Napoleon's Egypt: Invading The Middle East - Reenactor.ru

THE CONSTANT TRIUMPH OF REASON157Defense of the Muslim community against attack was considered in classicalIslamic law a “group obligation.” That is, not every single member of the communityhad an individual duty to fight. When and how to fight was a decisionthat could not be made by vigilantes, but had to be made by the duly constitutedauthorities, in this case the sultan. The laws governing holy war, or jihad, requireda public declaration of war, a warning to the enemy forces that theywould be attacked, the provision of an opportunity for conversion to Islam bythe enemy (thus obviating the need for a war), and Muslim adherence to a codeof conduct that forbade the killing of noncombatants or women and children.Selim III, by declaring defensive war, said it had now become an individual dutyto fight the French, and he thereby authorized guerrilla action by Egyptian subjects.Nothing could have been more dangerous to the French. He combined Islamicand international law by both invoking the duty of defensive jihad andsimultaneously citing international norms of state behavior. How little the sultanviewed the conflict as a clash of civilizations is demonstrated by his immediatealliance with Russia and Britain, Christian powers, against the secularrepublic he had once befriended.The Ottoman and Russian navies joined up to end the French presence inthe Ionian Islands and in the Adriatic, while the British, along with an Ottomansquadron, patrolled the coasts of the Levant and Egypt. Talleyrand’s attempts tointrigue with Balkan notables to overthrow the sultan were easily thwartedwhen Selim bestowed on them more land and privileges. They took Talleyrand’sconspiratorial envoys into custody and declared for Istanbul. Thus began formingthe second grand coalition against the French Republic, leaguing Paul I ofRussia, the British government of William Pitt the Younger, and Selim III. Atlength Franz I of Austria would be drawn into this one as well. After a great dealof haggling, negotiations, and calming of jealousies, the Porte gave the provinceof Egypt to the governor of Sidon, Ahmed Cezzar Pasha, and promised himfunds and armies with which to challenge the French there. 26The declaration of holy war against the French by the Ottoman sultangradually became known in Egypt. Niello Sargy recalled that the preachers inthe mosques outwardly seemed to be preaching religion, but behind the scenesthey were spreading around the decree of Selim III. Al-Jabarti recorded that on14 September, a letter had arrived from Ibrahim Bey in Syria, promising that hewould return at the head of an Ottoman army. Bonaparte was informed and perusedthe letter with indignation, calling the beys “liars.” A second missive thenarrived, about which the clerics were more circumspect. Bonaparte heard rumorsof it and rode out to confront Sheikh al-Sadat at his home in the al-Azhar