Mecca's First Photographers (1880-1890): Lives, Activities and Work Jan Just Witkam (Leiden University, the Netherlands), www.janjustwitkam.nl Thursday, 18 April 2013, 18:00 hrs, NVIC, Cairo
Issues at stake - Photography as an innovation - The Western fascination of Mecca - How to write the history of photography of Mecca? - The men: Sadiq Bey, the two Abd al-ghaffars, and their ambitions - The techniques: camera, dark room, distilled water - The objects: buildings, landscapes, people - The circumstances: climate, opportunities - Sources of information: the photographs, the archives - Dangers encountered in the research; research analysis
Photography as an innovation Egypt s mufti Muhammad Bakhit al- Muti`i (1856-1935) is the author of many fatwas. One of these treats photography, or so it says on the titlepage. The booklet (published in 1920 or later, not in 1302/1885 as the titlepage seems to indicate) does in fact nothing more than to repeat the classical, mostly negative Islamic opinions on images. Photography, nor phonography, nor telegraphy for that matter, could eventually be forbidden in principle by the scholars, as their use had become too widespread. Their use could be regulated, however. Source: Leiden University Library 8029 F 32
The first reliable European image of the Haram in Mecca was published by Adrian Reland in 1717. It is based on Islamic images (Iznik tiles, miniatures) which were flat projections. Reland made a reconstruction in perspective. Source: Engraving in Leiden University Library 409 F 4, between pp. 120-121.
The mosques of Mecca (right) and of Medina. Miniatures in an Ottoman manuscript of the Dalâ il al- Khayrât, Istanbul 1254/1838. A luxury prayer book dating from one year before the invention of photography. The situation as shown on this miniature is basically how Mecca and Medina looked like when they were first photographed in the 1880 s. Source: MS Leiden, Or. 12.455, ff. 15b- 16a.
Ottoman propaganda poster in The Cairo Punch, al-siyasa al-musawwara, Cairo 1909. Colour lithograph. Source: Collections Egyptian National Library, Cairo
Commercial advertisement for the sale of a set of images of the Hijaz, here with a view on the Prophet s Mosque in Medina. They may have been taken, directly or indirectly, from one of the images by Muhammad Sadiq Bey. From a poster in The Cairo Punch, al-siyasa al-musawwara, Cairo 1909 (detail). Source: Collections Egyptian National Library, Cairo
Early techniques: A dark room in the field. Apart from a camera and glass plates, the photographer needed a laboratory. He needed chemicals for working on his plates, and for developing, rinsing and fixing. He even had to produce clean water himself. Source: S.Th. Stein, Das Licht im Dienste wissenschaftlicher Forschung. 2. Band (Halle 2 1888), fig. 118.
Mecca s first three photographers (1880-1890) 1. The Egyptian officer and engineer, Muhammad Sadiq Bey (1822-1902). French education, member of Egyptian delegation. He has between 1860 and 1896 written several books on journeys to the Hijaz, which contain illustrations shown in different techniques (woodcut, lithography). He knew photographers 2 and 3 personally, but did not work together with them. The story of his photography is fairly straightforward. 2. Abd al-ghaffar b. Abd al-rahman al-baghdadi (no life dates available), usually known as the Meccan doctor ). Lived in Mecca, went abroad sometimes (Egypt: dentistry). His failed attempts to portrait photography are documented for late 1884. He closely cooperated with photographer No. 3 on several levels. Except a few letters and family documents no written sources on his life and work. A man of many technical talents. 3. Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje (1857-1936), the Dutch Orientalist and colonial adviser. Muslim name in Jeddah and Mecca (1884-1885): Abd al- Ghaffar (a coincidence). Brought a good camera, knew new techniques, cooperated with No. 2 in a common studio, mostly on portrait photography. His monograph on Mecca (1888-1889) and his archives are historical sources. Close cooperation with No. 2, personal acquaintance of No. 1.
Mecca s first photographer The Egyptian officer and engineer Muhammad Sadiq Bey (1822-1902), the first photographer of Mecca (and Medina), in 1880. He had a French education (Polytechnique) and learned drawing and photography in Paris, possibly already in the 1840 s. Several Egyptian delegations to the Higaz. Several books, with illustrations, published. His books were recently (Beirut 1999) republished by Muhammad Hammam Fikri. Source: Portrait of 1896, frontispice of Dalil al-hadj. Copy in Leiden University Library 884 F 48
Muhammad Sadiq Bey and Photography: Summary of his travels: First visit Medina in 1277/1860, followed by a second visit to al-medina in 1861 (described in Nubdhat Istikshaf ). Second trip in 1880, third trip in 1884. These latter two were for the religious duty of the pilgrimage. The first known photography was done in 1880. His two works (Mash`al al-mahmal and Kawkab al-hajj) are devoted to the trips in the 1880 s. His fourth trip, on official mission, in 1885. The latter is described in a supplement to Kawkab. The Dalil al-hagg of 1889 is a pilgrim s guide, not a travelogue. A fifth work treats a trip to Istanbul (not seen). Muhammad Sadiq Bey on photographing Medina (12 December 1881): I took a picture (rasm) of al-madina al-munawwara with the light-rays instrument which is called photography, with the cupola over the grave of the Prophet Muhammad, and I took a point from where I had a view over Medina from the roof of the arsenal (Tupkhana), as I considered to be suitable as it allowed me (to take) part of the residential part (al-manakha) also. I took the noble cupola from inside the mosque, also with the said instrument. No one had done this before me at all. Source: Mash`al al-mahmal, Cairo 1881, p. 16.
