The Masons and the Moors

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The Masons and the Moors

By Mehmet Sabeheddin

The origins of Freemasonry – as would be expected of such a "venerable secret society" – are shrouded in myth, legend and almost impenetrable obscurity. Since at least the late 18th century Masonic writers have sought to establish a link between the Knights Templar and the Freemasons. Freemasonic lore and symbols have been traced to ancient Egypt and Phoenicia. Yet, despite all the books and articles exploring Freemasonry published over the last hundred years, there is one area that has not received attention. It concerns Freemasonry's debt to Islamic mysticism and a shadowy tradition connecting the Masons with the Moors of North Africa.

Moorish Science

The involvement of Freemasons in the establishment of the United States of America is well documented. In fact Masons featured so prominently in drafting the American Declaration of Independence that many people believed it a thoroughly 'Masonic project'. Not only George Washington but also the US founding fathers Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson were high-degree Masons. Masonry had a profound influence on the formation of American society, but there was also another secret power which has gone completely unnoticed.

The Kingdom of Morocco under the leadership of Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdullah, known as King Mohammed III, was the first country in the world to recognise the United States of America as an independent nation in 1777. This historic act by the North African Muslim kingdom highlights the relationship then existing between America's Masonic leaders and the Moors. Before exploring this strange connection further we need to understand the part played by the Moors in the transmission of knowledge to Europe.

Moor is the classical name in Europe of the Muslim people of North Africa. In Spain, where Muslims ruled for over five hundred years, Arabs are still called Moros. The term "Moor" came to be synonymous with "Muslim" in many contexts, for example the Muslim communities in the Philippines are known to this day as Moros. The Supreme Wisdom of the Moors, much of it derived from ancient Egypt, has come to be known as "Moorish Science".

The Moors provided the vital link between ancient and modern civilisation. The light of knowledge which illuminated the Moorish lands of Spain and Sicily was instrumental in dispelling the gloom of ignorance that enveloped mediaeval Europe.

"It was under the influence of Arabian and Moorish revival of culture," writes Robert Briffault in The Making of Humanity, "and not in the 15th century, that the real renaissance took place. Spain and not Italy, was the cradle of the rebirth of Europe. After sinking lower and lower in barbarism, it had reached the darkest depths of ignorance and degradation when the cities of the Saracenic world Baghdad, Cairo, Cordova, Toledo, were growing centres of civilisation and intellectual activity. It was there that the new life arose which was to grow into a new phase of human evolution. From the time when the influence of their culture made itself felt, began the stirring of a new life."

The Orientalist Stanley Lane-Poole acknowledged the great impact Moorish civilisation had on Europe when he wrote:

For nearly eight centuries under her Muslim rulers Spain set to all Europe a shining example of a civilized and enlightened state. Art, literature and science prospered as they then prospered nowhere else in Europe. Students flocked from France and Germany and England to drink from the fountains of learning which flowed only in the cities of the Moors. The surgeons and doctors of Andalusia were in the vanguard of science; women were encouraged to devote themselves to serious study, and a lady doctor was not unknown among the people of Cordova.1

The 19th century French writer on the esoteric sciences, Gerard Encausse, known as "Papus", noted how "the Gnostic sects, the Arabs, Alchemists, Templars" form a chain transmitting ancient wisdom to the West. This explains why within the Ritual of Freemasonry there is the admission "we came from the East and proceeded to the West." A Masonic author Bernard H. Springett says:

The plain fact that much of what we now look upon almost entirely as Freemasonry has been practised as part and parcel of the religions of the Middle East for many thousands of years, lies open for anyone who cares to stop and read, instead of running by. But it is frequently and scornfully rejected by the average Masonic student...2

So we find that just as Europe borrowed considerably from the learning of the Moors, European Freemasonry took its "secret wisdom" from the Muslim East.

