MUSLIM INTELLECTUALS and JAPAN a Pan-Islamist Mediator, Abdurreshid Ibrahim

13 MUSLIM INTELLECTUALS AND JAPAN A Pan-Islamist mediator, Abdurreshid Ibrahim Komatsu Hisao Since the end of the nineteenth century, especially after the Russo-Japanese War in 1904–1905, Muslim intellectuals began to take substantial interest in the emer- gence of modern Japan, and to develop a positive image of Japan and the Japanese people. In general, they supposed that Japan adopted Western civilization without abandoning its traditional culture, becoming one of the most developed countries in the world within a short period after the Meiji revolution. Of these Muslim intellectuals interested in Japan, Abdurreshid Ibrahim (1857–1944) was among the most outstanding.1 He not only introduced Japan and Japanese people in detail to the broad Turkic Muslim audience through his extensive travels, by means of his journal, Âlem-i ⁄slâm: Japonya1da intivar-ı ⁄slâmiyet [The World of Islam: The Spread of Islam in Japan],2 but also made efforts later in his life to establish a close relationship between the Muslim world and Japan based on his Pan-Islamic (⁄ttihad-ı ⁄slâm) ideology and strategy. This essay is a preliminary survey of his vision of modern Japan and aims to present basic information for further research on a comprehensive subject, Islam and Japan, the significance of which is clearly growing in the contemporary world. A leading Pan-Islamist in Russia We will begin with an overview of Ibrahim’s activities before his arrival in Japan in 1909.3 He was born in Tara, a city in the Tobol1sk governorate, Western Siberia. According to his autobiography, his Tatar family came from the descendants of Bukharans who had migrated from Central Asia to Western Siberia. Being an ardent student of Islamic learning, he traveled through Odessa and Istanbul to Mecca and Medina in 1879, just after the Russo-Ottoman War (1877–1878). There, he mastered Islamic learning. After returning to his country in 1885 to engage in reforming outdated madrasas, he was appointed a qadi in the Spiritual Assembly of the Muslim law located in Ufa. Established by order of Catherine II 273 KOMATSU HISAO (r. 1762–1796) to supervise “Muslim clergymen” such as the imams or mudarrises (madrasa teachers) in Russia proper and Siberia, this official institution enjoyed great authority among the Russian Muslims, who constituted at least 13% of the total population of the Empire at the beginning of the twentieth century. Ibrahim’s esteemed position as a qadi caused Japanese journalism to introduce him in later years as “the former president of Muslims in Russia,”4 even though such an office never existed. However, after a few years of protesting against the stagnation and collapse of the Assembly leaders under full control of the Russian government, Ibrahim resigned from his office to move to Istanbul in 1894. Outside Russia, he published articles that criticized Russia’s oppressive policy toward her Muslim subjects. For example, in his essay Muslims in Russia published in Cairo in 1900, he exposed various measures of forced conversion and assimilation applied by Orthodox missionaries toward Tatar Muslims, as well as obstacles that the Russian authorities imposed on the Muslim educational reform movement. Among Russian Muslims, he was the first to openly criticize Russian policies toward Muslims. Nonetheless, he had to acknowledge the overwhelming power of Czarism as well as the incapability and ignorance of Russia’s Muslim population. Remembering that the Muslim revolts against Qing rule in Xinjiang in the nineteenth century brought about only the great tragedy of a massacre, he urged his fellow Muslims to engage in educational reform and development instead of direct opposition to the ruling power.5 During his travels in Europe, Ibrahim came into contact with Russian revolu- tionaries and socialists in exile. Probably due to his apparent anti-Czarist dis- courses and activities, he was surrendered to Russian authorities by the Ottoman government on the former’s insistence and for a time was in jail in Odessa. According to Russian authorities, he was nothing less than a dangerous Pan- Islamist who advocated the awakening and mutual integration of Muslims inside and outside the borders of the Russian Empire. In addition to this, it is said that during the Russo-Japanese War Ibrahim had made the close acquaintance of General Akashi Motojiro (1864–1919), a leading Japanese intelligence agent in Europe.6 When the Russian revolution in 1905 brought about relative freedom of speech and of the press, Ibrahim published Tatar and Arabic newspapers and journals such as the Ulfat and al-Tilmid in St Petersburg, and otherwise contributed to the development of Muslim journalism in Russia. At the same time, in order to unite Muslim peoples in the direction of reform and progress he endeavored to convene Russian Muslim congresses (which were held three times) and bring into existence the first Muslim political organization, the Ittifaq