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“He was the Muhammad 'Abduh of Syria” A Study of Tāhir Al-Jazā'irī and His Influence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2009

Joseph H. Escovitz
Joseph H. Escovitz
Affiliation:
Framingham, Mass
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Extract

Muhammad Kurd 'Alī referred to his teacher and close friend, Sheikh Tāhir al-Jazā'irī, as the Muhammad 'Abduh of Syria. Kurd 'Alī, however, was not alone in remarking upon the impact that al-Jazā'irī had in Syria during the lete nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Albert Hourani also mentioned him in comparison to 'Abduh:

Ideas such as those of 'Abduh were “in the air” in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. We find similar groups of reformers in all the more advanced Muslim countries, and perhaps it is too simple to explain them in terms of the influence of al-Afghānī and 'Abduh. It could be said… that al-'Urwa al-wuthqa could only have had its influence because there were already little groups of Muslims thinking on the lines which made it popular… In Syria similar men can be found in all the great centers of Muslim learning… Among those whom were roughly contemporary with 'Abduh and had some contact with him, was Tāhir al-Jazāir'ī,… a writer on literary and linguistic subjects, he had a wider importance through his work for the establishment of modern schools and the preservations of ancient books.

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Articles
Information
International Journal of Middle East Studies , Volume 18 , Issue 3 , August 1986 , pp. 293 - 310
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

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References

NOTES

This article is part of a larger study on the life and thought of Muhammad Kurd 'Alī and has been funded by a research grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

1 'Alī, Muhammad Kurd, al-Mudhakkirāt (Damascus, 1949), Vol. III, p. 892.Google Scholar See also Totah, Khalil, Memoirs of Muhammad Kurd 'Alī: A Selection (Washington, D.C., 1954), P. 201. The literal translation of Kurd 'Alī's remarks as rendered by Totah is “He was the counterpart in this country [Syria] of Sheikh Muhammad 'Abduh in Egypt.”Google Scholar

2 Hourani, Albert, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, 1798–1939 (Oxford, 1977), p.222.Google Scholar

3 Sharabi, Hisham, Arab Intellectuals and the West: The Formative Years, 1875–1914 (Baltimore, 1970), p. 24.Google Scholar

4 Ibid, p. 5.

5 'Alī, Muhammad Kurd, Kunūz al-ajdād (Damascus, 1950), pp. 5–46.Google ScholarKurd 'Alī delivered a testimonial to al-Jazā'irī in Damascus 40 days after his teacher's death; this has been reprinted in al-Muqtataf, 56 (1920), 297–304 under the title “Shaykh Tāhir al-Jazā'irī.” Since there are several biographies/obituary notices in journals with al-Jazā'irī's name as the title of the entry, hereafter we shall omit this obvious title and give only the necessary bibliographic details.Google Scholar A biography by another disciple is Tanwīr al-basā'ir bi-sïrat shaykh Tāhir (Damascus, 1920) by Al-Bānī, Sa'īd, but it is an inferior work. A biting critique of si-Bānī's biography, followed by a very short biography of his own of al-Jazā'irī,Google Scholar is provided by Ridā, Rashīd in the review section of al-Manār, 22 (1921), 635–40.Google Scholar A short but useful biography of al-Jaz¯'irī is in the collection by al-Qal'ajī, Qadrī, al-Sābiqūn (Beirut, n.d.), pp. 19–28.Google Scholar Several other notices occurred in Arab journals at the time of al-Jazā'irī's death, such as the one by al-Ma'ūf, 'Īsā Iskandar inal-Hilāl, 27 (1920), 451–56Google Scholar and Ridā, Muhyī al-Dīn in al-Muqiatataf, 56 (1920), 164–66.Google Scholar Finally we have al-Khatib's, 'Adnan, al-Shaykh Tāhir al-Jazā'irī, al-rā'id al-nahda al-'ilmiyya fī bilād al-shām (Cairo, 1971), which is heavily indebted to the writings of Kurd 'Alī on al-Jazāir'ī.Google Scholar

6 Al-Jazā'irī, is mentioned only briefly in the article “Hizb,” Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed. (Leiden, 1971), III, p. 519a (hereafter El2, III). The index has listed him under his nisba, as is appropriate, but this also means that no proper biographical notice of him has been included.Google Scholar

