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Al-Afghani, Jamal al-Din Writing

Al-Afghani, Jamal al-Din is well known for his inspiration of the modern revival of Islamic authority. Afghani, born Muhammad ibn Safdar, was a pan-Islamic activist and a principal leader of early nationalism in Egypt and different Muslim nations. Through his life, he travelled to many nations where he attracted many followers, who he instructed on his religious views. Afghani is also famous for his speeches and newspaper articles, which forms the basis for this summary.

“His fiery speeches and newspaper articles were his main legacy” (Goldschmidt 15). The quote refers to Afghani and informs the reader that he was a rational philosopher through his writing. Keddie (1) provides illustrations of some of Afghani’s writing noting his writings contained reforming ideas. He began writing for Misr following an invitation to Egypt by Riyad to become an instructor at al-Azhar, where he rented rooms and started a salon. Through his business, he drew students sharing his viewpoint, religious development and national opposition. Among the students was an editor of Misr, Adib Ishaq. Bashiri (1) also notes that Afghani was involved in seminars and giving public lectures, as well as writing.

Afghani is recognized for having written his treatise, al-Radd ala al-dahriyin, which refers to a denunciation of the materialists. Modernist Islam is another book asserting that Afghani also published al-Urwa al-wuthqa in 1884 together with one of his students, Muhammad Abduh (Kurzman 103). However, most of his writings were banned resulting in his expulsion from many nations. The writings were banned because he preached rationalist philosophy to the open-minded and conventional Islam to the masses. He was also a strong opposer of British imperialism as asserted by (Rahnema 11), who notes that Afghani is recognized for his promotion of pan-Islamic unity as a way of strengthening the Muslim world to oppose the West.

It is obvious that Afghani has had great influence on Islam through his writing. He progresses to be an inspiration of the modern revival of Islamic authority. Afghani’s writings are still read to date with some having been translated in An Islamic Response to Imperialism.

Works Cited

Bashiri, Iraj. Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, 2000. Web. Oct 9, 2013. Link:             http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/bashiri/Afghani/Afghani.html

Goldschmidt, Arthur. Biographical Dictionary of Modern Egypt. Boulder: Rienner, 2000. Print.

Keddie,Nikki R. Imperialism, Science and Religion : Two Essays by Jamal al-Din al-Afghani,    1883 and 1884. Modern Middle East Sourcebook Project, (2004): 1-10. Web. Oct 9,             2013. Link:             http://sitemaker.umich.edu/emes/sourcebook/da.data/00000000000000000000000000000            0000000000000082631/FileSource/1884_al-afghani.pdf

Kurzman, Charles. Modernist Islam, 1840 - 1940: A Sourcebook. Oxford: Oxford University             Press, 2002. Print.

Rahnema, Ali. Pioneers of Islamic Revival. London: Zed Books, 1994. Print.