With the end of Moorish rule in Spain, the Europeans began to colonise Africa, Asia and the Americas. In time European Christians conquered Muslim territories and the great debt Western civilisation owed to the Moors was quickly forgotten. By the 18th century European Christians saw themselves as the predestined rulers of the world with a divine mission to "civilise" the heathen. Western historians conveniently ignored the immense contribution of the brilliant and energetic Moorish civilisation in delivering Europe from mediaeval barbarism. We can only conclude this is a result of the pride and presumption of Westerners, which prevent them from recognising the truth or importance of their debts to the East.

Seekers of Truth

The founders of the American republic, as high-degree Freemasons, were aware of the importance of Moorish wisdom and culture to the birth of Western civilisation. This may explain why Morocco was the first nation in history to recognise the United States, and what's really behind the story of George Washington being presented with a Moorish flag. Some researchers believe this flag consisted of a red background with a green five-pointed star in the centre of it. The star or pentagram, which the Moors called the Seal of Sulaiyman and coloured green to honour Islam, also figures prominently in Masonic art and architecture. The layout of the city of Washington D.C. – designed by Freemasons – incorporates the pentagram.

When Freemasons travelling in the Moorish lands encountered Sufis, the mystics of Islam, they soon recognised a common bond. "Sufi-ism," said Sir Richard Burton, was "the Eastern parent of Freemasonry." John Porter Brown, an American diplomat in Turkey in the mid 1800s, was a Freemason who wrote sympathetically of the Sufi path. In The Darvishes, he admits finding it "rather strange that the Dervishes of the Bektashi Order consider themselves quite the same as the Freemasons, and are disposed to fraternize with them." Brown commented how in Turkey Freemasonry had come to be generally regarded as "atheism of the most condemnable character." A position not unlike the one held by Papus, the celebrated French occultist and Gnostic bishop, who tried to counter the Masonic lodges which, he believed, were in the service of British imperialism and the international financial syndicates. Papus also viewed Freemasonry as a diabolical perversion of the ancient secret tradition and atheistic at heart.

When Madame Blavatsky (1831-1891) set out in search of hidden wisdom it was to the Moorish land of Egypt that she journeyed. Blavatsky claimed to be a disciple of the Masters Morya and Koot Hoomi. The researcher K. Paul Johnson convincingly shows her tales of the "Masters" to be modelled on real people, many genuine occult adepts. Prominent among them Jamal ad-Din al-Afghani, a Sufi scholar, tireless political intriguer, and the leader of radical movements throughout the Muslim world, whose travels enigmatically paralleled those of Madame Blavatsky for more than thirty years. Best remembered for co-founding the Theosophical Society and helping to popularise Buddhism and Hinduism in the West, Blavatsky also proudly wrote of "living with the whirling dervishes, with the Druze of Mount Lebanon, with the Bedouin Arabs and the marabouts of Damascus."

Madame Blavatsky's "Masters" are very close to the Sufi tradition of Khwajagan (Persian: "Masters"). Ernest Scott states "the Khwajagan teachers are entirely corporeal and literal, having been physically located in the Hindu Kush area since the 10th century. The Hindu Kush range is in Afghanistan: geographically, it forms the Western extreme of the Himalayas."3 Scott quotes from a paper by a Turkish writer who describes how members of the Khwajagan:

...intervene from time to time in human affairs. They do this, not as leaders or teachers of mankind, but unobtrusively by introducing certain ideas and techniques. This intervention works in such a way as to rectify deviations from the predestined course of human history. This inner circle, it is claimed, concentrates its activities in those areas and at those times when the situation is critical for mankind."4

Certainly Madame Blavatsky's teacher Jamal ad-Din al-Afghani, who was raised in Afghanistan, fits the description of a Master Adept. His life is described as a mysterious odyssey that led through lands as far apart as India and America. Received by heads of state in Cairo and Istanbul, he moved in both underground radical circles and the highest centres of power in European and Oriental capitals.

