Sultan ul Arifin Bayazid al-Bistami’s (ks) tombIbrahim Satnaba said: “I was present at Bayazid’s meeting one day, when the elders were conversing. They were saying: ‘So-and-so has acquired knowledge from So and-so, and So-and-so has acquired knowledge from So-and-so…,” but Bayazid al-Bistami said:
“Those miserable wretches have acquired knowledge from the dead, but we acquired knowledge from Allah, the Ever-Living who never dies!” – (ref: Nafahat al Uns. trans: Holland)
Jamal al-Afghani and his teachings are one of the main pillars on which modern mass-consumed (by Muslims) Islamic movements are constructed.
While there are those that say whether or not he was a freemason is not relevant to understanding his message, what becomes necessarily relevant is the motivations for his actions and teachings. The Ottomans judged him to be a dangerous munafiq, and essentially held him captive, others heralded him and his students as their saviors.
“He belongs to the select band of men who have wielded the greatest influence on the rising Muslim generations in the modern times” – Nadwi, At-Talib Blog
“Dr. Muhammad ‘Emarah, answered these contentions stating: “Those who question his race and religious orientation would like to, in light of these accusations, establish his dishonesty, for indeed, he has stated about himself that “I am Afghani.” And his words and writings illustrate that he was a sunni. Thus, the objective of behind these accusations is to destroy the man who is cherished by all.” – suhaibwebb.com
“The result was that this school impacted every Islamic reform effort at whose forefront was the Muslim Brotherhood lead by Imam Hassan al-Bana. [May Allah have mercy upon all of them].” – suhaibwebb.com
Whatever his admirers may say, the reality is that questioning his race and religious orientation is a necessary result of reading Afghani’s own words. To understand what he wrote one must first understand the context of the time and audience to which Afghani corresponded.
In the days before mass media and mass literacy in the Middle East, it was generally safe to correspond with high class Europeans and their magazines rather freely. As long as these works were not being translated back to Arabic, there was really no practical chance of one’s words coming back to bite the author. There is also much evidence indicated Jamal ad-Din interrupted numerous translations of his letters back to Arabic in his lifetime.
This was how orientalists such as Johann Ludwig Burckhardt were able to report on Muslim activities while assuming Muslim identities. As time went on and the success of impostors such as Burckhardt and “Ali Bey el Abbasi” gave the West new ways to manipulate and reform the religion. Hence much of ‘revivalist’ thought from Wahabis to the movements supported by al-Afghani’s thought were backed by the West, particularly, Western intellectuals.
The Prophet (S) said “You will follow the ways of those nations who were before you, span by span and cubit by cubit, so much so that even if they entered a hole of a mastigure (lizard) you would follow them.” We said “O Allah’s messenger (Do you mean) the Jews and the Christians?” He said “Whom else?”
So what did Jamal ad-Din al-Afghani write to the Europeans when he thought no one was ‘listening’? In a series of debates with Renan, Afghanis viewpoints became clear.
“If it is true that the Muslim religion is an obstacle to the development of sciences, can one affirm that this obstacle will not disappear someday? How does the Muslim religion differ on this point from other religions? All religions are intolerant, each one in its way. The Christian religion, I mean the society that follows its inspirations and its teachings and is formed in its image, has emerged from the first period to which I have just alluded; thenceforth free and independent, it seems to advance rapidly on the road of progress and science, whereas Muslim society has not yet freed itself from the tutelage of religion. Realizing, however, that the Christian religion preceded the Muslim religion in the world by many centuries, I cannot keep from hoping that Muhammadan society will succeed someday in breaking its bonds and marching resolutely in the path of civilization after the manner of Western society…No I cannot admit that this hope be denied to Islam.”
“Wherever it has established itself, this religion has tried to stifle science and it has been marvelously served in its aims by despotism”
(“Answer of Jamal al-Din to Renan Journal des Debats, May 18, 1883 in N. R. Keddie, An Islamic Response to Imperialism, p. 183)
Much of this letter speaks for itself. I find the last line most interesting. For all the discussions in the excerpt about religion being an obstacle and an impediment to progress, the article concludes with the hope that western style civilization and abandonment of faith not be ‘denied to Islam’. Through this language, Islam is redefined from a faith to a political movement, just as he redefines Christianity to mean “the society that follows its inspirations and its teachings and is formed in its image”.
