History of French-era Tunisia - Tunisian Politics - Islamic Context

Islamic Context

Most Tunisians are accustomed to references made about the Muslim world, for spiritual inspiration, literary metaphor, historical analogy. Within Islam (apart from sectarian differences), the three primary cultural spheres, each stemming from a world ethno-linguistic civilization, are: Arab, Iranian, and Turkish. The Arab sphere includes Arabia, the Mashriq, Egypt, and the Maghreb; the Iranian includes more than Iran proper, e.g., Afghanistan and historic lands of Mughal India; the Turkish not only the former Ottoman Empire but also Muslim Central Asia, where Turkish or Mongol are spoken. Each influenced Islam as a whole, as its sophisticated cultural contours bear witness. Each likewise benefited Tunisia.

Immediately preceding the French protectorate in Tunisia, the Ottoman Turks exercised varying degrees of suzerainty, and the ruling strata of Tunisia then spoke Turkish. Under the quasi-independent Beys an attempt at modern reform was made, using as a model similar reforms in the Ottoman Empire. Such Turkish influence was discussed previously, in History of Ottoman era Tunisia. Influence of the Iranian-sphere on Tunisia through the government has been only indirect, occasional, at the periphery, i.e., the 8th-10th century Rustamids (discussed previously in History of early Islamic Tunisia), or by the influence of individuals, e.g., al-Afghani (see below).

Arab culture has strongly affected Tunisia since the 8th century conquest. Tunisia has become predominately an Arabic-speaking country. The original medium of the Qu'ran and of Islam, of course, is the Arabic language, which remains by far the most influential in the Muslim world. The people of Arabia once had reaped lasting renown in history as a result of the founding and spread of Islam. Long before the recent rise of Europe, and for centuries sharing this distinction with distant China, Muslim Arab civilization led the world in the refinement and in the prosperity of its citizens.

Yet since, the Turks had arrived and eventually moved into leadership position of various central Muslim polities, beginning about the 10th century. Thereafter, the Arabs had rested content seemingly under their foreign, albeit Islamic, rule. Moreover, about the year 1500 European Christians, once their rather opaque and trailing neighbors along the Mediterranean shore, "at last caught up with and overtook Islam, though the latter was quite unaware of what was happening."

Nonetheless the majority of Middle Eastern people now called Arabs still retained a well-acknowledged double esteem as (a) the creators of the ancient world's earliest civilizations (when most spoke another Semitic language or Egyptian), and later as (b) co-creators of the celebrated Arab Caliphate and its civilization, when as cousins 'adopted' by the desert Arabs (the original people of Muhammad). Despite having earned and enjoyed such high esteem, the Arabs in more recent times found themselves in need of rejuvenation and renewal. During the 19th century a great renaissance began to stir among Arabs and among the Muslim peoples in general, giving rise to political reformers.

Hayreddin Pasha (1810–1889) was an early reformer, of imperial Ottoman origin, a Pasha who spend many years in the service of several Beys of Tunisia (1840s-1877), and later of the Ottoman Sultan. Hayreddin has been discussed previously. Hayreddin came of age in the era of the Ottoman Tanzimat, a series of modern reforms (begun in 1839). He preceded al-Afghani. When a youth Hayreddin had traveled to Tunisia to enter the Turkish-speaking elite. He advocated a modern rationalism in the reform of society and government, yet one respectful of Muslim institutions. Once in power in Tunisia to implement his reforms (1873–1877), Hayreddin encountered stiff opposition and was replaced mid-steam.

Inspiring and enigmatic, Jamal al-Din al-Afghani (1839–1897) traveled widely to rally the Muslim world to unity and internal reform. Later while in Paris in 1884 al-Afghani published with Muhammad 'Abduh (see below) a journal al-'Urwa al-wuthqa to propagate his message. He himself sought a leading position in government to initiate reinvigorating reforms. He managed for a time to associate with an Ottoman Pasha, and later with the Shah of Iran, but to no effect. Although advocating a pan-Islamic solution, al-Afghani also taught that with universal reason Muslim societies might be reformed under Islamic principles, to be followed by mastery of European sciences; industry would transform Muslim material culture. Such modernizing did not convince the more traditionist of the ulema, but did energize a following across Islam which became committed to reform agendas. It was rational principles that were adopted by Tunisian nationalists. Another reformer with lasting influence in Tunisia was Muhammad 'Abduh (1849–1905), a follower of al-Afghani, a gifted teacher, who eventually became the Mufti of Egypt. 'Abduh cultivated reason and held the controversial view that in Muslim law the doors of ijtihad were open, i.e., permitting the learned to make an original interpretation of sacred texts.

Alongside the pan-Islamic were pan-Arab and pan-Turkic views. Yet many Arabic-speaking countries had grown weary under the Ottoman Empire; there arose a popular desire for self-rule under an Arab nationalism. In this regard Tunisia differed: an Arabic-speaking country but in the 19th century already long an autonomous province where the Ottoman hand was faint, a mere ceremony. Whereas later during World War I many Arabs of the east fought against Turkish armies for their independence, Tunisia experienced no anti-Turkish warfare. Yet in 1881 Tunisia fell under European rule, as did Egypt and the Mashriq following World War I. Accordingly, the emerging Tunisian nationalist movement had two distinct sources of Islamic political culture for fraternity, and for example against which to compare ideas and programs: the Ottomans (latter Turkey), and the Arab east.