The idea of living 'spiritual guides' or masters is central to Sufism. In the words of Sir John Glubb Pasha: "Sufism cannot be defined in words, nor can it be comprehended by the human intellect. It can only be imperceptibly 'caught' or imbibed by association with a Sufi master." The Sufi master is revered by his disciples for being in contact with a level of higher consciousness, his mission on Earth directed by higher powers. Studying the lives of some of the greatest Sufi masters we often find them to be wandering holy men (& women) whose actions are usually misunderstood by orthodox believers. The shrines of Sufi masters are centres of trance dancing, exorcism, and miraculous healings.

The Sufi tradition is integral to Moorish Science.

Sufi masters are also renowned for communicating with their followers through dreams. There are numerous stories of Sufi saints appearing in a disciple's dreams and using telepathy to direct followers to undertake a special mission.

Mission to America

A few years after Madame Blavatsky founded the Theosophical Society in New York in 1875, the Master Adept Jamal ad-Din al-Afghani turned up in America around 1882. Two Americans of African descent, who are rumoured to have studied under al-Afghani, were the parents of the man who would one day establish Moorish Science in the United States.

Noble Drew Ali (born Timothy Drew) early in the 20th century took a job as a merchant seaman and found himself in Egypt. According to one legend, Noble Drew Ali made a pilgrimage to North Africa where he studied with Moorish scholars and received a mandate from the king of Morocco to instruct Americans of African descent in Islam. His association with the ruler of Morocco is significant when we recall the historic relationship between this Moorish country and the early United States.

At the Pyramid of Cheops his followers believe he received initiation and took the Muslim name Sharif [Noble] Abdul Ali; in America he would be known as Noble Drew Ali. On his return to the United States in 1913 he had a dream in which he was ordered to found a movement "to uplift fallen humanity by returning the nationality, divine creed and culture to persons of Moorish descent in the Western Hemisphere." He organised the Moorish Science Temple along lines similar to Masonic lodges, with local temple branches and "Adept Chambers" teaching the esoteric wisdom derived from the secret circle of Eastern Sages, the Master Adepts of Moorish Science.

Noble Drew Ali is said to have made a historic visit to Washington, D.C. in order to reclaim the Moorish flag and obtain official recognition to call his people to their true faith, "Al Islam". The US president, believing that African Americans would not embrace Islam, gave Noble Drew Ali full authority to teach Moorish Science in America.

By the end of the 1920s, membership in the Moorish Science Temple had grown substantially. With increasing numbers of African Americans rallying behind Noble Drew Ali the Moorish movement soon came under the scrutiny of the FBI. In 1929 several Moors, including Noble Drew Ali, where detained for questioning by the Chicago police. Released from custody, Noble Drew Ali fell ill and never recovered. Many Moors suspected his death the result of a severe police beating.

Following the inexplicable 'death' of Noble Drew Ali, the Moorish Science Temple continued and gave rise to unique Islamic groups among the African American community. Much of the known history of Moorish Science in North America is extremely complex and obscure.

By the 1950s some white American poets and jazz musicians came into contact with Moorish Science. The North African cities of Tangiers and Marrakech held a magic attraction for the leaders of America's counterculture, with writers like William S. Burroughs spending years living in the Moorish lands. The Moorish Orthodox Church of America was formed by white Americans who held Moorish Science passports and had ties with certain "Wandering Bishops" of the Old Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches.

Joseph Matheny, the American author and media theorist, first encountered Moorish Science when he was researching time travel and quantum consciousness. In his book Ong's Hat The Beginning, the Moorish Orthodox Church is called "one of the most secretive and mysterious religious organisations ever known to man" and:

a revolutionary and heretical sect of Islam that carries on an ancient tradition which sought to counterbalance the forces of orthodox Islam. Despite the controversial and dubious nature of the MOC, part of their tradition has been to serve as the torch bearers of freedom against the tyrannical and repressive aspects of the Earth's patriarchal power structure as our planetary consciousness shifts to the Age of Aquarius and sets its site on unlimited freedom and the expression of life in all of its true wonder and beauty.

