Secularism & Modernity Chapter 9 : notes by Denis Bašic Opening of the Ottoman Parliament 1876
Secularism in the Middle East Some Facts : In the contemporary Middle East there is only one state that performs civil marriages - Turkey. Article 3 of the Syrian constitution (before 2011) specifies that the president of Syria must be a Muslim. Article 4 of the Iraqi constitution (before 2003) defined Islam as the religion of the state. The socialist party (Ba ath) that ruled Iraq and still rules Syria, at least in theory, officially used to proclaim that God, religions, feudalism, capitalism, imperialism, and all other -isms that had dominated society in the past are like mummies in the museum.
Secularism & Modernity Is modernity possible without secularization? Many in the West claim that secularism is an essential part of modernity and that states that are not secular cannot be considered modern. According to Gelvin, since the Middle Eastern states had a different historical experience from the European states, their evolution was also quite different. The prominent role religion plays in the politics and political discourse of Middle Eastern states does not mean that these states are not modern, but rather that these states follow an alternate form of modernity.
Transformation of the Catholic Church in the 19th century In competition with the secular state, the Catholic Church also experienced transformation in the 19th century with the appearance of mass politics and the spread of market relations. After the Vatican Council of 1869, the Pope became infallible on issues of faith and morals. In terms of other issues, the Church sanctioned the formation of mass-based Catholic political parties. In other words, both church structures and church doctrines came to reflect the social and political world in which the church functioned.
Ottomanism As Secularism- 1st phase (1876-1878) Ottomanism (Osmanlılık) is the ideology developed by the Young Ottomans during the First Constitutional Era of the Ottoman Empire with the goal to solve the issues of social and legal inequality among the subjects of the Empire. Ottomanism was highly influenced by thinkers like Montesquieu and Rousseau and by the ideas of the French Revolution. Ottomanism promoted the equality of the Ottoman millets. Simply stated, all subjects of the Empire were equal before the law. In its roots, the Millet system was not dismantled but secular organizations and policies were applied. Hatt-i Hümayan of 1856, which promised full equality of religion, and the Nationality Law of 1869 that created a common Ottoman citizenship irrespective of religious or ethnic divides are the milestones of Ottomanism. The implementation of the Ottoman parliament was the highest point during First Constitutional Era (1876-1878).
Islamic Ottomanism - 2nd phase (1878-1906) The initial idea of Ottoman citizenry and equality of all citizens regardless of their religious adherence was largely refused by the non- Muslim population of the Empire. As reasons for this refusal, historians mention mistrust of non-muslims in good intentions of the Sultan, as well as unwillingness of non- Muslims to accept new obligations (military service) alongside the new rights of the citizens. One should not ignore the large political appetites of the non-muslims elite that did not want the equality with Muslims, but rather independence, and consequently political and economic superiority in and through their new imagined states. The support of European powers (France, Britain, Austria, Russia) and military weaknesses of the Ottoman Empire made them think that they should not be satisfied with equality. In reaction to such a response, during the reign of Sultan Abdulhamid II, Ottomanism as a unifying ideology started addressing Muslims only.
Young Turks Ottomanism - 3rd phase (1906-1913) In 1909, the Young Turks deposed Sultan Abdulhamid II who promulgated the Islamic Ottomanism. Once in power, they wanted to restore the secular Ottomanism of the Tanzimat period to try to bind together what remained of the empire. The Young Turks believed that constraints imposed by the modern age had made a religiosity a weaker influence in building social and political nations over time. Well, over time, facing the same opposition of the non-muslim elites, Abdulhamid II also had faced, they also eventually reverted to the Islamic Ottomanism. Later this idea of the Islamic Ottomanism was replaced with Turkish nationalism, which in its various forms has cherished the idea that all Muslims (especially of the Balkans) are Turks.
Rifa a Rafi al-tahtawi (1801-1873)
Rifa a Rafi al-tahtawi Beginning in 1826, he spent five years in Paris as a religious teacher for a group of Egyptian students and later was appointed head of a state language school (1836) and a translation bureau (1841) in Cairo. In these capacities he played a central role in bringing Western science and methods to Egypt. Through his translations of European works in philosophy and social sciences, the European terminology and world views enter the Arabic language. (*()رة, (!"#$% civilization Thus, before al-tahtawi, the Arabic terms for was used to describe the high culture, refined manners, and luxurious trappings of the urban life. In terms of Ibn Khalidun s historical philosophy, the meaning of civilization was contrasted to the harshness and rusticity of desert and rural life. Only after al-tantawi s return from Paris did he introduced the notions of separate Western and Eastern civilizations, which was then in vogue in Europe (as it now is in North America, acc. to Gelvin).
