˓ABD AL-RAHMAN KAWAKIBI (1849?–1902)

An Arab nationalist and reformer, ˓Abd al-Rahman Kawakibi was born in Aleppo, Syria, where he was educated and worked as an official and journalist until being forced by Ottoman opposition to relocate to Cairo in 1898. He joined the circle of Arab intellectuals surrounding Muhammad ˓Abduh and Rashid Rida. Kawakibi's ideas are elaborated in two books, Taba˒i˓ al-istibdad (Characteristics of tyranny) and Umm alqura (Mother of cities). In the first, he argues that the Muslims's political decline is the result of their straying from original Islamic principles and the advent of mystical and fatalist interpretations. Such passivity, he argues, plays into the hands of despotic rulers, who historically have benefited from false interpretations of Islam. The book was a condemnation of the rule of the Ottoman Turks, and particularly of the sultan ˓Abd al-Hamid II. A revival of Islamic civilization could come only after fresh interpretation of law (ijtihad), educational reforms, and sweeping political change, beginning with the institution of an Arab caliphate in the place of the Ottoman Turks. The theme of renewed Arab leadership in the Muslim umma is developed in the second book. The title is taken from a Qur˒anic reference to Mecca, where Kawakibi places a fictional conference of representatives from various Muslim countries aimed at charting the reform of Muslim peoples.

See alsoModernization, Political: Administrative, Military, and Judicial Reform ; Modernization, Political: Authoritarianism and Democratization ; Modernization, Political: Constitutionalism ; Modernization, Political: Participation, Political Movements, and Parties .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Husry, Khaldun S. Three Reformers: A Study in Modern ArabPolitical Thought. Beirut: Khayats, 1966.

Kramer, Martin. Islam Assembled: The Advent of the MuslimCongresses. New York: Columbia University Press, 1986.

Sohail H. Hasyyhmi