Taraddud: to vacillate, hesitate; be perplexed.
Q: “Was this end-of-century Shaykh (Ismail Gasprinski), this curious compound of Makkah and Paris Boulevards, the latest development in Islamism?’’
A: ”I should add that the combination produced no results of any importance”.
Obviously, the answer was off-the-cuff disdain among Muslim elites. Today (early 21st century), the global Muslim literacy stands at 40%. Now imagine the early 20th century, when Ulema were entangled in Taqleed, Muslim polity was colonised and middle-class Muslims were in an unhappy transition.
19th CENTURY: REFORMERS
The early Muslim reformers were idealistic and well-meaning. Their zeal to improve the state of Muslims pulled them into three distinct directions: Maslaki ulema and their following of Taqleedi-Shari’ah; Modernity in the form of colonialism and their show-casing of scientific discovery and progress of humanity; and Salafism which called for an Islam that was free from Taqleed. 99% of Muslims were illiterate, and followed Sufi and cultural rituals which Taqleedi ulema condoned.
This situation was similar to what Islam experienced in 9-10th CE, with the rise of Mu’tazilah when Muslims were exposed to philosophy from different parts of their world. Except that, then, Muslims were the conquerors and literacy was reasonably widespread.
Sayyid Ahmad Khan (1817-1898)
Born into Mughal nobility, he joined the East India Company in the 1830s. He remained by EIC’s side as the Mughals were defeated in 1857, though criticised the EIC for their brutal behaviour in the colonial lands.
Sir Syed blamed the rules of Shari’ah for the lack of Muslim progress but could not present an alternative method to ride the coming storm of Modernity. In 1875 he founded ‘Madrasat-ul-Uloom Musalman-e-Hind’ (today’s Aligarh Muslim University), funded by the British, aiming to promote scientific development of Muslims of Indian Subcontinent.
~3% of Indian Muslims were literate then. In 1870 US (40 million population), 7 million children were in primary schools, 80,000 in secondary schools, ~9,000 had college degrees. In 1871 India, only 4 million Hindu/Muslims (of 123 million surveyed; 3% literacy) had a rudimentary education – in a culture steeped with superstitions.
Stained by his association with the British, and inconsistent in his approach to Fiqh, Sir Syed was ignored or condemned by the Indian Ulema.
Jamaal ad-Deen al-Afghaani (1838-1897)
Of Shi’a family, al-Afghani reached the position of ‘Vazeer of Prince Azam Khan’ in Afghanistan. In 1868, he was deported to Istanbul when the prince’s brother, Sher Ali, ousted Azam Khan. Till his death, he could never find a ‘home’ – being deported from Istanbul, Egypt, Iran. He finally died in England, making friends in France, Russia and Ireland.
In the 1870s he named himself the ‘Philosopher of the East’, and in 1880s he founded al-Urwah al-Wuthqa (The Firmest Bond) in Paris. Subsidised by undeclared groups, it enticed Muslims who were fascinated by the sciences and wanting to glorify their Muslim or national identity.
Muhammad ‘Abduh (1849-1905)
An Egyptian Qazi, he was influenced by al-Afghaani and went on to edit al-Urwah al-Wuthqa for a while. Exiled by the British in 1879, he spent time in France and Britain.
When he returned in 1888 he began his legal career. In 1875, the British had created the ‘Mixed Courts’ – based on Napoleonic judicial system and Shari’ah – all staffed by Europeans who avowed to base their judgments on ‘valid and sound reasoning’ (a principle of Shari’ah).
In 1899, after ten years of service, ‘Abduh was appointed as the Grand Mufti of Egypt by the British – for his bold Fiqhi rules (like legalising banking usury in Egypt). ‘Abduh had patched a rule, but could not reboot the system of Taqleedi-Shari’ah.
Qaasim Ameen (1863-1908)
A Turkish-Egyptian Qazi, he was influenced by ‘Abduh, and with whom he wrote Tahrir al Mara’a (Liberation of Women) in 1900. By 1890s, Ameen was working as a colonial National Court’s judge.
Mingling with his equals – English and French aristocrats – Amin defended Islam in his Tahrir but condemned the Egyptian culture. He sought the glory of Islam, and was confident of its return – only if lay Muslims could get their women to rid their hijabs, ‘love’ their husbands instead of looking for material qualities in them, accept nuclear families, etc.
Seems Amin defended his identity as a Muslim, in a culture of bewildering change, rather than looked out for solutions.