Years before the "War on Terror" and Bush's invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, this writer attended a lecture organised by people associated with the Moorish Orthodox Church. The speaker, a Moorish Sheik returned from a long sojourn in the East, claimed Freemasonry is built on a twisting of the truth of Moorish Science. It is the secret power behind the West based on the Supreme Wisdom derived from esoteric Islam. The European colonisers usurped the knowledge of the Moors and created a nefarious system of control that blinds man to his true identity. Freemasonry was identified as a chief player in the world "Babylonian" system, the mastermind of the institutions of indoctrination that prevent the full knowledge of the True God to be known. Moorish Science is the effective counter to the Freemasonic imposters and a force for Truth, Love, Peace, Freedom and Justice. The Sheik also revealed how Afghanistan and Iraq figure in sacred geography and numerology, and mentioned a secret war between the Anglo-American and Asiatic powers.

Is there a struggle between occult brotherhoods to influence human destiny? Are the dramatic events taking place in the world, from the continuing strife in Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan, to the rivalry between the forces of Atlanticism (Britain and the USA) and Eurasia (Russia and China), just surface manifestations of a deeper conflict? Certainly the strange saga of Moorish Science and the Moorish Orthodox Church adds weight to the observation made by one of the 20th century's most controversial mystics:

...There is a history behind our so-called history that you cannot even conceive of. History has a deeper base. The periphery that we know as history is not the reality. Behind our so-called history continues another history, a deeper one about which we know nothing.5

Footnotes:

1. Stanley Lane-Poole, Studies in a Mosque
2. Bernard H. Springett, Secret Sects of Syria and the Lebanon
3. Ernest Scott, People of the Secret
4. Ibid.
5. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, I AM THE GATE: The Meaning of Initiation and Discipleship

Mehmet Sabeheddin is a researcher, writer, spiritual teacher and global traveller. He is a longtime contributor to New Dawn magazine. A "spiritual swaggie", his areas of interest are wide ranging and include Sufism, Islam and esoteric Christianity. He can be contacted c/- of New Dawn Magazine, GPO Box 3126, Melbourne VIC 3001, Australia.

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Jamal al Din al Afghani

Jamal al Din al Afghani Sayyid Jamal-al-din al-Afghani, or Jamal-al-din Asadabadi (also Seyyed Jamaluddin Asadabadi, Jamaluddin al-Afghani and Jamal al-din Afgani) (1838-1896 or 1837-1897) was is the father of the modern Islamic revival. He is sometimes named as the father of Islamism because some of his students and their students were radical Islamists, including  Hassan Al-Banna, Abul ala Maududi, Sayyid Qutb as well perhaps, as the radical Shi'ite Ayatollah Rohollah Khomeini. However, in contradiction to radical Islamists, Afghani was more a philosopher than a religious Imam. His ideas were apparently based on the old but still surviving tradition of Islamic rationalism evident in the philosophy of Averroes, Avicenna and Ibn Khaldoun.
Life of Sayyid Jamal Al Din Al Afghani

Al-Afghani's life is not well documented, giving rise to conflicting accounts. According to some, Jamal Al Din Al Afghani was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, but most agree that he was born in Asadabad, an Iranian village near Hamadabad in 1837 or 1838, into a learned family. It is thought that he styled himself "al-Afghani" in order to conceal his Shia origin. In Afghanistan, he reportedly called himself "Istanbouli" or "Rumi.

Al-Afghani was initially home schooled, then studied in Qazvin, in Teheran, and then in the Iraqi educated first at home, then taken by his father for further education to Qazvīn, to Tehran, and finally, to Iraqi Shia shrine cities. He was apparently much influenced by the Shaikhist school, which emphasized personal leadership and the need for the world to have a "perfect man."   Afghani was also influenced by the ideas of Muslim philosophers such as Avicenna and others, and rational Muslim philosophy.

