'ABD Al-Rahman Al-Kawakibi's Vision for an Islamic Renaissance: Umm Al-Qura

This study has either found or confirmed the following characteristics of 'Ab al-Rahman al-Kawakibi's work "Umm al-Qura" ("The Mother of Cities" -- a reference to Makka): that al-Kawakibi was addressing the masses; that he was discussing general social issues, that nationalism in the Ottoman Empire was not yet formed,though principles such as accountability in government which are related to nationalism were applied to the ideologies of the reform movements; nationalism was potentially incompatible with Islamic reform due to the Islamic injunction to keep the umma united; though al-Kawakibi supported the nationalistic idea of localsovereignty, he was ambivalent about nationalism in its Western form; and that the debate over Turkish versus Arab cultural supremacy didn't start until after al-Kawakibi's death, at which point the issue of which ethnic group should control the caliphate became pivotal.It's proposal for an Arab caliphate may have been inspired in part by a Young Turk plot to frighten the Sultan-Caliph Abdul Hamid into reinstating the constitution of 1876. However, as most of "Umm al-Qura" was written before al-Kawakibi's emigration to Cairo, it is likely he had not come into contact with that idea when he started writing it. Rather than having that purely political motivation, his primary motivation for writing it resided in his desire to reform Eastern society in general, in addition to reforming the corruption in the Ottoman government, which he had personally witnessed.Information about the social, cultural, political aspects of al-Kawakibi's ideology can not be derived without taking into account the audience which he was addressing, and the character who was speaking at any given point in the text. The purpose of the book was to convince the people of a need for Eastern solidarity and a pan-Islamic spiritual union. The subaltern motive was to convince them that the caliphate, which would be at the center of this union, should be shifted into Arab territory by moving its seat to Makka and reinstating the old requirement that theCaliph should be a member of the Quraysh clan.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Near Eastern Languages and Cultures

Grantor dc:publisher

The Ohio State University

Year dc:date

2004

Author dc:creator

• Wightman, Melinda Cathrin

Contributors dc:contributor

• Zwettler, Michael

• Near Eastern Studies

Statement dc:rights

• unrestricted
• This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1364225279

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:etd.ohiolink.edu:osu1364225279