Contents

N ote o n Trans crip t ion Pre face to the Seco n d Edit ion

Pr eface

PA RT ONE: In t ro d u ct io n

1. The 'Egypt ia n' M issi o n to Europe 17

Bac kg round 17

The Stu den ts 29

2. Li fe o f a l-T a h t awl 31

Auspicious Beg in nings 31 The First Exil e 33 H asan al-' Attar': An Earl y Reformi st ' Alim 36 Re tu rn of th e Prod igal Son 40

T each er, T ra ine r, Trans lato r, Ed it o r (1835-49) 47 The Seco n d Ex ile (1850- 54) 53 ' All Mubar ak : 'T h e Fat he r of Ed uca t io n ' (Ab u ' l-T a' Ii rn) 56 a l-Tahrawi the Re former (1854- 73) 68

3. a l-Ta h t aw l in Eu rop e 7 2

4 . The Book 87 Ge'nesis an d Themes 87 Fo rmat an d Sty le 94

PART TWO: Takh lls al-Ib rlz f1 Talkhls Bar tz

Pr eface 101

In t rod uct io n 107 First Chapter, Rega rding wha t seemed to m e to be th e reaso n behind

Our de pa rtu re for thi s Lan d of In fid el ity an d Obstinacy, wh ic h

lie s far away from us an d wh ere the re are grea t expen ses be cause of the hi gh cost of livi ng 107

\ 6 AN IMAM I N PARI S rig ; l-~

. i ;] Second Chapte r, Rega rding th e required scien ces an d d esirabl e sk i lls

an d cra fts 117

Third Chap ter. On the p osi tio n o f the Lan d s of the Fran ks in

comparison wi th other co u n t ri es, o n the advantage the Fren c h

na t io n ha s ov er all other Fr an ks, an d the reas o n wh y H is

Exce llency d eci ded to sen d us th ere and not to any of t he o t h er Fran k kingdo m s 119

Fourt h' Chap ter. On the leade rs o f th is mission 132

Core of th e Book 135

First Essay 136 First Section. From the d epa rt u re fr o m Ca iro t o the arri val at

th e po rt o f Alexan dria 136 Second Section . Trea t ise on thi s city, wh ich is a n ab ridgemen t of

seve ra l Arabi c and Fre n ch books, from wh ich we h ave ret ai n ed

th at wh ich appear ed to be accu ra te 136 Third Section . On the vo yage o n the sea o n wh ich the p ort of

Alex and ria lies 141

Fourth Section . O n th e mo un tai ns, co untries and island s we sa w 144

Seco n d Essay 150

First Section. On our s tay in th e city of Marseill es 150

Second Section. From our d ep arture from Marseilles to the a rr i val

in Pari s an d o n th e itinera ry between th e two ci ties 162

Third Essay 163 First Section. O n th e to p ography of Par is; it s geog rap hi cal locati on ,

so il , cl imate an d su rrou n d ing area 163 Second Section . O n th e peop le of Pari s 176 Third Section. On the organizat io n o f the Fr ench state 192

Fourth Section . O n the hous ing o f th e people o f Paris an d rela ted ma tters 2 16

Fifth Section . O n th e fo od of th e people o f Paris and th eir ea t i n g an d drin king habits 2 2 2

Sixth Section. On th e cl oth ing of the Fren ch 2 25

Seventh Section . O n th e en ter tain men ts o f Pa ris 228

Eighth Section. O n hygien e in the ci ty o f Paris 236

Nin th Section . O n th e in terest in m edi cal sci ences in Pari s 237 Tenth Section . O n charity in th e city of Pa ris 24° Elev enth Section. On earn ings in th e city of Pa r is an d th e

entrep rene u r ial sk ill s the re 245 Twelfth Section . O n th e reli gion o f th e people of Pa ris 25 1

Thirteenth Section. On p rogress by the pe ople o f Par is in the sc i en ces, arts an d craft s, th e wa y th ese are orga n ized , as well as an exp lana tio n of relat ed m atter s 254

CONTENTS 7

Fourth Essay 276 In tro d uction 276 First Section. On the organization of in structi o n in reading and

writi ng , etc., wh ich we received at t he beginn in g 277 SecondSection. On the supervision of our comings and goings 279 Third Section. O n how o u r ruler exhorted us to work and show

diligen ce 282 Fourth Section. O n so me of the lett ers between myself and som~ of

th e lead ing French schola rs, other tha n Monsieur Jo m ard 284 Fifth Section. On the books I read in the ci ty of Paris; th e nature of

the exa ms; what M onsi eur Jomard wrote to m e; repor ts of the fina l exam in schola rly jou rnals 291

Sixth Section: O n the exams I took in the city of Paris, especially th e

final exam before my return to Egypt 30 0

Fifth Essay 305

First Section. Bein g an introdu cti on in o rder to underst an d the reason why the French no longer obeyed th eir king 306

SecondSection. On the cha nges tha t were in trod uced and o n th e revol uti o n that ensued from them 310

Third Section. O n the act io ns of th e king in th is period and wha t happened afte r he agreed to a co nc ilia tio n whe n it was too late, and h is abdica tion in favo u r o f hi s so n 317

Fourth Section. On the decision made by the Chamber of Depu ties an d h ow as a result of th is revolution th e D uke of O rlea ns was

ap poin ted ki ng of the French FO Fifth Section. On what happened to the Min isters who signed the

royal ordi~ an ce s that caused th e en d of th e reign of the fi rst king, an d who co m m it ted th is act wit hout thi n ki ng of th e consequences an d desired that which can no t be at ta ine d . As t he poet says: 'P eop le, though their natu res may differ, covet from the world

that whi ch they have not ob taine d ' 325

Sixth Section. O n how afte r th e revo lu tion C ha rles X was sco rned

by the French and h ow it did not sto p th ere 329 Seventh Section. On the reac tion by Fran k states u pon hearin g of

the ousting of the firs t king and the assign m en t of th e ki ngdom

to the seco nd and o n th ei r acceptance of th is 332

Sixth Essay 334 First Section. On the divisio n of the science s and ar ts 'acco rd ing

to the Franks . 334 SecondSection. On the classification of the langu ages as suc h, an d

the use of th e Frenc h lan gu age 335 Third Section. O n the art of writi ng 339 Fourth Section. O n the scie nce of rhe to ric, wh ich incl udes eloq ue nce,

the h id den meanings of wo rds and stylis tic em bellish m en ts 342

t !

8 AN IMAM I N PARI S

Fifth Section. O n logic Sixth Section. On the te n categories tha t are attributed to Ar istotle

Seventh Section. O n th e scie nce of arithmet ic, wh ich is called

ari thmetique in the langu age of the Fra nks

344 348

351

Ep ilogueOn Our Re tu rn from Paris to Egypt and a N umbe r of O the r Matters 358

Bibl iograph y

Ind ex

379 4°7

C O RE O F THE BO O K 163

Third Essay

First Section. On the topography of Paris; its geographical location, soil, climate and surrounding area

Th 'is city is called Pari by th e French (al-Fransfs), wh o pr ono unce it with

th e Persian b [P] - which is somewhere between th e [Arabic]fand b - but

it is written 'P ari s' (Barfs); the s is never pronounced, as is the cus to m

in French, in whi ch so me letters are written but not pro noun ced. This

is particularly the case for the letter s when it occurs at the en d o f so me

word s. For instance, Athens (Atfna) - the city of th e Greek philosophers

- is written A tbenes (Atfn is) in French, but pronounced Attn. The Arabs,

Turks and others write Baris, Barfs or Bartz, and so m etime s it is even

pronounced Faris. I believe th at th e m ost appropri ate way to write it is

wi th s, even th ough th e reading of the wo rd with Z is widespread among

non-Fr en ch- spe akers. This probably results fr om the fact th at in so me

context s the s is sometimes read as Z in French. Bu t whi le it is dropped in

this case, thi s is not so for the nisba-ad ject ive' deri ved from Par is, whi ch is

Parisien (Bariziyani) amo ng the Fren ch . The reas on for the deviation is that

th e nisba retraces things to thei r o rigins . H owever , this rul e applies [only]

to Arabic nisba ad ject ives, whereas here we ha ve a forei gn adjectival form .

In some o f the poems I wrote o n th is city I retained th e spe ll in g with s. I said , for instan ce:

IfJ were to have a final divo rce fro m Paris'

it would only be to return to Cairo

Ea ch of them is a bride to me ­

however, Cairo is not the daughter of unbelief!

I also sa id:

All the suns ofbeau ty have been enum erated

and it is said that they rise in Egypt

J. Th e Ar abi c nisba ('relati on') - also referr ed to as al-ism al-mansub (' the noun of belonging ') - is formed by af fixing the endi ng '-I' (fem. '-iJrya'; pl. '.iyyiin/iyyin' ) to the word stem, and de notes that a perso n or thi ng is co n nected to or derived from something/someone; e.g. sham s ('sun' )-shamsi ('solar'); Mi, r (' Egypt ' ), M isri ('Egyp tian ') .

2 . talaqtu Bdrisan tbald than, whi ch literally means ' to.d ivo rce Paris thr ice' , is used here by the au tho r in it s 'sense und er Is lami c law, wh ere a d ivo rce is fina l if the husban d utters the word s, ' I d ivorce ... ' th ree time s; !alaq bi 'l-tbala tba (' d ivo rce by three') den ot es a

'~' de fini tive divo rce.

~, ' L~

. ~'.:

.,.r

176 TA KHLI $ A L-I BRI Z FI T AL KH i s BAR I Z '\? ~',.

sim ilar to city walls, and inner-cit y boulevard s. Th e circu m ferenc e of the

exterio r boulevards is m or e than five an d a half leagues. There are tw enty­

two boulevards in Par is.

There are also vas t open spaces, which are called pla ces (mawa¢i'), i.e.

squares, whic h are simi lar to al-Ru mayla squa re in Ca iro,' though only in

terms of it s size, not dirt iness! In to tal, there are abo u t seven ty-five sq ua res.

This city also h as other exterior gate s, like the Bab al-N asr in C ai ro : of

which th ere are a tot al o f fift y-eigh t. Pari s has fou r cana ls, three huge wheels

- sim ila r to norias - to transp ort water, eigh ty-six cisterns and fourteen

water taps [hyd ran ts] in the streets.

O ne in di cat ion of the pr osper ity of th is city is the consta nt inc rease

in it s p opulation, co mbine d wi th the continuing exp an sion of the su rface

and th e ongoing perfection and improvement of its buildings.' C u rren tly,

the number of it s inhabitants, by wh ich I mean th ose tha t actuall y resid e

th ere, is about on e an d a half millio n. It s circum ference eq uals seve n

Fren ch leagu es,

The m ounts of th is city, lik e th ose in other French cities, are carr ia ges,

H owever, th ere is a greater number an d variety of the m her e. Ni gh t and

day, o ne hear s the in cessant t rundling of the ca rr iages. M or e details on thi s

will be provided elsewh ere.

Seco nd Section. On thepeople of Paris

You sho uld kn ow tha t the Par isi an s d isti ng uish themselves fr om many

Christi an s by the ir keen intelli gence, profou nd percep tiven ess an d d epth

of m ind wh en tr eating recondite issu es.' T hey are not lik e the Coptic

J. This is the nam e of a vast square at the foo t o f th e Cairo Citadel. It was used as a marke t place, as well as a m ilita ry parad e an d tra inin g gr ou nd . Th ou gh long go ne tod ay, i t lives o n in th e nam e of th e city distr ict o f aI-RumTla. See A. Raym ond 199} passim ,

2 . ' This G ate, who se na me li terally means 'Gate o f Victo ry' , is part of o ne of t he few rema inin g walls delin eat ing Fati rnid Cai ro . T he o rigi nal Bab al-Nas r was built by j awb ar al-Siqill i (d . 992), the Fatirni d general, and fou nder of the mo dern cit y o f Cairo , Ja wh ar also bui lt the original Bab al-Futu h ('Ga te of Conquest '). Although tod ay there are sti ll two gates by thi s name, th ese are, in fact , ' reco ns tructio ns', bu ilt by th e F at i rn id co mmande r and vizier Badr al-Jama li (d . 1094), who also buil t the seco nd wall a ro un d th e city and the thi rd su rviving gat e, Bab a l-Zuwayla. I t mus t be ad ded that th e t-w o gates were not bu ilt o n th e sites ofJaw har's ori gin als . See A. Raym on d ' 993: passim; E ls, s.vv. "Ca iro" (c. Becker ), " Badr al-.Q.iamali " (c. Becke r).

3. In th e second editio n, th e author add ed so me deta ils o n the co ns tr uct ion of ho u ses an d roads, as well as two verses of poet ry.

4. On e may again po in t to a rather close resemb lance between th e wo rds of al-Tah t awi an d tho se of th e Algerian travell er Ibn Siya m (1852: 11-12): "al-Bdriziyy in yakhla<p,rza mi n bayn katbtr m in al-nasdrd bi-dhika' al-laq! wa diqqat alf abm wa ghaw, dhuhnihim fi

·'.~ C' COR E OF T H E BOOK 177

Christians, wh o disp lay a natu ral ten dency towa rd s igno rance an d

",' stupid ity . At the same time, they are in no way prisoners of tradition .

Rat her, they alway s wish to kn ow the o rigin of th ings, whi le seeking p roof

to support it , to the exten t tha t the co mmon people amo ng them can also

read and wr ite and , like others, pene trate deep ma tte rs - each acco rd ing

to h is circu mstance. So, the mass es in th is co un try are not like some

herd of ani mals as in mos t barbar ou s co u ntries. All the sciences, art s and

crafts - even the lowly ones - are recorded in boo ks, so it is imperative

fo r each craftsman to kn ow h ow t o read and write in o rder to pe rfect h is

professiona l skills. Every craftsman wan ts to crea te something fo r h is craft

th at nobody befo re him has th ou gh t of, o r perfec t th at whic h o the rs h ave

invented . Apart from a desi re to increase their gain, it is van ity tha t pushes

them in this, the glo ry ens ui ng fro m a reputation and the desi re to leave a

lasting mem or y.' They ind eed behav e as th e poet said :

Upon my life, 1 have seen man after his demise

become the account ofwhat he had achieved and made

As no-one escapes remembrance after he has passed on

Being rememberedfor good deeds is the most sublime and exalted thi ng

An d accord ing to th e wo rds of Ibn Durayd :

M an is but a tale after his death

So, be a good tale/ or whoever should remember

Someone onc e to ld Alexander: 'ljyou took many women, you would have

many children an d through them the memory ofyou would begood.' He retor ted : .

'Lasting remembran ce lies in good conduct, and it does not redound to the credit of

one who has vanquished men to be vanquished by women .'

The character tr aits of the French in clu de cur ios ity, the passion for

all thi ngs new, as well as the love of cha nge and alterna tio n in all th ings,

especially whe n it co mes to clo th ing. Indeed, th is is never sta b le among

'al· 'aw i,at ' (al-Tahrawt): 'fa-ammd ahl baris fa -bum y akh ta,suna min bay" al-nds bi-dbikd ' al-'aql wa diqqat alfah m wa ghiya, al-duhn (sic)fi 'umtir 'd mm a' (Ibn Siyarn ),

I. Cf. Ibn Siya rn, 18p : 12.

2. Th e Basr a-b orn AbO Bakr Muhammad b. a l-Hasan a l-Azdi (d . 933) was kn own as a poet,

g ram ma r ian an d lexi cograp her. T h e ve rse that is quoted her e is taken from h is fa mous

M aq,u,a (whi ch he wr ote in honour of th e Mlkalid when he was ch ief o f a diwan at th eir

co urt ). See Eli , s.v. "Ibn Du raid " O. Ped erse n), Ef2 s.v. " Ibn Durayd" O· Flick ); GAL, I, 112 ; GALS, I, 172. This is ano ther example where Ib n Siyarn was in spired by hi s Egyp ti an pr ede cessor sinc e th e sam e verse is q uo ted in h is wo rk: Ibn Siyarn, 18p : 12.

.: ; :

. ~ : ' .. -.

.,~~ ......:,. 178 TAKHLi $ AL·IB R i Z Fi T AL KHi $ BA Ri z · :·~i

th em . To this day, n ot a sing le fashi on has st uck with th em . This does

not mean they complet ely cha nge their outfit, rather that th ey vary thei r

ward ro be. For in stance, they never give up wearing a hat (burnay!a) in favou r of a turban ; instead , they will so metim es wear one type of hat and

th en, afte r a while, another, with a d ifferen t sha pe, co lo u r, etc.

O ther feat u res of their cha racter are dext erity and agility. Indeed , o ne

can see a resp ectab le personage runnin g down the st reet like a small c h ild .

O ne also find s fickl en ess and frivol ity in their nature; people there go from

happ in ess to sad ness an d vice versa, f rom seriousness to jest ing an d vice

versa,' so that in the spa ce of one day th ey can do several cont rad i ctory

th ings. Wh ile th is is tr ue for u n im por tan t matters, it is not the case fo r

im portan t issues ; their political opi nions do not change. Each, p er so n

remain s fait h ful to hi s ideology' and opinio ns and su ppo rts th em fo r the

en tire durati on of hi s life.