India - Al Afghani apparently quarreled with some of the Iraqi Ulema and about 1856 he went to India, where he witnessed the Sepoy mutiny (Indian rebellion) of 1857. This may have influenced his anti-British stance.

Al Afghani's movements after leaving India are not known until about 1865, but he may have been to Mecca and perhaps as far as Istanbul. After India he spent some time in Iraq. He may have gone to Mecca, perhaps Istanbul.

Afghanistan - In 1865-66 Al Afghani traveled through Iran, probably coming from Iraq. He stopped briefly to visit his family in Asadabad. He then traveled to Tehran and on to Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, according to government of India sources, he claimed to be from Istanbul, and it was noted that he spoke fluent Persian and appeared to be a stranger to Afghanistan.

In Afghanistan he got himself attached, or was invited to, the  entourage of Muhammad A'zam Khan, the military ruler of Qandahar under Dost Muhammad Khan. Upon the death of Dost Muhammad died in 1863, his three sons fought among themselves for the rulership. Amir Shir 'Ali Khan, Dost Muhammad's third son, assumed power in Kabul, pledging to modernize Afghanistan. His however, rebelled and ousted him in 1866. A'zam became king, and al-Afghani became a highly placed adviser.

According to one account, Al-Afghani reportedly drew up an ambitious national modernization plan for Afghanistan,  including centralized government, an educational network, communications system and a national newspaper. According to other accounts, he was silent on reform. All agree that he favored an alliance with Russia to stymie the British advance. But Shir 'Ali returned in 1868 and deposed Muhammad A'zam. Evidently Afghani tried to influence the pro-British 'Ali against Britain, and was therefore expelled. Afghani was forgotten in Afghanistan until long after his death.  

Turkey -  After a brief trip to India and a short stay in Cairo, Afghani went to Istanbul, capital of the Ottoman Empire and the major center of Muslim power. Perhaps he believed that Abdulaziz, the Ottoman sultan was the hoped for "perfect man."  In 1869-70 the secularist Tanzimat reform movement was still in existence, and al-Afghani was a member.

He became a member of the reformist Council of Education. He used his post as a platform to deliver a series of inspiring and overly controversial university lectures in 1870. He was supposed to talk about science, industries and crafts. Instead he talked about anti-imperialism and modernization and derided prophecy. He drew the anger of the Ulema and these forced the dismissal of the head of the university and the expulsion of Afghani in the same year.

Egypt - Al-Afghani fled to to Cairo and remained there until 1879 and did some of his most fruitful work. He was given a monthly stipend by the Egyptian government.  He helped  reintroduce the teaching of Muslim philosophy in Egypt and gained an avid following, including disciples who founded political newspapers and engaged in political work and especially Muhammad Abduh, whom he adducted from Sufi mysticism to a philosophical and political outlook. His other disciples became revolutionary leaders and were responsible for political agitation in Egypt for a long time thereafter.

Afghani preached and taught anti-imperialism and other controversial doctrines in Egypt. He founded a Masonic lodge, the Eastern Star. He tried to use it as a platform for overthrowing Khedive Ismail.  He gained a mass following through public speeches and agitation against the British and French interests  in Egypt.

It seems that that al-Afghani spoke at different levels and in different ways to different audiences. He is said to have believed that the masses were unready to follow philosophy and had to be taught through use of fundamentalist religion. Therefore, his popular lectures and writings often made use of an adaptation of the Shia idea of Taqiyah or dissimulation. This makes it more difficult to understand the "real" basis of his philosophy.

Al-Afghani was unfortunately all too clear in his criticism of the Egyptian government. Egypt, it will be remembered, was in a perpetual financial crisis, as the Khedive Isma'il had borrowed heavily to finance development projects. Egypt was therefore forced to allow increasing western influence. Al-Afghani openly condemned Isma'il's incompetence. It is doubtful that he was responsible for the downfall of Isma'il as some claim. The Sultan, pressured by foreign bankers who were worried about the fate of their loans, was forced to dismiss Khedive Isma'il. Afghani continued to rail against England and France, and Tawfiq, apparently on his own initiative, decided he was too risky to have around and expelled Afghani.

