personal memories revolutionary states and indian ocean migrations

Omani elite was exposed to that trend since its inception and the Sultans of
Zanzibar were financially assisting several of its vanguards.
One of those Arabists with whom Omanis frequently corresponded was
Jurjī Zaydān (1861-1914), an icon of this Arab nahḍa, “who did more than any other
to create a consciousness of the Arab past”. 61 He was the editor of the Egyptianbased
journal al-Hilāl --a journal that enjoyed wide circulation among the Zanzibari
elite-- and author of many short stories and books, including Tārīkh al-adab al-islāmī,
a popular book in Zanzibar. 62 He communicated regularly with Sultans Ḥamūd and
‘Alī, and his correspondence consisted primarily of formalities, notification to
renew subscription, replies to requests, etc… Zaydān’s interest in Zanzibar,
however, is noteworthy. It is testimony that for him, Zanzibar, despite geography,
was part of the Mashriq and politically and ideologically integrated into the larger
Arab world. Its Sultans were Arab and thus they symbolized the Arab ‘heroism’ that
Zaydān was seeking. Perhaps, it is that same ‘heroism’ that prompted Nāṣir al-
Lamkī to send al-Hilāl a biography of the Omani adventurer Ḥamīd al-Marjibī,
otherwise known as Tippu Tip. 63 The piece focused on al-Marjibī’s adventures in
Central Africa and his role in expanding Omani rule in this largely unknown
territory. The introduction to the article in al-Hilāl, presumably written by Zaydān
himself, was even more interesting than the article. The editor presented al-Marjibī
as an Arab hero from among “the geniuses of the Sharq [East]…who performed
miracles in politics, in prudence and in leadership”, 64 and whose efforts to discover
the interior of Africa must be revealed to all. 65
The editor ended his introduction by thanking al-Lamkī for “his earnest
concern to make known the achievements of the Sharqiyyīn [Easterners].” 66 During
a period of Arab self-glorification and resurrection of a celebrated past, it is very
significant that Zaydān chose Zanzibar to represent that history, and to remind the
Arab world of that golden moment when history witnessed the expansion of Arab
rule in Africa. Al-Marjibī’s achievements in East Africa, in Zaydān’s eyes, were Arab
‘heroic’ achievements worth placing al-Marjibī among the greatest ‘celebrities’
Zaydān listed in his Mashāhīr al-sharq, 67 and among those who helped build the Arab
legacy.
Zaydān was not the only writer of the avant-garde of the Arab nahḍa to
seek and receive the support of the Sultans. Ibrāhīm Nāṣīf al-Yāzijī (1847-1906), a
Christian Arab who believed that “[t]he Easterners, or at least the Arabs, instead of
being inferior to the Europeans, were the most remarkable of people, a people who
had civilized the West,” 68 was in touch with them as well. His famous work Nuj‘at
al-rā’id (The Hope of the Seeker) 69 was published with the full support of Sultan
‘Alī. 70
Those Arabs, though not Muslims, converged with Salafis on the need to
highlight the splendor of the early history of Islam and to assert that Arabs were
capable again of reincarnating that history. Much of their discourse, like that of
Salafis, was geared toward underscoring the presence of a full-fledged Arab
civilization long before the European one. The involvement of the Omani elite in
Zanzibar in this cultural renaissance of Arabs reflects their interest in the
resurrection of the Arab heritage for the sake of promoting the legacy of Islam. It
also reflects their awareness of their role as ‘Arabs’ in encouraging all efforts that
aim at cherishing Arab history and the Arabic language.
http://web.mit.edu/cis/www/mitejmes/
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