Despi te th eir great attachment to th eir nation ,' they love to travel,

Som etime s th ey spend several years travellin g aro und th e world from e ast to

west, an d will act ua lly th ink nothing of exposi ng themselves to da nge r if it is

for the benefit of th eir nation. It is as if th ey confi rm the wo rds of al-Fl aja ri :"

All the residencesand countries are dear to me

though non e like my native land and coun try

An other po et said:

M oveyour heart as much asyou can from one passion to ano ther

Love only attaches itselfto one'sfirst love

No matter how ma ny places on earth ayoung man calls home

he altaaysyearns for bisfirst abode

I. Thi s is a li teral transl a tio n of a pa ssage (by th e Fren c h a ut hor Ra ynal) in the Ii t era tu re

ma nua l by J. ·F . Noe l a nd P. de la Place, wh ich al-Ta h taw ] s tud ied wh i le in France: ' Il [the

Fren chman] s'affea« ave c vivacite et prompti tude (. . .) il passeraptdem ent du plaisir a la pein e, et de la pein e au p laisir.' O. N oel an d P. de 1a Pl ace, 1823: 1,5 30),

2 . madhhab (madh ahib), literally mean s ' p lace where one walks (i .e. path)' , and by e xtension

'behaviour '; in Is lam ic law, it deno tes a rel igiou s school (o f th ou ght), pa rt icu la rly th ose asso cia ted wi t h th e teach ings o f th e fo ur 'o rt ho d o x' I m am s - M alik b. Anas (see note

no . 4, p . 124), a l-Shafi' ! (see n ote no . 1, p . 101), Abu Ha n ifa (see n ote no. 5, PP' 124-5), and Ibn H anb al (see n ote n o . 1, p. 125). See Eli , s.v. " fi kh" O. Schacht); J. Sc hac h t , 196 6.

3. It is interest ing to n ote th at th e o rigi na l h as th e pl u ral a tat d n, i.e. 'n at io ns' , wh ic h co u ld

equally point to th e tr adi tion a lly stro ng (even to thi s d ay) feelin gs o f regional a ffi liation or pr id e on the pan o f th e Fren ch .

4· H usarn al-Dtn ' is a b. Sa n jar al-H ajar l (1186- t235) was a fam ou s poet from Irbi! (I r ag) . See

'U. Kahh ala [n .d .]: VI II , 25; Y. Sa rkis , 1928: 731-2.

CORE O F THE B O O K 179

Other qualities of the French are their fri endship towards strangers and

a ten denc yto seek to be on int im ate terms wit h them, particularly if th e

stranger is wearing pre cio us clothes. In thi s, the y are dr iven by thei r desire

and lo nging to learn things about o ther cou ntries and th e 'custo ms of the

people th ere, so tha t they can find out the ir in tentions bo th at ho me and

when travelling abr oad . In deed, people a re acc usto med to expecting th ings

from the world that are unattainab le - as th e po et says:

People with their different na tures

cravefrom the wo ~/d that which they cannot attain

Th e French show ch arity on ly in words and deeds, not when it in volves

the ir m oney an d possessions.' While th ey do no t refuse to len d someth ing

to th eir fr ien ds when asked, the y never give thi ngs away, except if they

are cert ain of obtaining so me form o f recompense. In tru th, th ey are

avar icio us rather th an generou s. We have exp lai ned th e reason for this

in our tr anslation Mukbtasar al-siyar wa '1-'aiad 'id ('Abridgeme n t of the

Conducts and Cus to ms'}," in the sectio n o n hospitali ty. In fact , the real

reason is tha t generos ity is peculi ar to the Ara bs.'

O ther quali ties of theirs inclu de the pu nctuality with which they mo stly

hon our th eir co mmi tmen ts and th e fact th at they never neglect th eir work .

Rich or poor, non e of th em tires from worki n g. It is as if they bear out th e

saying tha t 'night an d day work for you, so you have to work during them

[too]'.

Fir ml y em bedd ed in th eir natu re is the love of recogn ition and standing,

but not pr ide and spite. Their hea r ts, as they say in praise of the mselves, are

pure r th an th ose of sacri ficial larnbs.s even th ou gh in rage th ey can be m ore

ferocio us than tigers. If one of them becomes angry , he so metim es prefers

death to life. It is rare to hav e a short peri od of time duri ng whi ch no- one

has killed him self, especially for reasons of poverty or lovesickn ess.

One oftheir domin ant ch aracter tr aits is that they keep th eir pro mises;

they do n ot go in for tr each ery and seldom ch eat. A wise man onc e said:

I. Simi la r comments we re made by Fari s al-Shidyaq wi th regard to the Engli sh; pra ising

th eir charitab le na tu re (wh ich he eq u ated wi t h the Ar abic kaTam) , he co ndemned th e

hypocrisy (taka ltuf) th at he fel t was often th e underlying mot ive; 1881: 300; 1919: e.g. 337.

2 . Th is is a re fere nc e to the tran sla tio n o f De p ping's bo ok.

3. Cf. a l-Sa nusi, 1891-9 2: 4 . This seem s to be a reference to the lit tl e-us ed Fren ch say ing, ' avo ir le cceur au ssi in nocen t

qu e l' ag neau du sacri fic e' , th e more usual exp ress io n be ing, 'e rre auss i innocent que

l' agneau q u i vien t d e naitre'.

' ''¥ ·-t

180 TAKH L!$ A L-IBR IZ F I TALKH I $ BA RIZ

'Promises are like the nets of the noble of heart with which they fish the virtues

offre e-born men.' Another one stated: 'Lngratitude springs from an ign oble

nature and bad religious p ractice.' Someon e else pu t it like this: 'Gra titude

is a safeguard for k indness; being gratefu l ensures a sound outcome.' It is also

said tha t 'a promise by a noble man is more binding on him than a debt is on a

debtor.' Someone else said: 'Treachery and dis loyalty harm trust.' As a resul t,

sin cerity is one of their most important features, and they set grea t store

by chiva lry.' Someon e once said in praise of this: 'Chivalry is a collective

term denotingall good quali ties.' For them, and for ot her natio ns, ingratitu de

is one of the ignomi nious hu ma n features, and they feel tha t grati t ude is

a duty. I believe that this view is co mmon to all natio ns, and wh e n thi s

quality is lackin g in certain peo ple, it is perceived as someth ing unn atural.

In fact, gratitude is comparab le to the kind ness of a fath er and the piety

of a so n; altho ugh eit her qu ality may be absen t fro m certai n in di vi du als,

both are consid ered to be inna te ch aracteristi cs by all na tions and re l igious

co mm unitie s.'

Another characteristic peculi ar to the Frenc h is th e money they

spe nd on persona l p leasu res, [the gratificatio n of] di abolic ur ges, and on

ent ertainment an d games; her e, they exceed all bounds.

Th e men are slaves to th e wo men here, and un der the ir co m ma nd ,

I. mu rii 'a (also m urtcunaa}, wh ic h is de ri ved fro m th e wo rd for 'ma n', ' h u m an be i ng', m ar'

(also m u r'; pl. mar'dn , m a rtu d n], de n o ted (m o ral) qua li t ies asso ciated wit h vi ri l it y an d

man ly vi rt ues (loyal ty, ge ne ro si ty, courage), wh ich ma ke u p ' idea l m a nh o od' and m ay th us be equated wit h the t raditi o n al European co ncept o f 'Ch ivalry' . In th e course of

hi st o ry , th e concep t, w hich in p re-Isla m ic d ays seems to ha ve refe rred so lely to a m an ' s

p hys ica l q u alities, var ied somewh at, an d was at tim es extended to in clude su ch f eatu res as devoutn ess, zeal o r dip lomacy, o r n a rr o wed si mp ly to 'v i r tu e' . See " rn u r u 'a" EJ2 (E d .), Eft Sup.(Bic h r Fa res).

2 . mila l, sing. 'm ilia'; in the Qu r'a n (e.g. VlI , 86 , XIV, 16), thi s wo rd alwa ys mea ns religio n

- Christi an Jew ish (II , 114), as well as ' the T rue Fai th ' (XII , 38). La ter o n , it c ame to mean ' religious co mmunity ', esp ec ia lly that of Islam , abl al-milta d en o tin g M usl im s,

in co ntras t with ahl al-dbim ma , i.e. the dhimmis (see no te n o . 4, p. 139). In the Otto ma n

Empi re, the wo rd millet was used fo r th e reco gn ized religio us com m unities ( e.g. t he

G reek and Arm eni an C h r is tians, th e Jews) th at res ided wi th in the um ma a n d were i n ch a rge of m ost m att er s of in terna l government, as well as for th e va r iou s C h rist ian

nat ions o f Europ e. It is in th is sense t ha t mili a is most o ften used by al-Tah t awl (cf. Kha yr a l-Din, 186]: passim) , th o ugh it al so oc casiona lly m eans ' n at io n' , thu s becom ing

in terc hang ea b le wi th qawm . Ind eed , in o ne o f h is lat er wr itings, al-Taht awl e x p lains

milla as follo ws: ' in political practice, milia is like race (jins), i.e. th e collectio n 0 f peop le

who liv e in o ne an d t he sa m e co u ntry, sp eak on e langu age and share th e Same mo ra ls

an d t rad i tio ns' (1973-80: II , 437 [al-Mzmhid al-amin)). It is also in thi s sense of ' na t io n ' that mi lia is used by ' A. Mubarak (1882: e.g. 1, 316). Als o sec "mili a" , Eli (F . Bu h l ), ET2 (F.

Buh! - [c. Bos worth)); El z, s.v. "mi llet" (M. Ursin us) ; B. Lewis, 1969: 334- 5.

T CORE O F THE BOOK 181

irresp ect ive o f whe the r th ey are p ret ty o r not.' O ne of them o nce sa id tha t

am on gst th e savages women .are des t in ed to be slaugh tered , in Eastern

coun tries th ey are like furniture, whe reas th e Franks treat th em like spo ilt

ch ild ren . As the poet sa id:

Be disobedient to women, for this is rightly guided obedience

The man who hands women his halter will not prevail

Theyprevent him from developing ma ny ofhis v irtues

even ifhe were to strive towards knowledge.fora thousand years!

The Franks do not have a bad op in io n of th eir wome n, des pite th eir m an y

faults. If one amo ng th em - even a notabl e - is co nv ince d of immoral

be hav iou r by his wife, he leaves her completely, and d issoc iates hi m self

fr om her for th e rem ainder of h is life;' yet, the othe rs do not learn a lesso n

from thi s. It is in deed necessary to pr otect oneself aga inst wo me n , as th e

poet said : '

Always think the worst of women

ifyou are one ofthe cleverpeople

A man is never thrown in to ruin

except ifhis thoughts were only good

And what abo ut th e foll owing words a pure Arab directed to hi s wife:

One ofyou has betrayed a man

Afteryou and I are gone, the world will have a deceived soul

One of th e praisewo rt hy aspects of their nature, and o ne they truly have in

commo n wit h the Arabs, is the fact tha t t hey do not have any p ropensi ty

toward s th e love o f boys o r th e celebra tio n o f its pu rsu it. Th is is' a lost

sentime n t a m ong th em an d one tha t is rejected by th eir nature an d mora ls.'

Amo ng the good qua lities of the ir lan gu age and poetry is that they refuse

to exto l homosexu al love. Ind eed , in Frenc h it is h igh ly in approp ri ate for a

1. This was also com m en ted on by the Syrian Chr istian Ni qiil a aI-Turk in hi s eyewit ness accoun t o f the Fren ch occupation o f Egypt, add ing th at th e way Frenc h men beh aved toward s women was 'di fferent fr om tha t of any o the r nati on in the wo rld' (1950: 3'/45, 60179) ·

2 . In the seco n d ed i tio n, the auth or expa nds on divorce and legal pr oceedings th at ens ue from it.

3· Cf. M . al-Saffar [SoGi lso n-Mi ller ]' ' 992 : 161.

182 T A K H LI $ AL-fBR iz sr TALKHi$ BAR iZ

man to say, ' I fell in love with a boy.' This would be conside red rep ugnant

and t roub lesome. As a result, when o ne of th em translates o ne of o ur

books, he cha nges the wo rds, rendering this sen tence by 'I fell in love wi th

a girl ' , or 'a sou l', in orde r to avoid th is. They quite rightly cons ide r th is

[k ind of beh aviour] imm ora l; indeed , each of the two sexes fin ds a feat u re

th at at tracts hi m/her in th e o ther, which may be compared to th e power of

m agnets to at tract iron or th at of am ber to att ract things [after fr icti o n].

H ow ever, if the sex is the sam e,' the n this phen o menon disa ppea rs, and

th us we depa rt from the n atural state. The French cons ider ho m osexu ali ty

to be one of the most disgusting ob scen it ies. As a result, they only very

rarely m en tio n it in the ir boo ks and when the y do, it is always in vei led

te rms . One will neve r hear people talki ng abou t th is.'

Anot her o f their vices is the sm all measure o f chast ity displayed ' by

m an y of th eir women, as we ha ve stated befor e, and th e absence of jealousy

by their m en with regard to things that arouse jealou sy amo ng Muslims!

A Fren ch ' cyn ic stated: 'Do not be misled by the refusal of a woman wh om

you asked to satisfy a desire, and do not infer from this that she is chaste, but

rather that she is experienced.' H ow cou ld it be ot herwise, as amo ng th em

ad ultery is pa rt of the [human] fau lts and vices rat her th an a mortal sin,

particularl y in th e case of un m arr ied people? It is as if th ei r wo me n bear

o u t the fo llow ing wo rds by a wise man : 'D o not be misled by a woman, and

do no t trust in money, even if there is an abundance of it,' Ano ther one said

th at women are tr aps set by Sat an . In th e wo rds of th e poet:

Enjoy herfor as long as she is willing, and do not 1eJorry

about whether or not she will appear - she will!

A nd ifshe has given herself toyou -for sure

she will do so to the next one who asks

A nd ifshe swears that distance will not break her pledge­

with benna-dyedfinge rs an oath is not sworn!

In sh ort, 'th is city, like all th e great cities of Fran ce and Europe, is fill ed

wi th a great dea l of immoral ity, ' heresies,' and human erro r, despi te t he'

I. In th e seco nd edi tion, the au thor ad ded verses on th is to pic by ;hay kh ' Abbas al-Yam an i

(q .v. Y. Sar ki s, 1928: 1266). 2 . In th e seco nd edi ti on, the author add ed th at this is par ticu larly true when i t invo lves the

differeri t sexes freque n ting and em bracing each ot her. On M usli m trave llers ' views o f Eu ro pean women, see D. Newman, 2002.

3. bida' (sing, bid'a), whi ch , in fact , de notes pr actices not kn own in th e ti m e o f the Pro phe t an d th e early di sciples, and thus in here ntl y heretical. In it ially, i ts theological im po rt an ce

)1~r~' CORE OF TH E BOOK 183'.

fact th at Pari s is one of the intellectual capi tals of the entire wo rld , and a

cen tre for for eign scie nces - the 'Athens ' o f the Fren ch . Previously, I have

a lready co mpared Paris to so me exten t 'with Athens, i.e. the city of the

Greek ph ilosophers. Then I read words to this effect by a Fr ench au th or,

who said: 'Of all men, the Parisians are those wh o most resem ble the inh abitants

ofAthens; to be more p recise, they are the A thenians of our day. They have the

m ind of the Romans, an d the character of the Greeks. "

We h ave already sta ted tha t th e French are amo ng those whose de cision

abo u t whe ther something is good or bad is based so lely o n reason. I shou ld

like to add here tha t they reject any thing th at t ranscen ds the ra tional.

They believe that th ings in exorably take the ir n atur al cou rse; th at reli gions

ap pea red merely to guide man to do good things, and to eschew th e

op posite ; that th e civilizatio n of countries, the st riv ing of people an d the ir

p ro gress in bre ed ing an d refine men t will replace religions, after which in

civilized coun tries political issues will take over the rol e o f religiou s laws!

Ano ther of th eir bad customs is their clai m th at the intellect of their

philosoph ers and physicists is greater an d more perceptive than th at of

prophets. They have a grea t man y abo mina ble cus to ms. Some amo ng the m

even deny fate and divi ne dec ree, even thou gh there is a maxim stating that

'the wise ma n is he who believes in f ate and acts with resolution in all thi ngs.' At

th e same time, man sho u ld no t att ribut e all th in gs to fa te o r adva n ce it as an

excuse o r pre text befo re something has ha ppened . Accordi ng to a popul ar

saying, 'to leave many things tof ate is a sign ofweakness'. An oth er pers on o nce

said: 'Ifa dispute breaks out, then silence is preferable to words; ifwar breaks out,

then organization is better than trusting in fa te.' O the rs am ong th em beli eve

that God the Almighty created hu m ankind, imposed a wonderful ord er

upo n it, completed it an d has n o t ceased to obse rve it th rough one of

H is qu alit ies called 'Provi de nce', which relates to all possibl e th in gs, i.e.

it pr events any imbalance fro m disturb ing th e order o f C reatio n . W e shall

was bo und u p wi th dogmatic cha nges and developme n ts co ns idered to deviat e from the Prophet's sunna. In modern times, it beca me linked to European technologica l in vent ions. See U. Heyd, 1961: 7 4~7 ; B. Lewis, 1953; V. R isp ler, 1991; "bida" Eli (D.