And this is how faith began to be separated from the religion.
When Al-Afghani could speak of ‘Islam’ as a society, with a determined focus on rules, laws and ‘advancement’, while being completely separated from matters of spiritual faith itself, the ability to fool Muslims looking for a ’cause’ fell well into his grasp.
However, correspondence with Westerners was not the only means by which Afghani made his intentions clear. Numerous evidences exist of his hostile attitude towards faith and tradition.
Further facts and excerpts:
in 1871 he left Istanbul for Cairo because he was accused of heresy by the Ottomans.
In Egypt, the writer Abbas Mahmud al Aqqad tells us Afghani had a reputation for heresy amongst ‘the divines’.
In Cairo, he mixed with dogma, writes his contemporary Abdull al-Nadim, who was not an enemy
“what gave rise to criticism . . . and some of his disciples became known for their heresy and for their great opposition to religion, either through misunderstanding or perverse teaching, so that many of the believers turned away from him” (ref: Muhammad Ahmad Khalafallah (1956), Abdullah al-Nadim wa mudhakkiratuhu al-siyasiyya (A.N . and his Political Memoirs) p 52, Cairo.
Shaikh Abd al Qadir al-Maghribi recounts a story Afghani used to tell which concerned a believer and an unbeliever. The believer would exhort the unbeliever to pray by telling him:
“Try to pray regularly for forty days, and see whether you can give up prayer afterwards” to which the unbeliever retorted “Give up praying for forty days, and see whether you can ever resume the practice afterwards” – (ref Abd al-Qadir Maghribi (1926), al Bayyinat Vol I, pp 48-49. Cairo)
His friend and protege, Adib Ishaq wrote that Afghani
“He became expert in the study of religion, wrote Selim al-Anhuri, “until this led him to atheism and belief in the eternity of the world. He claimed that vital atoms, found in the atmopshere, formed, by natural evolution the stars which we see and which reolve round one another through magnetism, and that the belief in an all knowing First cause was a natural delusion which arose when man was in a primitive stage of evolution and corresponded with the stage which his intellectual progress had reached”
Sheykh Mustafa Abd al Raziq was to become the head of Al-Azhar in 1945 – 1947. He reported that after his arrival in Paris 1883, Afghani suffered a change in belief:
“(He) Became a rebel against religion, and came to believe it was the enemy of science, reason and civilization so much so that he gladly and deferentially acquiesced in Renan’s attack on Islam” - ref: Rashid Rida (1923), al-Manar vol XXIV, p 311
Finally in private letters between Afghani and his student Abduh, his student writes
“We regulate our conduct according to your sound rule: we do not cut the head of religion except with the sword of religion (nahnu al-an ala sunnatika al qawima la naqta ra’s al-din illa bi-saif al-din) Therefore, if you were to see us now, you would see ascetics and worshippers [of God] kneeling and genuflecting, never disobeying what God commands and doing all that they are ordered to do. Ah! how constricted life would be without hope!” (ref Documents, published: Tehran , Plates 138-140) also (ref: Kedourie (1966), Afghani and Abduh, London).
Now knowing the desire of such individuals in attacking the faith of Islam, using the pretext of Islam, a universe of questions opens up to us.
At a minimum, ‘modern Muslims’ need to ask themselves: to what extent has this corruption and redefinition of social ‘Islam’ entered their own psyche and thought?
The fact that Jamal ad-Din Afghani, who was at least a heretic if not apostate, is a noted influence of the Muslim Brotherhood, Jamaat e Islami, Hizb ut-Tahrir, the Indian Khilafat Movement, and basically every political Islamic reform movement today requires a major reconsideration of the fundamentals of reform itself.
The former ruler has passed away. The event was first announced in the newspapers. The Bosphorus smiled under the sun’s glow. Sultan Abdulhamid II, who had occupied the Ottoman throne for thirty-four years, would be buried a few hours later under the soil of beautiful Istanbul. Sultan Abdulhamid’s body would be brought from Beylerbeyi Palace to Topkapi Palace. There, he would be ritually washed and then buried at nine o’clock next to Sultan Mahmud in Chemberlitas. A single guard wearing a helmet and holding a rifle stood at the Middle Gate. The guards in front of the Gaye of Felicity politely received guests. The Council Hall, which was abandoned and ruined and filled with memories of glorious eras, seemed to smile bitterly at the events of centuries past. Sunbeams streamed over the cypress trees and fell on the grass. One or two custodians with rakes in their hands were gathering the yellowed leaves from the green grass under the morning sun.
