personal memories revolutionary states and indian ocean migrations

The Salafiyya movement led by Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī, Muḥammad
‘Abduh and Rashīd Riḍā, with its advocacy for Islamic reform and unity, made its
way into Zanzibar in the late nineteenth century and appealed to many members of
the Omani elite. According to Muḥsin al-Barwānī, Sayyid Manṣab Abū Bakr bin
Sālim (1863-1927) was in direct contact with Rashīd Riḍā and his movement in
Egypt. Another member who came under the influence of the Salafi ideology was
‘Īsa bin ‘Alī, al-Barwānī’s uncle, described by his nephew ‘as religious but with a
secular approach’. 40 He kept photos of Muḥammad ‘Abduh and al-Afghānī and
read al-Manār, which was already known to a number of Zanzibaris, including their
Sultans, and was probably found in the library of the Arab Association. 41 Moreover,
there were a number of Egyptians residing in Zanzibar since the late nineteenth
century and they were known for their sympathies to modernist Islam. One of them
was Muḥammad Luṭfī, a supporter of Salafi views that he discussed with young
Zanzibaris in the Jum`a mosque in Zanzibar. 42
The Sultans themselves were not isolated from those Salafi currents and
more important, they seem to have been known for their openness towards them.
This prompted some pioneers of the Salafiyya movement to contact the Sultans and
ask for financial assistance to help run their journals. Rashīd Riḍā, editor of al-
Manār, was one of those who contacted Sultan Ḥamūd asking for such assistance. 43
Further evidence of the Zanzibari Sultans’ reputation as supporters and sponsors of
religious movements and scholars was a letter sent from the manager of al-‘Urwa al-
Wuthqā seeking financial aid. 44
This relationship with the Salafiyya movement seemed to have taken a new
turn when Nāṣir al-Lamkī, a prominent member of the Omani elite and a wealthy
landlord, visited Egypt some time between 1900 and 1901, and met with some of
Muḥammad ‘Abduh’s pupils, and more significantly with ‘Abd al-Raḥmān al-
Kawākibī. 45 It is also said that al-Lamkī had the chance to discuss with al-Kawākibī
some of his ideas in Ṭabā‘i’ al-istibdād, excerpts of which al-Lamkī had probably read
in al-Mu’ayyad, also circulating in Zanzibar and with which al-Lamkī used to
correspond. 46 This meeting between al-Lamkī and al-Kawākibī might have intrigued
the latter to visit Zanzibar and the East African coast in 1901 and the opportunity
and funding to do so might have been provided by the pan-Islamist Khedive
‘Abbās II of Egypt. 47
The imprint of the Salafiyya movement on Omani intellectual and political
life in Zanzibar was seen in the publication of the first Arabic newspaper, al-Najāḥ,
edited by al-Lamkī and al-Bahlānī between 1910 and 1914. It served as the
mouthpiece of a party they established called al-Iṣlāḥ. 48 Al-Najāḥ was molded, in
terms of content, in a fashion similar to al-Manār’s. The only surviving volume
indicates that it had a pan-Islamic tone and a pro-reform agenda. 49
OTTOMANISM VERSUS COLONIALISM:
THE OMANI ELITE AND PAN-ISLAMISM
The Ottoman court, during what is known as the Hamidien era (1876-
1909), cultivated the ideology of pan-Islamism for two main purposes. One was to
curb the influence of nationalist movements threatening the unity of the Ottoman
Empire and the other to intimidate European colonial powers ruling over Muslim
communities. Ottoman pan-Islamism had much resonance in the Muslim world,
http://web.mit.edu/cis/www/mitejmes/
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