Mac Donald), EI2 O. Robson) . 1. One may well wo nder whet her thi s simi le would be un derst ood by the au tho r's nat ive

reade rship , inasmuch as it is related to the percep tion by th e Europea n intell igen tsi a o f the tim e of class ical Ro me an d Gr eece as the acme of civiliza tion. To al-Tahrawi 's compatrio ts, however, th e Greeks were sim ply wayward sub jects of the Otto m an su ltan . It is equa lly clea r th at th e compa riso n wit h Ro me and the connotatio n o f rationality,

sc ientific riguour, etc., was, if any thing, an even mo re elus ive reference . 2. Sim ilar co m me nts were m ade by 'Abd Allah al-Sharqawi (d . 181 2), an Azharite shaykh

who at the ti m e of the Fren ch occ upat io n was head of the diwan; 1281/1 8 6 4~J: 182.

184 TA K HLI $ AL-l BRIZ Fl TALKHI $ BARlz

h ave occas io n to talk abo u t so me of the ir doct rines in another sectio n of

the present book.

The people of Paris have a white skin, infused with a red tint. It is rare

to fin d a native Parisia n wit h a brown ski n. This is because they do not

custom arily allow marriages between a wh ite man and a Neg ro woma n' ­Ji

or vice versa - in order to pro tect th emselves against th e mixing of their it co lo ur. W hat is mo re, th ey co ns ider that blacks can never h ave any beauty

at all. To them, the co lour black is one o f the features of ugli ness. As a

resul t, they do not have two direction s in love and the fo llowin g words by

th e poet with regard to a b lack you th are perceived to be indecent:

Your face is as if it were written by my finger

like a word, dictated by my hop es

Its meaning derivesfrom thefu ll moon - however

the n ight hasfirs t sprinkled its dye on it

It seems, however, that their views are bett er expressed by the words of

an other:

Truly, he who loves the brown I consider to be in error

The white beauties arefar more magnificent and splendid

A sf or me, I love allyoung white maidens

with radiant faces and widely spaced teeth

Bu t enough.' I follow the true one in love

and there is no doubt that white and fair are true

It is also considered inapp ropriate amo ng th e French to employ a black servant

girl fo r the cooking and other household chores of tha t kin d as th ey have a

deep-seated belief that black people are devo id of the necessary cleanliness.

Fren ch women are pa rago ns of beauty and cha rm . They are nice and

am iable company. The y always make themselves pretty, an d mi x wit h th e

men in p laces of en tertainmen t! Sometimes, women - regard less of whe ther

they are of the hi g~ er classes or n ot - make the acquain ta nce of a man

in suc h a place, especi ally on Sund ays, wh ich is the Chr istians' feas t and

resting d ay, and Su nday ni ght, at the balls (balat) an d dance halls, wh ich

'sh all be dealt wi th later. It is appropr iate to qu ote here wha t so meo ne has

sai d:

1. zanjiyya, li t. ' female o f the Zanj'; see no te no . 1, p. 122.