7 'Alī, Kurd, Kunūz, p. 5, says that Tāhir's father was the Mālikī judge, but in his testimonial to al-Jazā'iri printed in al-Muqtataf [56 (1920), p. 298], Kurd 'Ajī said that the father had been a mufti. Rashīd Rida (Al-Manār, p. 637) also said that the father had been a mufti.Google Scholar Other sources are divided on this point. See also, al-Husni, Muhammad, Muntakhabāt al-tawārīkh li-Dimashq (Beirut, 1979), p. 664.Google Scholar

8 'Alī, Kurd, Kunūz, p. 5.Google Scholar

9 Al-Khatīb, al-Jazāirī, p. 94; 'Alī, Kurd, Kunūz, p. 6.Google Scholar

10 Shamir, Simon, “The Modernization of Syria: Problems and Solutions in the Early Period of Abdulhamid,” in Polk, William and Chambers, Richard L., eds., Beginnings of Modernization in the Middle East (Chicago, 1968), p. 376.Google Scholar For a list of schools established in Damascus, see al-Khatīb, al-Jaz¯'irī, pp. 107ff.

11 al-Shihābī, al-Amīr Mustafa, al-Qawmiyyat al-'arabiyya (Damascus, 1961), pp. 49–50.Google Scholar See also, 'Alī, Kurd, Kunūz, p. 7.Google Scholar

12 Al-Khatib, al-Jazā'irī pp. 105–66, 110–12.Google Scholar

13 'Alī, Kurd, Kunūz, p. 7.Google ScholarThe Dutch version of al-Jawāhir was published by Brill, E. J. in 1948 and, according to Arthur Jeffrey, was widely used in Java;Google Scholar see Jeffrey's, review in the Muslim World, 40 (1950), 138–39.Google ScholarA large portion of this same book has been translated into English in Cragg, Kenneth and Speight, Marston, Islam from Within (Belmont, California, 1980), pp. 135–40.Google ScholarFor a complete list of al-Jazā'irī's writings and some discussion of them, see especially, al-Ma'luf, , al-Hilāl, 18 (1919), 454–56Google Scholar and al-Khatīb, al-Jazā'irī, pp. 176–77.Google Scholar

14 Kurd 'Alī, Kunūz, p. 7.

15 Al-Shihābī, al-Qawmiyya, p. 51; El2, III, p. 519a.

16 EI2, III, p. 519a.

17 Totah, Memoirs, pp. 554–55.

18 For the development of this group, which eventually formed into Jam'iyyat al-nahda al-'arabiyya, see al-Shihābī, al-Qawmiyya, pp. 53–55; El2, III, p. 519a; and al-Khatīb, al-Jazā'irī, pp. 41–52. This last entry is a discussion of the relationship between al-Jaza'irī and Muhibb al-Dīn al-Khatīb.

19 Ma'lūf, al-Hilāl, pp. 454–56.

20 Rida, al-Manār, p. 640.Google Scholar

21 Al-Khatīb, al-Jazā'irī, p. 115; Qal'ajī, al-Sābiqūn, p. 26;Google Scholar'Alī, Kurd, Kunūz, p. 14.Google Scholar

22 Qal'ajī, al-Sābiqūn, p. 27.

23 As described in a letter sent by al-Jazā'irī to Kurd 'Alī, Kunūz, p. 45, note 1.

24 Qal'ajī, al-Sabiqūn, pp. 27–28.

25 Al-Ma'lūf, al-Hilāl, p. 454.

26 See al-Khatīb, al-Jazā'irī, pp. 41–52; Kurd 'Alī, Mudhakkirāt, III, 892.

27 al-Barūdī, Fakhrī, Mudhakkirāt (Beirut, 1951), I, 58.Google Scholar

28 Kurd 'Ali says that most of al-Jazā'irī's books were written in his youth for the use of schools; Kunūz, p. 27.

29 See, for example, the introduction to Kunūz, pp. 3–4. In fact, when Kurd 'Alī engaged in a major discussion of Islam, he quoted 'Abduh; see 'Alī, Kurd, al-Islām wa-l-hadāra al-'arabiyya (Cairo, 1950), pp. 79, 115, for examples (hereafter cited as Islām).Google Scholar

