfollowing the 1905 revolution he was instrumental in convening the twoAll Muslim Congresses of Nizhnii Novgorod and that of St . Petersburgheld in 1905 and 1906, from which emerged the political coalition RussiiaMusulmanlarin Ittifaki (the Ittifak or Union of Russian Muslims).59However, his role there was decidedly non-political compared to thatof some members, and he devoted his energies chiefly to the question ofuniform social and educational reforms for Muslim Russia. There is nodoubt that Gasprinskii realized the causal relationship between an educated,rogressive and cohesive society and responsible political structures.Yet he left it to a younger generation to effect radical political change.It was inevitable then that Gasprinskii's forthright exposition inal-Nahdah of his ideas on social change and economic reform would haverepercussions in the political sphere. Though he disclaimed any interestwhatsoever in discussing controversial political topics, in many of thearticles which we have reviewed he did indeed hint at needed politicalreforms. But in addition to these oblique references Gasprinskii did

indulge in actual political commentaryperhaps emboldened by histemporary escape from the purview of the Russian censor.Judging from the nature of the material it is clear that these articlesrepresent a rather tentative venture into a new field. His ideas werenot always clearly formulated and did not rest on such a comprehensiveand clearly articulated basis as did his social philosophy. Often theyappear anomalous and even contradictory when taken as a whole; andmany of them, interspersed in his essays on social, educational andeconomic issues, are cryptic and elliptical. It would be difficult on thebasis of these to arrive at a comprehensive or cohesive synthesis of Gasprinskii's "political philosophy," analogous to his very clearly stated"social philosophy."8


25/43

4 THOMAS KUTTNERBut despite these criticisms, Gasprinskii's discussions of politicaltopics are of utmost interest. As mentioned in the introduction to thispaper, he was greatly inhibited from expressing any but the most innocuous of political opinions when publishing in Russia. Cairo afforded

the freedom hitherto denied him to foray into uncharted territory, therealm of politics. From what he has written two conclusions can definitely be drawn.First, any illusions which might be entertained of Gasprinskii as anapologist defending the political status quo or even worse, a collaboratordirectly involved in perpetuating that structure, can be safely dismissed.Secondly, Gasprinskii reveals a very broad awareness of political eventsencompassing not only the Russian Empire but the greater Muslimworld as well. His familiarity with political groups espousing all mannerof political ideologies from the most conservative to the most radicaldisproves any charge that he had in some way "lost touch" with political realities. Our analysis of these writings will fall into two parts,the first dealing with those articles concerned with political life in theIslamic world, the second with those which consider the political scenein Russia.I. The Islamic world

Gasprinskii's probings into the political life of the Islamic worldultimately focus on one crucial issue, the legitimacy of the establishedgovernment. It is quite clear that this question troubled him, and thewide spectrum of opinions he expressed from the advocacy of democraticpopulism to the counseling of prudent loyalty to current regimesrevealshis own ambivalent attitude.As mentioned in the introduction, Gasprinskii, despite a denial ofpolitical motivation, did in fact seek to awaken a sense of political awarenessn the toiling masses of Egypt in an open letter to the Egyptianpeasant couched in the rhetoric of populism.60 A direct appeal to thepeasant to cast of f the mantle of oppression and assert his inherent political freedom was something still quite novel, if not radical, for Egypt.The political parties then active served established power groups, andeven the most radical of them, the National Party of Mustafa Kmil,catered to an urban and literate middle-class constituency. It was notuntil the founding of the Wafd Party under Sa'ad Zaghlul during andafter the war years that the Egyptian peasant was to enter into the mainstream of Egyptian political life. Gasprinskii's appeal then can be seennot so much as a response to a populist ferment then evident in Egypt asit was a reflection of the influence which the very real populist agitationin Russia had upon him.Gasprinskii emphasized two factors: the eternal right of the peasantto the land, and the usurpation and exploitation of that right by an endlesssuccession of rulers. The fellah alone has won the right to consider theland his own by his toil and ceaseless labour. But he has done more thancultivate the land for all the great monuments and artifacts of Egyptfrom the time of the pharaons to the present, pyramids, mosques, andthe canal, are his achievement and rightly his heritage and legacy.