2. This was also remarked (and frowned !) upon by other trav ellers ; see D . Newman , 2002.

~~~.

COR E O F T H E BO OK 185

The dan cers with theirflowing locks weaving

on hips as small as hornets' wa ists

their lean ness covered by a gown, y et revealing

where the sashes are kn otted and belts pulled taut

It h as been said that Par is is a par adise for wo men , pu rgatory' fo r m en and

he ll fo r ho rses.' This m eans th at wo me n here are endowed with m ate rial

posse ssio ns o r beau ty. .As fo r the men, wh o fin d themselves in ' between

bo th , they are the slaves o f women; they deny themselves every th ing, whi le

pam peri ng th eir loved o nes. As' for th e ho rses, they pull carriages alon g

the sto ny gro und o f Par is n ight and day, and when it is a beau tifu l wo man

who h ir es a carr iage, the d river overwo rks th e horses in o rder to ta ke hi s

client to h er dest in at ion as qui ckly as po ssible. The ho rses in th is city are

co nstan tly subjected to to rt ure. As Par is is part of Fr an ce, the languag e of its peo ple is, o f course, Fre nch.

We sho uld like to mention a nu m ber of things abou t th is now. You sh ould

kn ow that th e Fr ench to ngue is a modern for m of Fran kish , the langu age

of th e Gau ls (al-Ghalw iya), i.e. ancien t French . This was su bseq uen tly

perfected by Lat in, wit h a nu mb er of elem en ts added from Greek and

Ge rman ic (Nimsriwiyya) an d a few fro m Slavo nic, as well as other languages.

When la ter th e French becam e p ro ficien t in the sciences, th ey took their

scien tific ter m s from the original langu ages, m ost of the specia lized term s

being der ived from Greek. As a resu lt , the ir language bec am e o ne of th e

riches t and vastest in term s of the abu ndan ce of non-synonym ous wo rds.

The co nverse is t ru e, however, when it co m es to word p lays, exp ressio ns

and the mul tiple usage o f th em, ornate rh etor ical figur es ba sed o n

pr on u ncia tion - Fren ch is devo id of all this - or pleasant rhetor ical figu res

based on m eani ng [puns]. What in Ar abic is seen as em bellishment, t he

Fre nch sometim es perce ive as weak ness. Fo r ins tance, to th e Fren ch , d ouble

en tend res> ar e o n ly very rarely co nsidered a go od stylist ic devi ce to use, and

their autho rs wi ll do so for co m ic effect on ly. The same is true fo r things

al-a 'raf(lit. ' h eights'), wh ich is also the title o f the V1l th sura o f the Qp r' an, of wh ich verse 46 refers to a wall that lies between parad ise and he ll, Thi s wall d om in ates hell , an d on i t t her e are beings, the asbah al-a'raf(' lords of the wa ll') , who di st in gui sh between th e

bl essed and the d oo med . 2 . Th is senten ce is qu ot ed by th e Tu nisi an tr aveller Sa lim ai-W ard ani, wh o ad ds ' and a

p lace of exile for p riests' (!); 1888- 90: no. 94· 3. taso riya is a li te rary d evice (related to syll epsis or zeu gma) invo lvin g t he us e of rar e

accep tatio n s o f words , in wh ich phrases an d expressions (often en tire poem s) h ave an obvio us ' p rim ary' (surface) meaning and a mo re eso teric 'seco nd ary' (d eeper) o ne. See

s:v, " tawriya", Ell (Moh. Ben Cheneb), El a CW· He inr ichs).

186 TA KH L! ~ AL- I B Riz FI TA LK H I~ BA R I Z

like full and im perfect paro no rnasia,' neit her o f wh ich ha s any meaning to

th em . As a result, all the elegance of an Ar abi c tex t d isappear s o nce it ha s

been tr an sla ted .' Th is su bject will be co ncluded later on .

On the wh ol e, each langu age has it s own pa rt icu lar conventio ns o f

usage.' In Fren ch, the in flexions are red uced as m uch as possib le by

co n jugatin g a verb with ano ther verb. For instan ce, if so m ebody wants to

express that he has eaten, he wi ll say th e equivalen t of 'I po ssess ea ting' [j'ai

m ange]. So, in so me cases it is n o t possible to co njugate the verb ' to eat '

except with the verb den ot ing possessio n or in volve men t. I t is as if yo u

wo uld say ' I got in vo lved in th e food (the ea ting)' (talabbastu bi 'l-ak!). An d

if so m eo ne wanted to say that he had gone out, he would say th e equivalen t

o f ' I was o ne who wen t out' (and 'akun makhrajan, i.e. j e suis sarti). The verb

of possession ('to have') and the verb of bei ng (' to be') they ca ll aux ili ary

ve rbs, th at is to say, th ey assist th e co njugat io n o f o ther ver bs, and are th us

st ripped o f their o riginal meani ng.' If they wan t to make a verb causative,

they say ' I made hi m th e eating ' (;'e lefts manger), i.e. 'I caused hi m to eat ' o r

' I made h im eat' , and 'I caused him to go o u t', i.e. ' I made h im go out' , etc.

As a result , th ey canno t co n jugate verbs the way it is do ne in Arab ic, wh ich

is why , viewed from th is angle, their language is res tricted .

The rul es o f the Fren ch lan gu age, the ar t o f wo rd arrangem en t, spell ing

and reading together fo rm wh at the Frenc h call grammat ica (aghramdtfqi)

L al-j inas al-uimm wa 'I-ndqi!. The word j inds (also common ly know n as laj n/s) de n o tes an extr em ely p o pu lar rhe to r ical device in classical Arabic literatu re bas ed on the u se o f sema n tically di fferent bu t p hon etically fu lly (' full j inds') Or pa r tiall y iden tical (' im per fec t jinas') wo rd s, us ua lly in a p air of u t terances. In the titl e of al-Taht awi 's bo o k we h ave, in fact , an exam pie o f the imper fect variety - takhll!-lalkhZ!; ibriz-bariz , Fo r a full discu ssio n, see "tadj n ts", Eli (M o h. Ben Chen eb), Elz CW. He inr ichs) .

2 . In o rd er to illu strate the use ,o f r hetorical figures in A rab ic, al-Tahrawl q uo tes some di d act ic verses exem pl ify in g figur es used in th e so-called ' scien ce o f tro pes' ('ilm ai-bad/') - a b ranc h of Rheto ric - wh ich were hi gh ly po p ular in cla ssical literatu re. These are fo llo wed by seven verses of hi s ow n making. See " badr ' ", El l , El z (M. KhalafaJlah).

3. The fo llowi ng expose is t he very first one in Arabic o n th e structu re and gram m ar of a Eur opean language, th e au thor coi n in g n ew phrases to den ot e many o f the fo reign concepts. Ano the r po int o f in teres t is tha t al-Ta ht aw! bases his exp lana tio ns o n th e French ap p roac h to gram mar; indeed, though later o n in the cen tu ry o the r tr avellers woul d write gra m mars o f Europ ean langu ages (French , Eng lish, Italian ), they near ly always did so fr om the the perspec tive o f Arab ic gra mm ar. T he on ly ot her tr aveller wh o gra p p led with the same problems as al-Tah taw i was t he T uni sian al-Hara' iri , when he tr anslated Lh orno nd' s gramm ar (vide post).

4. T h is co ncep t o f auxiliaries do u bling as mai n verbs is ali en to Ar ab ic, whi ch also do es n ot have a verb to express 'to have' in it s gen eral possessive sense (ins tea d, thi s is achieved by the use o f prepos iti o ns such as ' by' or 'with' to which a p ron o un clitic is su ffixed ), Sim ilarly, it lacks a ver b expressing 'being' , excep t for th e negat ive (name ly, lay sa, 'no t to be') o r th e past (kdna),

.:

L

· ~.~

I I

CO R E OF T HE BOO K 187

or gramm aire (aghrammayr) , which, in fact, means ' the art of arr angi ng

th e wo rds in a lan guage'. This is as if somebo dy used the word syntax' to

denote every thing related to language, in the same way th at we speak of

' th e Arabic scien ces', by which we mean the twelve scien ces co llected in th e

wo rds of ou r Shaykh a l -'A~~a r :

Syn tax, infle ction, prosody and then vocabula ry

Then derivation, poetry and composit ion

Also semantics, rhetoric, calligraphy , rhyme and

history - this is how one counts the sciences of theArabs

So me body else added th e science of tropes, whi le an o the r was inclined

towar ds the art o f Qur'ani c recitat ion. " In sho rt, everybody is free to add or

omit something, and although the boun daries and di visions of the sci en ces

are o f my maki ng, th ey are not to be interpreted as bei ng restrictive. It

wo uld seem tha t it is approp riate for th ese scien ces to be called 'research

areas o f the science of Arabi c'. However, how can versification , poet ry

and rhyme be independent sciences, and how can inflect ion , co nj uga tio n

and derivation be sciences in th eir own righ t? Loo k at what is mean t by

' h isto ry' and how it came to be co nsid ered an Ar ab science. The early

au tho rs in thi s field were Greek schol ars; the first book s to appear in this

art were th ose by Homer (Omirits) on the ba ttle of Troy (Tnlda) . The Arabs,

on th e other h and , com po sed book s only mu ch later .' Ca lligrap hy, too,

is an an cien t art. The Franks pu t these su bjects togethe r in the 'scien ce

of spe ech constru ct ion', which th ey exp anded in o rder to include logic,

co mposition an d po lemics. However, the French langu age, like other

European lan gu ages, has its own usag e, o n which its syn tax, inflection,

1. fann al-napw (li t. 'd i rec tio n , pa th ') . In t rad it ional Arabic ph ilo logy, na bu! was sub di vi ded

into 'ilm al-,arf(or tasrtf, i.e. in flection al morphology), which comprises the theory on

co n ju ga tion, verb al stems, noun formatio n, plu ra ls, etc. - in shor t, changes uncon n ect ed with syntactic rela tio ns - and a more n arr ow 'ilm al-naln» ' deali n g with the rel ati o ns

be tween constitu ents in th e sentence' (i.e. syn tax). In MSA, nabs» is st ill the common

word fo r grammar. See ElI , s.v. "ri ahw" (Use Lichteristadter) ; K. Versteegh , 1997: 43; idem,

1977: 64 ff., 90 ff. 2 . tajtoid ('i m provement, ado rn ment' , i.e. of Qu r'an reci tation) is tra di tio n ally d iv ided

in to three ki nds : la rJil (s low recit a t ion), tadiair (me di u m- pace d recit ati on) an d padr (fas t reci tation), etc. See "tadjwtd ", ElI (Moh. Ben Cheneb) , Ela (F. D enny); "k ira' a", ElI (L. Massignon), El» (R. Parer).

3. In the second edi tio n , the author add ed , 'excep t if history den otes the way in which to

da te annual even ts accord ing to calculat ions bas ed on th e nu mer ical va lu es of let ters o f the alph abet (pisab al-jummal) . But even then, to call i t a scien ce would be to expand th e

definition of this word.'

188 TAK H L! $ AL-IBR lz FI TAL KHI$ BARlz

p rosod y, rhyme , rh etoric, calligraphy, co mp osit io n an d semantics are

based . And it is th is that is called grammatica (aghrammiil iqii). So , all

languag es tha t are governed by rules have a sc ience in whic h the rules o f

the language are gathe red, either to preven t err ors in reading and wr it ing

o r to beautify it. So, rather t han being exclusive to Arabic, thi s scie nce

can be found in all languages. To be sure, Arabic is th e most eloqu ent,

grea tes t, mos t ext en sive and exalte d langu age to t he ear. A Latin sch o lar

knows all th at is related to th is to ngu e, is conversan t wit h syntax as such

and other th in gs like in flectio n, and so it is pure ign oran ce to say th at h e

does not kn ow any th in g si m ply because h e does not kn ow Arab ic. W hen

so meb o dy th oroughly studies any lan guage, he in effec t becomes fa miliar

with an othe r lan guage. By thi s I m ean that if so me thing from an other

lan guage is transla ted an d explained for h im, then he is ab le to take it in

.an d to compare it with hi s ow n lan gu age. M oreover , he may alread y have

known these things befo re and thus he incr eases h is existing knowledge.

Then, he can study it and su ppress that which reason does not accep t.

W hy not, sinc e kno wledge is a natural disposition ? And so it is p ossible

fo r a m an who does not un derst an d the lengthy books wri t ten in Ar abi c

to stu dy th em in Fren ch when they a re tr an slated for him . And so, wo rk

is do ne for eac h lan guage, each havin g it s ow n Mu!awwal,' it s own A!wal'

an d its own Sa'd.' Truly, n o t eve ryth ing that flows is water, n or is every

1. Th is is a refere nce to the fam ou s book on Rhetoric entitl ed Sharp al-talk bis al-m ulaunoal

('Co m men ta ry o f the Abridgement o f Long Tr eati se' ) - usua lly call ed , simply, al­M UJaw wal - by t he gram ma ria n, ph il osopher and theo logi an Sa' d ai-D in Masud b.

' Umar al-Taftazani (d . 1389)' It was, in fact , a co m me nta ry on th e ab ridgement (Talk hi,)

w ri t ten by j alal al-Din al-Khatib al-Qazwinr (1268-13 37) - known as Khatib Dirn ashq ('the Preach er of Da m ascus ) - of M iftap al-'ulicm (,The Key to the Scien ces) , the sem ina l

work on rh etoric by Abu Bakr b. Abl Bak r Siraj al-Din al-Sakkakr (1160-12 29), who is

also cr ed i ted wi th being 'the fi rst A rabic au th o r to se t fo rt h the influence of mil ieu

o n th ough t' (G. von Crunebaurn , "as-Sakkaki on M ilieu and Though t", JAOS, 65, 1945, p. 62) , so m e 150 years befo re Ib n Khald un . Al-Taftazanl also wro te an abridgement­

cu m-commen tary On hi s ow n wo rk ap tly en ti tl ed lWlIkhla,a r a l-MlIJawwa l. See ElI , s.vv .

"al-Tafrazan i" (c. S to rey); "al-Sakkaki" (F. Krenkow); Y. Sarkis; 1928: 635-38, 1033- 1034,

1508-9; GAL, I, 294-6, II, 22; GALS, I, 519, II, 15ff.; 'u. Kahhala [n.d.]: X, 145-6 (a l­Qazwinl), XIII , 282 (al-Sakkaki); E. Van. Dyke, 1896: 357- 9.

2. This is the title of an o ther co m m entary on al-Qazwiru' s Talkhis a l-M iftap, by ' Isarn al­

D in al-Asfara'Inl (d . 1544). Al-Tahrawi's men to r, H asan al-' A\\ar, wro te a. commentary

o n al-Asfa ra'i n i' s t reat ise o n a philo log ica l wo rk by the theo log ian ' Ad ud al-Dln al-Iji (d . 1355), u n de r the titl e J:Iashiyy a 'ala sharp al-'lsdm 'ala 'l-risdla al-1fJa¢ 'iyya al-'a¢udiyya

('Commentary on ' Isam ' s D iscu ssio n of ' Adud 's T reat ise on Lan gua ge Composition') .

See Y. Sarkis, 1928: 1330; ' U. Kahhala [n.d.]: I, 101-02; GAL , II, 4IOff. ; G. D elan oue, 1982 :

614. 3. This refers to ano ther book by al-Taftazan r, i.e. the gramma r t reatise Sharp al-tasrif a l­

'ia ' (often refe rred to as al-Sa 'd i), which is a com m en tary on th e Mabad ,' fi 'l-tasrif

.,1. i

CORE OF T H E BOOK 189

ceil in g th e sky, every house a house o f God, or every Muhamm ad the

Messen ger fro m God. As the poet sai d :

Ho w wrong is it think that every breeze comesfrom the J:fijdz

No r does every light brighten East and West

Another one said:

N ot every woman with dyedfinge rs is a Bu thayna

nor everyone with an unrequited heart a Jamn'

Th ere is no d oubt that th e lan gua ge o f th e Arabs is th e grea test an d mos t

sp len d id of languages . But is it because it is p ur e go ld t hat whateve r

imitat es it is mere tinsel? H ow wonder ful is th e o ne who said :

The words spoken in Arabic are befitt ingfor their people

Faithfulness leads to error, and beauty to uglin ess

The distinct ion of the expression is that Muh amrnad

brought thep ure Arabicfrom the eloquent Arab

and that the opening chapter of the Holy Book was handed dow n in his

language with w hat was specifi ed in the speech ofdivine glorification

In spite of ap pearances, the id ea that foreigners d o not understand Ar abic

whe n they d o not speak it as well as th e Arabs is witho ut any foundati on.

Proof of this is my encoun ter in Par is with a dist in gu ish ed Fren ch

per so n ality, fam ous am o ng the Fran ks for his knowledge of O rien tal

lan gu ages, esp ecia lly Arab ic an d Persian , whose nam e is Baron (al-bdrun)

Silvest re de Sacy. He is one of th e no tab les of Pari s an d a me mber of severa l

sch ol arly societi es' of Fr an ce as well as of other cou n tries. His translat ions

('Pr incip les of conjugation') by ' Izz al-Din al-Zanj an i !jlo ruit ' 3th c.); see GAL, I, 283;

Ell , s.v. "al-Zandj ani" (Ilse Lichte nstad ter), 1. Th is is a reference to Jamil b. 'Abd Allah b. Ma' rnar , a fam ou s 7t h/8th-century poet,

who is best kno wn for hi s love poems to his beloved Buthayna (o r Bathna) . The tragic story o f th eir love affair has co me to symb o lize unfu lfill ed love. Despi te the o ppos itio n to j arrul by Buthayn a' s fa the r, th e two lovers always co n tin ued th eir rel ationsh ip, even after Buthayna ma rr ied a kins m an. H oweve r, in th e end , Ja mil had to flee and died , love sick, after many years o f wandering. See Elt , s.v. ".Qjami l" (A. Schaade).

2. The use o f th e Arab ic jam 'iyya is qu ite in ter estin g since th is is probab ly the very first occ u rrence of this wo rd in the mod ern sense of 'society, association' . Ind eed , in itially used for mo nast ic commun iti es in U niate churches, it was exten ded by th e m iddle of

'90 TA j( HU ~ AL -IBRl z F) T A L K H i s BAR l z

are widely di str ib ut ed in Paris, wherea s hi s profi cien cy a t Arabic is such

that he su m m arized a co m mentary o f the ma qdt ruit by al-Hariri un der the

ti tie Mukbtar al-shurub (,Select ion of C o m m en taries'].' H e learned Arab ic,

so it is sa id, by h is powers of und erst and ing , hi s keen in telligen ce and wide

eru d it ion - and without the help o f a teach er, except at the begin n ing .

H e d id not have instru ct ion on, for instan ce, Shaykh K halid " - n o t to

m ention al-Mughni,3 whic h he can read. In deed , he severa l times tau ght

cl asses o rr .al-Bayda wt.' H owever, when he reads , he has a foreign accen t

an d h e can no t spe ak Ar abic unless he has a book in hi s ha n ds. If he wants

to exp lain an expr ession, he uses stran ge words, which he is un ab le to

p ro n o u nce properly. Bu t let us here in clud e the preface to hi s co mmen ta ry

of al-H ari r r's maqd rnd t in ord er to give an idea of h is writing an d hi s

s ty le, wh ich is elo quent, even th o ugh it h as sligh t weakn esses owin g to hi s

fam ili ar ity wi th th e rul es of Eu ropea n lan gu ages, as a result o f whic h he

ten ds to use expressio ns [from those languages] in Arabic.' In the French

th e ' 9th centu ry to cove r (cha ri tab le) scien ti fic, religio us and literary soc ie ties, as well as po lit ical o rgan izations (la ter to be replaced by pizb) and even eco no mic en tit ies (e.g. j am'iyyal lujj ar al-m a 'ash). In Modern Arab ic, ja m 'i o« is rest ricted to cultural societ ies. C f. E12, s.v. ".Qjam ' iyya" (A. H ouran i/A. De m eerscman).

1. Th is is a reference to de Sacy's ed ition o f Ha rt ri' s maqdmat, Les Seances de Hariri , p ubliies

