A Lesson from History: How Insiders Pursued Khuruj Through The Ideas of Outsiders

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Besides its decline due to other reasons, mainly due to flaws in the Aqeedah of Tawhid, etc., the Ottomans also faced internal problems from some of their own citizens who adopted foreign ideas, further weakening the state until they themselves overthrew Sultan Abdul Hamid II, rahimahullah. This demonstrates the danger of khuruj – whether by arms or other means. Here is a brief account of some of the people who contributed to the toppling of the Sultan through their ideas of reform, justice and other slogans.

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In the latter half of the 19th century, the Ottoman youth were affected by the French Revolution that led to democratic governance in France. They became affected by nationalism, secularism, and (wanted) the abolishment of rulership by one person (i.e. a person who wields absolute authority), as well as affected by the Italian nationalist movement under the leadership of (Giuseppe) Mazzini. The Ottoman Empire was being confronted with military and media campaigns aimed at weakening and fragmenting the State. Therefore, European nations utilised the circumtances of the Christians within the empire as an excuse to interfere.

Then in 1865, a group of educated Ottoman youth (met) to deceive themselves at a garden located in the outskirts of Istanbul known as Belgrade Forest. They discussed political topics and concocted the idea of setting up a secret assoiciation that was indentical to the “Young Italy association” initiated by the Italian leader (Mazzini) in 1831 for the unity of Italy under slogan of the Republic. They called their association “United Zeal” and among them was the poet Namiq Kamal, who later became very famous. They believed that their effort should be be devoted to acquainting the society with their political rights and how to attain it, since the desire of Christians for independence from the Empire cannot be warranted through foreign interference. Therefore, rescuing the state from its (continuous) decline necessitates the initiation of a democratic political system.

During that time period- in France – Mustapha Pasha, the Amir of Egypt, challenged Fu’aad Pasha out of a desire to become the supreme ruler of Egypt. He announced that he was part of the movement calling for constitutionalism in the Ottoman Empire. Three individuals among the revolutionary Ottoman journalists joined the Amir in Paris, namely: Namıq Kamal, Muhammad Diyaa, and Ali Sa’aawee. They established an organisation called the “New Ottomans Society”. One of the most prominent was Namıq Kamal, who was acquainted with Islamic civilisation, but influenced by the philosophers of the French Revolution, such as Rousseau. Namiq aimed to respond to three main questions:

• The causes of the decline of the Ottoman Empire.
• The means to stop this decline?
• The necessary reforms to attain this goal?

His answers to the causes of the decline can be summarised as follows:

• Economic and political.
• Education as the way to help stop this decline.
• A centralised constitutional state should be implemented as the main reformation initiative. He believed that the Reform Movement should replace the sovereignty of the sultans with the power of the Sublime Porte, meaning the grand viziers. However, the system initiated by the reforms was inferior, thus, the reforms did not achieve economic revival in the state, rather they paved the way for European countries to pry into the internal affairs of the Ottomans. He expressed the idea regarding natural rights and presented a draft constitution to Midhat Pasha, but was affected the Constitution of Napoleon III in 1852. He believed that this (initiative) was very appropriate for the circumstances of the Ottoman Empire at that time.

Sultan Abdul Hamid spoke about Namıq in his memoirs as follows:

“Kamal Bey was from many of those individuals who often associated themselves to the “New Ottomans. He was a very contradictory man; neither did his family life align with his personal life, nor did his literary life align with his intellectual life. You may be certain that a person is either able or unable to do something, but you can never ascertain this when thinking about Kamal Bey, because he himself is not acquainted with himself. You can say that he is one of those rare personalities with a split personality, each one different from the other depending on his mood. Those who are closely acquainted with him know that when he had a good relationship with the Şhiraa family, he wrote about Ottoman History; but when that connection was corrupted, he wrote: “Only a dog would trust the service of an unjust hunter.” Indeed, he is a man who changes as he wishes. He can be a very sincere person and you can make him -within hours – hold your views, but you’ll not be able to know the number of hours or days during which he would carry those thoughts. [End of quote]

Indeed, this section, and Allah’s aid is sought, reminds us of the danger of pursuing reformation through other than the path of the pious predecessors. Read in this link: https://salafidawahmanchester.com/2024/10/22/quranic-and-prophetic-methodology-for-the-rectification-of-society-by-imam-abdul-aziz-bin-baz/

After Sultan Abdul Hamid discovered that the Young Ottomans, led by Mehmed Pasha, were exerting continuous pressure on him to accept their ideas, which compelled him to enter the Ottoman-Russian War, he took measures to disperse the members of this organisation by exiling its leader, the Grand Vizier Mehmed Pasha. Straight away after this, there were two coup attempts against the Sultan orchestrated by Ali Sawi, a member of this organisation, and the other was a Masonic plot orchestrated by the Cleanthi Scalieri Society.

The two plots were supported by England. They both failed, and it made the Sultan increase his scrutiny of foreign ideas and those influenced by them. During this period, a secret cell was established by students from the military school in Istanbul, who held new ideological views, with the aim of resisting the rule of Sultan Abdul Hamid. One member of the Cleanthi Scalieri Masonic organisation called Ali Shafqati Bey managed to escape to Naples and then to Geneva, where he published, between the years 1879 and 1881, a newspaper opposing the Ottoman rule, titled Al-Istiqbal, which means “The Future”.

