Mahmud Qabadu
Mahmud Qabadu (1812–1872) of Tunisia, also Muhammad Qabadu, in Tunis.
Life and career
When he was young, Mahmud Qabadu left Tunisia to study at a
In 1842 the Tunisian ruler
The governmental and social changes initiated under Ahmed Bey stamped the era as one of modernizing reform in Tunisia. Qabadu became an important insider of the reforming "party," led by the bey's minister,
During the course of his career, Shaykh Madmud Qabadu served in the
Qabadu's writing
An early advocate of teaching
Beginning in 1860, Qabadu became a "key member" on the editorial staff of Tunisia's new and only newspaper, the bey's official gazette Ra'id Rasmi.[14][15][16] Later, Qabadu as an ulama notable himself became the subject of a study published in Tunisia during the 1870s.[17] Qabadu also wrote verse and enjoyed being "acclaimed as a leading poet."[18] Among his works are translations of European texts and military treatises into Arabic.[19][20]
Political reformer
The 19th-century reform era in Beylical Tunisia was celebrated, although scholars debate the exact nature of its impacts and outcomes.
From among this reformist group, historians typically remember Khair al-Din as the most creative and effective politician. He served as government minister and led a small group of like-minded officials. Khair al-Din, who was a student of Shaykh Qabadu, was aware of the sharp relevance to Tunisia of Ottoman state reforms then being contested in Istanbul.[23]
Mahmud Qabadu had experienced firsthand the practical workings of the
]"Qabadu and
Khayr al-Din collaborated closely in the critical matter of reform; that a mamluk became an intellectual intimate of a prestigious member of the religious establishment constitutes an index of profound shifts. Khayr al-Din's ardor for education was a product of his frequent interactions with Qabadu and other Tunis scholars... ."[26]
When the conservative Muhammad Bey ascended the throne in 1855, he staged notable opposition to reformist change. "A sort of cold war between reformers, with Qabadu and Khair al-Din, and the conservatives came into being." Yet later the new bey became "convinced by some Zaytuna supporters of reform that the country had to be reorganized."[27]
Khair al-Din led "the 'constitutional movement' that included luminaries such as Qabadu, Bayram V, bu Hajib, and
Abi Diyaf, amongst a small group of reform-minded and Western-inspired figures. The 1861 constitution, the Muslim world's first such document, the legislative council and the civic bodies created on its basis all had the support of Khayr al-Din and his co-reformers."[28]
Shaykh Qabadu with other reformist ulama, here especially Salim Bu Hajib and Muhammad Bayram (V), provided assistance to
"It must be added here that
Khair al-Din was influenced a great deal in his views by Muhammad Qabadu, the great Tunisian thinker of the 19th century, with whom he worked at the Academy.[30]
Accordingly, Mahmud Qabadu played a key role in the modernizing reforms and "institution-building" that proceeded through the contributions of a small band of officials, as generally led by Khair al-Din.
See also
Reference notes
- ^ The French transliteration of his Arabic name is Kabadou.
- Fez; later the Madaniyya branch was formed in Tripoli by al-Madanī (d.1846). Trimingham (1971) at 110–113, 126.
- ^ Hourani (1962) at 91: Ottoman Tanzimat in Tunisia.
- ^ Clancy-Smith (2011) at 322: Darqawa sufis, Ottoman jurist, Bardo academy.
- ^ Green (1978) at 106.
- ^ Clancy-Smith (2011) at 322–323.
- ^ Hourani (1962) at 65.
- Muhammad 'Abduh.
- ^ Cf., Hourani (1962) at 65–66.
- ^ Powel and Sadiki (2010) at 8, 26.
- ^ Green (1978) at 59, 62.
- ^ Qabadu's essay appeared in the Arabic translation of Jomini, Précis de l'art de la guerre (Paris 1838). Clancy-Smith (2011) at 322.
- ^ Cf., Green (1978) at 167: "Shaykh Mahmud Qabadu's design of reintroducing the "universal sciences" into Islamic culture."
- ^ Evidently the publication Ra'id Rasmi was also known as ar-rāid at-tūnisi. Ziadeh (1962) at 16–17.
- ^ Cf., Green (1978) at 53, 115: the official gazette al-Rāid al-tūnisi, begun in 1860/1861.
- ^ Clancy-Smith (2011) at 322: text at note 22 (editorial staff, quote).
- ^ Green (1978) at 116.
- ^ Clancy-Smith (2011) at 322: text at note 21 (poet).
- ^ Masri, Safwan. Tunisia: An Arab Anomaly. New York: Columbia University Press, 2017, 126.
- ^ Khalifa Chater, “L’école militaire du Bardo: l’émergence d’une élite nouvelle?" Khalifa Chater, accessed April 20, 2016, http://chater.khalifa.chez-alice.fr./ecole_militaire.htm .
- ^ E.g., cf., Laroui (1977) at 307–314.
- ^ Hourani (1962) at 65–66 (quotes).
- ^ Green (1978) at 106.
- ^ Ahmad ibn Abi Diyaf (2005), e.g., "Translataor's Introduction" by L. Carl Brown, at 1–2.
- ^ Green (1978) at 117–125, 122 (Qabadu).
- ^ Clancy-Smith (2011) at 322–323.
- ^ Ziadeh (1962) at 13.
- ^ Powel and Sadiki (2010) at 23.
- ^ Green (1978) at 110.
- ^ Ziadeh (1962) at 11.
- ^ Clancy-Smith (2011) at 322–323.
- ^ Powel and Sadiki (2010) at 8–9, 23, 26–27.
- ^ Masri, Safwan. Tunisia: An Arab Anomaly. New York: Columbia University Press, 2017.
Bibliography
- Julia A. Clancy-Smith, Mediterraneans. North Africa and Europe in an Age of Migration (University of California 2011).
- Arnold H. Green, The Tunisian Ulama 1893–1915. Social structure and response to ideological currents (Leiden: E. J. Brill 1978).
- Albert Hourani, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age 1798–1939 (Oxford University 1962, 1967).
- Ahmad ibn Abi Diyaf, Consult Them in the Matter. A nineteenth-century Islamic argument for constitutional government, translated with introduction and notes by L. Carl Brown (University of Arkansas 2005).
- Abdallah Laroui, L'Histoire du Maghreb: Un essai de synthèse (Paris: Librairie François Maspero 1970), translated as The History of the Maghrib. An interpretive essay (Princeton University 1977).
- Brieg Powel and Larbi Sadiki, Europe and Tunisia. Democratisation via association (London: Routledge 2010).
- J. Spencer Trimingham, The Sufi Orders in Islam (Oxford University 1971).
- Nicola A. Ziadeh, Origins of Nationalism in Tunisia (American University of Beirut 1962).
See also
- Ahmed Bey
- Khair al-Din
- Ibn Abi Diyaf
- Muhammad Bey
- Sadok Bey