I passed in front of the Library of Sultan Ahmed VI. A custodian dressed in black ran quickly from the side of the Tulip Garden; the funeral procession was approaching. I went toward Sarayburnu. A small procession was slowly coming up the sandy incline. A large steamboat neared the dock. Smoke rose from its yellow smokestack. The scene was very sad. The Marmara Sea, the coasts, and the hills were basking in the sun. In the distance Hamidiye Mosque’s slender white form, Yildiz Palace’s tree-lined boulevard, and the palace’s continuous roofs among the naked trees appeared silent and bewildered. A white sheet, a dark shawl, and a bier headed the procession in which everyone was dressed in black. Sultan Abdulhamid lay lifeless on the bedding atop the wooden bier. A thick yellow striped sheet hung down from the edges. His body was covered with a precious dark orange and green embroidered shawl. A guard from Beylerbeyi Palace walked in front of the body, and two rows of soldiers were at its side. Officials form the Inner Court and other members of the palace walked slowly beside the bier, which was being carried by hand. Prince Selim Efendi and some pashas followed them, grieving and deeply touched. Silence reigned. One of the custodians carried a fez covered with a white handkerchief. It was the fez of Sultan Abdulhamid II. From a distance, a gardener holding a hoe looked on sadly. Nothing could be heard but the footsteps of the pallbearers on the sand. The sea was calm and flat. An eternal gift from the Byzantines, the high columns in front of the palace gleamed in the sun.
The funeral procession passed the Tulip Garden. The body was brought to the green and gilded door of the Apartments of the Holy Mantle, and the bier was carried through the entryway. The prince and sons-in-law stayed in Mecidiye Kasri, while the others in the procession remained outside. The door closed, and no one but the officials of the Apartments of the Holy Mantle entered.
What a luminous, sublime, and magnificent chamber it was. Here was the most wonderful, elegant, and radiant place of worship constructed by the Ottoman dynasty in the name of the Caliphate. The walls were adorned with blue and green and gilded panels. Sultan Selim I’s successors comforted their souls in this sacred area, prayed for the army’s victory, and wept in front of the Holy Mantle. The bright tiles and precious inscriptions on the walls were striking.
The shade in front of one of the windows had been partially raised. Wide frosted glass obstructed the view of the Golden Horn. A small six-handled cypress casket resting on two green trellies and a small washing bench could be seen in the courtyard where the shades had been raised. Sultan Abdulhamid was laid on the washing bench. Grief-stricken, I stood in front of the gilded bars of the window. As the coffin advanced, the Inner Court officials respectfully folded their hands, waiting to perform their duty. Across the way, a closed door that hid centuries of legends and the blue tiled walls seemed to want to forgo this page of history. Four imams – two wearing green turbans, the other wearing white – piously washed the body with sponges and musk soap. A fresh white winding sheet covered Sultan Abdulhamid’s corpse. The areas above his chest and below his knees were not visible. There was no evidence of long illness on the body. The corpse did not display the appalling yellow color of death. It looked like an inanimate object made of ivory.
On the whole, he was attractive. Become more beautiful as it was washed, the white body was stretched out naturally in the hands of the washers on the bench. Holding silver incense burning, palace officials stood across from the corpse. Everyone was deeply reverent. Trust in God was visible in their faces. The Apartments of the Holy Mantle were witnessing a historic day. The last page of the sultanate would close on that day. Everyone’s gaze was fixed on Sultan Abdulhamid’s closed eyes. As warm water was poured over the body, white steam rose and mixed with the scent of aloe and amber from the incense burner. There was an apprehensive silence. Nothing could be heard but the footsteps of those coming and going to perform services. With their hands folded, eyes on the body, and tears of grief, two of the sultan’s son-in-law stood by his feet.