26/43

GASPRINSKII IN CAIRO 407Neither Roman caesar nor Byzantine emperor, Syrian sultan norOttoman emir can claim the right to Egypt which the peasant can. Forbearing, patient and hard-working, he has toiled for ages; yet the fruitsof his labors have gone to a succession of oppressors rapacious and unjust.

In a satirical cartoon Gasprinskii illustrated this oppression as evidencedin modern Egypt.61 A peasant in the character of a rabbit beseecheshis master, a bear, to lease him a plot of land. The master agrees, butbecause of the fall in land prices charges an exorbitant rentplusa subsidy of seven-tenths of the crops grown. With the rest the peasantmust make do. Gasprinskii exhorts, "You have drowned the government ith your gold. . . fed peoples of other regions with your wheatand clothed them with your cotton. . . you live in wretched huts. . . butdeserve to live in palaces. . ."In place of a life of exploitation endured in villages of indescribableprimitiveness, Gasprinskii proclaims the inalienable right to one free ofpoverty, where they could reap the fruits of their labor, enjoy improvedliving conditions and stand upright as free men. Anyone who has seenthe squalor of Egyptian village life to some extent still evident todaywindowless mud-brick hovels densely constructed amidst disease infectedanals can readily appreciate the appeal of his vision of scores "ofwell laid out villages and beautiful homes with windows, doors andgateways, set amidst lovely gardens [. . .] The time has come to payheed to yourself, beloved fellah\ "No doubt Gasprinskii was appalled at the poverty of the Egyptianpeasant, but was this call one to revolution? Gasprinskii did seem toenvisage the possibility of violence to achieve political ends under certaincircumstances. He was understandably reticent in this regard; however,one brief but telling reference indicates his train of thought. In speakingof the duty of the Egyptian mother to properly educate her children, hestates that she must prepare a generation of children "capable of defendingthe independence of Egypt once granted, or of seizing it resolutely ifnot granted."62 The implication is clear: occupation by a foreign powercould be opposed by the occupied if not unilaterally ended by the occupier.But what of the domestic government of the Khedive?Gasprinskii's attitude towards the militant and vociferous Egyptiannationalist, Mustafa Kamil, is telling in this regard.63 Karml had diedsuddenly on February ro, 1908 at the height of his career, only monthsafter the formation of his party, and Gasprinskii wrote a glowing eulogyof the man.64 In it he referred to his immense funeral procession ofsome 60,000 people which accompanied the bierone of the earliestspontaneous demonstrations of nationalist fervor in Egypt. It showedthe immense impact which this true patriot of Egypt and thinker of theIslamic world had on his fellow countrymen. Gasprinskii urged themall to emulate his example of tireless work for the benefit of the entirenation.There is more concrete reason than a common concern for socialwelfare for Gasprinskii's eloquent testimony to the man's achievement.Kamil in his capacity as editor of the nationalistic daily al-Liwd* (TheStandard), had organized the collecting of funds from the Muslims ofEgypt to be sent for the relief of famine victims in the Caucasus. The


