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Dr. Hassan Saab: The Arab Federalists of the Ottoman Empire. Amsterdam: Djambatan, 1958. XII + 322 pp

Dr. Hassan Saab: The Arab Federalists of the Ottoman Empire. Amsterdam: Djambatan, 1958. XII +... 291 LITERATUR Dr. Hassan Saab: The Arab Federalists of the Ottoman Empire. Amsterdam: Djambatan, 1958. XII + 322 pp. Under a garb of learning and great care, we are given a book full of misprints, mis-spellings, without an index and not altogether free from factual mistakes; it is based entirely on secondary sources of which the author however does not seem to have full knowledge. Trying to trace a modern form of government to pre-Islamic Arabia, the author finds it necessary to devote a large section of the book to general early history. To define federation he writes that it "differs essentially from a confederation in that the former is an organic union of the states of which it is composed, while the latter is an aggregate of sovereign states. In a federation", he goes on, "there i" a relation between the federal government and the citizen while in a confederation the relation remains between the confederative organisation and the states." Confederacies existed before Islam and prepared the way, it seems, for the success of Muhammad at unifying the Arabs. Muhammad himself is pre- sented by Dr. Saab not merely as a prophet but mainly as "an exemplary leader and even as a pioneer of Arab unity." It is in the subsequent form of government, the caliphate based on bayla, that the author finds a parallel and a lesson. Although he concedes that judged by the criterion that federalism of the state is sought in the relationship of its com- ponent parts to each other and to foreign states, the practically decentralised caliphate was the antithesis of the federal state, he still goes on to say the "The khilafa shares with federalism the admission of the principle of plurality in unity and of universalism and legalism of the state." It may have worked out the application of these principles in its own way but he still finds there guiding principles for the Arab federalists. "The adoption by Arab rulers of the khilafa", the author continues, "and of non-Arab patterns of government and administration to the degree of self-appropriation should constitute an encouraging precedent to contemporary Arab federalists in their search for a modern appropriate political form and system of integration of the Arab states." To treat the history of the caliphate as containing federal features is rather anachronistic since it is far removed in tradition and in practice from modern European and American systems of government in the context of which federalism makes sense. Moreover, without taking into account subsequent discussions, the author repeats the thesis put forth by Antonius that Egypt and Nejd were precursors of the Arab nationalist movement in the Ottoman Empire. But the real thesis of the book is to be found in five sections of chapter 6, pp. 225-263, where the author tries to justify the title of his book. He argues here that the Arab secret societies which came into being in Constantinople and Cairo the last few years before the First World War were really attempting to transform the Ottoman Empire from a unitary state into a Turko-Arab federation. His evidence for this is necessarily slender and consists of the ex post facto justification of their activities by members of these secret societies and of the few public pronouncements which were made at the time. 1 Sylvia G. Haim LITERATUR Wilhelm Hoenerbach: Das nordafrikanische Schatten- theater. Mainz: Rheingold-Verlag 1959. X, 165 S., 8 Abbild. DM 11.50. (= Bonner Orientalistische Studien, Neue Serie, hg. von Otto Spies, Bd. 6). GEgenstand dieser Arbeit ist der Nachweis der Verbindung des nordafrikanischen Schattentheaters mit dem turkischen, die viel enger ist, als man bisher annahm. Dem. Verf. ist es gelungen, Georg Jacobs Vermutung zu widerlegen, es habe sich "bereits seit Jahr- hunderten vom turkischen abgespalten" (S. 2). Tatsdehlich hat es sich erst im 18.-19. Jahrhundert von ihm getrennt (S. 64). Dies ist das Ergebnis einer sehr sorgfdltigen Unter. 1 See Zeine N. Zeine, Arab-Turkish Relations and the Emergence of Arab Nationalism (Beirut, 1958). (Ed.) http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Die Welt des Islams Brill