en a rabe avec lin com m entaire chois i (Pari s, Imprimerie Roy ale, 1822 , ed. H . Deren bo urg an d J. Toussain t, xix/ 660/1 2pp.), whose Arab ic titl e was K itdb al-m aqdm dt Ii 'l-sbay kb

al-Hariri, ma 'a sha rp mukbtar. A second edition ap peared in 1847- 53 (2 vo ls, Pari s, Im primerie Royale).

2. This is a reference to th e famou s Egyptian grammar ian Khalid b. 'Abd Allah b. Abi Bakr al-Azhari (1434- 99), whose works, the m ost famo us of wh ich is al-M uqaddima al­azhariyy a fi 'ilm al- 'A rabiyy a (T he Azharite Introd uction to th e Kn owledge o f Arabic') , were co re study materi als at al-Azhar. Ind eed, H asan ~ 1 : A~~a r co m po sed a co mmen tary o n at least two o f his wo rks, H ashiya 'ala sha rp al-Azhariyya (on the pr evio us ly men tioned wo rk) and Hd sbiya 'ala sharp al-A zbnri li-M usil al-!ullil b ilil qawa 'id al-i 'rdb (on Kh alid 's Tam rin al-!ulldbfi sind'at al-i'rdb, 'Training Stud en ts in the Art of Declension '). See Eli s.v. "a l-Azha rt" (Bro ckeJma nn); ' U . Ka hha la [n .d.]: IV, 96- 7; Y. Sarkis , 1928: 811 - 12; GA L,

II, 27; GALS, II, 22. 3. Th e fu ll titl e of th is wor k is al-MlIghni 'l-labib 'an kutub al-a 'drib ('The Intell igent In ­

d epth Guide to the Books of the N om adic Ar abs'), by the Egyp tian gram m arian Ibn H ish arn al-An sar! (see above). Silvestr e de Sacy tr ans lated another wo rk by Ibn H ish arn, i.e. al-I'rab 'an qasod'id al-i 'rdb (' Expose o n th e Rules o f Declen sions'), wh ic h appeared in his A nth ologie gram ma ticale arabe, ou m crceato: choisis de divers gram mairiens et scholiast es

arabes (znd ed n, Paris, 1829, pp. 73- 92, 155- 223). See E11, s.v. 'Ibn Hi iliam ' (M. Ben C he neb); GA L , II, 23ff.

4. Th e Persian Nas ir al-Din ' Abd Allah b. 'Umar al-Bayd awi tfloruu 13th c.) is best known for h is Qur'an comment ary en titled A nwilr al-tanzil wa asrdr al-ta'tsil ('Li ghts o f the Revelatio n and Secrets o f Recitation '), wh ich was based on th e co m men tary by Abu ' 1­Qjsirn Mahrn ud b. 'U m ar al-Zam akhs ha rl (d. 1144), al-Kasbsbaf nn !,a qa 'iq al-tanzil ('T he D iscoverer o f the T ruths of the Revelatio n') . See E!J,s.v. "a l-Baid awi' (c. Brockelma nn) .

5· al-Tahta wi incl udes thr ee pages o f de Sacy's Arab ic in trod uc tio n (1822: 3-5).

I L

l' CO RE O F T HE BO O K 191

introducti on to this bo ok, he states th at th e maqiimiit by al-Badr' are better

than those by al-Harlri. In hi s coll ection en titled Ki tdb al-anis al-mufid li '1­

,tiilib al-mustafid wa [ami' al-sbudb iir min manricm wa mantb ar ('The Useful

In tim ate Frien d for Those Seeking Wi sdom, an d a Collecti on of Fragments

of Poetry and Prose W orks'), ' he even tran slated a number of maqamdt by

both author s into Frenc h. In sho rt, his knowledge, especia lly as regar ds

Arabic, is famou s, even th ough he can speak Arabic only with great

difficulty. In some of his bo oks, I have seen [pro of of] h is great insi gh t,

sign ifican t explanati ons and powerful refutati ons. H e is h ighl y fam ili ar

with scien tific books wr itten in all langua ges. All of this stems from th e

fact that he h as a perfect command of his own language after which he

devoted him self completely to th e learning of[o the r] lang uages.

Among hi s othe r wo rks, wh ich bear out hi s great ability, the re is a

gram mar bo ok , wh ich he called al-Tubfa al-san iyya f i 'ilm al-'Arabiyya (,Th e

Splendid Gift in the Scienc e of Arabic ').' In th is book he d iscusse d th e science

of gram mar through a strange arr an gemen t, whi ch nobody ha d do ne before

h im. H e also published an an tho logy entitled al-M ukbtdr min kutub a'im mat

al-tafsir wa '1-'Arabiyyafi kashf al-gbita ' 'an ghawiimit/ al-istilabat al-nabtoiyya wa

Uughawiyya ('Selectio n of Books by th e Masters of Qur'anic Co m me ntary

and Arab ic Regarding the D isclosur e of Hidden Grammati cal and Lin gui stic

Usages').' He collected the texts and trans lated them fro m Arabic in to Frenc h.

H e also wrote o ther wo rks and tran slations, especially in the field of Persian,

in which he is highly proficient . Hi s fam e as an em inent scholar throughout

Eu rope canno t be denied, and numerous honours and distinct ions have been

bestowed upon him by the great kings of the continen t/

1. al-H ama dha nl. 2. This is the Arabic ti tle of de Sacy's Cbrestomatbie arabe: au, extra its de divers ecriva ins

a rabes, tan t en prose qtc'en uers, av ec un e traductio n frantaise et des notes, d l'usage des ileves

de l 'Ecole Royale et Speciale des Langues Orienta les Vi uantes, th e seco nd edition ('c o rrige e et au grrien tee") of which ap p eare d in 1826-27 (Paris, Irnpri rnerie Royale), and of which th e au tho r offered a co py to al-Ta h tawi (see Fo u rth Essay, Sixth Sect ion). During al­Tahtawls stay in Par is, d e Sacy p ublished hi s A ntbologie Grammaticale (see above), which was, in effect, a seq uel to the Cbrestomathie. It is also i n terestin g to add that de Sacy' s o rigina l was rep rinted in C airo an d ed it ed by Mu h am m ad Q3sim (Bulaq, 1879, 232 PP·)·

3. Th is is de Sacy's Grammaire arabe d l 'usage des ileves de l 'Ecole Speciale des Lang ues

Orienta les Viu antes, 1810, Par is, l mprimerie l rn perale, 2 vo ls (xxvi/434PP' ; x/473P p·); z n d ed i t ion, 'corrigie et augmenti e, d laquelle on a joint un traiti de la prosodic et de la mhrique des

ara bes', 2 vols, 1831, Par is, lm pri m erie Na tio na le. It is worth po in ting out tha t de Sacy's grammar is st i ll use d to day at Fren ch un iversi ti es (the most recent pu bl ica tio n is th at by

th e lns i tut du Mon de Arabe, of 19 86). 4. = Anthologie gram maticale (see above). 5. In th e secon d ed i tion , al-Ta h\aw] includ ed a three-p age d iscuss io n co mpa ring de

Sacy and the Muslim p hilosopher al-Fara bl (d. 950), based on th e fact tha t bo th were

19 2 T A KH Li ~ AL -IBRiz Fi T AL KH i ~ BAR lz

The art s in French have reach ed their ap ogee, to th e extent that for each

science there is a dic tio na ry, in which th e technical term s are arra nged in

alp ha betical or der. This even appl ies to th e sciences of the common people

fo r wh ich there are schools, su ch as th e scho o l for cooki ng; in other words, a

society for scholars and po ets o f cooking! An d if this is somewhat whimsical,

it do es prove the conce rn in thi s cou n try for th e explora tio n of all things,

incl udi ng the most hu mbl e. Th is is equa lly true for men an d wo me n. In

France, th e wo men also have great literary ability. Ma ny of them have

translated books from one lan gu age in to ano ther in a style that is elegan t,

well crafted and faultless. Others apply th emse lves to co mpos itio n [pro se]

an d extrao rdina ry corres pondence . Thus, it becomes clear to the reader th at

the saying by someone th at ' the beauty ofa man is his mind, that ofa woman

her tongue' is not applicable to th is cou n try , whe re people enquire about th e

m in d of a woman , her talen t, faculty for comp rehension and learn ing.

Fren ch literature is not bad, but th eir lan guage and poetry are based on the

tradition of th e Ancien t Greeks, who were accus tomed to deify everyt h ing th ey

like d. For instan ce, they talk of th e Go d of beau ty, the God of love, the Go d of

th is and of that. Someti mes, th eir expressions are clearly heath en, even if th ey

do not believe in wha t they are saying an d if this is only by way of metap hor,

etc. But on th e wh ole, many Fren ch poems are not as bad as all tha t.'

Third Section. On the organization ojthe French state'

Let us n ow raise the veil o n th e poli tica l o rganiza tio n of th e Fren ch , and

all-roun d sch olars as well as fo rm idab le lingui sts, the latter bei n g ' fu lly co nvers ant with 70 [sic] lan gu ages'.

1. By wa y o f ill u stration, al-T ahtawi in clu des some verses of an u nna m ed Fr ench po et he has transla ted . Th ese are fo llowed by exce rpts fro m h is ow n translat io n o f Ly re B risie by Josep h Ago ub (see Tran slator' s In tr odu ct ion ), to wh om h e refers as al-khaisdj a Yaqub al-Mis rl , Th e fo llowing parag raph rounds off the quotes : 'This poem (qasid a) is like other

poem s tra nsla ted from French; the origin al is of a sophisticated na ture, wh ile in the tra nslat ion its eloquence van ishes and the spiri t of the au thor barely manifests itself This is also true f or

the elegant Arabic qas idas, wh ich are untranslatable in m ost E uropea n languages without thei r beauty being lost, whereas sometimes they also become cold. Bel ow we shall conclude our discussion ofmany aspects of French literature, sciences a nd arts. '

2 . ta dbir al-dawla al-Fa ransawiyya; which lite rally tr an slat es as ' t he a .rra ngement of the French state' (late r on also tadbir al-mamlaka, 'government o f the kingdom'); depen ding on th e co n tex t, it ma y be rendere d as 'p o li tic al o rgani zation ', ' (polit ical) ad m in is tr ati o n ' , as well as 'govern ment' . From th e poin t of view o f diachronic lexicography, this is rath er in tere sting since th e M SA wor d fo r 'g overn men t' , i.e. bukiima , had alread y ' acquir ed the more gene ral sense of rule, the exercise of au thor ity' by the end of the i Sth century; EI2, s.v. " huku rna" (F. Ah mad) .

i . l~l;~·"

;8. ~it...

C ORE O F THE BOOK 193

di scu ss m ost of th ei r laws, so that their wo nderfu l governmen t sys tem ca n

serve as' an exam ple to those wishi ng to learn from it.

We said earlier tha t Par is is the capital of th e land of th e Frenc h an d

the seat o f the ki ng o f Fran ce, h is relatives and hi s family, wh ich is know n

as the Bour bons (al-Burban). The king of France mu st co m e fro m th is

fam ily. France is a hered it ary kingdom.' The ki ng of France lives in a pa lac e

kn ow n as the Tu ileries (al-Tuwrlri).' The French usu ally refer to th e ru ling

co u ncil (drwan) of Fra nce as le cabinet des Tuileries (kabfnat al-Tuwrlri), i.e.

th e counci l o f the king' s palace. ~ '-',

The funda me ntal power in the govern me n t of the kingdom lies wit h

the ki ng of Fra nce, th en with th e memb ers of th e Chamber o f th e Peers

(shambir dabay r), i.e. th e co uncil of Peers (bayr) , wh o are th e p eo pl e of

p rimary co nsu lta t io n,' th en th e C ha m ber of Deputies of th e Provin ces

(Chambre des deputes des departements).4 The First Cou ncil, i.e. the C ha mbe r

o f Peers (drwan al-bayr) , gathers in a Paris castle, ca lled the Palai s du

1. ma mlaka mu tatsdritba , C f. Khay r al-Dl n, 1867: 411 (mamlaka wi ralhiyya) , 238, 242

(imb ra!ilriyya wiralha ) 321, 383 (dawla wiralhiyya). 2. Th is Palace rem ained the royal ho me u nti l 1870. Bad ly dam aged by fire by the Com mu ne

(May 1871), most o f i t was torn down, and ga rd ens bu ilt o n the si te - the fam ous Jardin des Tuileries, wh ich o ffic ially o pened in 1889. See C. Cou rtalon , 1995: 353-4; P. Laro usse,

1866- 76: XV, 574-5; Bert helo t, 1886-1 902: XXI, 457- 8. 3. al-maslnaara ai-ilia . It wou ld seem that al-Ta h rawl equates these with th e so-ca lled ahl al­

pall wa 'l-laqd (' the peo p le who loosen and bind' ). In trad iti ona l Is lam ic po liti cal theory

th ese were rep resen tati ves of th e Mus lim co m mu nity who appo i n ted and d ep ose d a rul er. It sho uld also be p oin ted o u t that consultatio n was a pr ocess alrea dy used by rul er s alread y in pr e-Islamic Arab ia (especially in cases o f em ergency), and th e need for consu ltatio n by ru lers is a recu rre n t th eme in Islam ic political literatu re. Th e Islami c co ncep t of masbtoara (also mashilra) woul d lat er be used in Mu slim co u n tries to justi fy the introd ucti on o f th e parli am en tary system o f gove rn me n t. See EI2, s.vv. "ah l al-ha il wa ' I- ' a~d " , "rnashwa ra" (B. Lewis), " rnadj lis ai-mora" (c. Find ley), "mOra" (A. Ayalo ri);

M . Bayram v, 1898: idem , 184-93: Ill , 43-4; 22; D . Ne wm an, 1998: 30 2ff.

4. Dfwan rusul al-'i m d ld t ('cou nc il o f th e envoys from the pr ovin ces'), with the varian ts d fwan/majlis al-tauka ld ' ('co u ncil o f representatives'), and df wan al-mashtaara (,co u nc il of consulta tion'), the latter of wh ich clearly referr in g to Egypt 's own dfwan al-masbma ra (set up in 1829)' Later Mu slim tr avellers wo u ld us e a wide ran ge of tran slat ion s for the Fren ch parli am ent, rang ing from the borrowin g al-Ba r/am an (M. Ib n ai-Kh uja, 1900 : 72;

M . al-Sanus r, 1891-9 2: 250; Khay r al-Di n, 1861' passim), majlis al-Bdrla mdn (Khayr al-Dl n , 1867: 185, 299 elpassim), to Dar al-naduia (Ibn Abi 'l-Diyaf, 1963-6r lV, 106; al-San iisl,

1891- ')2 : i j ff.), Da r af:wukala' (Ib n Abi ' i-D iyaf, 1963- 6r IV, 106), maj lis al-nuwwab (M. al-San ust , 1891- 92: 13ff.; M . Bayram V, 1884-93: III, passim) , majlis numnad ]: al-um ma (Ibn al-Kh u]a, 1900: 33), maj lis shilra al-dawla (M . Bayr am V, 1884-93= III, passim ), majlis wu kald '. al-ldmma (Khayr al-Din , 1867: 215 et passim ). T he fir st Egyp tian Parl iament, whi ch was set u p by th e Khed ive Isrna'Il , was called majlis shilra al-nicunodb (1866).

Today, the va rious terms used in differen t coun tr ies still coexist hap pil y with t he direc t borrowin g barlamdn , See J. Shayya l, 1951: 214; EI2, svv. " maQ..i lis" 0· Landau), " rnadj lis

ai-mOra" (C . Findley).

194 T A KHLI S A L-I BRi z Fi T ALKH i ~ BA R i Z

Luxembou rg ( qa~r Luqsumbargh),' whereas the Seco nd Counci l m eets at the

Palais-Bourbori' . After the C ha m ber of D epu ti es, there is the Cou ncil of

Ministe rs (Conseil des M inistres), and the Privy Cou nc il (Conseil Prive) Then, I '

th ere is th e 'Cou ncil of the King' s Secre t' (Conseil de Cabinets, and th at

called th e Council of State (Conseil d'Etat). So, th e kin g has full au tho riryt

in hi s kingd om, provided th e afor eme n tio ned co unc ils give their approval.

In addi t io n, he en joys o the r pri vil eges, which wil l be di scu ssed together

wi th the French political system.

The fun ction o f the Ch am ber o f Peers is to create a new law whe n

neces sary or to mai n ta in an existi ng law. Th e French refer to secula r law- as

a Code.' an d so they talk abou t the Code of su ch and such a king. Ano ther

ro le of th e C ha m ber o f Peers is to suppo rt and pr ot ect th e rights o f the

Crown of th e kingdo m, and to oppose anybody who resists them . This

co uncil me ets d u ring a specifi ed perio d of th e year. The Ch amb er of

Deputies, fo r it s part, gat hers by approv al of the king of Fran ce. The

number o f me mb ers o f th is co unc il (C hamb er of Peers] is n ot fixed, qut it

is accessib le to peo ple above the age o f twenty-five o n ly, and on e has to be

at least th ir ty in order to be abl e to par ticip ate in the co nsu ltation (shara).6

1. Thi s Pal ace h ad also been the seat of th e Di rectory (1797-1800), the Consu la te and the Sen a te. In modern tim es, it has been the sea t o f th e Senate si nce 1958. See C . Co urralon,

'1995: 357-8; P- Larou sse, 1866- 76: X, 811; Bert helot, 1886-1 90 2: X, 336- 49, XXII, 795-6. 2. In 1830, the ol d Chamber was d emolished and a new o ne b ui lt, which was offi cially

in augurat ed in N ovembe r 1832. The C ha mber o f D ep uti es ha d i ts last sessio n th ere i n 1940, but its successo r, th e Assernblee Natio nale (1945), has co n tin ued to meet th ere u n til this day . See C. Co u rt alon , 199r 584-7; Bert helo t, 1886-1 902 : VII , 712- 14.

3. quwwa tdmma, wh ich is a calqu e from the French 'avoir p lein pouuoir' , with th e Ar abi c quwwa referring to '(p hys ical) strength' rath er than the ' power (to govern)' d en oted by th e Fren ch 'p ou voir' ,

4· qiin iin (p l. qatodn in) . In trad itiona l Islamic law, thi s refers to decrees issue d by (lo cal) rul er s governing aspects o f civi l and pena l law n ot cove red by the shari'a, but th at did not , ho wever, have th e bin ding legal au tho ri ty of th e latter. Th e u nderlyin g principle of qanil ns was "urf, i.e, 'custo m' (lex principisi. By th e mid d le of the 19th cent u ry, it was co m m o n ly used to den o te Eur o pean (secula r) laws; th e sta tes man Khayr al-Din sta ted ! th at 'buk m qan iln f (,law-based governance') is the Arabi c tran slation of Constitution ' (1867: 239; also see ibid.iio , 12, 15, pff., 58, 66ff. a passim), whe reas o ne of th e fo rm s of I' gove rnmen t di scu ssed by A. Ibn Abi ' l-Diyaf was al-mulk al-muqayyad bi-qdnii n ('p owe r embed de d in law' ; 1963- 65: I passim). Tod ay, it is the co m mon M SA ter m for (no n ­religi ou s) ' law'. See "kanu n", EiJ (C l. H uar t), EI2 (Y. Lin an t de BelJefo nds - C. Ca hen

- H alil In alcik); M . Bayr am V, 1884- 93: I, 44 , 46, 66 et passim.; A. Raymo nd [Ib n Abi "l-D iyaf], 1994: II, 73; M. al-San usi, 1891- 2: 15ff. passim .

5· T his is an o ther int eresti ng example of al-Ta h tawi's prob lem in tr ansla tin g European concep ts, with th e use of the Arabic shari 'a - the d ivi ne law - to d eno te a co llect ion of sec u lar, rati on al laws, thu s str ipping it of i ts in nate religiou s character. O ne can o n ly gue ss at how th is would have been in terpret ed by his co n tem porary Mus lim read ershi p!

6. C f. articl e 28 of the Constitu tio na l Charter; see below .

I

196 TA KH LI ~ AL- IBR IZ FI TA L KHI ~ BA RI Z

CORE OF T H E BOO K ' 95

H ow ev~r, th is d oes not app ly to members o f the royal hou seh ol d , who

are members o f th e cou nc il by virtue o f their birth, and are allowed to

pa rticip ate in co nsu lta t io ns as fro m the age o f twen ty-five. The pee rage

(al-bay riyy a) is heredi tary an d passed o n to th e male scio ns o f t he fam ily,

precede nce be ing given to the fir st-b orn so n , after whose deat h p rio rity is

accorded to the next in li ne, and so o n . The fun ctio n o f the C ha mber o f Deputies is n ot hered itary. T he role o f

th e representati ves is to, exam ine the laws, poli cies, decrees an d regu la tio ns ,

to ~e r ify state revenues, in come and expenses, to stu dy the m and to defend

th e people wh en it comes to duties,' income taxes," and o the r levies in o rd er

to safeguard t hem agai nst in justi ce an d o ppressio n . This cou nc il has 428

m em bers an d is co m posed of a nu mber o f men who have been ap po in ted