27/43

4O8 THOMAS KUTTNERfunds were sent for distribution to the editors of the Orenburg journalVaqt (The Times), the Ramiev brothers.65 In fact, the Muslims ofNukha in the Caucasus acknowledged their debt to the people of Egyptto whom they sent salutations through Mustafa Kamil (unaware of hisdeath) in a letter to al-Nahdah.*6But regardless of the popularity Kmil enjoyed whether at home orabroad, Gasprinskii felt called upon to deny allegations that he had beena revolutionary. Replying to an article which first appeared in an unidentified Egyptian newspaper in French and then subsequently in al-Akhbr (The News), Gasprinskii denied its assertion that Kmil wasagitating for the immediate establishment of a republican form of governmentn Egypt.67 Egypt, despite its level of progress still lagged in theareas of science, technology and industry, as Kmil was well aware.Gasprinskii added that, as governments of and by the people can existonly when the level of achievement in these areas is high, it was inconceivablehat Kmil would have sought the immediate establishment ofa republic. Rather he was alleged to have espoused the vague conceptof "gradual progress" in the political sphere as elsewhere. Now it isevident that Gasprinskii's timidity here is due to the delicate positionhe felt himself to be in as a non-resident in Egypt.His article on the contemporary khdive of Egypt, 'Abbas II, whichhad first appeared in Terjiimdn upon his return from his first visit toEgypt in the Autumn of 1907, was reprinted here and strengthens thiscontention.68 This article was little else but a panegyric celebratingthe Egyptian ruling family. 'Abbas was said to surpass in knowledgeand education all reigning Muslim monarchs, and to belong to a line well-versed in modern culture. Egypt's future was said to be bound to loyaltyto this noble and wise scion of the Muhammad 'AH dynasty. Mostprobably this stance was motivated by several factors, one of them beinga sense of politeness towards his host. More importantly, Gasprinskiiwas probably reluctant to ally himself with anti-khedival forces at a timewhen he believed that solidarity against the common enemy, ratherthan inter-necine strife, was essential for Egypt. That he was not anuncritical supporter of Islamic regimes solely because they were suchis made clear by his article on Iran.69Under a portrait of the ruling Shah, Muhammad 'Al Qjr, in fulluniform and prominently displayed on the first page of the paper, Gasprinskii briefly outlined the political situation in Iran. Hailing theconstitutional revolution of 1906 as proof of the vitality of the Muslimpeople, Gasprinskii sought to determine factors underlying its success.These lay in the coalition effected between the merchant class and theshi'it clergy (the 'ulama). The first were particularly active in bothdomestic and foreign commerceunlike their brethren elsewhere in theMuslim world and were well acquainted with political developmentsin the West. Comparing the high standards of living enjoyed in Westerncountries the governments of which were based on the consent ofthe governed to the poverty and stagnation prevalent in their own,still suffering under the yoke of despotic autocracy, these resolved tooppose that despotism and erect a regime of freedom and justice in itsstead.


28/43

GASPRINSKII IN CAIRO 409They found a ready group of allies in the religious clerical class.Shi't Muslim divines, unlike their Sunni Muslim counterparts elsewherein the Islamic world, had refused to stamp the Divine Law (shar'ah)with a seal of immutability. Still enjoying the right to interpret the

law and its provisions to meet the modern-day exigencies, they refusedto grant legitimacy to tyrannical government on the basis of its manifestexistence. Together with their compatriots of the merchant class theyhad led the assault aimed at smashing a government based on absolutismand tyranny, and replacing it with one based on constitutional guarantees.Despite his somewhat idealized presentation of the motivations ofeach class, Gasprinskii was basically correct in identifying them as thetwo bases in the constitutional movement. He also correctly pointedout perhaps for the benefit for his Turco-Tatar countrymen in Russia hat Iranian Turks played a prominent role in the constitutionalmovement, being dominant in the areas of most extreme agitationTehran, Tabriz and Khorasan.But despite his evident enthusiasm for this movement, Gasprinskiiroundly condemned the later attempts to assassinate the Shah as unjustand outrageous. Apparently he believed that, since a constitution hadbeen granted and basic freedoms guaranteed, to continue violent opposition to the government was anarchical. The constitution had conferredlegitimacy upon the regime, and as such it had to be upheld and opposedby legal methods alone. Here then Gasprinskii has drawn a very cleardistinction between legitimate constitutional government against whichviolent opposition is condemned, and an illegitimate tyrannical oneagainst which such opposition is condoned. The brief allusion to anEgyptian independence struggle referred to above would indicate thatamong illegitimate governments he classified foreign occupiers. Whenwe turn to his analysis of the domestic situation in Russia, such a classification assumes great significance.

2. RussiaGasprinskii did not himself write any article concerning politicalevents in Russia, guided by a prudence gained from long experiencein publishing there. He did however include in al-Nahdah materialswritten by others on Russia, and his selection of these revealed certainof his own predilections. The first such article is, surprisingly, thetranslation of several pieces which appeared in the influential and semiofficial Russian daily, Novoe Vremia, entitled "Rumours of war betweenthe Sublime Porte and Russia" to which Gasprinskii added a brief noteof comment.70The writer alleged that a mobilization of Turkish troopsostensiblyintended to be against Iran but actually directed against Russiawastaking place on the borders of the Caucasus. He raised the spectre ofa conquest of Russia by Turkey, a feat not impossible to accomplishgiven the weakness of Russia, due both to the recently fought Russo-

Japanese War and the internal strife then plaguing her. Turkey had


29/43

4 THOMAS KUTTNERallies within Russia who would serve as a fifth column movement, and

Date post:	08-Aug-2018
Category:	Documents
Upload:	lou-jukic
View:	214 times
Download:	0 times

Gasprinski _Nahda

Documents