Dr. Hassan Saab: The Arab Federalists of the Ottoman Empire. Amsterdam: Djambatan, 1958. XII + 322 pp

Die Welt des Islams , Volume 6 (3): 291 – Jan 1, 1961

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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
© 1961 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
0043-2539
eISSN
1570-0607
DOI
10.1163/157006061X00275
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

291 LITERATUR Dr. Hassan Saab: The Arab Federalists of the Ottoman Empire. Amsterdam: Djambatan, 1958. XII + 322 pp. Under a garb of learning and great care, we are given a book full of misprints, mis-spellings, without an index and not altogether free from factual mistakes; it is based entirely on secondary sources of which the author however does not seem to have full knowledge. Trying to trace a modern form of government to pre-Islamic Arabia, the author finds it necessary to devote a large section of the book to general early history. To define federation he writes that it "differs essentially from a confederation in that the former is an organic union of the states of which it is composed, while the latter is an aggregate of sovereign states. In a federation", he goes on, "there i" a relation between the federal government and the citizen while in a confederation the relation remains between the confederative organisation and the states." Confederacies existed before Islam and prepared the way, it seems, for the success of Muhammad at unifying the Arabs. Muhammad himself is pre- sented by Dr. Saab not merely as a prophet but mainly as "an exemplary leader and even as a pioneer of Arab unity." It is in the subsequent form of government, the caliphate based on bayla, that the author finds a parallel and a lesson. Although he concedes that judged by the criterion that federalism of the state is sought in the relationship of its com- ponent parts to each other and to foreign states, the practically decentralised caliphate was the antithesis of the federal state, he still goes on to say the "The khilafa shares with federalism the admission of the principle of plurality in unity and of universalism and legalism of the state." It may have worked out the application of these principles in its own way but he still finds there guiding principles for the Arab federalists. "The adoption by Arab rulers of the khilafa", the author continues, "and of non-Arab patterns of government and administration to the degree of self-appropriation should constitute an encouraging precedent to contemporary Arab federalists in their search for a modern appropriate political form and system of integration of the Arab states." To treat the history of the caliphate as containing federal features is rather anachronistic since it is far removed in tradition and in practice from modern European and American systems of government in the context of which federalism makes sense. Moreover, without taking into account subsequent discussions, the author repeats the thesis put forth by Antonius that Egypt and Nejd were precursors of the Arab nationalist movement in the Ottoman Empire. But the real thesis of the book is to be found in five sections of chapter 6, pp. 225-263, where the author tries to justify the title of his book. He argues here that the Arab secret societies which came into being in Constantinople and Cairo the last few years before the First World War were really attempting to transform the Ottoman Empire from a unitary state into a Turko-Arab federation. His evidence for this is necessarily slender and consists of the ex post facto justification of their activities by members of these secret societies and of the few public pronouncements which were made at the time. 1 Sylvia G. Haim LITERATUR Wilhelm Hoenerbach: Das nordafrikanische Schatten- theater. Mainz: Rheingold-Verlag 1959. X, 165 S., 8 Abbild. DM 11.50. (= Bonner Orientalistische Studien, Neue Serie, hg. von Otto Spies, Bd. 6). GEgenstand dieser Arbeit ist der Nachweis der Verbindung des nordafrikanischen Schattentheaters mit dem turkischen, die viel enger ist, als man bisher annahm. Dem. Verf. ist es gelungen, Georg Jacobs Vermutung zu widerlegen, es habe sich "bereits seit Jahr- hunderten vom turkischen abgespalten" (S. 2). Tatsdehlich hat es sich erst im 18.-19. Jahrhundert von ihm getrennt (S. 64). Dies ist das Ergebnis einer sehr sorgfdltigen Unter. 1 See Zeine N. Zeine, Arab-Turkish Relations and the Emergence of Arab Nationalism (Beirut, 1958). (Ed.)

Journal

Die Welt des IslamsBrill

Published: Jan 1, 1961

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