India - Al-Afghani presently made his home in Hyderabad India. He was active in writing articles in Persian there, and was acquainted with the Prime Minister Sir Salar Jang, For two years he gave lectures and wrote his longest work,  "The Refutation of the Materialists" (1881), which was actually intended as a tract against a pro-British political opponent, Sir Sayyed Ahmad Kahn. In it, Al-Afghani described a utopian "Virtuous City," somewhat like Plato's Republic. It was a hierarchically structured society based on the principles of shame, trustworthiness, and truthfulness and aspiring to the ideals of intelligence, pride, and justice. Higher intelligence, al-Afghani  claimed, leads to new capabilities and advancement. Pride generates competition and progress, and justice would bring about global peace and harmony among nations. Naturalists, al-Afghani argued, intended to destroy the solidarity of the Virtuous City through division and sectarianism.

London and Paris - In 1881 Afghani left India for England and Paris. In London, he met William Blunt, an Arabist and anti-imperialist who helped finance his ventures and publicize his work. Blunt tried to convince the British government that Afghani would be useful to them in their dispute with the Sudanese Mahdi, but the British government were not interested.

In London and Paris al-Afghani wrote newspaper articles, mainly against the British occupation of Egypt. He met the French philosopher Ernest Renan, and made a deep impression on Renan. But he published a refutation of Renan's views on Islamic science, Against Renan,  which was not careful of Muslim orthodoxy, and he was careful to prevent its publication in the Arabic language.  Afghani invited Muhammad Abduh   to Paris to edit a short lived, but very influential journal in Arabic, al-'Urwat al-Wuthqa (the firmest bond). It was apparently at this time that Afghani adopted the pan-Islamic doctrines that he may have borrowed from the Turk Namik Kemal.

Iran and Russia - The paper soon folded however, and al-Afghani departed for the Port of Bushehr Iran, intending to go from there to Russia. He had been invited to Russia the Russian chauvinist editor and publicist Mikhail Nikiforovich Katkov. In Iran however, he made some good contacts and made his way to Tehran and the temporary favor of Prime Minister Amin-al-sol. He was also interviewed by the Shah Nasir al-Din. The Shah, who had made a number of concessions to British interests, grew alarmed at al-Afghani's anti-British sentiments and saw to it that he was sent on his way to Russia in 1887.  He tried to persuade Russia to drive the British out of India with the aid of the Indian Muslims. But Persians were in bad odor in Russia owing to the concessions made by the Iranian Shah to the British, and in any case, the Russians were not interested in annoying the British too much. They kept him in Russia just long enough to irk the British, and al-Afghani meanwhile managed to get a second invitation to Tehran.

In Iran again - Al-Afghani returned to Iran in 1889. However, Afghani was involved in anti-government agitation, distributing pamphlets against the government concessions. Amin al-Sol was not happy to see him, and denied Afghani's claim that he had been sent to Russia to placate the Russians over the Iranian concessions. In fact, he issued orders for his arrest. Al Afghani fled before he could be arrested and took sanctuary in the shrine of Shah Abdul 'Azim. He set up a secret network and attracted large crowds which he harangued with his attacks on the Shah. He demanded that Iranian tax revenues should be spent on infrastructure and public projects, a railroad,  education, hospitals, and  an army to thwart imperialism, rather than on the Shah's luxuries, and he demanded constitutional rule and freedom of the press. In January 1891, al-Afghani and his network published an especially inflammatory pamphlet attacking the Shah and the tobacco concession that he had granted to the British. The Shah and his Prime Minister had had enough. They violated his sanctuary and deported al Afghani by forced marches to Iraq.  At this point, the Iranian Ulema and the merchants instigated a mass uprising against the Shah's tobacco concession. Al-Afghani wrote a famous letter to the influential holy man Hajj Mirza Hasan Sirazi against the tobacco concession, and Sirazi eventually called for a boycott of tobacco. This forced the Shah to cancel the British concession. Al-Afghani's role was clear, and this did not increase his favor with the Shah.