Clash of Civilizations Like his European contemporaries, al-tahtawi believed that each civilization possessed distinguishing characteristics that differentiated them from each other. While science defined the Western civilization, Islam and Islamic law defined the counterpart. Later writers further developed this notion of antagonism and introduced the notion of a clash of civilizations. Thus, according to al-afghani, The problem facing the East is its struggle with the West. Both cloak themselves in the armor of religion. The Westerner is an adherent of Christianity and the Easterner of Islam, and the people of the two religions are like a hard projectile in the hands of their throwers.
According to both, al-tahtawi and al-afghani, Islam is not only a divine message, but an expression of a culturally and geographically distinct civilization. During the Islamic Ottomanist era, the newspaper La Turquie put it, Islam is not only a religion, it is a nationality. Why did the Islamic Ottomans think so? 1878 - losing the territories after the Berlin Congress Balkan ethno-religious (Christian) nationalism Russian expansions into the Caucasus 1860 s and 1870 s - exodus of more than 2 million Circassian, Chechen, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Romanian, and Greek Muslims to Anatolia and other provinces of the Ottoman empire (Syria, Jordan,...)
Islamic Ottomanists Response Abdulhamid II decided to respond by intermixing the state and religious institutions and associate loyalty to the state with loyalty to Islam. In order to achieve this goal the Ottoman government decided to address : 1. Missionary activity within the Empire (Christians, Wahhabies, Shi a, Alawis, Yazidies, some Sufis,...) 2. Dissemination of propaganda and Islamic official texts (4,000 religious and propaganda books) Abdülhamit II (1842-1918)
3. Imperial patronage and employing of religious scholars (in Military Council, Council of Public Works, the Council of Finance, the council of Agriculture, the Council of the Navy, the Council of Police, the Council of Arsenal, and the Council of State - the central legislative body of the Empire.) 4. Support for religious endowments and infrastructure (reconstruction of the Umayyad mosque in Damascus destroyed by fire in 1893, Hijaz Railroad)
Hejaz Railway Hejaz Railway ran from Damascus to Medina, through the Hejaz region of Arabia. It was part of the Ottoman railways network. The railway had the religious purpose to aid the pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj). However, most definitely, it also served to cement the Ottoman grip on the region and foster trade between Damascus and Medina. The railway was started in 1900 at the behest of the Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II and was built largely by the Ottomans, with German advice and support.
The Hejaz railway is remarkable both for having had no debt when completed and for having many miles of track below sea-level. The initial declared goal of laying the tracks all the way to Mecca was never achieved. In fact it never reached further south than Medina (1908), 400 km (250 miles) short of Mecca. The Hejaz railroad system was further expended and through extensions already by 1914 many other important cities were connected to it, like Aleppo, Tripoli, Haifa, Nablus, etc.
Muhammadan Union Soon after the Young Turks revolution (July 1908), soldiers, religious students and others in Istanbul and Damascus launched a countercoup on behalf of the sultan. The initiator of this countercoup was the organization called Muhammadan Union. They were the proponents of the Islamic Ottomanism (Osmanlilik) as opposed to the Young Turks who started as secularists. Young Turks believed that constrains imposed by the modern age has made religiosity a weaker influence in building social and political nations over time. Muhammedan Union was convinced, on the other side, that the strongest bond of Arab, Turk, Kurd, Albanian, Circassian, and Laz - and their nationhood - is nothing other than Islam. In the end their countercoup failed.
al-haqa iq... was a magazine of the Damascan ulema of the time. the ulama who wrote for this magazine adopted the European notions of the progress of nations, universal standard of civilization, and division of the world into an East and a West. On contributor of al-haqa iq wrote : If one thinks that religion orders inactivity and laziness, he is a base, bigoted ignoramus or a treacherous Westernizer. Does he not understand that religion is our path to civilization and progress. Like the Vatican, these self-proclaimed traditionalists required that an Islamic political party be established to compete in the arena of the new mass politics.