Nature’s beauty could be felt in all its glory outside the palace. The waters of the Golden Horn shimmered in the unexpected February sun. The boxwood trees were bare and open to the bounty of spring. The washing of the body was still not finished. Sultan Abdulhamid’s closed eyes, gray hair, naked body, and lifelessness awoke a melancholy in the hearts of the onlookers. At times, when his head suddenly slipped and his hands fell to his sides, he resembled an innocent, hopeless person. His neck was bent strangely with his white, disordered beard.
Finally, the washing of the corpse was completed. It was dried with yellow silk-embroidered towels. The coffin was lifted, and the washing bench was brought next to it. A winding sheet was spread inside. Sultan Abdulhamid’s body was respectfully laid in the coffin.
Sultan Abdulhamid had not lost consciousness until the last moment of his life. He requested that a testament prayer be put on his chest and a handkerchief rubbed against the Holy Mantle, as well as a piece of the black Kaba cover, be used cover his face. His request was carried out to the letter. It was truly heartrending sight: Sultan Abdulhamid lying inside the coffin with winding sheets, the testament prayer on his naked chest, the black Ka’ba cover on his face, his white bear, with his eyes forever closed… Sultan Abdulhamid was humbly going to god, leaving his sins behind.
The shroud was tied and the coffin closed. The heavy ticking of a mother-of-pearl clock, which had witnessed centuries, echoed in the grandeur of the Apartments of the Holy Mantle. Arrangement of the coffin began. First a bed sheet and then a silver-embroidered red cover were placed on the coffin. The bottom was wrapped with a navy blue flowered cloth. Ka’ba covers and belts decorated with precious stones were placed on top. Shawls were wrapped around the head and arms of the body. A red fez was put on the green satin wrapped around the head. While the body was being washed, the plain coffin and wooden washing bench had contrasted sharply with the brilliant colors and gilding in the Apartments of the Holy Mantle. Now Sultan Abdulhamid’s coffin adorned with silk, shawls and silver thread and precious stones fit with the Apartments magnificence and splendor.
Everyone departed. Only the coffin, with its head turned towards the harem chamber, could be seen among the decorated columns, colored walls, and polished panels. To the left, in the Apartments’ window the gold and silver-embroidered green curtains, heavy silver tassels, gold grating, priceless wall panels, and the Qur’an were visible as well. Footsteps sounded in front of the Audience Hall. One of the distinguished sons-in-law advanced rapidly and stopped mournfully in the corner in the wall. With his eyes on the coffin, he opened his hands, made a short prayer, and let out a sincere sob. It echoed among the ornamented domes.
It was nine o’clock. Ambassadors and officers dressed in silver-trimmed uniforms and fur headgear and and hats waited in front of the door of the Apartments. Foreigners stared in awe at this magnificent place. Scholars, dressed in green and purple robes with broad sleeves and silver embroidery, were being greeted respectfully. The crowd grew. The Crown Prince and other princes were in full uniform. Medals, silver decorations, and uniforms glittered in the February sun.
Suddenly, the door to the Apartments of the Holy Mantle opened. All eyes turned to the door. IT was crowded on both sides. Hearts throbbing, everyone sought a view of the coffin. Carried by hand and adorned with a diamond belt, silver embroidered Ka’ba covers, red satin, and a red fez, it finally appeared, stately and majestic. Prominent officials and officers stood near the coffin, which was put on a high place in front of the door. The head preacher of the Hamidiye Mosque, dressed in a green, silver embroidered robe with an imperial monogram on his chest, stepped forward and stood on the stone. He looked around and asked:
“How did you know the deceased to be?”
A sad cry echoed among the cypress trees:
“We knew him to be good”.
A short recitation of Surat al-Fatiha ended the ceremony. The coffin was lifted and carried slowly past the Library of Sultan Ahmed VI and the Audience hall to the front of the Door of Felicity. According to custom, the funeral prayer was performed here, and the procession was then organized. Princes, notables, commanders, and palace officials all gathered. Occasionally the procession officials in silver-embroidered dress with white papers in their hands were heard to call out to the procession. Finally it was ready. The soldiers put their guns on their shoulders, and marched in perfect silence. Dedes and Shazeli dervishes walked in front of the coffin. Officers of the imperial Inner Court and other palace officials served as pallbearers.