England and Turkey - Jamal al Din al Afghani presently departed for England around the beginning of 1892, where he teamed up with Malkom Khan, an Iranian modernist and wrote for Khan's newspaper. In 1892 he was invited or cajoled into coming to Turkey, where the Sultan Abdulhammid used him to promote Shia-Sunni unity under the rule of the Sunni Turkish Sultan and Caliph. Al-Afghani continued his anti-Shah activities with the aid of Mirza Aqa Khan Kermani and Shaikh Ahmad Ruhi. The incensed Iranians protested, and Ruhi, Kermani and another gentleman were exiled to Trebizond.

Another follower of al-Afghani was however freed from Jail in Iran during this period and came to al-Afghani and Istanbul. This was his former servant Mirza Reza. Reza was evidently given a mission by al-Afghani: To kill Nasser al Din, Shah of Iran. Reza returned to Iran and on May 1, 1896, as the the Shah was preparing to celebrate the Jubilee of his rule, Reza assassinated him.

The Iranian government tried in vain to get al-Afghani extradited. Evidently the Sultan was reluctant to allow the Iranians to interrogate al-Afghani and to learn the extent of Ottoman subversion activities in Iran. However, the Ottoman government did extradite the trio of reformers who had been exiled to Trebizond, though they had nothing to do with the assassination of the Shah. They were duly hanged in Tabriz on the order of the Crown Prince Mohammed Ali Mirza.

Very shortly thereafter, sometime in 1897 (March 9 is a probable date), al-Afghani died of cancer of the jaw. The convenience of his death so soon after the assassination of the Shah encouraged rumors that he had been poisoned, but nothing has ever been proven in this respect. At the time of his death, al Afghani had not been writing for several years, as the Ottoman government did not allow him to do so. His popularity was at a nadir, and but for the activities of his pupils, he might have been forgotten. In 1944, at the request of the Afghan government, his remains were transferred to Kabul and a mausoleum was erected there.

Al-Afghani never married. The only hint of a woman in his life comes from the European period.
Work and ideas of Sayyid Jamal Al Din Al Afghani

Al-Afghani was not primarily a religious preacher and many of his writings and sayings betray contempt for religion. Aside from articles, Al-Afghani wrote only sparingly. He was evidently a brilliant orator, and Muhammad Abduh and other disciples pieced together his utterances and published many of them as "articles."

Al Afghani predicted the conquest of the Middle East by the British and sought ways to resist it, by rekindling both nationalistic and pan-Islamic movements.

His evolved ideology focused on:

    * Belief in ittihad i Islam - Unification of Islam and pan-Islamism, but not a single Islamic state or rule of Sharia law.
    * Need to combat the influence of the West and particularly Britain.
    * Modernization and democratization of society.
    * Interpreting Islam to fit the the modern world and allow scientific progress.

Al Afghani's philosophy was based on religion through reason, and a utilitarian and functional view of the role of religion in society.

Afghani's two published books are the History of Afghanistan and the Refutation of Materialism. The ideological content of the History of Afghanistan is intended to glorify Afghan nationalism and resistance to British colonialism. It was published in Egypt during the second Afghan war and seems to be aimed at Egyptian nationalists as well. The ideas advocated are not religious or pan-Islamic. In his writings in that period, Al-Afghani attacked fanaticism and despotism and tried to strengthen modern education and parliamentary rule. He called for leaders and journalists to spread new ideas and awaken patriotism and zeal for the national Egyptian interest.