by th e people o f th e p rovinces [departements). In o rd er to become a member

o ne has to h ave reached th e age of forty and be th e ow ne r o f propert y o n

whi ch an an n ua l tax o f 1,0 0 0 francs is levied . As fo r the m in iste rs, there are m an y o f th em . Among th em, we fin d the

Mi nst er fo r H ome Affair s, th e Minister for War, the Min ist er fo r Fo reign

Affair s, th e Minister fo r t he Sea an d for the C olo n ies,' th e M in ist er for

Finan ce, the Min ister fo r Reli giou s Affairs, the M ini ster fo r Educati o n , th e

Egypt, whereas the Minist er fo r Fin an ce is sim ila r to the Khazindar;

th e Min ist er for Trad e to th e Nii~ir al-tij d rdt (' O ver seer o f co m merc ia l

go o ds'), the Foreign M inist er to th e R e'is Efendi' in the Ottoman Sta te, th e

M in ister for Wa r to the Nii[,ir 'umiim al-jihiidiyya (' Over seer o f m ilita ry

affairs' ), and so on, altho ug h th e last-n am ed is n o t co n si dered a m inister

in ou r count ry.

The Pri vy Cou n cil co mp rises a nu mber o f peopl e ch osen by th e king

as hi s per so nal advisers in certa in mat ters; usually, the me m be rs o f thi s

co u nc il ar e relatives of the king or m in ist ers .'

T he C ou nc il of the Kin g's Secret is co m posed o f Sen io r M in isters ,' as

well as fou r m in isters wit ho u t port fo lio / an d Conseillers d'E tat?

The C oun cil o f State, fo r it s part, co m p rises peo p le ap pointed by th e

king from amo ng his rela t ives, the nine Sec reta ries o f Sta te, the Miri isters

with ou t portfoli o, Conseillers d'Etat, and a gro u p o f Maltres des requites! and

o ne o f Auditaas? The above makes clear that the king o f Fran ce does no t have absolute

power and th at th e French politi cal sys tem is a restri cti ve bod y o f laws,

under wh ich gove rn ance is in the h an ds o f th e king pr ovid ed that h e acts

in acco rd an ce wi th the laws app roved by the me m bers of th e coun cils, with

. , III

II

IIIII

I .I) .

II iIiI

= Tr easur er (also khaznaddr, kha zan ddr) . Trad iti o nally, th e khdzin da r was o ne o f the 1.Art s an d Em ploymen t, and the M in iste r for Trad e. h ighes t d ignitaries in the government and on e o f the most trusted advisers to the rul ers.

th e Katkh iida' InThe M ini st er fo r H ome Affairs is co m para b le to A. Raymond [Ib n AbT'f-Diyaf], ' 994: II, 45-6 .

2 . In th e Ottoman, Empire, th e incu mb en t o f th is office (also kno wn as Re'is al-kutt db, 'Chief o f the scribes ') was im medi ately below th e Gra nd Vizier, and acted as the Mi n ist er for Foreign Affairs. It was o fficia lly abo lished in 1836. In Tunisi a, the ra'is al-kulldb/m ukiis (sing. maks), 'customs duty' , ' to ll' , ' ti the' , Th e wo rd da tes back to p re-Is la mic L

tim es, when it mean t ' m arket d ues'. It is primarily associate d with Egypt, whe re it was often applie d to variou s types of du ties on a huge ran ge o f goods , services, ski lls , etc. See

E!I, s.v, " rnaks" (W. Bjo rk man ); R. Do zy, 196]: II, 606--07· 2 . firad (sin g.fi rda; usually [arda oi fa rtda; pl.fard 'itf). Stri ctl y speaking, th is tax (known in

Egypt ss fi rde o r firlj.e) was levied for specifi c purposes on ly; in pr act ice, however, it was, to all in ten ts and pur poses, simp ly a poll tax, which Muhammad ' AITset at o ne twelfth of th e inco me of each su bject (irrespective of ra nk or religion), wit h a maxi mum o f 500

piastr es. Os tensibly, however , it had been introdu ced to fund an increase in th e arm ed fo rces. See E. Lan e, '9 23 : '34-5; Eli, s.v, " firdc" (M. Sobernheim); El2, s.v, "furda" (S.

Shaw). 3. Sinc e th e co nce pt o f 'co lo ny' had not yet been tra nsp osed in to Arab ic, th e m odern

Arab ic ter m m usta'mara appe aring muc h lat er in the cen tu ry, al-Ta hrawl gives an in terestin g par aph rase: al.khdrij iyyin m in bildd al-Fransis al-nazilin bi-bildd ya 'rnurtcnaha'

('Frenc h citizens living in co un tr ies set tled by France' ), khdrijiyy in being a clea r calq ue

fro m the Fren ch n ssortissants . 4. Thi s wo rd o f Persian o rigin ' ('ma jo rdo mo ') o r i ts Arab icized va ria n ts kdhiya (Tu n isia)

and kikhiyd (Egyp t) originally denoted the head o f the Jan issary militia . Over ti me, th eir power increased to the exten t th at they were, in effec t, if n ot in na me, the true ru lers of Egyp t (e.g. ' Abd a l-Ra~ma n Karkhud a), with the creat ion of verita b le dynasties (e.g. the House o f Qazdaghlt). See E. Lane, ' 923: 114; A. Raym on d [Ib n AbT'I-O iyaf], 1994: II, 8- 9;

A. Raymo nd, ' 995. ' .'

al-kata ba (com m only referr ed to as bdsh katib, 'Chief Secretary' ) was the head of th e Beylical counc il o f Scribes (diwan al-insbd'] , See Elt, s.vv. "Re 'Is al-k ut tab" O. D eny), "Bam " (c. H uarr); B. Lewis 1969: 98; A. Raym on d [Ibn Ab] ' l-D iya f], '9 94: II, 9-10.

3. In fact, all the members of th is cou nci l were Min istresd 'Eta t, which may best be descr ib ed as a ki nd of em eritus mi nister wit hou t po rtfo lio.

4. wuzarii' (sing . wazir ) al-sirr - 'Mini st ers of th e Secret' - is a tra nsla tio n of the Frenc h M inistres d 'Etat.

5. wUl arii ' .. . labum wi ziira mtqlaq, ' mi n isters wit h an un restric ted min istry' ; cf. Fr. Mi n istre en ti tre.

6. jama 'a min arbdb al-mashwarafi 'l-datala, 'a gro u p o f peo ple o f co nsu ltatio n to th e stat e'; these were, in fact, senior me mbers of the Coun cil of Stat e.

7 . [a ma'at wukala ' 'alii 'l-taqrir ('G ro up o f repr esent atives resp o nsible fo r reportin g'), · which is a goo d rendi tion of the tasks of these members, who were magistra tes, charged with reporting to the Conseil d'Etat.

8. j amd'a yasta mi'tcn a al-mashiaara li-yata'a llam a tadbir al-dutoal ('Grou p of peo ple at ten ding th e consul ta tio n in ord er to study th e gove rna nc e o f sta tes') . Again , the au tho r's parap h rase gives an accura te descri pt io n o f these o ffici als, whos e fu ll ti tle was A uditeur au Conseil d 'Etat . Th ey were civi l serva nt s desti ned for' h igh office, wh o were att ache d to the Conseil d'E tat (or so me o ther grande admin istration) as a kind of tr aining in order to acqu ire know ledge o f the proceed ings.

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C OR E OF THE BO O K 197

th e Chamber of Peers protecting the king, and th e Chamber of De puties

safeguarding the interests of the people.?

The codex followed by the Fren ch at p resen t an d the on e the y take as

a basis for th eir po litics is the law drawn up by their king, Louis (Luwiz)

XVIII , whi ch has not ceased to be foll owed and approved by th em. It

contains a number of thi ngs th at n o reasonabl e man wo uld reject.

Th e boo k in wh ich th is codex h as been en shrined is called the Charter

(al-shar!),'Owhich in Latin means 'pape r' and, by extension, a do cument in

which restri cted laws ar e reco rded . We sh ould like to include thi s book

- even th ough m ost of what is in it can not be fo und in th e Bo ok of the

Almighty God, nor in th e sienna of the Proph et - May God bless him and

gran t hi m salvati on! - so th at you may see how their intellect has decid ed

th at justi ce ('adl) and equity (inJdfJ are th e causes for the civiliza tio n of

kingdo ms," the well-bein g of subjects, and how rulers an d their subj ects

were led by th is, to th e' exten t that the ir country has .p rospered, th eir

knowledge increased , th eir wealth accum ulated and th eir heart s satisfied.

You never hear one of th em co mplain of inj ustic e. Jus tice is in deed t he

b asis of prosp erity . But let us n ow cite what some scho lars and wise m en

h ave said about it - and against it . So i t is said for in stan ce th at

the oppression oforphans and widows is the key to po verty.

Clemency is the veil ofmisfortune.

The hearts of the p eople are the treasuries of their ki ng - what he deposits there,

he w ill fin d there.

So meo ne else said:

There is no strength w ithout the support of men, whe reas there are no

men without mo ney, no m oney without civilization a nd no civ iliza tion

w itho ut j ustice.

9. al-ra 'iyy a (p l. ra 'ay a ); li tera lly meaning 'pasturing herd of an imals'. it is th e usual term from the M iddle Ages onwards to denote a ru ler's subjects, th e tax-paying co mmo n peopl e, and as such it is often used intercha ngeably (as indeed by al-Taht awi) wi th 'amma, th o ugh the latt er excluded certain classes. See E12, S.V . "ra 'iyya" (c. Bosworth ­Sura iya Faroqh i); A. Raymo nd, 1998: 46ff..

10. The Ar abic t rans li terat ion is interesting in asmuch as it also mean s 'conditio n, p rovision ' (pl . shun'!), whic h wou ld also have been co nveyed to the reader.

11. Thi s not io n wou ld later be su bscri bed to by o the r Musli m visi tor s to Europe , an d would be elabo rated and pl aced within a b road er frame work by peop le such as Khayr al-Drn and A. Ibn Abi 'l-Di yaf (see D. New ma n, 1998: chap . V). For the use o f the ter ms 'adl and

in/a], see n ote n o. 2, p. 2 0 9.

198 TA KHLI $ A L·l BRI Z Fl TA LK HI $ B ARI Z

In line with th is it has been said that 'k ings rule over the bodies - not the hearts

- of their subjects'. An ot her person stated th e fo llowing: 'th a t which matters

mos t in the gov ern ment ofa kingdom is to guide it with justice, and to pro tect it

from harm'. It is also said th at 'ifyou want to be obeyed, only ask ofpeople what

they a re able to do; the master charging his slave w ith something he is incapable of

doing gives him an excuse to disobey him.' As so me one said in verse, pointing

ou t th at victory is dependent on just ice:

Oppressive rulers covet v ictory over enemies I but ob, the v ictory was not found to be appropriate I and how can one covet vic tory if behindy ou

there are arrows invoked by stern hearts? !. An oth er on e said: I

II, H e who robs and opp resses canno t thrive

Inj ustice is a field with unhealthy grass I·I I

The bed ofan oppressoris a bad one I and the death ofthe tyrant is truly a bad one i Vengeance will take place - li kefor like

A nd fate app roves ofsuccessful acts

This law codex co n tai ns several ob jects: 1. the pu blic righ ts of th e Fren ch;'

2. the way the kingdom is gover ned;" 3. th e institu tion of the Cham ber of

Peers ; 4. t he ins ti tution of the Chamb er of Deput ies, who are the proxies

and representati ves of the subjects; 5. th e in stitut ion and po sition of the

minist ers; 6. the hi erarch y and judgments o f judges; 7. the rights o f th e

subjects.' These are the words of the one who compi led the aforesai d

Charter?

Righ ts accorded to the Fren ch people

Article 1. 'All Fren chmen are equa l befo re th e law (shari'a) ,5

1. al-baqq al- 'd mrn li 'l-Paransdsoiya; cf. 'Droit public des Fra ncais' ,

2. Th e French text says 'fo rmes du gouuernemr nt du rot .

3. 1;Juqiiq al-ra 'iya cf. 'Droits particuliers ga ran tis par l'Etat ' :

4· In the fo llow ing tr anslation of the Cba rte constitutio nnelle of 4 Ju ne 1814, al-Tah tawi omitt ed the pr eam ble and the a rticles transitoires (article s 75- 76).

5· Th e Fren ch text adds 'quels que soient d'ailleurs leurs aires et leurs rangs' ('i rres pec tive o f th eir ti tIe and rank').

I I

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COR E OF THE BOO K 199

Article 2 . They all, without distin ction, con tribu te a fixed su m to th e

T reasury fro m their property - eac h person according to his mea ns.

Art icle 3- Each of them is eligible for an y office, irres pective of its rank .'

Ar ticle 4. Each of th em is free, and th eir freedo m is gu aranteed . No-one

can be interfered with except in accorda nce with som e rights laid down in '

the law, in the form prescribed by it and as requ ested by th e ru ler!

Article 5. Each resid ent of France ma y p racti se his religion as he pleases,

witho u t interference f rom anyone, an d can even ask assi st an ce for thi s. I t is

fo rbidden to prevent anyone from per forming his wo rs hip. '

Article 6. It is stipulated th at th e sta te belon gs to th e Aposto lic Roman

Ca th o lic religion.'

Article 7. Th ose con nected with th e Catho lic or o ther C h ristian

ch urches will be pa id a su m by the Christ ian Treasu ry. H owev er, n o

fu nd s will be awarded for th e maintenance of p laces of worship of other

re ligio ns.'

1. kull wiihid min burn m uta 'abhal Ii 'ak bdbi ayy mansib kdna wa ayy rataba hdna t; cf. 'lis sont

taus igalemen t admissibles aux emplois civils et m ilita ires' ,

2 . 'L eur liberti indiuid uelle est egalemenl gara n tie , personne ne po uuan t ltre poursuivi ni arritl

que dans les caspriuus par la loi, et dans la fo rme qu 'elle present', Eviden tly, al-Tah rawi d id not qui te kn ow how to deal with th e Frenc h "poursuiui ni arrete ('nei ther prosecuted nor arrested' ), whereas he saw fit to ad d a referen ce to the rul er (al-pakim). Ho wever , th e real im po rtanc e o f thi s art icle lies elsewhe re; it contain s th e first use in Arabic l iterat ur e o f burriyya in the Eu ropean sense o f '( perso nal) freedo m' , as previo usly it was si mply th e op pos ite of 'ens laved' . It should be add ed th at burriyya would beco me a key componen t wit hi n 19t h-een tu ry Arab (as well as O tto m an) political tho ugh t, such people as Kha yr al-Din and indeed al-Tahrawl h im self co nsidering it a pilla r of progress an d civili zati on

(1973-80: ll , 470ff. [al-M urshid al-am in]), as well as of perso nal well-bein g. In on e o f h is later works, al-Tahtawi devo tes an enti re chap ter to liberty (1973- 80: II, 473-7 [al-M urshid al-am inj) , descr ibing i t as ' the facu lry to per form a lawful task witho u t a ny unlawfu l im pedimen t o r p rohib ited oppos ition ', wh ile 'the right s of all people in a civi liz ed co u n try are roo ted in freed om '. At the same tim e, he also revealed a clear influen ce fro m M ontesquieu as he, to o, distinguished between five freed oms (1973- 80 : ll , 473-4 [al-M urJhid al-amin]); cf. Mo ntcsqu ieu, 1979: passim, e.g. I, 318 [Boo k XXII, chap. xii]). See £12, s.v, "h u rriyya" (F. Rose n thal/B. Lewis); B. Lewis, 1969: 129ff.; A. Aya lo n , 1989; A.

H o ura ni, 1989; N. Yared, 1996: ,8- 23; D. Newman , ' 998: 309ff.; al-Tah tawl, 1973-80: 1,346 (Manahij), L. Zo lo ndek , 1964; S. Ali, 1994: 8ff.; B. T Iili, 1972b; A. Ibn Abi ' l-Diyaf, 1963- 65:

I, 16, 27, 1lI, ,69, IV, 99, 103; H . Rebha n 1986: 99ff. J. "Cbacun professe sa religion av ecune igale liberti, et obtient pour son culte la meme protection,' 4. al-milla al-qalh;,liqiyya al-pawariyya al-Rumdniyya , The French text states quit e

em phatica lly th at ' la religion catho lique, apostolique el romain e esl la religion de l'Etat ' (my em p hasis).

5. 'Les minist res de la religion catbol ique, apostolique et rom aine; et mIX des a/tires cult es cbrit iens,

recoiuent seuls des traitements du trisor royal.' The fir st po in t wo rth ment ioning is the use of ta'rnir (al-kana 'is) instead o f, si m ply, 'p riests' (qiss), al-Tahtawi 's tr an slat ion re ferr ing to

the exp ression 'ammara al-masj id (' to wit hd raw from .thc wo rld to a m osque for pr ayer') .

Equally stra nge is his refer en ce to the 'C hristian Treasury'.

2n o I t\1' rl LI " f\L -llll\ l L. I-I I f\LK. Hl~ HAKI L

Arti cle 8. Frenc h peo ple may not be preven ted from expressing the i r

opi n io ns, writi ng th em down and printin g th em, p rovided they are not in

breach of the law, which will su ppress them if they are h ar mful.'

Art icle 9. All properties and lands are in violable and no di stincti on IS

made between o ne property an d another.'

Article 10. Only the st ate has th e righ t to force a person to sell rea l esta te

p roperty in th e public in terest, on co nd it io n th at a co m me ns u rate price b e

pa id prior to th e takeover. '

Art icle 11. All opinions an d discord prio r to the pr esent legal cod e m ust

be di sregarded, as mu st every th ing th at happen ed to th e co ur ts and th e

peop le of th e coun try.'

Arti cle 12 . The recruitmen t of so ldi ers is reorgan ized and re du ced. It

will the nceforth be governed by a speci fic law set ting fo rth the [num ber o f]

ar m y and navy so ld iers.'

The way th e kingd om is gove rned

Article 13. The kin g's pe rson is inv iolab le, and his m in isters are

answera ble to him fo r everyth ing, i.e. they are the o nes who req ues t an d ju dge th in gs, but a decision can be carried out on ly by an execu tive orde r o f the kin g.s

Article 14. The king is the h ighest au thority o f th e people o f th e state ,

an d it is h e who co m ma nds an d rai ses the army and navy so ld iers, declare s

war and peace and enters in to alliances and trade between his n ation (milia )

I. 'Les Fran cais ont le droit de publier et defa ire imprimer leurs opinions, en se conformant aux lois qui doiuent riprimer iesabus de cette liberti.' Interest in gly, bo th 'abus' (Ar. {iarr, 'dam ag e , harm') an d 'liberti' ha ve been om itted by al-Tah tawl,

2. Al-Tah rawl uses the h ighl y reli gio usly cha rge d baram for 'i nviol able' .

3· U nd oub ted ly the m ost interesting po in t of translat ion here is the Fren ch 'pour cause d'tnti rit public liga lemen: constati' , wh ich th e au tho r ren ders throu gh the calque 'Ii-sabab 'd m m al-n n]", th us mi ssin g th e underlyin g idea of ' th e p ublic interest/welfar e' . Th is co nc ep t wo uld h ave been bett er rendered by maslaba; cf. £12, s.v. " rnaslaha" (Ma dj i d Khad du ri); Kh ayr al-Dln, 1867:passim; al-Taht awi, 1973- 80: I, 517ff. (Maniihi}).

4· 'Toutes recherches des opinions et VOleS emis j ll5qu 'd la Restaura tion sont interdites. Le mirn« oubli est command, aux tribunaux et aux ciloyms.'Al-Tah\ 3wi om its th e 'recherches' an d bypasses th e cruc ial referen ce to th e ' Resto ra tio n ' .

5· 'L a conscription est abolie. Le mode de recrutement de l'armie de terre et de mer estdetermini par tine loi. '

6. This is a ra ther convo lu ted t rans la tio n of the French 'La personne du roi est inviolable e t sacree. Ses minis tres sont responsables. Au roi seul appartient la pu issance exiaaiue.', with kuf ald' (sing . kafil), wh ich li terally means 'bondsmen' , us ed for responsables. Unsurp risin gly, al-Tah rawl thought it polit ic to omi t a ny mention to th e 'sacredness' of th e king, rest r ictin g th e translat ion to m ubtara m (,esteemed , respected'}!