Ismail Gasprinski (1851-1914)
Son of a Muslim translator for the Russian military during Shamil uprising, he studied Islam and began publishing, in 1883, Tarjuman (The Translator) for his Turkish audience: he did not call for political agitation or religious reform but called for the success of Muslim commercial acumen through education.
To achieve these aims he advocated the reform of maktab and madrassah through modern methods of teaching called Usul al-Jadeed (The New Method). Thus began the Jadeed Movement in the Russian realm. Gasprinski was also involved in a new journal for women, Aalam-e-Niswaan (World of Women), edited by his daughter Shafiqa.
In 1907, he was among the founders of Russiya Musulmannarining Ittifaqi (Russian Muslim Union, 1906-17), hoping to bring various Turkic peoples of the Russian Empire on one platform.
In Egypt in 1907-08, he proposed to bring together Ulema, business elites and important Muslims for a World Muslim Congress – but was unsuccessful. None the less, those influenced by him were many non-Arabs like Mehmed Murad Bey (1853-1912), Mirza ‘Ali Aqa Shirazi (d. 1918) and ‘Abdal-‘Aziz Shawish (1872-1929).
The Jadeed Movement was annihilated by the Soviet Communists, in the of Modernity.
Dr. Wahidin Sudirohusodo (1852-1917)
A doctor in Dutch Indonesia, he was moved by his people’s sufferings and lack of knowledge of their own cultural heritage.
In 1908, he helped organise Budi Utomo (Prime Philosophy), an organisation to help fund scholarships for native students. As it was supported by locally educated Javanese students and elite (and not funded by the Dutch colonialists), BU appealed to the natives (unlike Sir Syed’s efforts in India).
By 1910, BU claimed to represent 10,000 members, most of them students and civil servants. The population of Indonesia was 47 million then.
Omar Said Tjokroaminoto (1882-1934)
From an aristocratic family, he had joined the Dutch civil service for a living. By 1912, Omar had become the chairman of Sarekat Dagang Islam (Union of Islamic Traders), which was formed by Haji Samanhudi around 1908 to protects the interests of batik traders. Soon, SDI expanded to form Sarekat Islam (Union of Islam). Within two years, SI had 2.5 million members.
In 1921, SI banned its members from holding dual membership of other parties. Socialist leaders like Semaun and Tan Malaka, under the guidance of Soviet communists, left the party. The Islamists had already left SI a decade earlier. With Islamists, nationalists and communists gone, Sarekat Islam generally focussed on religious matters.
So started the Taraddud movement, until the Colonials began to devour themselves in the World Wars of the 20th century. Just like the Mu’tazilah of the 9th century, the Mutaraddid were sucked into vortexes of modern movements: nationalism, socialism, capitalism, etc. The outcomes were equally as varied.
FALL OF THE OTTOMAN CALIFATE
Emotions, and introspection related this fall, guided the Taraddud Muslim’s path into the 20th century. Complicating the picture were the communists of Russia who had forsaken their God in the search of glory.
November 1914
In the name of the noble Prophet, five fatuwa (Bayaan nama e Jihad) were issued against Russia, France and England in Istanbul.
Muslims of the world did not erupt to defend them, as was expected by the Khaalif. In fact, the Arabs revolted against them. The Ottoman operations against the Italians may have been successful. But those against the British were disastrous due to lack of trust, organisation and technology.
Reactions towards the Ottoman Khilaafat
British Intelligence supported the “Shareef of Makkah”
- “It will presumably be not disagreeable to Great Britain to have the strongest spiritual in the hands of the weakest temporal power”.
- “That nothing remotely resembling an obstacle should be placed between the Sherif and his ambition”.
British India Office
- “Useless, if not dangerous, to encourage Sharif’s ambitions. Muslims elsewhere had shown their contempt for his rebellious action against the Ottoman state”.
- “(Ibn Saud) reminded me that the Wahabis did not recognise any Khaalif after the first four”.
Egypt & Sudan
- Shaykh Maraghi (1881-1945), a studen of Muhammad ‘Abduh and Chief Qaazi of Sudan, wanted Britain “to take positive initiative to unite the Muslim world”. His advice was rejected by the British.
Some Ulema in Istanbul
- Asked the Tsarist Russian embassy, in the event that Istanbul fell, a portion of Istanbul or Damascus as a residence with independent sovereignty rights in a limited area “similar to the Vatican City”.
October 1918
By the Mudros armistice, the Khalif and his ulama had agreed to colonial domination.