Muhammad Sadiq Bey, Mash al al-mahmal, Cairo 1881, p. 16 (Leiden 8081 D 43) Photograph of the mosque in Medina by Muhammad Sadiq Bey, 1880. Source: Mannheim, Reis-Engelhorn Museum, WR 12/06 Sui, a.o., 2008, p. 136.
Muhammad Sadiq Bey, View of Medina, taken from the city s Arsenal. The photograph dates from 1881. In 1896 the photograph could be reproduced as a photo and did not need to be redrawn and cut in wood for reproduction, as had been the case fifteen years earlier. Source text: Dalil al-hagg, Cairo 1896, p. 26 (Leiden 884 F 48)
Muhammad Sadiq Bey on photographing in Mecca: These days I was able to take the picture of the Great Mosque of Mecca and the Ka`ba by way of photography, and also of its courtyard as far as possible because of the enormous crowd ant the lack of space. Source text: Mash`al al- Mahmal, p. 35 Photograph of the Great Mosque in Mecca by Muhammad Sadiq Bey, 1880. Source: Mannheim, Reis- Engelhorn Museum, WR 12/05 Sui, a.o., 2008, p. 129.
Muhammad Sadiq Bey, as an engineer, had an interest in the documentation of buildings and fortifications. He drew maps as well. He extended his interest by photographing landscapes. Some of his photographs are portraits of individuals or group portraits. His official status as a high ranking member of the caravan bringing the Mahmal from Cairo to Mecca must haven given hem a great freedom of movement. We may assume that while making photographs he was accompanied by military and technical personnel. In his work there is no consideration in relation to the theological discussions about the question whether photography was permitted at all. He knew everything of the new technique, and because of what he had seen in France and in Egypt, he must have been convinced that introduction of it was merely a matter of time. He was very much aware of his own status of the first photographer of the two Holy Cities.
Prospectus for the sale in Cairo of twelve photographs by Muhammad Sadiq Bey of Mecca, the surroundings of Mecca, and Medina. The collection was, as the prospectus states, the recipient of the gold medal at the Third International Geographical Congress and Exhibition at Venice, in 1881. He also would have been awarded with a diploma for much earlier photographs (1860, 1861?) of Medina, during the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelpha, in 1876. No further information available. Original in the Mannheim, Reis-Engelhorn Museum. Image from Sui, a.o., 2008, p. 53.
Al-Sayyid Abd al-ghaffar ibn Abd al- Rahman al-baghdadi, the first Arab photographer of Mecca, 1885. A medical doctor and a man of many more talents. Photography seemed to him one of many ways to generate income in a city of pilgrims, but so did medical science, dentistry, watch making, alchemy/chemistry, being a gunsmith, etc. Photographic experiments already in 1884, but failed. Medical science has remained in his family. His great-grandson, Dr. Hashim Abdulghafar of Mecca, was for a while the Saudi Deputy-Minister of Health. Portrait possibly made by C. Snouck Hurgronje, the other Abd al-ghaffar, Mecca, first half of 1885. Source: Snouck Hurgronje Archive, University Leiden. Or. 26.403 (Nino 1.26).
Relevant chronology of Al-Sayyid Abd al-ghaffar ibn Abd al-rahman al- Baghdadi, the first Arab photographer of Mecca, 1885-1889. Motives: mainly economic. - Must have known about (and may have seen?) the photographs of Muhammad Sadiq Bey of Mecca and Medina of 1880/1881. - Failed (or not very beautiful?) portrait of the Ottoman governor of the Hijaz, Uthman Nuri Pasha (not preserved), 1884. - Meets Snouck Hurgronje, who has modern equipment and knowledge, in Mecca in early 1885. Starts cooperation with him; the camera and equipment are in his house. Common photography (portraits of Meccan men and women). Active cooperation lasts till Snouck s eviction in early August 1885. - Late 1885 till 1887 occupied with other things, a.o. dentistry in Egypt. - 1887-1889. Photography on behalf of Snouck Hurgronje, without doubt assignable to him: Landscapes, buildings, portraits. Only preserved what he sent to Holland. Some documentation in letters. Complex relationship. - At least one photograph by him has survived in a Yildiz album in Istanbul. - No information for the period of 1889 and after. Snouck Hurgronje makes a career move and departs in 1889 for a job in the Dutch East-Indies.