The cortege moved slowly among the cypress trees from the Gate of Felicity to the Middle Gate. Majestically passing through the Middle Gate, this moving profession of God’s unity made a sweet echo that exuded an aura of pious reverence and consolation to the spirit. It resounded between the Middle Gate’s stone walls and the gate. This echo reflected Sultan Selim III’s sensitive, noble spirit. Was it possible not to remember his pure and blessed spirit with every sound from the imperial Inner Court? The Inner Court officials were reciting prayers. The sound, which echoed from the ruined walls of the Council Hall, was the touching cry of the Ottoman spirit. Everyone walked respectfully behind the coffin. This gate had seen the passage of many sultans’ funerals and the shedding of many tears. In front, the intermittent, sad chants of the dervish elders could be heard. With a moving Arabic melody rising like a slow refrain, the sheikhs of the Shazeli dervish hall chanted the proclamation of God’s unity, the affirmation of His greatness, and eulogies to Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. The area between the Middle Gate and thee Imperial Gate was filled with the automobiles of German officers and various cars. Two elegant women stood up in their coach, watching the procession behind thin veils. A little farther way in front of the Hagia Irine Church of Byzantine-period and the military museum, the members of the military band with huge quilted turbans, baggy red trousers, silver vests, and yellow and red flags had stopped. Living history saluted the coffin with derference and respect.
The funeral procession left the Imperial Gate. The streets were empty. Two rows of soldiers lined the way from Ayasofya Mosque to Sultan Mahmud’s Tomb. The trees, houses, windows, and roofs were filled with women and children. The coffin advanced amidst poignant prayers and proclamations of God’s greatness and unity. Those watching the funeral procession were moved. One woman leaned her head on a wall and sobbed. Some looked on indifferently, but sensitive hearts wept at the sad spectacle, the mournful cries, and religious magnificence. The final ceremony of the Ottoman sultan who had held the Caliphate for thirty-four years was being performed with reverence.
The coffin entered the tomb, the procession chanting the name of God. Sultan Abdulhamid was placed in the grave with deference and respect. A thirty-four-year page of Ottoman history was concluded in sorrow
(Vakit by Ahmet Refik, February 18, 1918)
ref: Aydin, Hilmi (2005). The Sacred Trusts (pg 43). New Jersey: The Light Publishing
Ahmet Refik was born in 1880 in Istanbul. Graduating from Military School, he was enrolled in the army.
Refik taught Geography and French in military schools, and later wrote columns for various papers. After World War I he taught at university as well. Ahmet Refik died in 1937 in Istanbul
Timas Publishing has translated Ahmet Refik’s works into Modern Turkish, as they are deeply resonant studies of Ottoman culture, from its victories to its military officials, from its scholars to its artists
Exposition of the Hadith, “The parable of my community is the parable of the Ship (Ark) of Noah: whoso shall cleave to it is saved, and whoso shall hold back from it is drowned.”
On this account the Prophet said, “I am as the Ship (ark) in
the Flood of Time
I and my Companions are as the Ship of Noah : whoso clings
(to us) will gain (spiritual) graces.”
When you are with the Sheykh you are far removed from
wickedness : day and night you are a traveller and in a ship.
You are under the protection of a life-giving spirit : you are
asleep in the ship, you are going on the way.
Do not break with the prophet of your days (1) : do not rely on
your own skill and footsteps (2).
Lion though you are, you are self-conceited and in error and
contemptible when you go on the way without a guide.
Beware! Do not fly but with the wings of the Sheykh, that
you may see (received) the aid of the armies of the Sheykh.
At one time the wave of his mercy is your pinion, at another
moment the fire of his wrath is your carrier.
Do not reckon his wrath to be the contrary of his mercy : be-
hold the oneness of both (these qualities) in the effect.
At one time he will make you green like the earth, at another
time he will make you full of wind, and big.
He gives the quality of inorganic things to the body of the
knower (of God), in order that gay roses and eglantines may
grow on it ;
But he (the Sheykh) alone sees (them), none sees but he :
Paradise yields no scent but to the purified brain.
Empty your brain of disbelief in the Friend, that it may feel
sweet odours from the rose-garden of the Friend;
So that you may feel the scent of Paradise from my Friend,
as Mohammad the scent of the Merciful (God) from heaven.