20th CENTURY MOVEMENTS
Kamalism: Nationalism of Turkey
Mustafa Kamaal (1881-1938) guided the defeated Ottoman Empire’s transition from multi-religious, multi-ethnic to a small, centralised Republic of Turkey.
Initially, his group sought modification of Khilaafat structure. When rejected by the ulama, they sought the refuge in Soviet communism but were disappointed in their godlessness. The Colonialists were more flexible to his nationalistic zeal.
To achieve such a nationalistic project, Turkey was made to separate from Islam. French revolutionary ideals were imported, and applied with great vigour to propel the Turkish society into Modernity: every aspect of Turkish Muslim life was changed. What was Catholicism to France, Islam became to Turkey – a parody.
This radical phenomenon spread first to Iran and then to Afghanistan, with different results: Muslims of Turkey accepted Kamalism because the Colonial army was at its shore to devour it. Iran and Afghanistan did not face this existential threat.
Socialist Movements in Russia
Musa Jarullah Bigeev (Bigi; 1873-1949)
Musa followed his father’s footsteps (who he lost at the age of 6 years) studying Islam, at Kazan in Russia. In keeping with the local Jadeed trends, he joined the technical college too.
Following the 1905-Russian Revolution, like Jews and other minorities, Muslims too felt liberated. In St Petersburg, he became a member of Russiya Musulmannarining Ittifaqi (Russian Muslim Union, 1906-17).
In 1911, after visiting Finland, he published Ozin Konnarda Ruza: Ijtihad Kitabi (Fasting during Long Days: A Book of Ijtihad). Musa ruled that long Ramadan fasts in polar areas are not fard; Muslims can just pay the fidya.
Soon his publications were banned in Ottoman Khilaafat. He protested saying “Islam has no need for religious reformation. It is not Islam but we ourselves have social, religious and political diseases”. He condemned the Sufi practices, the Taqleed of Madhahib, the Shi’a and the nationalism taking root among Muslims. But was ignored; 99% of Muslims were illiterate.
1917-Communist Revolutionaries portrayed themselves as the friend of Muslims against Imperialism. However, when Musa attended the 1926-Islamic Conference at Makkah as an elected Russian delegate, he was accused by the Soviet regime a “spy of Turkey and India”.
In 1930, he left Russia and travelled across the world – from Japan to Europe, then staying in India to learn the Hindu epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata. A global career gave in to individual curiosity.
Mir Sayyid Sultan-Galiev (1892–1940)
Son of a poor teacher of Tsarist Russia, he was well-educated by his father using Jadeed methods of Ismail Gasprinski, and went on to translate Tolstoy for his Tartar audience.
In 1916, after the outbreak of 3rd European War (1st World War), the Jadeeds were sucked into the Communist narrative of egalitarianism. In 1917 he was elected to Russian Muslim Council, and helped set up Muslim Socialist Committee. Next year he was part of Communist Party machinery, hardly realising the sinister aims of his comrades.
In 1923, he was expelled from the Communist Party for being “tolerant of nationalism and religion”. After being constantly harassed, in 1928 he was arrested, sentenced to hard labour for 10 years, and then shot dead in 1940.
So ended the Russian Muslim’s romance with communism. Muslim Socialists in the Middle East hardly knew of this sinister Soviet side; they likely did not want to know.
Socialism in Indonesia
Semaun (1899-1971)
1918: Son of a bricklayer, and an insightful journalist that challenged the colonial policies, he became a member of the governing board in Sarekat Islam (Union of Islamic Traders).
The labor strikes, and concessions that followed, helped in his popular rise. However, he fell under the influence of reactionary Dutch communists. By 1920, he left SI to form Perserikatan Komunis di Hindia – the Asian division of the Communist International. In 1922, Semaun organised all labor unions into one organization: Persatuan Vakbonded Hindia (Union of Indonesian Labor Organisations).
For his activities, in 1923, he was exiled to Netherlands, from where he soon left for Moscow. Next year, upon Moscow’s wishes, the trade unions formed Partai Komunis Indonesia (PKI, Communist Party of Indonesia).
After 30 years in communist Russia, he returned home in 1953 and taught economics before retirement – becoming one of the few Muslims who sacrificed their lives in the service of communism.
Tan Malaka (1897-1949)
In 1917, while studying for higher education in Netherlands, Malaka came under the influence of Communism.
