Mistaken attributions

‘He didn’t say it’

FBy Ahmad Al-Sarraf

or many years, a popular quote by Muhammad Abdu, the Egyptian religious scholar, Islamic jurist and liberal reformer who’s considered among the key founding figures of Islamic modernization, has been circulated by many individuals on media—and even quoted him in some books.

The story says Muhammad Abdu in 1881 traveled to Paris to attend a meeting and upon his return home said “I went to the West and saw Islam but no Muslims; and when I came back to the East, I saw Muslims, but no Islam.”

The saying has become so popular with the progression of social media that we usually lose sight of giving Muhammad Abdu the credit, although further research has led us to believe that he never attended any forum in Paris; neither did he make the aforementioned statement.

Muhammad Abdu was born in 1844 and died relatively young in 1905. His father was from Turkmenistan and his mother an Egyptian. He was well-known for his affinity to renewing the understanding of Islam and his companionship with Jamal Al-Din Al-Afghani. The two coordinated to start an intellectual movement in the late 19th century and early 20th century to revive radical Islam and advocate pan-Islamism.

Abdu studied in Tanta City, Egypt and in 1866, enrolled in Al-Azhar University. He graduated 11 years later and was granted a degree to teach history at Cairo’s teacher’s training college Dar Al-Ulum Institute. Despite his tendencies toward peace and reconciliation that dismissed violence and clashes, he supported the revolt against the British led by Egyptian Commander Ahmad Orabi. The revolution was unsuccessful and Orabi was exiled to Ceylon Island while Muhammad Abdu

Al-Sarraf

was jailed for three years before his exile to Lebanon.

His teacher and companion Jamal Al-Din Al-Afghani invited him to Paris, so he left Lebanon directly for Paris in 1884 where he joined an Islamic revolutionary journal (Al-Urwah Al-Wuthqa) that promoted antiBritish views. One year later, he left Paris for Beirut and helped establish an Islamic educational system.

He worked as a teacher at the Sultani School in 1886 and remarried after his first wife died. Driven by his irresistible yearning for the homeland, he returned to Egypt in 1889 thanks to amnesty earned by Khediev Tawfiq for defending Lord Cromer. The amnesty was attached to condition that Abdu will give up politics. He began his legal career, and on June 3, 1899, he was appointed the Grand Mufti of Egypt—the highest Islamic title.

Back to the saying attributed to Muhammad Abdu, we have to state our doubts. Islam is a general conception that differs based on individuals and societies. Abdu had witnessed in Paris the European lifestyle, which cannot be measured according to specific criteria. He judged and compared Islam with the lifestyle in different aspects. I doubt he would have made such a statement if he traveled to a Sunni Muslim country? If Abdu truly made that statement, then it will add to the virtues of Paris (the capital of light). Paris is not a mere capital of a state, it is considered the mother of culture, literature, brotherhood and equality in the modern age.

On the other hand, our ignorance and backwardness is the fruit of our own culture and upbringing. It is not acceptable to blame someone else. Muhammad Abdu did not see Islam in Paris but a product of European civilization, and rather than identifying it with any other religion, it should be attributed to Catholicism. I doubt a liberal reformer like Muhammad Abdu would have made such a statement. It is nonsense and absolutely wrong.

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