In 1889, a student organisation was established at the military medical school in Istanbul, where some professors encouraged students, in one way or another, to oppose the state and spread the ideas of the Young Ottomans among the students. The founder of this organisation was Ibrahim Temo, a Romanian who was influenced by Italian Masonic lodges. He named this organisation the Ottoman Union and chose the hundredth anniversary of the French Revolution as the date for its establishment. Their goals included apposing the rule of Sultan Abdul Hamid and creating a state that aligned with contemporary political ideas, using Western countries such as England, France, and Germany as models, while calling for freedom, democracy and a constitution.

From the military medical school, the ideas of the Ottoman Union Organisation spread to various other higher educational institutions- its cells operating secretly in a manner similar to the Italian Carbonari Society. The organisation was not in a hurry to promote its ideas or in taking action against the sultan. In fact, Ahmad Rida Bey reached the position of Director of Education in the Bursa region and traveled to Paris in 1889 under the guise of attending the International Paris Exhibition. After his arrival, he announced that he would not be returning to his homeland and then stayed in France for nearly six years. During this period, he did not engage in any active opposition until he published his newspaper, (Mushurat), in 1895. The founder of the Union Organisation Ibrahim Temo, stated that he spent his time abroad until 1895 to recruit new members, aiming to do so gradually. He held secret meetings and read literary works authored by members of the Young Ottoman Organisation, such as Namik Kemal and Ziya Pasha, as well as publications by Ali Shafqati Bey, a member of the Masonic Clan, who was in exile in Europe.

Due to the confidential communications among the members of the secret Ottoman Union Organisation – both at home and abroad, an agreement was reached to unify military and civilian efforts against the Sultan. In addition, the title (Union and Progress Organisation) was initiated for the opposing factions, military and civilian, that operated within the structure of the organisation. Ahmad Riza Bey, who represented the civilian wing, was influenced by the ideas of the philosopher Immanuel Kant, whose doctrine emphasised “order and progress.” He adopted the term “progress” inspired by Kant’s principles, while the military members retained the designation “Union,” leading them all to agree on naming their organisation “Union and Progress.”

The cells of this Union infiltrated the army and government employees – bringing them together after an agreement between their military and civilian wings in Paris, to take action against Sultan Abdul Hamid, thus, the organisation was able to compel the Sultan on July 24, 1908, to announce the constitution that he previously ordered to be suspended in 1877.

The political ideology of the “Union and Progress” organisation emphasised Turanian concepts both at home and abroad. The term ‘Turanian’ refers to the original homeland of the Turks, associated with Mount Turan located in the northeastern region of Iran. Within the Union and Progress movement, there was a strong inclination towards advocating that Turks are among the oldest and most illustrious nations on Earth, and pioneers of civilisation. They believed that Turks and the Mongolian race share a common ancestry and should reunite, a concept they called “Turanian Unity”, and this idea was not restricted to Turks living in Siberia, Turkestan, China, Persia, the Caucasus, Anatolia, and Russia. Their slogan was to disregard religious affiliations and to neglect Islamic unity unless it benefitted the purpose of Turanian nationalism, in which case it would be a means rather than an end – demonstrating that this movement advocated for the revival of traits of pre-Islamic beliefs of the Turks, exaggerating their efforts to establish a sense of ethnic identity in replacement of Islamic affinity. The influence of (certain) Jews on Turanism was apparent, and in this regard, Niyazi Berkes states in his book (Contemporary Turkey):

“Jewish scholars in the West, such as Lumali David, Leon Cahoon, and Arminius Vambéry, contributed to the discourse on the origins of Turanic nationalism. Also, (some) local Jews in the Ottoman Empire, including Kraswa (Qarasu), Moïse Cohen, and Abraham Galanti, were involved in the organisation of “Union and Progress”. Once this organisation was successful in overthrowing Abdul Hamid’s rule and seizing power, (certain) Zionists approached the Unionists and made known their desire for the organisation to recognise Palestine as a national homeland for the Jews”.

Niyazi Berks mentioned in his previous book the name of the Jewish figure Moïz Cohen, who was described by René Bello as follows:

“Cohen is one of the founders of Turanian nationalist thought in the Ottoman Empire. – Moïz Cohen’s book is considered the sacred text of Turanian politics”.

Moïz Cohen was highly active in promoting the Young Turk movement in European newspapers, as he was proficient in several European languages in addition to Hebrew and Turkish. This began with an article in French titled: (The Turks are Searching for a National Spirit). Moïz Cohen contributed to the planning of the racist Turanian policy adopted by the Committee of Union and Progress, a policy that alienated the peoples of the Ottoman Empire and fostered enmity and hatred among them. He was relentless in promoting Turkish nationalism to cause division within the Ottoman Empire, authoring three books that were used by the organisation of “Union and Progress”, namely: (What Can Turks Gain from This War), (Turan), and (Turkification Policy). He also contributed to Kemalist thought with his book: (Kemalism) and his work: (The Turkish Spirit).

The Union was established to arouse nationalistic sentiments among the Turks, under the dream of Turanism, advocating for new concepts such as: homeland, constitution, and freedom, which were alien to the Ottomans. It included a group of educated Turkish youth, along with the Donmeh Jews, whose goal was to overthrow the rule of Abdul Hamid II.

Source: An Excerpt from “Ad-Dawla Al-Uthmaniyyah Awamil An-Nuhood Wa Asbaab As-Suqoot 6/500-506