.:( :~ '.

i I r .

:, . ; ­

. " "'-:1­

..t{') ..;~~.

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COR E OF T HE BO OK 2 01

an d others, makes app ointme n ts for key positions, ren ews some laws an d

po lic ies and gives the necessa ry orders with a view to thei r exec u tio n, i f th is

is to the benefit of th e state.'

Article 15. T he organization of issues related to human relations is ca rried

out by the kin g, th e Chamber o f Peers an d th e Chamber of D eputies.'

Article 16. The king alone d ivides the laws, and determ in es thei r

pu blica tio n and an n o un cem ent.'

Article 17. A law is sent by order of the king fi rst to the Cham be r of

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Arti cle 25. This Chamber convenes and it s session is ope ne d fo r a per iod

o f mon th s by ord er of the ki n g at the same time as that of th e C h am be r of

D eputies. Bo th Cham bers start and fi nish the ir sess io ns o n th e same da y.

Arti cle 26. If the Chamber of Peers were to gat her before the o pening

of the C ha mber of Deputies, or befo re the ki n g of Fran ce has given his

permis sion, all measures issu ed by th is co u n ci l during it s m eet in g wo u ld

be ill egal an d n u ll and vo id:

Article 27. The ap pointm ent' of somebo dy as a Peer of France is the

sole right of the king. The n umber of members of the Chamber of Peers is

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Peers, then to th e Chambe r of Dep ut ies - excep t the law on taxes, du t ies,

and im p osts,' which is sent to th e C hambe r of D epu ties fi rst .

Article 18. T he st ate exec u tes laws on ly if they h ave been agreed by the

ma jority (jumhtir) of both Chambers.

Article 19. Eithe r of the C hambers may request th at the king announce

an Act on an y m atter that they de em useful fo r inclu sion in to th e law.

Art icle 20. Such an Act can be made by eit her of th e C hambers in a

secret m eeting, wh ereas a d ecision on it is exp ressed by the Cham ber

th at h as m ad e it, after which i t is sen t to th e othe r C hamber on ly after a

de libe ration pe r io d of ten da ys.

Arti cle 21. If th e othe r C ha mber end orses th e law, th en it is presen ted to

the ki n g; if it is rejected by this C h amber, th en it can not come before th is

C ha mber du rin g the session of th at year.

Ar t icle 2 2. T he ki n g alone ap proves laws and pr o mulgat es them to th e

peop le.

Ar t icle 23 . The in co me of the king is fix ed for h im fo r the peri od of

his reig n in o ne way: it may not exceed o r be sma ller than th e am o un t

d etermined du ring hi s pr esiden cy of the C h amber of Peers, i.e. th e First

Consulta tive Cou ncil.

Art icle 24. The Chamber o f Peer s is a crucial stage in the creation o f the

laws of governance.'

1. Th e las t ph rase was add ed by al-Taht awl. 2 . This is the rathe r crea tive as well as cryptic tr anslation of the French 'L a puissance

lfgislalive s'exerce collectiuernent par Ie roi, la ehambre des pairs, ella cbam bre des deputes des dipa rtem en ts.'

3· Anothe r examp le of poe tic licen ce on the par t of the translator who elabora tes freely on th e French 'L e roi propose la loi'!

4· ja bay at wa 'I-firda ('impost s and poll tax'), whe reas the French tex t sim ply ha s 'Lmpots' , The ment ion o f in di vid ual taxes (also see belo w) can be exp lained by the fac t that, at the time, th ere was no gene ric word fo r civil taxes in Ar abic (cf. MSA dariba, pl. (lard'ib) . For general info rmati on on taxes an d tax systems in Mu slim coun tri es, see El z, s. vv. "bayt al-ma l' (N . Coulson - B. Lewis), "dariba" (c. Ca hen - J. H o pkin s - Helen Rivlin).

5· It is again the 'pui ssa nce ligislatioe' tha t seems to pose problems to al-Tah tawi, who th is time chooses the rather circu itou s ' tashri ' al-qatadnin al-Iadbiriyy a'. Fur thermore, non e

no t rest r icted, an d the king ma y ch an ge the titl es) at will ; furthermore, he

can make peop le Peers for the dur at ion of thei r li fetim e or m ak e the t itle

h ered it ary, wh atever is hi s pleasure.

A r ticle 28. The Peers m ay enter the Chamber at the age of twenty-five,

b ut th ey cannot express their views in the co ns ultative assemb ly un til they

h ave reached the age of thir ty-fiv e.

A rticle 29. The president of th e C hamber of Peers is th e Su preme Judge

of Fran ce, wh o is pro ficient in th e affairs of the roya l househ old; th is is,

in fact, the Mi nister of the Seal of the ki ng . If he is exc use d, a su bsti tute

is ap pointed by the king fro m am o ng th e members of the H ouse fo r this

p urpose.

Art icl e 30. The members of th e royal household an d blood relatives to

the kin g are gra n ted en try to th e ra nks of th e peer age so lely by vi rt ue of

their birth. During meetings o f th e C h am ber all of th em are sea ted be h i nd

th e presid ent. H owever , they ma y n ot speak or express th eir op inion s in

the cou n cil until th ey have reach ed the age of twenty-five.

Art icle 3 1. N one of the members of th e Ch am ber o f Peers may enter this

co u n cil when it is in session, excep t by permis sio n fr om the king, which is

sen t by messen ger. If the y do, every thing th at is done in th eir presen c e is

null an d void.

o f the edi tions of the Takblis men tio ns tha t th is is in fact th e first article of th e sec t ion (articles no. 2 4- 34) on the Chamber of Peers ('D e la cham bre despairs'), despite th e fact that it is listed in the paragraph im mediately preced ing the translation .

I. The Fren ch 'illicite (e: nulle de plein droil)' al-Tah tawl translates as mam nic' al-im(!d' (namely, 'forb idd en to execu te').

2 . Al-Tahtaw! chooses th e wo rd tasmiya , which, tho ugh it can mean 'appointm ent,' is usually used for 'nomin ation ', instead of the more com mo n ta'yin , It is o f co u rse tem p ting to spec u late that he was mi sled by this 'fals e frien d' (wh ich is a ban e to rri any an English-speaker as well) by the nom in the Fre nch 'no mi nat ion'.

3· In an attem p t to mak e thi s more und ersta ndable to his reader sh ip, al-Tah tawi opted for laqa b, as a translati on of th e French digniti (n am ely, ' ti tle'). Stri ct ly spe aki ng, how e ver, laqab is an hono rifi c nickname or titl e at tached to a per so n' s na me. Examples inc l ud e bali, Na-at-Din ('Light of th e Faith').

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Article 32. All th e opi nio ns express ed by the Cham ber of Peers must be

kep t secret. Ar ticl e 33- T he King' s Cou ncil (majlis al-ma lik) tries acts of tr eason

, against th e state [high tr eason] and other such offences as cause harm to

th e sta te th at are set forth in laws.

Ar ticle 34. N on e of the members of the Chambe r of Peers can be

arrested , excep t by order of thi s co unc il, n or can any of them be judged by

any o ther authority wh en it involves crim inal matters.

The Chambe r of Deputies, wh o are the authorized rep resen tat ives of th e

peop le

Art icle 35. Th e Chamber of Deputies is co mpo sed of all envoys elected

by the vo ters, whom th ey call i lecteurs (illiklllr),' the organization being

determ ined by special laws.

Art icle 36. Each provi nce (deparlem enI) has th e same number of

represen tatives it had pri or to the introduction of thi s Cha rter.

Ar ticle 37. H en cefo rth , the envoys will remain [in the Chamber] fo r

seven years, in stead of five as was the case before.'

Art icle 38. A pe rson can no t be allowed en try in to the Chambe r of

Depu ties except if he has reached th e age of fo rty, and pr ovid ed he ow ns

prop erty on wh ich he pays a tax] to the amou nt of 1,000 fra ncs. '

Article 39. Each provi nce must gat her fifty peo ple that are resid ent

there, meet th e age criterio n and own the aforesaid prop er ty in o rder to

choose the envoys from amo ng them. If th e required number,'of peop le

who pay 1,000 fr ancs [in taxes] can no t be found, then the q uorum can be

co mpleted by th ose ho ld ing pr operty [on whi ch] less th an 1, 000 fra ncs is

paid , who can then elect the envoys from th e en tire gro up o f fifty.

Article 40 . The electo ral co llege' tha t elec ts the envoy s canno t cast their

vo te unless th ey own p rop erty on which they pay a tax o f 3 0 0 fran cs, and if

they have reache d the age of thir ty,

Article 41. The presid ents of th e electo ral councils are elected by th e

king and are [autom ati cally] members of th e co llege.'

1. Th e French text refers to 'colleges Eleaoraux',

2 , H ere, al-Tah tawl 's creativity too k hi m a bit too far fro m the French text - 'L es deputes

seront i lus pour cinq an s (sic), et de man iire que la chambre soil renouuelie chaque annie par cinquieme.)

3- Cf. ' .. , une cont ribution directe', al-Tahtawi addi ng the reference to p rope rty, 4, sbu ra] ill iklurdy , whi ch wo uld tran slat e literally as 'elect or al gua rd/ troo p '. 5· Cf. 'seront .. . de droit membres du college'

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Article 42. At least ha lf of th e env oys fro m a province mus t have t h eir

perman ent residence there.'

Ar ticl e 43. Th e presiden t of the Chamber of D eputies is appointed by

th e kin g and chos en fro m amo ng fifty represen tat ives presented by this

council.

Ar ticle 44. The meeti ngs of th is C hamber are publ ic, excep t if [at least]

five of its members ask for so me thi n g to be kept secret, as a resul t of which

peo ple who are not part of the Chamber are permitted to leave.'

Article 45. Th e Cha mber is divided into sma ll co unc ils called bureaux

(al-bllrii), i.e. offices, wh ose members are en trusted with exam in in g rna tt ers

d esignated and submitted by the kin g.'

Art icle 46. Th ere can be no rectification of any issues related to the

form of po licies of France' unl ess th e king approves it, or if it has not b een

exam ined wit hin these bureaux .

Art icle 47. The Chamber of Dep uties receives reports relate d to requ ests

for duties, taxes and imposts, and it is on ly afte r th ey have been approved

by thi s Chamber that th ey can be sen t to the Ch amber o f Peers.'

Ar ticl e 48. N o roy al decree regarding th e poll tax can be executed except

if it has been approved by both Cha mb ers and read by the king.

Article 49. Land and real esta te pr op erty tax is fixed fro m one yea r to

the next. O th er taxes can be fixed fo r [another] fixed period.'

Article 50. It is incumbent upon the kin g to order the opening of b oth

Cha mb ers each year. H owever, the tim e at whic h th is takes place is at

his d iscretion.' Fu rth ermore, only th e kin g can d isso lve the Chamber of

D ep uties on co ndi tion that he puts together a new Chamber of Dep uties

within a peri od th at does no t extend th ree mo n th s.

Art icle 51. N o member of the Ch amber of Deputies can be arrested w hen

1. Al-Tahta w! talks of'us ually bein g settled th ere' (mus law!an 'ada), whereas the Fren ch text ha s ' leur do m icile politique', In fact, th is exp ressio n, 'wh ich can still be fou nd in Fren ch law today, means tha t in orde r to be elected in a certain dis tr ic t, etc., on e's p ri ncipal

resid en ce mu st be there. Pro of o f th is are th e elec to ra l ro lls of said electoral di stri c t. 2. Again, the author adds a little extra to th e Fren ch ('Les seances de la chambre son t publiques;

mais la 'demand« de cinq membres suflil pour qu'ell« se forme en comitl seerel') ; the Fren ch phrase 'personnes i trangires d la cbambre' clear ly shines throu gh in the Arabi c al-n ii5 al­ajdnib min al-dtwan .

3· Cf. 'La cham bre se partage en bureaux (al-diwdn yanqasimu ilii dawiiwin sagbira} pOUT

discuter les proje ts qui lui on t ite prisentis de la part du roi.'

4· ddd b siydsd t Faransd; cf. Fr. 'aucun amendement ne peu t i tre fa il d une lot' .

5· Cf. 'La chambre des deputes reioit tou tes les propositions d 'impots; ce n 'est qu'apris q ue ca

propositi ons on t ite admises, qu'elles peuuent hre po tties d la cbambre despairs.' 6. Cf. 'Les impositions indirectespeuuent l'i trepour plus ieun annies.'

7· Cf. 'Le roi convoq ue cbaq ue annie les deux cbam bres'

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it is in session, no r in the peri od of one month preceding the op ening, an d

on e month an d a half after [the end of] it.' Article 52. When th e C hamber is in sessio n , none of its members may

be prosecuted' fo r a matter relate d to a criminal o ffence, excep t if he is

caught in the act, and after permission has been granted by th e C hamber to

apprehen d him . . Article 53. A petiti on p resen ted to one o f the C hambers can n o t be

accep ted unl ess it has been put in wri ti ng. Fr ench political et iquette) do es

not perm it a per son to submi t a report [in person] to the counci l.

Th e ministers

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Arti cle 58. If the kin g has appoi nted someone jud ge, he must rem ain in

o ffice, and it is n ot permitted to rem ove him .

Article 59. The jud iciary in pl ace at the time of th is Charter can n ot be

re m oved, excep t if an o the r law sets ou t n ew provisions.

Articl e 60 . The in st itution o f ju dges dealing wit h co m me rcia l

transacti ons can never be abo lishe d.

Arti cle 61. The in sti tu tion of jus tices o f the peace is also reta in ed;

however, a justice of the peace m ay be removed , even though th ey are

app oin ted to their post by the ki n g.

Art icle 62. N othin g may be rel ieved from the judgment of t hose jud ges.'

Art icle 63. Because of th e previous, it is not perm it ted to set Up new

additiona l cou rts or co uncils, except for the kind of justice they call

priuotal (barbiild.!) ,' if thi s is deem ed necessary. I \

Art icle 54. I t is allowed for ministers to be members of eit her Chamber, Article 64. Proc eedings and debates between opposing parties before th e I. whe reas th ey also have th e right to attend either of them . W hen th ey express

the wis h to speak in the Cham ber, they must be allowed to do so. Article 55. The Cham ber of D eputies h as the rig h t to accuse minist ers,

and to brin g proceedings befor e th e C ham ber of Peers, in whose m ids t th ey

will be judged, and who will set tle the dispu te between th e two part ies.

Ar ticle 56. A mi nis ter can not be accused except for treas on, co rru ption

or misap propr iatio n of fun ds. H e will be judged in acco rda nce with the

provision s set fort h in th e laws governing lit igatio n .'

The judges

Article 57. Th e ad ministration of justi ce is the pr ero gative of the king,

an d it is viewed as if it cam e from him . The jud ges pu t in office by th e king

and paid by the Treasury d ispense jus tice an d pass judgments in n ame of

the kin g.'

1. Agai n, al-Tah tawl changes the French text sub stant ially - 'A ucune contra inte par corps ne peut itre exerde contre u n membre de la cbambre, durant la session, et dans les six sem a ines qui

l'auront pricid ie au suiv ie.' 2. The Arab ic y utba 'u « tab a 'a 'Lic: pursue' , 'to ch ase') is clearl y a calque fro m the French

'i tre poursuiui', 3- iiddb al-siydsa al-Fara nsdtoiyya, 'Fren ch poli tical p ract ices'; (cf. ' Ia loi' ). 4. Cf. ' I1s ne peuvent i tre accuses que pour fait de trabison OU de concussion. Des lois particulieres

speafieront cette na ture de dilits, et en di term incront la pou rsu ite, On e ma y well wo nder wh ether al-Ta htawi's add it io n o f 'co rr u p tio n' was prompted by th e tr ans la to r' s des ire

for comp leteness, o r whe the r it was a veiled accu sa ti on at the wid esp read and egregious

ven alit y of publ ic offi cials in his na tive land. 5. It seems th at here th e auth or is putting in to relief a presum ptio n of impartiality in

th e Fren ch jud iciary as th e Fre nch text sim ply states 'Toute ju stice em ane du roi. Elle

s'ad m in istre en son nom par des j uges qu 'il nom me et institue.'

judge are public in crim in al matters) except if th e fact of divul ging it am ong

the public at large is harmful or offen ds vir tue, in whi ch case the co ur t

notifies people tha t the case in qu estion will be tr eated in secret [in camera]. Ar t icle 65. The ins ti tut ion of the gro up of arbi trato rs, called 'c ri m in al

j ury (jiiriya)' will never be abo lished, except if it is necessary to cha n ge

something in the ju dic ial sphere, which can be done only through a law

pa ssed in both C ham bers.'

Article 66. The law pun ishing people by appro pria tion of their esta t es is

en t irely abo lished and can never be rein troduced.

Art icle 67. The kin g is en ti tled to p ardon people and to red uce the

punish ments .

Article 68. The pr ovisions co nta ined in t he codices of ad m inistra t ive

law' in for ce, and which do no t run co un ter the conten ts of the presen t

Charter , will n ot be ab rogated, excep t if t hey are chan ged by an othe r law.'

1. Iii shayy' yukhrij u 'an buk m hil 'uld 'i 'l-qadd" ; cf. 'Nu l ne pourra h re distrait de ses juges na tur els.'

2 . Al-Taht awl also gives qarjdt a l-nuqabd ' [sing. na qib], i.e. 'lead er of a guild , co m m u ni t y', or 'g overn o r, p refect' - cf. El z , s.v, "n aklb" (c. Boswor th) ] fo r-juslicepriuotal. The o ffi ce of priu ot (' prov ost') may be equated with th at of a local m agistr ate. Their jurisd ict ion was often quite circu mscribed and specialized: e.g. p riu ot des m arechatcx (h igh way o ffe n ces). Fu rther more, the ter m was also used to de note th e chief of certain gu ild s (e.g. prhrot des chirurgie ns).

3· C f. 'L es dibats seront publics en matiere eriminelle.'

4· Cf. 'L'institution desjuris ('jam d 'a t al-m ubakkamiyytn", 'gro u p of ar biters' ) est conseruee. L es

cha ngements qu 'une plus longue expi rienceferait j uger nicessaires, ne peuuent itre efJeetu es que p ar une loi.' .

5· ku tub qasad n in al -siydsat; cf. ' le code eivif .

6. Th e French tex t is rat her mor e vague her e - 'resten t en v igueur jusqu' a ce qu'il y soit

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The rights o f th e su b jects gu ar anteed by the C h am ber'

Article 69. Every sold ier in permanent service or those who h ave re ti red,