Likewise in the Refutation of Materialism, there is little that could be called "Islamic" advocacy, but rather there is general spiritual advocacy.  Al-Afghani attacks pro-British views, but not the desire for progress. Al Afghani notes that religion has the practical values of tying together the community and keeping men from evil. He advocates a reform program based on selective reading of the Quran and Islamic traditions. He uses pride in Islam to counter British claims to cultural superiority.

Al-Afghani's main complaint against Darwin and others was their denial or alleged denial of the existence of God and their denigration of religion.  Al-Afghani asserted that religion has taught humanity three fundamental beliefs: man has a spiritual nature,  every religion believes it is superior to others and belief in afterlife in a better world.  Belief in man's spiritual nature motivates people to rise above egotistical and "bestial" impulses and try to  live in peace with others. Competition among religious groups cause each to try to pursue knowledge and further progress. Belief in afterlife based on rewards motivates ethical behavior and causes people to want to live a a life of love, peace and justice.

Al-Afghani claimed that religion encourages honesty, modesty and truthfulness. He believed these traits were responsible for the greatness of the Greeks and others others. When the Greeks turned to materialism and hedonism, they degenerated and fell prey to the Romans. Similarly the Persians, according to Al-Afghani, turned to  Zoroastrianism or Mazdaism and eventually were subject to the Arabs, and the Arabs were likewise weakened by moral erosion. He further maintains that the greatness of the major nations of the world has always been entailed by their cultivation of these traits. Through these virtues the Greeks were able to confront and destroy the Persian empire. However, when the Greeks adopted the materialism and hedonism of Epicurus, the result was decay and subjection by the Romans. Likewise the ancient Persians, a very noble people, began with the rise of Mazdaism the same downward journey as the Greeks, which resulted in their moral erosion. It follows that Muslims must return to the original values that made them great, but not necessarily a return to archaic ways of life that are opposed to progress. Religion in Afghani's view, was a fundamental ally and force in human progress. Al-Afghani had great faith in the capacity of humanity to innovate based on increased knowledge, and insisted that there are no areas that are immune to human inquiry. He even predicted that men would one day reach the moon.

An article published in India, �The Benefits of Philosophy,� praised philosophy rather than religion and characterized Islamic revelation as a step toward the higher truth of philosophy. Islam was commendable for encouraging philosophy and the meanings of the Quran can encompass all potential knowledge, according to Al Afghani.

Thus, Al-Afghani's ideas cannot be viewed as as program for fundamentalist reaction, but rather a program to update Muslim philosophical traditions and merge them with the ebullient optimism and faith in progress characteristic of the nineteenth century.

In politics, numerous articles and speeches by al-Afghani called for just government, opposed fanaticism and tyranny and supported progress, liberty and patriotism. In one speech (reported in Mesr, May 24, 1879) he called for greater rights for women

Al-Afghani�s anti-imperialism and his stress on the virtues of early periods of Islam eventually entered the mainstream of Islamic modernism and the anti-colonialist struggle. Ironically, his quest for rationalism and enthusiasm for philosophy and progress were suppressed by some of his most successful and best known intellectual "offspring" such as Hassan al-Banna and Sayyid, Qutb, who converted Afghani's doctrines into a call for a fundamentalist Islamic revolution and return to a primitive sort of religious despotism

Ami Isseroff

Brief Bibliography
Keddie, N. (1968) An Islamic Response to Imperialism: Political and Religious Writings of Sayyid Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. (An useful series of essays linking al-Afghani's philosophical and political views.)

Keddie, N. (1972) Sayyid Jamal ad-Din al-Afghani: A Political Biography, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Keddie N, AFGĀNĪ, JAMĀL-AL-DIN, Encyclopedia Iranica Article.

Kedourie, E. (1966) Afghani and 'Abduh, London: Cass.

http://www.mideastweb.org/Middle-East-E ... fghani.htm

[pas]

Thanks CSR, i know some Maroccans but they know very little of their Moorish history.
One told me that they are ashamed of their past because it wasn't proper Islamitic and that it's better to forget their "barbarian" past.