If you stand in the rank of those who make the spiritual
ascension, not being (self-naughtedness) will bear you aloft, like
Buraaq.
Tis not like the ascension of a piece of earth (an earthly being)
to the moon; nay, but like the ascension of a cane to sugar.
Tis not like the ascension of a vapour to the sky ; nay, but
like the ascension of an embryo to rationality.
The steed of not-being (self-naughtedness) became a goodly
Buraaq : it brings you to (real) existence, if you are non-existent
(self-naughted).
Its hoofs brushes the mountains and seas till it puts the world
of sense-perception behind.
Set your foot into the ship and keep going quickly, like the
soul going towards the soul’s Beloved.
(With) no hands and no feet, go to Eternity in the same fashion
as that in which the spirits sped from non-existence.
IF there had not been somnolence (dullness and inattention)
in the hearer’s hearing, the veil of logical reasoning would have
been torn asunder in the discourse.
O Heaven, shower pearls on his (the Sheykh’s) rede! O
World, have shame of (be abashed by) his world!
If thou wilt shower (pearls), thy substance will become (in-
creased in splendour) hundredfold : thy inorganic (matter) will
become seeing and speaking.
Therefore thou wilt have scattered a largesse for thine own
sake, inasmuch as every stock of thine will be centupled.
1) i.e. the Sufi Sheykhs who are the spiritual heirs and representatives of the PRophet
2) Reading
The Mathnawi of Jallaulddin Rumi Tr Books III and IV pg 308, tr: Nicholson
from Foundation for Science Technology and Civilization – Jan 2007
However again during the reign of Sultan Ahmed III (1703-1750), which is during the Tulip Age, there is strong evidence both in the Surname (chronicle) of Mehmed Hazin and the Surname of Vehbi, as the witnesses of the era, that Ibrahim Effendi, the dockyard architect, had invented the submarine which was called “Tahtelbahir”. Seyyid Vehbi compared this submarine invented by the architect Ibrahim Effendi to an alligator, and tells in his Surname that during the circumcision ceremony that Sultan Ahmed III held for his sons, while the sultan, the viziers, and the sultan’s sons were watching the shows in the coastal palace in Aynali Kavak, the alligator-like submarine slowly emerged on the water and moved slowly to the sultan, and after staying on the sea for half an hour, submerged in the sea again to the great surprise of the public; then emerged one hour later, with five people walking outside the mouth of this alligator-like submarine with trays of rice and zerde (dish of sweetened rice) on their heads. The book Surname-i Humayun of Seyyid Vehbi, which explains the technical information concerning this sub-marine submerging in the sea and the crew being able to breathe through pipes while under the sea, demonstrates to us the first Ottoman trials of submarines were successful. The Surname of Mehmed Hazin, who told of the events of October 1, 1720, during the circumcision ceremony of the sons of Sultan Ahmed III, related that a fish-like submarine was present; however, his secrets were buried with him.
Although it is mentioned by Bahaeddin, the historian, that the first submarine was used during the Seljuk period against the Crusader knights in the siege of Akkah in 1150, it is understood that the submarine built by Ibrahim, the architect, in the Ottoman era during the reign of Ahmed III was more developed and could stay under water for one hour. Considering that the British tried to build a small submarine half a century after Ibrahim and failed, it is obvious that the Ottoman success in this field is most notable. However in 1776, the submarine developed by the American scientist David Bushnell was a success. The sketches of a submarine project in the archives of the Stockholm Military Organization are interesting for the assessment of all the technical developments of the era.
References:
Seyyid Vehbi : Surname. Suleymaniye Library, Hamidiye 952, foliea 171 b
Mehmed Hazin: Surman, Bayezid Library, Nureddin Pasa, 10267, folio 132 b
Saban Dogen, Musulman ilim onculeri ansiklopedisi, Istanbul 1984, s. 205
Flack, N.D. Diving vessel by the Ms. Day London 1775
Fledhaus, F. M.: Die Technik Ein Lexikon der Vorzeit, der geschichtlichen Zeit und der Naturvolker. Munchen 1970 sp. 1122.
the truth on 
m.a.kidwai,CME/IND.RLY.(retd.) on 