30 'Alī, Kurd, Kunūz, pp. 19–25;Google ScholarRidā, al-Manār, pp. 638–39.Google Scholar

31 Bell, Gertrude, The Desert and the Sown (New York, 1907), p. 147.Google Scholar This passage is not dated, but a letter reprinted in Bell, Lady, , O.B.E., The Letters of Gertrude Bell [New York, 1927(?)], I, 198 would indicate that this incident occurred sometime in 1905.Google Scholar

32 'Alī, Kurd, Kunūz, p. 25.Google Scholar

33 Al-Qal'ajī, al-Sābiqūn, p. 21.Google Scholar

34 'Alī, Kurd, Kunūz, pp. 27–28, 33.Google Scholar

35 Ibid, pp. 17, 26.

36 Letter from al-Jazā'irī to Kurd 'Alī, Ibid, p. 35, see also, pp. 17, 26.

37 See also, for example, Mujāhid, Zakī Muhammad, al-A'lām al-sharqiyya (Cairo, 1949–1950), II, 114.Google Scholar

38 See also al-Jazā'irī's letter to 'Alī, Kurd, Kunūz, pp. 40–41.Google Scholar

39 Ibid, p. 9.

40 Ibid, p. 10.

41 Ibid, p. 25.

42 Ibid.

43 Ibid, p. 41; letter from al-Jazā'irī to Kurd'alī.

44 Keddie, Nikki R., An Islamic Response to Imperialism (Berkeley, 1983), pp. 46–49.Google Scholar

45 E12, I, pp. 175–76.Google Scholar

46 Two letters from al-Jazā'irī to 'Alī, Kurd, Kunūz, pp. 33–34.Google Scholar

47 'Alī, Kurd, “Baqiyya mā taraka al-ajdād,” Majallat al-Majmū'a al-'Ilmīal-'Arabī (Dimashq), 20 (1945), 103. Hereafter cited as Majalla.Google Scholar

48 Ibid, pp. 98–99, 103.

49 Ibid, p. 98.

50 “Adab,” El2, I, pp. 175–76;Google Scholar “Akhlāq,” El2, I, pp. 325–29, especially p. 326.

51 See 'Alī, Kurd, “Asl al-Mu'tazila” in his al-Qadīm wa-l-hadīth (Cairo, 1925), pp. 151–52.Google Scholar

52 Ibid, p. 150.

53 Ibid., p. 149.

54 Ibid., p. 151.

55 Ibid., p. 150.

56 Caspar, R., “Le Renouveau mo'tazilite,” Mélanges de l'Institut Dominicain d'Études Orientales du Caire, 5 (1957), 141–202;Google ScholarKhalid, Detlev, “Some Aspects of Neo-Mu'tazilism,” Islamic Studies, 8 (1969), 319–47.Google Scholar

57 Keddie, Response, p. 49.

58 Ibid, p. 42.

59 'Alī, Kurd, Kunūz, pp. 43–45.Google Scholar

60 Al-Ma'lūf, al-Hilāl, p. 456.Google Scholar

61 In addition to Kurd 'Alī's Memoirs (see note I above), biographical information on Kurd 'Alī can be found in the following sources: “Kurd 'Alī Muhammad Farīd,” El2, III, pp. 437–38;Google Scholaral-Alūsī, Jamāl al-Dīn, Muhammad Kurd 'Alī (Baghdad 1966);Google ScholarSeikaly, Samir, “Damascus Intellectual Life in the Opening Years of the 20th Century: Muhammad Kurd 'Alī and al-Muqtabas,” in Buheiry, Marwan, ed., Intellectual Life in the Arab East, 1890–1939 (Beirut, 1981), pp. 125–53;Google ScholarJabarī, Shafīq, Muhādarāt 'an Muhammad Kurd 'Alī (Cairo, 1958);Google Scholar and a short autobiography is contained at the end of 'Alī's, KurdKhitat al-shām (Beirut, 1969), 6, pp. 333–47. Finally, the Arab Academy of Damascus held a conference in honor of the centennial of Kurd 'Alī's birth; the papers presented were reprinted in Majalla, 52 (1977).Google Scholar