Panoramic view of Mecca (2/4), by Abd al-ghaffar the doctor in Mecca. Similar to Sadiq Bey. Source: C. Snouck Hurgronje, Bilder aus Mekka (1889), No. 3
The Haram in Mecca from inside during prayer, by Abd al-ghaffar the doctor in Mecca. Source: C. Snouck Hurgronje, Bilder aus Mekka (1889), No. 1
Abd al-ghaffar the doctor in Mecca would sign his negatives with a sort of calligraphic vignette: Photograph by al- Sayyid Abd al-ghaffar, doctor in Mecca. When his photographs were reproduced in Snouck Hurgronje s Bilder aus Mekka, the signatures were removed. We do not why this was done. Source: Snouck Hurgronje Archive, Leiden University, Abd al-ghaffar s original photographs, e.g. Or. 26.367 (OI, F-11)
The tomb of Sitti Maymuna, one of the wives of the Prophet Muhammad, outside Mecca. Photograph by Abd al-ghaffar the doctor in Mecca, 1889. Source: Snouck Hurgronje, Bilder aus Mekka, No. 9B.
For Abd al- Ghaffar it was important to have rich clients. To Snouck Hurgronje s dismay he almost never made portraits of ordinary people, servants, slaves or women. The riding camel of the Sharif Yahya (second from right). Photograph by Abd al-ghaffar the doctor in Mecca, 1889. Source: Snouck Hurgronje, Bilder aus Mekka, 1889, No. 17.
Group portrait: a Turkish officer, an Indian merchant, and male family members. Photograph by Abd al-ghaffar the doctor in Mecca, 1886-1887. Source: Snouck Hurgronje, Bilder-Atlas, 1889, No. 10.
Portrait of Abdullah, the son of the Sharif Husayn, dressed in Kozak costume. Mecca 1886. He is the later king Abdullah of Transjordan. Photograph by Abd al-ghaffar the doctor in Mecca, 1886. He made several more portraits of members of the Sharifan family. Source: Snouck Hurgronje, Bilder-Atlas, 1889, No. 12-3.
Portrait of a Meccan woman. Photograph by Abd al-ghaffar the doctor in Mecca, 1886. Snouck Hurgronje had asked him often for more female portraits, but these remain rare in the collection. It was quite something when a woman could be persuaded to lift het veil and go public. And when Abd al-ghaffar finally sent a few portraits of women, Snouck Hurgronje complained that the women were not beautiful enough. Generally speaking he was horrified of the daughters of Mecca, mostly because of their greed. Source: Snouck Hurgronje, Bilder-Atlas, 1889, No. 25-1.
Street scene in Mecca, 1886: Police station, with the Ottoman governor. Lithograph after a photograph by al-sayyid Abd al- Ghaffar, the Meccan Doctor. Source: Snouck Hurgronje, Bilder-Atlas, 1889, No. 6
Street scene in Mecca, 1886: Police station, with Ottoman governor. Photograph by al- Sayyid Abd al- Ghaffar, the Meccan Doctor. His only known photograph outside the Snouck Hurgronje corpus. Source: Yildiz-Album, IRCICA, Istanbul, No. 90877-23
Portrait of a Meccan woman dressed up as a bride. Snouck Hurgronje needed such an image of a bride and bridegroom because he extensively described in his Mekka, vol. 2, the marriage ceremonies in Mecca, as part of the private life of the Meccans. Photograph by al-sayyid Abd al-ghaffar, the Meccan Doctor, 1887. Source: Snouck Hurgronje, Bilder-Atlas, 1889, No. 25-3.
Objects of daily life from Mecca. Lithograph made from the objects themselves (genuine colours!). Earlierattemptsby Abd al-ghaffar the doctor to make photographs of objects had failed. The Dutch vice-consul P.N. van der Chijs from 1886 onwards sent a large number of objects from Jeddah to Holland. These have been preserved. Source: Snouck Hurgronje, Bilder-Atlas, 1889, No. 38.
Ghar Thawr, where the Prophet and Abu Bakr hid. Landscape photograph by Abd al-ghaffar the doctor. Caption in top, signed with a calligraphy at the bottom (inset): Source: MS Leiden Or. 26.367 (OI F-11)
Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje, in Mecca, 1885, or Jeddah 1884. He has now taken the Muslim name of Abd al-ghaffar. Photograph possibly taken by Abd al-ghaffar, the Meccan doctor. Source: Snouck Hurgronje Archive. Leiden, University Library, Or. 8952, foto A-2.
