Jamal al-Din al-Afghani
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Sayyid Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī (سید جمال الدین الافغانی) Jamal ad-Din al-Afghani also known as-Sayyid Muhammad Ibn Safdar al-Husayn (1839 – March 9, 1897) was an Islamic political activist. al-Afghānī opposed foreign rule of Muslim lands. He believed that the main problem lay in a lack of unity among Muslims. al-Afghānī believed in the rule of law and constitutional-based government rather than absolute monarchy and autocracy. His traditional madrassah education had included fiqh (jurisprudence) alongside falsafah (philosophy) and irfān (mysticism).
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[edit] Origins
Sayyid Jamal al-Din Afghani is considered to be the founding father of Islamic modernism. There is a dispute about his exact birth place: According to Afghan sources, Jamal al-Din al-Afghani was born in Asadabad, Capital of Konar Province in Afghanistan. However Iranian sources claim that he was born in Asadabad in Hamedan province in Iran. He received his early education in various religious schools. In 1855 1856, at the age of seventeen or eighteen, he went to India to continue his studies.
al-Afghani died of cancer of the chin at the age of about sixty and was buried in a secret grave. In 1944, the government of Afghanistan claimed him as a citizen; his remains were transferred to and buried on the grounds of the University of Kabul under a respectful shrine.
[edit] Travel
Afghani travelled widely. He visited India in the hope to start an Islamic anti-British movement in that country. While Afghani was anti-colonialist, he was also against Islamic leaders at the time. After India, Afghani visited Egypt and found many Islamists there. A British Officer wrote to his superior that if Afghani remained there they would face problems. Afghani was forced to leave Egypt. He then visited Britain and published a newspaper there for some time.
Regarding the United Kingdom, he wrote in his diary that "I saw Islam there, but no Muslims; In Egypt I saw Muslims but no Islam."
Afghani returned to Persia (modern-day Iran and Afghanistan), asking the Shah to make reforms, but no action was taken. He and his followers stayed in a mosque, saying that they would not leave until the Persian Shah accepted their demands but Shah Nasir al-Din ordered the exile of Afghani to Turkey. He found followers in Turkey and became imprisoned by order of Sultan Abdul Hamid II.
[edit] Imprisonment and death
In 1896, a follower of Jamal al-Din Afghani assassinated Shah Nasir al-Din in protest to Zellosoltan (Governor of Isfahan and Shah 's brother) works. The Ottoman Sultan imprisoned Afghani when the news of the Shah's assassination emerged. Afghani spent the last part of his life in Istanbul under the patronage and, later, surveillance of Sultan ‘Abd al-Hamid II. The demands for Afghani’s extradition by the Iranian officials for his alleged involvement in the assassination of Shah Nasir al-Din were rejected by ‘Abd al-Hamid who, most probably, collaborated with Afghani for the implementation of his political program of pan-Islamism (ittihad-i islam). To this end, Afghani sent a number of letters to various Islamic countries and leaders to mobilize and unite them against British rule, while at the same time trying to establish the foundations of a mutual rapprochement between the Sunnis and the Shi`ites. According to some historians, ‘Abd al-Hamid grew suspicious of Afghani’s meetings with some Arab leaders, and the British officials in Istanbul did not permit him to leave the country. Afghani died of cancer in March 9, 1897 and was buried in Istanbul.
The remains of Asadabadi were transferred from Turkey to Afghanistan, his birthplace with the coordination of the Afghanistan government.
[edit] External resources
[edit] References
- Black, Antony (2001). The History of Islamic Political Thought. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-93243-2.
- "Jamal ad-Din al-Afghani." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2005. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 5 Oct. 2005 <http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9043289>.
- Keddie, Nikki Ragozin. Sayyid Jamal al-Din al-Afghani: A Political biography. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1972.
- Watt, William Montgomery (1985). Islamic Philosophy and Theology. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 0-7486-0749-8.ar:جمال الدين الأفغاني
de:Al-Afghānī el:Τζαμάλ αλ-Ντιν αλ-Αφγάνι fa:سید جمال الدین اسدآبادی fr:Jamal Al Dîn Al Afghani it:Jamal al-Din al-Afghani ja:ジャーマルッディーン・アフガーニー he:ג'מאל א-דין אל-אפגאני nl:Djamaal al-Din al-Afghani ur:جمال الدین افغانی