62 See, e.g., the biography in El2 cited in the previous note.Google Scholar

63 Cairo, 1948 and 1945 respectively.Google Scholar

64 See, for example, note 47 above and Majalla, 4 (1923), 193–202 concerning a manuscript by al-Bīrūnī, and pp. 232–42 concerning a manuscript by al-Mas'ūdī.Google Scholar

65 'Alī, Kurd, Kunūz, pp. 36–37, 42–43.Google Scholar

66 Ibid., p. ba.

67 'Alī, Kurd, Islām, 1, 326–35;Google Scholar Khitat, III, 103–4.

68 'Alī, KurdKhitat VI, 338.Google Scholar

69 E.g., al-Bīrūnī, Kunūz, p. 33;Google Scholar also Islām, I, 330 praised the Persians for the way they supported the Arabs.

70 “Mumayyizāt Banī Umayya” Majalla, 16 (1941), 408–21, 450–55.Google Scholar

71 'Alī, Kurd, Islām, I, 334.Google Scholar

72 Ibid., I, 253–72; II, 94–137.

73 Al-Qadīm wa-l-hadīth, pp. 148–56; see also, Islām, II, 58.Google Scholar

74 'Alī's, Kurd most concise discussion of this problem is “al-Idtihā fī sabīl al-madhāhib wa-l-afkār,” Islām, II, 69–93, especially 92–93.Google Scholar

75 Ibid., 92.

76 Ibid.; “Hurriyat al-umam,” in al-Qadīm wa-l-hadīth, pp. 307–8.

77 'Alī, Kurd, Islām, I, 81–83, 95–97;Google Scholar Totah, Memoirs, 174–75; 'Alī, Kurd, al-Mudhakkirās, III, 726–28.Google Scholar

78 Islām, 1, 386.

79 'Alī, KurdAqwāluna wa-af'āluna (Cairo, 1946), p. 248.Google Scholar

80 In his memoirs Kurd 'Alī referred with approval to the statement by Abū Hayyān al-Tawhīdī, who himself was part of both the adab and falsafa traditions, that the demands of the masses for a higher rank should be discouraged (al-Mudhakkirāt, I, 211). In Umarā' al-bayān (pp. 445–99) Kurd 'Alī included a biography of Abū Hayyān and extracts from his works.

81 This point is discussed by Seikaly (“Kurd 'Alī pp. 138–39) with reference to al-Alūsī's biography and Jabrī's Muhādarāt.

82 See my “Orientalists and Orientalism in the Writings of Muhammad Kurd 'Alī,” International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 75 (1983), 95–109.Google Scholar

83 There is some disagreement over Kurd 'Alī's ties with the French. Seikaly disagrees with the evidence of a French consular report supplied by Kawthāranī, W. in his Bil¯d al-shām … fī matlā' al-qarn al-ishrīn (Beirut, 1980) that Kurd 'Alī's publication of the daily al-Muqtabas was helped by the French consular representative in Damascus (“Kurd 'Alī”, p. 127, note 6).Google Scholar On the other hand, Spagnolo, John in his “French Influence in Syria prior to World War I: The Functional Weakness of Imperialism” [Middle East Journal, 23 (1969), 60, note 44], mentioned that although Kurd 'Alī was “suspicious of French designs on Syria [in 1913], [he] nevertheless recommended that the French open lay schools amongst the Muslims of Aleppo and Damascus.”Google Scholar In his Memoirs (see Totah, pp. 129–46, especially pp. 133–34), Kurd 'Alī praised the benefits that the French mandate brought Syria, while criticizing some of the mandate policies.

84 'Alī, Kurd, al-Mudhakkirāt, II, 539–44.Google Scholar

85 Ibid., especially, p. 541.

86 An example of this attitude can be found in Totah, Memoirs, pp. 179., 182–84.

87 'Alī, Kurd, Islam, II, 70, 78.Google Scholar

88 See the discussion in my “Orientalists,” 100–105.

89 “Al-Hāj Mustafa Hūlā,” in al-Qadīm wa-l-hadīth, pp. 288–90.