In 1922-Fourth World Congress in Moscow, Malaka’s proposal of collaboration between communism and Islam were rejected. Regardless, Malaka channelled his energies towards Indonesian independence, hoping to merge Islam with communism one day. In 1941, he was shot dead by the Dutch troops during a raid, and was buried in the woods.
Socialism in Fertile Crescent
Jamaal Abdal-Nasser Husayn (1918-1970)
Son of an educated man, in his early youth Nasser became anti-colonialist and rebelled against the Egyptian elite who enabled the colonial rule of Egypt.
In 1961, influenced by Mustafa Kemal of Turkey, Nasser aimed to merge Fiqh and socialist ideals: ‘modernise’ al-Azhar, merge religious and civil courts, consider Shia (including Alawites and Druze) as mainstream Muslims, and of course give official blessings to the French civil liberties.
Unlike Kemal, he could not change Egypt radically because of the presence of the Islamists. He continually struggled with them, killing them in scores at a time, numerous times a year.
He became popular in Egypt with a war (Suez War) and lost his credibility by another war (6-Day War). In Egypt, at his funeral, 5 million people chanted ‘There is no God but the God, and Nasser is God’s beloved… Each of us is Nasser’. Contradictions of the mob!!
Michel Aflaq (1910-1989)
In Syria and Iraq, with numerous historic minorities (each patronised by a competing World Power), this Orthodox Christian guided the Muslims in their anti-colonial struggle in the name of ‘Pan-Arabism’.
Mishayl, son of a Syrian grain merchant, became nationalistic in France. Returning home he joined the Syrian-Lebanese Communist Party, only to leave when he found out his party supported the French colonials.
In 1947, he joined two like-minded Muslim friends to form the Arab Ba’ath (Resurrection) Party. In 1952, Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party was formed.
Socialism was believed to bind all the historic and ancient religions together, against colonial dominance. However, due to competing interests by diverse groups Ba’ath Party underwent repeated ‘revolutions’ over the decade of the 1960s – party principles followed the slippery path of “pan-Arabism” to “scientific socialism” to “dictatorship”.
The Middle Eastern Arabists saw contradictions in their ideals, and did not want to address them due to expediency. Today, the Middle East is on fire.
Ahl-e-Quran of North Africa
Mu’ammar Muhammad al-Qazzafi (1942-2011)
Born to illiterate parents of an inconsequential tribe in a small village, Gaddafi was educated at his local masjid.
By 1963 he joined the Royal Military Academy, trained by the British Army. Next year, inspired by Nasser, Qazzafi founded the Central Committee of the Free Officers Movement. In 1966, he was in England, achieving praise from the British Army.
In 1967 when Egypt lost the 6-Day War against Israel, Libya erupted in riots due to European backing for Israel. The Free Corps saw Israeli victory as European invasion; the common man related to the loss of Jerusalem.
In 1969, the Libyan monarch visited Turkey for a holiday. The Free Corps seized the moment and banished his return. Qazzafi became the chairman of 12-member Shura.
In The Green Book, while attempting to understand the world, Gaddafi propounded the ‘Three World Theory’ condemning US-dominated capitalism and Russian-driven communism. He thought Arabs and Islam can play a useful role as the 3rd party, by using ‘Scientific Socialism’. Towards that end, he rejected all the ahadeeth while upholding the principles of Quran (as interpreted by him). Qazzafi’s Libya was the first to mass publish English translations of Quran, across the world.
By late 1970s he became a dictator, pampered his Libyan populace with comforts, and began supporting socialist-inspired militant movements across the world by funnelling Libya’s immense oil wealth. Decades later, the fall of communism and the Age of Internet deflated his Utopia. He was killed by the road, by his own countrymen.
Calling a Revolution in Iran
Ali Shariati (1933-1977)
This politically minded son of a Shi’a cleric was exposed to socialist ideas while studying in France. By mixing the historic Shi’a fervour of rebellion with reactionary socialism, he encouraged Iranian revolution by arguing ‘everyday is aashura, Karbala is everywhere’. Thus he called himself the “Red Shi’a”, while referring to the docile Shi’a Ulema of Iran as the “Black Shi’a”.
Railing against the love of Iranians towards strangers, Gharb-Zaadigi (‘Stranger-struck’), he called for action so as to hasten the arrival of the 12th imaam, and not just await his return. To achieve such a destiny, he argued the clergy to guide the society. Two years after his death, Iranians rose up in revolt and agreed to the rule by the clergy.
With the Iranian Revolution, the Islamists had truly arrived on the world stage. And they wanted to get noticed.
