Late Ottoman Society by Özdalga Elisabeth;

Author:Özdalga, Elisabeth;
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 198383
Publisher: Routledge

Three ulema pamphlets against the regime

In order to illustrate the character of the publications issued by the opposition, three different texts will be presented here. These texts refer to the very first period of CUP/ulema rapprochement. Thus, the first one was written as a last warning before members of the ulema took the crucial step into the CUP-dominated opposition, while the second and third ones document an accomplished common cause against the sultan.

The first text, a 12-page petition dated 27 Cemeziyelahir 1314/3 December 1896, published by a group of ulema writing for the Cairo-based opposition journal Kanun-ι Esasî (‘Constitution’), demanded the reinstatement of the constitutional regime. Its author was Köprülülü Şeyh Aliefendizâde Носа Muhyiddin,11 a graduate of the Fatih Medrese in Istanbul and representative of the Cemiyet-i İlmiye-i İslâmiye (Islamic Society). The booklet was submitted to Sultan Abdülhamid II.12

Some important characteristics of this petition should be highlighted. First, following a trend originally initiated by the Young Ottomans, the author, before expressing anything hostile to the regime, prefers to offer the sultan a last chance to agree to the suggested reforms. Only after that is he prepared to go underground, i.e., start opposition from countries abroad. The underlying nature of the demand for reforms at this stage is, therefore, a search for compromise, not confrontation. So, notwithstanding the strong critique, the petition is at times imploring and many paragraphs start with the invocation ‘O my Sultan’. This double-sided attitude and policy is clear from the following examples:

If, also in this instance, your exalted person will deign to reject the desire for the opening of a parliament, the ruin of the government of Islam by the evil hand of the regime seems certain, that is why all efforts to prevent this outcome are legal …

(Kanun-ι Esasî, number 2, p. 3)

Deign to consign this petition to a judicial system guaranteed by a constitution and we shall all be once more your subjects! We shall once more consider you as the life giver to religion and nation.

(ibid.)

It has been promised that this religion would be improved by a reformer every hundred years. Hasten to acquire this title of reformer! The reformer of this century will be he who inaugurates a parliament and who gives freedom to the Islamic community.

(ibid., p. 4)

Not to divulge this matter to friend and foe, we send this petition first of all to your exalted office.13 We pray as a favour from God that you will, before 15 days have passed, realize an auspicious and noble act in proportion to the moral and worldly nobility of your office. If not, until our last breath, we shall make all efforts necessary for the glorification of religion and the liberation of nation, O our Sultan.

(last paragraph, p. 6)

The second feature of the petition is that it contains expressions and elements that serve to clarify the newly intensifying relations between the ulema and CUP:

At the same time that the ulema were thinking of founding an association [Cemiyet-i İlmiye-i İslâmiye14] for the purpose of

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