Short chronology of Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje s life 1857 born in Oosterhout, Netherlands 1880 PhD thesis Leiden: The Meccan Festival 1884-1885 Stay in Jeddah and Mecca 1888-1889 publication of Mekka I and II, photographs 1889-1906 governmental adviser in Batavia/Jakarta 1906-1927 Professor of Arabic and Islam, Leiden 1906-1909 sound recordings Mecca (at his instruction) 1931 publication English translation Mekka II, reprint: 2007 1936 Died in Leiden 1979-1985 controversies in the Dutch press 1997 opening archives (60 years after his death) 2007 publication Witkam on Snouck Hurgronje s life in Mecca The Snouck Hurgronje Archives contain letters, documents, reports, photographs, sound recordings, all mostly unused, important for Arabic and Indonesian studies.
Why did Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje go to Mecca? - Study Islam in an environment uncontaminated by western influence and values. - Monitor the attitudes of the Indonesian colony in Mecca (the Jawah) in view of the Dutch colonial wars in South East Asia (Sultanate Acheh and other conflicts) and colonial rule over Muslims. - Monitor the much feared pan-islamism. How did Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje go to Mecca, and away? - 1884 Jeddah, acclimatization, development of strategies, making acquaintances, first photographs of returning pilgrims. - Late 1884 official conversion to Islam, circumcision. - 1885 moves to Muslim quarter of Jeddah, - 22 February 1885 enters Mecca with the Bantenese Aboe Bakar - Makes many important acquaintances; buys Ethiopian slave girl, who gives him information on female life in Mecca. - August 1885, sudden ejection from Mecca. - 1885-1889 series of publications about Meccan history and life.
Designs for devices with which water can be distilled. This was necessary for Snouck Hurgronje s photography, since he might not find clean water in Jeddah or Mecca. Source: Letter from Piet van Romburgh to C. Snouck Hurgronje, 27 juli 1884. Snouck Hurgronje Archive, UB Leiden, Or. 8952.
The Dutch colony in Jeddah, fall 1884. Snouck Hurgronje at the back, in white cloth. Courtyard of the Dutch Consulate. Source: Snouck Hurgronje Archive, Leiden Or. 8952
Awn al-rafiq, the ruling Sharif of Mecca in 1885. Portrait in cooperation by C. Snouck Hurgronje and Abd al-ghaffar, the doctor, 1885. Better than any fatwa, a portrait of the Sharif himself was a legitimation of photographing in the Holy City. Source: C. Snouck Hurgronje, Bilder- Atlas 1889, No. 7
Ibrahim Nuri Pasha, the Ottoman governor of the Hijaz. Portrait in cooperation by C. Snouck Hurgronje and/or Abd al-ghaffar, the doctor, 1885. Source: C. Snouck Hurgronje, Bilder- Atlas 1889, No. 8
Acehnese pilgrims in the courtyard of the Dutch consulate, Jedda, 1884. Photograph by Snouck Hurgronje. The leader, second from right, is now identified as Teungku di Cot Plieng, a famous resistance fighter in the Aceh-war. The Dutch were engaged, between 1873-1904, in a war of attrition against the Sultanate of Aceh, North Sumatra. Snouck Hurgronje, Bilder- Atlas, 1889, No. 36
Pilgrims from Martapura (South Kalimantan). Photograph by C. Snouck Hurgronje, in courtyard Dutch consulate, Jeddah, 1884. Source: Snouck Hurgronje, Bilder-Atlas, 1889, No. 29
The shaykh of the boat-people in Jeddah (second of right?), with members of his guild. Photograph by C. Snouck Hurgronje, 1884. Courtyard of the Dutch Consulate. Source: Snouck Hurgronje, Bilder-Atlas, 1889, No. 24-1
A posed portrait of a street vendor of sweets in Jeddah. Photograph by C. Snouck Hurgronje, 1884. Courtyard of the Dutch Consulate, Jeddah. Source: Snouck Hurgronje, Bilder-Atlas, 1889, No. 24-1
Group portrait of an African tumbura orchestra in Jeddah. Lithograph, because all photographs of the group were blurred. After several Photographs, possibly by C. Snouck Hurgronje, 1884. Courtyard of the Dutch Consulate, Jeddah. Source: Snouck Hurgronje, Bilder-Atlas, 1889, No. 18
African slave with a camel, carrying water bags. Photograph by C. Snouck Hurgronje, Jeddah 1884. Source: MS Leiden, 12.288 N 12
The mysterious sextuple view of the Ka ba seen from within the Haram. Print from a revolver camera? None of the two Abd al-ghaffars can have made it, as the revolver camera came in use after 1885, nor is there any documentary evidence. Source: MS Leiden Or. 26.368 G 1