Sayyid ʿuthman And The Egyptian Reformist Movement 161

CHAPTER 6 Sayyid ʿUthman and the Egyptian Reformist Movement (1905–1912)

1 Introduction

This chapter deals with the influence of the Egyptian modernist movement in the Netherlands East Indies and Sayyid ʿUthman’s reaction to it. Sayyid ʿUthman published extensively on the issue and some of his writings were also scrutinized by Rashid Rida in al-Manar. These writings give an interesting in- sight into the main differences between traditionalist and modernist Is- lam, and they add to our understanding of the introduction of modernist thought in Southeast Asia. The period dealt with in this chapter starts around 1905, when Sayyid ʿUthman began writing against the Egyptian modernists, and ends with the year 1912, when we see Sayyid ʿUthman actively opposing a modern school in Palembang. Within this period falls the departure of Snouck Hurgronje from the Netherlands East Indies in 1906. As a result of this, the co- operation between Sayyid ʿUthman and Snouck came to an end and, from 1907 onwards, Sayyid ʿUthman’s superior in the Office for Native Affairs became the Javanist G.A.J. Hazeu (1870–1929) who, following Snouck’s departure, also be- came responsible for paying Sayyid ʿUthman his monthly allowance, which by that time had risen from one hundred guilders a month in 1889 to f 220.1 In the nineteenth century, new ideas about the position of Islam in politics and in society began to develop in the , in response to the moder- nity that arrived along with European colonial expansion. At the centre of this intellectual response was the Cairene reformist movement, which rose to prominence at the end of the nineteenth century.2 A major characteristic of this movement was that it reaffirmed original Islam as practiced by the Pious Forefathers (al- al-salih), usually identified as the Companions of the Prophet and the Successors; that is to say, the first and the second generation of Muslims.3 This pristine Islam was regarded as genuine and suitable for cop-

1 Jacquet, ‘Hazeu.’ Snouck Hurgronje, Adviezen, 46. 2 The best comprehensive overview of these responses remains Hourani, thought. See also e.i. (2), iv, 141–171, s.v. . I use the terms ‘reformist’ and ‘modernist’ interchangeably. 3 This did not prevent the reformists from holding later scholars, such as al-Ghazali and Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328) in high esteem.

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2014 | doi 10.1163/9789004278707_008 162 Chapter 6 ing with the challenges presented by modernity. From this basic idea a number of new positions emerged, including the rejection of the , i.e. the servile acceptance of earlier traditional authorities of the four canonical interpreta- tions of the schools of Law ().4 Instead of following taqlid, there was a need to reason independently (on the basis of the Qurʾan and Hadith) – the principle of . Another major characteristic of this reformism was its re- jection of many of the later Islamic beliefs and practices, which had not been observed by the salaf al-salih and, therefore, should be eradicated. Among the prominent scholars who reformulated Islam on the basis of these new views were Jamal al-Din al-Afghani (1838–1897), Muhammad ʿAbduh (1849–1905) and his pupil Rashid Rida, who we have encountered as editor of al-Manar. In the Netherlands East Indies the Cairene reformists were often designated with the term Wahhabis. This term derives from the eighteenth century Ara- bian reformer Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab. Central to the ideas of Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab was the concept of , the absolute unity of God, both in the sense of the indivisibility of the Essence of God and in the sense of abso- lute monotheism. As a result of this absolute monotheism, the believer was obliged to worship only God and every form of devotion that distracted the believer from God was strictly forbidden. In the domain of creed, this implied that the believer was not allowed to direct himself to the Prophet or the saints for intercession with God and that devotion towards the Prophet and the cult of saints was strictly forbidden. In terms of , the Wahhabis stressed the importance of the Qurʾan and the Hadith, but remained faithful to the Han- bali , with Ibn Taymiyya as one of their main authorities, providing that this school was in line with the Qurʾan and the Hadith. Ibn ʿAbd al-Wah- hab rose to prominence when he convinced the ruler of , Muhammad ibn Saʿud (d. 1765), to accept his puritanical ideas; consequently, thanks to this well-known Saudi-Wahhabi alliance this rigid brand of Islam became the dom- inant religion in Arabia, including in the Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina. As a result of the iconoclastic tendencies within this movement, many graves be- longing to famous Muslim forefathers were destroyed. From the Arabian Pen- insula, spread to other regions in the Muslim world and, for instance, the early nineteenth century Padri movement in West Sumatra was influenced by the Wahhabi ideology.5

4 These four schools were named after their founders (the four ): Shafiʿis (named after al-Shafiʿi, d. 820), the (Malik, d. 796), the (, d. 855) and the (, d. 767), see Juynboll, Handleiding, 19–23. 5 Dobbin, Islamic revivalism. See for other influences on the Padri movement, Laffan, The ma- kings, 41–44.