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260 EUROPEAN IDENTITY. INDIVIDUAL, GROUP AND SOCIETYThus, to limit the despotism of the rulers, al-Afgani espoused the needto endow the people with a constitution that limited the powers of thesovereign.On proposing a new form of Islamic identity that was not strictly areligious one, one of al-Afgani’s innovative ideas was presenting Islamas a civilization more than a religion, therefore encouraging the peoplenot to limit themselves to passively serving Islam, but rather to activelycollaborating in building a flourishing civilization in all aspects.Some of the ideas set forth by al-Afgani were expanded by hisdisciple Muhammad ‘Abdu (1849-1905): that European superioritycompared to the decline of the Islamic Empire was due to theimmorality of the Muslim leaders and their moving away from trueIslam, the knowledge of which required the application of humanreason to definitively open the doors to the iytihad. In his desire to savethe cultural tradition of the Islamic civilization, recurring to theadaptation of Islam to contemporary times, one of the most innovativenotions ‘Abdu raised was that the gap between Europe and theMuslim world was derived from the former’s mastery of the sciences.Therefore, the question resided in endowing oneself with knowledgeand learning. From that moment on, the call for education and trainingto develop the potential of Islam and the perfect reconciliationbetween the religious and the modern and technological scienceswould be two of the recurring elements in all subsequent reformistproposals 12 . This would materialize into the establishment of mixededucational centres dedicated to religious and scientific teachings.Many of these innovations 13 were incorporated into the sociopoliticalideology of posterior Islamic reformist movements, such as that of theMuslim Brotherhood, especially explaining their political and economicsuccess or failure in terms of the Islamic rulers’ moral conduct andblaming them for moving away from “true Islam”. To this connection, therulers’ adhesion to this so-called “true Islam” would become the formulato legitimate political order, the effect of which has reached our days.For the Arab-Islamic world, the al-Nahda movement meant thedefinitive crisis of traditionalist Islam, for the development of newinstitutions and the phase of introspection and adoption of Europeanmodels facilitated the emergence of intellectuals who began tosupplant the “ulemas” in their traditional function as political advisors.12Mantran, R., et al. (1977) L’Egypte d’aujourd’ hui. Permanences et changements,1808-1976. Paris, CNRS.13Kerr, M.H. (1966) Islamic Reform: the Political and Legal Theories of MuhammadAbduh and Rashid Rida. Cambridge, University Press, p. 220 and following pages.
IMAGES OF EUROPE: THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE ISLAMIC PEOPLE. FROM ... 261These ideas, which received a large audience and many criticsamong traditionalist “ulemas”, gave a sacrilegious nature to certainaspects of Islamic political thought and opened the way for a secularisedMuslim reformist school of thought which defended the legitimacy ofthe separation between Church and State, as advocated by many of itsfollowers liked Ali ‘Abd el Raziq 14 .The Salafi reformists and the Muslim Brotherhood were consciousof the challenge that the modern world presented and wanted Islam toaccept the new civilization only to the extent that it would contributeto the recovery of their power.Europe represented a model for its educational, scientific andtechnical methods as well as for its political institutions.The common element between Muslim liberals and reformists wastheir reaction against foreign invasion. Notwithstanding, two importantquestions separated them. The first one was their differing conceptionsof the national project, which for the liberals was framed in the idea ofthe European Nation-State while for the Islamic reformists, defendersof the “umma”, it constituted a panislamic project. The second one,and of utmost importance, was that for the liberals the questionsconcerning the nation were essentially of a political nature, whereasfor the reformists a reaction against “cultural invasion” formed part ofthe political question. Consequently, unlike the Europeists whodefended Western civilization, the Muslim reformists only took fromthe West those elements which would benefit the rebirth of Islam,rejecting those cultural elements they considered to be negative.The difference between these two groups would intensify withtime when the confrontation would be defined in terms of the Araband Islamic nationalist projects.The hostile EuropeAccompanying the penetration of European commerce and theincreased benefits achieved through treaties and concessions, was anenormous Communalist offensive which allowed the various colonialpowers to debilitate the Oriental societies by fuelling the interdenominationalconfrontations to its advantage. Good examples of thisare the British policies in India, the European policies in Lebanon or thecase of Jerusalem.14Martín Muñoz, G. (1999) The Arab State. Barcelona, Bellaterra, pp. 54-55.
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Inés María Gómez-Chacón (ed.)Eu
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European Identity.Individual, Group
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ContentsIntroduction . . . . . . .
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CONTENTS 914. The Construction of E
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12 EUROPEAN IDENTITY. INDIVIDUAL, G
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Opening AddressCamino Cañón Loyes
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OPENING ADDRESS 29throughout histor
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OPENING ADDRESS 31—To gather expe
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OPENING ADDRESS 33European nature a
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1.What do we Mean When we Say Europ
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WHAT WE MEAN WHEN WE SAY EUROPE 39W
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WHAT WE MEAN WHEN WE SAY EUROPE 41O
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WHAT WE MEAN WHEN WE SAY EUROPE 43u
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WHAT WE MEAN WHEN WE SAY EUROPE 45e
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WHAT WE MEAN WHEN WE SAY EUROPE 47A
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3.Europe, from the Institutional Re
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EUROPE, FROM THE INSTITUTIONAL REFE
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4.The European Dimension of Educati
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THE EUROPEAN DIMENSION OF EDUCATION
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100 EUROPEAN IDENTITY. INDIVIDUAL,
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6.European Programmes from SpainEnc
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EUROPEAN PROGRAMMES FROM SPAIN 113(
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EUROPEAN PROGRAMMES FROM SPAIN 115S
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EUROPEAN PROGRAMMES FROM SPAIN 117s
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EUROPEAN PROGRAMMES FROM SPAIN 119A
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7.Is the European Model Being Rejec
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IS THE EUROPEAN MODEL BEING REJECTE
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IS THE EUROPEAN MODEL BEING REJECTE
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8.Boderline Europeans:Nationalisms
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BODERLINE EUROPEANS: NATIONALISMS A
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9.Difference as Destabilizing Facto
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DIFFERENCE AS DESTABILISING FACTOR
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11.What Makes us European? Identity
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WHAT MAKES US EUROPEAN? IDENTITY CO
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12.The Meaning of European Identity
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THE MEANING OF EUROPEAN IDENTITY: P
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22.The Construction of European Ide
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THE CONSTRUCTION OF EUROPEAN IDENTI
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