Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface to the 1983 reissue
- Note on Transliteration and References
- I THE ISLAMIC STATE
- II THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE
- III FIRST VIEWS OF EUROPE
- IV THE FIRST GENERATION: TAHTAWI, KHAYR AL-DIN, AND BUSTANI
- V JAMAL AL-DIN AL-AFGHANI
- VI MUHAMMAD ‘ABDUH
- VII ‘ABDUH'S EGYPTIAN DISCIPLES: ISLAM AND MODERN CIVILIZATION
- VIII EGYPTIAN NATIONALISM
- IX RASHID RIDA
- X CHRISTIAN SECULARISTS: SHUMAYYIL AND ANTUN
- XI ARAB NATIONALISM
- XII TAHA HUSAYN
- XIII EPILOGUE: PAST AND FUTURE
- Select Bibliography
- Index
III - FIRST VIEWS OF EUROPE
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface to the 1983 reissue
- Note on Transliteration and References
- I THE ISLAMIC STATE
- II THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE
- III FIRST VIEWS OF EUROPE
- IV THE FIRST GENERATION: TAHTAWI, KHAYR AL-DIN, AND BUSTANI
- V JAMAL AL-DIN AL-AFGHANI
- VI MUHAMMAD ‘ABDUH
- VII ‘ABDUH'S EGYPTIAN DISCIPLES: ISLAM AND MODERN CIVILIZATION
- VIII EGYPTIAN NATIONALISM
- IX RASHID RIDA
- X CHRISTIAN SECULARISTS: SHUMAYYIL AND ANTUN
- XI ARAB NATIONALISM
- XII TAHA HUSAYN
- XIII EPILOGUE: PAST AND FUTURE
- Select Bibliography
- Index
Summary
In so vast and varied an empire, to hold the different communities together required a constant and skilful use of the sultan's regulative power. Even at the height of Ottoman strength, in the reign of Süleyman the Magnificent, there were not wanting voices to remind sultan and ministers how fragile was the structure, and from the beginning of the seventeenth century a decline in strength was clearly noticeable. It was in fact noticed by writers of the time and its causes understood. What was the precise relationship of those causes, and which of them were causes and which symptoms, are of course questions which cannot be answered. We can at least distinguish a number of ‘sequences’, each closely linked with the others. The machinery of government decayed; the sultan was the centre of the system, and it could only work well if his control was effective, but from the end of the sixteenth century the long line of intelligent and masterful sultans came to an end, and there began a period of rulers weak in character and intellect and ill trained for their work. The result was a struggle for influence between various factions: groups of officials and army leaders, allied with ‘ulama’ and with women and slaves of the palace.
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- Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age 1798–1939 , pp. 34 - 66Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1983