Islamic Traditionalist conservatives against Salafi reformers: the “Mujtahids incident” in Ottoman Damascus in 1896

Abstract

The article examines the features of the religious and intellectual activities of a group of reform-minded Muslim scholars (ulama) led by Jamal al-Din al-Qasimi (1866–1914) in Ottoman Syria at the end of the 19th century, as well as the reaction to their activities by conservative supporters of Islamic traditionalism (taqlid) and the Ottoman authorities. The key historical event in the focus of the study is the so-called The “Mujtahids Incident” of 1896, when al-Qasimi and a number of his supporters were summoned to a judicial instance in Damascus for a public trial of their religious views and academic studies, where they were forced to respond to accusations, made against them by the Hanafi Mufti, of disloyalty to the authorities and independent arbitrary interpretations of the Koran and Sunnah. The study and discussion of sacred texts in the circle of Jamal al-Din al-Qasimi became an occasion for attacks from conservative-minded ulama, who were afraid of competition from Islamic intellectuals who did not consider themselves obliged to unconditionally accept all the conclusions of one or another of the four madhhabs (religious and legal schools). And although the participants in the “Mujtahids Incident” managed to justify themselves to the authorities in 1896, in the future until the Young Turk revolution of 1908–1909 they could not openly declare that they were practicing ijtihad, i.e. independent formulation and clarification of Islamic religious and legal conclusions based on direct reference to the Koran and the Sunnah. Both the formal and informal influence of conservative ulama in Ottoman Syria during the reign of Sultan Abdul Hamid II (1876–1909) remained virtually undeniable.

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