al-Muslimin [Union of (Russia’s) Muslims]. As one of the most active leaders in the Muslim national movement in Russia, he published an interesting essay, Avtonomija [Autonomy], in 1907 that discussed the possible forms of autonomy for Muslim peoples in Russia. He envisaged territorial autonomy for the Qazaqs and Turkestanis as well as cultural autonomy for the Tatars and other Muslim minori- ties scattered among the Russian majority.7 At any rate, his energetic activities in 274 MUSLIM INTELLECTUALS AND JAPAN the political sphere during the revolutionary years caused later Japanese journalism to introduce him as “a former representative in the Russian parliament.”8 The reaction of Czarism after 1907 put an end to the first Muslim political movement, however, and many Muslim intellectuals in Russia were obliged to migrate to Istanbul, where the Young Turks revolution in 1908 made their political and journalistic activities secure. Unlike them, Ibrahim traveled first in Russian Turkestan and Bukhara9 to witness negative aspects of Russian colonial rule, and then at the end of September 1909 set out on a great journey from Kazan through Siberia, Manchuria, Japan, Korea, China, Southeast Asia, India, and Arabia to Istanbul. On his travels, he continued to send his reports and essays to the Tatar newspaper Bäyanul-hak in Kazan and the Ottoman journal Sırat-ı müs- takim in Istanbul.10 He was not, however, merely a journalist traveling in Eurasia. His travel account, The World of Islam, shows that his great journey had at least two major aims: first to awaken and enlighten Muslim peoples by describing real situations in the Muslim world that extends into Eurasia, and second to elaborate a strategy for the liberation of Muslim peoples under the rule of Western great powers. According to Ibrahim, Japan would play a decisive role in this strategy. Arriving in Vladivostok in January 1909, he waited for a steamship bound for Japan. Given that he visited the Japanese consulate in Vladivostok to consult with the officials, it is reasonable to think that Japanese authorities obtained considerable information about this famous Muslim activist in Russia. Ibrahim in Japan In February 2, 1909, Ibrahim arrived in Tsuruga harbor, where he observed on land the huge Russian cannon made in St. Petersburg and captured by the Japanese army during the previous war. In Japan, he observed considerable reminiscence about the war. After settling in Yokohama, he began to study Japan and the Japanese people with unlimited interest. Although he did not know the Japanese language, his acquaintance with Nakayama Itsuzo, who had a good command of Russian and was probably a member of the Kokuryukai (Black Dragon Society),11 enabled Ibrahim to communicate with many Japanese people by way of the Russian language. Ibrahim notes, however, that “after discovering that the grammatical structure of Japanese is similar to Turkish, my desire to learn Japanese was stimu- lated so much.” He was proud of learning Japanese, and it helped his everyday life in Japan. In this way he began his field survey to study Japanese political, socioeconomic, military, and cultural systems, as well as customs and manners. He stayed in Japan until June 1909. This long stay, exceptional in his great journey, underlines his strong interest in Japan. Indeed, he visited a variety of places: villages around Yokohama, the Parliament in session, the Sugamo prison, hospitals, shrines, temples, the Kabuki Theater, and a cherry blossom party. He preferred to visit schools such as Waseda University, the Tokyo Imperial University, the Tokyo Institute of Arts, and schools for girls. He even attended classes, as well as graduations. He was obviously impressed by a Japanese 275 KOMATSU HISAO educational system that made rapid progress during the Meiji era (1868–1912). Underlying his admiration for Japanese education are the sentiments of a Jadid-Reformist intellectual who has not yet witnessed the full achievements of educational reform among Russian Muslims. Another favorite place of his was the press bureaus. As soon as he arrived in Japan he visited the Kokumin shinbun, directed by a leading journalist, Tokutomi Soho (1863–1957), and the Hochi shinbun, which took pride in its daily 350,000 copies. The Hochi shinbun of February 16, 1909 reported on “an unusual giant” who is nothing but “an ex-representative in the Russian Parliament and head of the recently banned revolutionary newspaper Ulfat, Mr Rashid Ibrahim (60 years old) himself.” During his stay in Japan, major newspapers reported his activities and the aims of his journey with some curiosity. In other words, Ibrahim succeeded in introducing himself to the Japanese audience, who had hardly any knowledge about Muslims in Russia. He tried to meet every kind of Japanese in order to study Japan and the Japanese people. His meeting list extends from ordinary people to ex-prime ministers, as well as university professors and notables.

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