and every wo m an wh o was ma rr ied to a sold ie r who ha s di ed , retain th eir

ran ks, titles an d inco m es for the remainde r of thei r lives.'

Article 70. The d ebts of the citizens to the C ha m ber are guaran tee d

in acc ordance wi th an agreement enter ed into between the sta te a n d th e

cred itors.' Article 71. The o ld nobility will not be awarde d titles of honour excep t

in name; the sa m e applies to th e new nobility. The kin g of France aw ards

titles of h onour to whomever he chooses, but those on wh o m he bestows

an honou r will not h ave their duty, etc., lifted fr o m them, and a noble will

not enjo y any privileges except that of bearing the title.'

Art icl e 72. Those wh o h ave received the d eco rat io n o f di st inction calle d

the title of chev alier (al-shawal iya), i.e. knight, m ay keep it , in accord ance

with the p ro visions th at will be d eterm ine d by the king o f France fo r thi s

t it le.' . \ Article 73. The tribes an d settlements outside France' aimed at.I

l popula ting an d settl in g o ther co un t ries are ad mi ni stered in acco rd an ce

with other laws and meas u res.

Article 74. Every ruling ki ng of France swears that he will not devi ate

fro m this C har ter ." This Charter has undergon e a n u m be r of changes an d

:·,1 . ~ ligalement dirogi'

. j 1. Cf. 'D roits particuliersgarantis par l'Etat' 2 . Al-Tah tawi clearl y str ugg led a bit try in g to render the se social concep ts, whic h were -I­

I I unknown in his na tive cou n try , and he does, not, for instan ce, distin gu ish be tween

'retraite' (' retireme n t') and "pensionne' (,pen sioned') wh ich are cru cial in the or iginal Fren ch : 'Les mili taires en actiuiti de service, les officiers et soldats en retraite im atraktn Ii­

I waqt al-bdja, ' tho se who have left at the required tim e' l), les ueuoes, les officiers et soldats

pen sion nis conserueront leursgrades, bon neurs et pensions.'

I 1 3- Al-Tah tawi lacks th e vo cabu lary to explain the idea of ' publ ic debt' , choosing in ste ad the

rather awkward (and incorrec t) duyun al-ra 'iya allalfj f dbimmat al-diuui n; cf. Fr. 'La delle publique est garant ie. Toute espiced 'engagement pris par l'Etat avec ses creanciers est inviolable.'

4. Cf. ' La noblesse an cienne reprend ses titres (daraja t). La nouvelle conserve les siens. Le roi ft it des nobles d uolonti; m ais il ne leur accordeque des ra ngs et des hon neu rs, sans aucune ex emption

des charges et des devoirs de la so ciete' (my em phasis); al-Tahtawi completely o m its the 1 last part, repl acing i t with a reference to th e bearing of th e nam e (tasmiy a).

5. Cf. 'La Legion d'ho nneur est mai ntenue. Le roi dite rm inera les reglements inti rieurs et 10. " .,.. 1 deco ration.' Here al-Tahrawi confused the rank of chevalier (like comma ndeur, etc.) in the '~ '

Legion of Honour wi th the deco rat ion it self. ?~ 6. qabd' il wa 'l-nazaldt al·kharija min Faransa, which is a paraphrase o f the French 'colonies'.

,'.! 7· Cf. (empha sized pa rt s o m itte d in th e Arabic tr an slat ion ) ' Le roi et ses su cc ess eu r s jureron~

dans la so lerin ite de leur sacr e, d' obseruer fidelernerit 10.presente cbarte cons titu tio nne lle.' ""1" ';- 1' 7·,~·. .:

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al tera t ions since the last revolution,' wh ich took pl ace in the year 1831 of

th e C h rist ian er a.' We will retu rn to thi s in the chap ter o f th e uprising o f

the French people and their call for freedom and equality.

If yo u th ink care fu lly ab o u t it , yo u will see that m ost o f what is mentioned

in this Ch arter is very precious. In any event, it is ap plicab le to all Fren ch

peo p le. Let u s add a few re ma rks here. When in the first art icle it is sa id

th at all Fren ch people ar e eq ua l before the law, this re fer s to all those

who live in France, from the highest to the humblest. N o distinction is

made between th em in terms of the ap plication of the aforesaid laws of

th e code to the ex ten t that legal charges can even be brought agains t the

king, against whom a jud gme n t is enfo rceable, ju st as i t is fo r o th er people.

So , behold this fi rst articl e is highly co n d ucive to the introduction of

ju stice; it ensures the oppressed recei ve ass is tance, whereas the souls of the

poo r ar e sati sfied th at they are in fact important people when it co m es

to the execution o f the laws. This matter is almost becomin g a canonical

say ing) among th e French . It is also cl ear proof of the arrival am ong them

of justice, an d the h igh de gre e of progr ess in th e civilized way o f living.

That which they call freed o m an d which they cr ave is what we call 'justice'

an d 'equity',' inasmuch as 'rule by fr eedom' means estab lish ing eq u a lit y

in jud gments and laws so that the ruler cann o t oppress any h uma n being.

Indeed, in this country the laws are the ultimate co u r t and serve as a lesson.

1. fitna; the choice of thi s word ('civ il unrest' , ' rebellion [within th e Islamic co m m u n ity]') is qu it e in teresting sin ce it oft en has a reli gio us con no tation as it also used to den o te the first sch ism in Isl am. The sam e wo rd was used for the French revolution by al-Sh idyaq (1881: 275) an d al-Iab ar ti (1997 : IV, 103), th o ugh the latter also referred to it as 'upr ising' (qiya m; ibid.: 524 , in connectio n with th e 'fite de 10. revolution' ), whe reas he used t haw ra (the MSA term for ' revolution') for the Cai ro up rising of 1798. 'Ali Mubarak, fo r his part, em ployed th e less emotive inqildb (1882: e.g. I, 319), and referr ed to the' Ur abi upri sing as fitna and thaiara, which are equa ted with 'm utiny' ('A . Mubarak, 18 86-8:

IX, 58). See EI2 s.vv . "!hawra" (A. Ayalo n), "fitna" (A. Ayalo n); A. Ayalon, 1987; B. Lewis, 1985; L. Zolon dek, 1965.

2 . The correc t date is, of course, 1830 . Also see below. 3. (min ) j awami ' al-kalam, whi ch co ntains a dou ble-enten d re, sin ce th e sam e expres s ion ­

wh ic h tan be lit erally translat ed as 'speech rich in m ean ing' - is also used to den ote the Qur'an ,

4· The use o f the Arab ic terms 'adl and insdf is of some sign ificance since it relates the European co ncept of 'freedom' to classical Is lamic not ions of gov ern an ce, in whi ch the rul er is en jo ined to eschew oppression (eu1m), to act justl y and lawfull y an d to ensure the welfa re o f h is subjects. As B. Lewis rightly po in ts o u t, however, '[wh at was] new and alien to traditional political ideas [was] th e suggestion that the subject has a rig ht to be tr eat ed justly' (B. Lewis, EI2, III , 590). See Elz, s.vv. "hu rriyya" (B. Lewis), ''' adl'' (E. Tyan ), "insaf" (M. Arko un) , "raiyya" (C . Boswort h), "siyasa" (c. Boswo rt h - F. V ogel); L. Zolondek, 1964. .

COR E O F THE BO OK 209

Freedo m, in the wo rds of the poet, occ urs when :

J ustice hasfilled its regions

and happiness andfulfilm ent reign there

In sho rt, if one finds justice in a coun try, th en th is is only relat ive, rath er

than total and real, whic h today do es not exist in any region . It is like total

faith or pu re lawfulnesss (haltil), etc. An d so there is no poin t in restr icting th e impossible to the ghou l,' th e

griffon' and the faithful friend. As the poet said :

W hen I saw m) ) contemporaries - an d among them no

faithfulfriend could befound to share my misfortunes ­

I knew for certain the impossible comes in threes:

The demon, the griffon and thefaithfu l f riend

H owever, this cannot be said about the gri ffon since it is a typ e of bird, a

few of whic h can be fo und , an d whic h is men tioned by botanists .' In hi s

sto ri es about the Prophe t, al-Tha' Iabr' mentions th e affair of th e griffon

an d ou r lord Salo mon, each of them denyi n g fate. T o be sure, there is no

griffon in the sense that has gai ned cu rr ency amo n g the com mon people

of the Arabs and the Franks alike, i.e. a being whose top part is that of an

eagle and it s bottom half th at of a lion . Neverth eless, it does exist.

As fo r th e second art icle, this is of a purely poli tical nat ur e. One can say

th at if the taxes, etc., were or gani zed in Isla mi c cou nt ries the way they are

in th is coun try , people would be happy, especially if the alm s tax (zakawdt ),

1. ghut (pi. ghilan, aghwdl) , a (usu. female) variety of jinn, who were said to appear in a variety of guises, ent icin g men from thei r pa th in order to kill and devour them. See "ghul" El: (0 MacDonald), Elz (D . MacDonald-[C. Pellat]); nl-Qa zwini, 1849: 370ff.

2. 'an .qa " a large legendary bird (cf. Biblica l 'Anaqim ), which has variously been associated 20. with the griffin and the phoenix. See Eli, s.v. '''an l~ a ' '' ; al-Q;tzwini, 1849: 4'9­

3. arbdb 'ilm al-basba'isb, 'sc holars in the science of herbs' . 4. T he au tho r of a mo nu men tal Qur'an co mmenta ry entitled al-Kasbf wa 'l-baydn 'an

tafs ir al-Q}<,'dn ('The Uncover ing and Explanation of th e Commen tary of th e Qur'an) ,

210 TAKH LlS AL-I B RIZ f l TA LKH I$ BAR IZ

[taxes on ] collectively owned land ' and booty of war' do not cover the

needs of th e T reasury o r are co mpletely forbidd en, w~ic h p robably find s

it s origin in the ho ly law (shari'a), acco rd ing to cla ims by th e sch ool of th e

greatest im am [namely, the Hanafites].' According to a m axim estab lished

am ong the ancie nt phi losoph ers, 'l and tax- is the pillar of th e king dom'.

During my stay in Paris, I have never heard anybod y co mplain about .the

taxes, du ties, imposts and levies. People are no t bot hered by it since th ey

are levied in a way th at does not har m th e taxpayer and that benefits their

Treasury, especially as th ose who own property are safe from oppressio n

and corrup tio n.

As for th e third article, it does no t co n tai n any thi ng that cou ld ever b e

harm ful. Quite the con trary, since its benefits are tha t it in duces peop le to

study and learn so th at they can reach a higher po siti on than th e one they

occupy. In doing so, the ir kn owledge will in crease and their civilizati on

does not stagnate like th at of th e peopl e of China o r the Hind, whe re .

peo ple set great store by the hereditary natur e of crafts and professio n s,

and a person always en ters the sam e pr ofession as th at held by hi s father.

One historian stated that ' in earlier times it was the same in Egypt. The law of

the ancient Copts determ ined the profession ofeach person, who then passed it on

to his children. It is said that this was because all the crafts an d professions urere

L fay' ('return [to the Mu slim community what is rightfully th eirs]'); in Islam ic law this denot ed all things that could be taken from unbelievers with ou t fighting (cf. QUL LIX: 6-7). At fi rst. th is referred to som e of the land in newly occupied terr itories being pre­empted for th e Prophet to be managed by him as communa l property. Later on, the calip h ' Umar decreed that on ly moveable property belonging to the infidels co uld be divided as boo ty among those who had taken pa rt in the conquest; lan d woul d 're tu r n ' to th e com m un ity as a who le for the ben efi t of future generations, though the native population were to cont inue to cultivate it, in exchange fo r a prop ort ion of the yield to the Treasury - the so-called kbard). See ElI, s.vv. "Fay'" (T. Juynboll); El z, s.v. "fay'" (F. Le kkegaard).

2. ghanima; derived from a roo t meaning ' to earn something without effort', this te rm den oted the moveab le possessions (including pr isoners of war) captured in bat tle from unbel ievers. In the early period of Islam, fou r-fifths of th e ghanima was divided among the sold iers present, the remaining one-fifth belonging to God ; in pra ctice, it was the Prophet's to d ispose of in the way thathe saw fi t. See E1I, s.v. "gha nIma " (T. WeiLl.

3. As K. Al-Hu sry (1966: 2 0--21 ) rightl y points out, th e Shafi'r al-Tah tawi is actua lly recommending the introduc tion of a non-relig io us Weste rn system of taxation on t he basis of the Hanan doctrine .

4. kha rdj , a tax paid on lan ded property. as opposed to the poll tax (jizya). O rigin a lly, th is was a tr ib u te levied on land belonging to non-Muslims in newly conquered Islamic territories. the fo rm er hav ing to pay a fixed part of.thei r harves t of the lan d, wh ich had in effect become pa rt of fay', as tri bu te to the Mu slim Treasury, even after th ei r

. ~;" .the nth-century theologian and Qur'an exegesist Ahmad b. Muhammad Abu Ish aq al­ I conversion to Islam. In time , th e khardj dwindled into oblivion an d rulers conten t ed Nisa buri al-T ha' labi, is best known for his hist o ry of Prop hets, 'Ard'is al-majdlisfi qussa: th emselves with the tithe ('ushr) on harv est prod uce. See "kha radj", Eli (Th. W.Juynb o l l), al-an biyd ' ('T he Brides in the Cou nc ils Regardi ng the Sto ries abou t the Prophets') . See E12 (C. Ca hen); "'umr", Eil (Grohmann), E12 (1. Sato), Eh, s.v, "al -Tha' Iabl" (C. Brockelmann); GA L, I, 350; Y. SarkIS, 1928: 663-4· L

I

T C O R E OF T H E BO OK 211

held in great esteem am ong them. This custom stem med from the requirements of

the situation inasmuch as it greatly contributes to the attainment ofa high degree

ofperfection in crafts, because the son is usually good at what he has seen his

f ather do ma ny times in hispresence and consequently has no desire to do anything

else. H owever, this custom eliminated am bition an d caused every person to be

content with his profession, without harbouring any hopes ofrising above his level.

Instead, each craftsm an sought to invent new thi ngs useful to his craft with a view

to reaching perfection in it.' One reply to thi s is th at a person does' not always

have the aptitude to learn his father' s profession. An d while a young man

may per haps lack the abili ty to exercise th is p rofession, it is poss ible th at,

if he had em barke d on ano ther profession, he would perhaps h ave ma de a

success of hi s life and realiz ed his hopes.

Th e fo urth, fifth , sixth and seven th articles are useful to th e people of

the cou n try as well as to fore igner s. This is why the populati on of thi s

co un tr y ha s in creased, an d fore igners have greatly con tributed to it s

pr osperity.

Th e eighth article encourages everybo dy freely to express hi s opinion,

knowledge and feelings provided it does n ot harm others. As a result,

peo ple learn everyth ing that goes on in the mi nd of th eir fello w man.

Of special interest in this respect are the da ily papers , called jou rnals' and

gazettes! From th ese publ icati on s people learn all th e lat est news events,

both from with in and withou t, i.e. relat ed to their kingdom or to other

coun tri es. An d although th ere are innumerable lies in these publica tio ns,

th ey also often contain news items tha t peo ple look fo rward to kn owin g.

Some times, th ey include stu dies of new scientifi c questi ons, usefu l

an nounce men ts and advice, issued by both im portant and in signi ficant

people, sin ce even a lo wly per son may th ink of something th at d oes n ot

come to th e min d of im portan t people. As one of th em said: Do not scorn

an importan t opinion because it is brought to you by a lowly person - thep earl is

not despised, j ust because the diver is ofa low station. And th e poet said:

1. jurndldt (sing. al-ju rndl) , wh ose origin can also be th e It alia n giornale (cf. e.g. K. Vollers , 1887- 91' 319). Cf. M . al-Sanusi, 1891--<)2: 28, 201; idem, 1976-81: I, 93, 94, 189, 215, 220; Kh ayr al-Dtn, 1861' 75, 106, 108, 124; M. Bayram V, 1884-93: II, 87: F. al-Shidyaq, 1881: 74: G. Badge r, 1895: 666; J. H abei sch , 1896: 410; S. Sp iro , 1895: 99 (pI. [ardnil] ; G. Gasselin, 1880--86: II, 106; J. H eyworth-Dunne, 1940-42: 408 , 411.

2 . kdlJ!dt (sing. kdr;i!a). Th is It ali;n bo rrow ing (gazetla) lat er on in th e text also appea rs in th e pleonas tic phrase kdr; itdt )'awmryy a ('da ily gazettes'). It firsr app eared in Ara bic literature in th e 17th-century travel acco un t by the Mo roccan al-Wa zi r al-Ch assani (1884: 151). Cf. al-Tah\awi, 1973--80: I, 517 (ghdZita) Khayr al-Din, 1861' (taq r~z ) 39 (ghazita); G. Badger, 1895: 666; G. Gasselin, 1880-86: II, 106; B. Ben Sed ira , 1882: 430; J. Red ho use, 1880: 2° 5/ 668 (ghazita) ;J. Zenker, 1866: 648.

- - - - - -- - ..... A 4 ~ ~ ....... .l'- J.l .l-? J.).ti.l\.l LA

When I heard about him, it was ofhim alone iBu t I saw in him both hum ans and the jinn' i

I fo und all k inds ofgame in the belly ofthe wild ass' i an d encountered all people in one person I

An other ad vantage of the newspape rs is that whe n someone d oes somethin g I\

great Or despicable, th e journalists write ab out it , so that it becomes know n

by both the notabl es and the co mm on people - to encou rage.the person I wh o did something good, Or to ma ke the person who has do ne a despica b le

thing fors ake his ways.' Similarly, if a p erson com mits a wrong again s t

an other person, the latter publishes this in th ese papers. As a .result, both

the elite an d th e com mon people can tak e cogn izance of it, and kn ow the

sto ry of both the oppressed an d th e opp ressor wit hou t any digression s

from what has happ ened or changes. Then, the case comes before th e co urt

and is judged in accordance with th e establishe d laws. This kind of thin g serves as a lesson for th ose who wan t to learn.

As fo r the ninth art icle, it is the SOurce of justice and equity and is vita l

in order to restr ict th e oppression of the weak by the strong, an d to punish th e latter. "I!

As for the provisions contained in article 10, they are clearly appropriate .

The 15th article con tains a ni ce poin t, i.e. tha t the organ ization of ,Ih uman affairs is governed by th ree classes. First, the king and hi s min isters.

Second, th e peerage, wh ich expresses its love for the king, and, third, the

en voys fro m th e provin ces, who are the representativ es of the ci tizen s and 1 enjoy their full supp ort, to the extent th at nobody compla ins of any of

:.:1~.'1 th em. The envoys act in th e place of the cit izens, and are their spokesm en , ":,

:.t' so th at , in fac t, the citi zens rule th emselves. In any even t, the citi zenry

.; pr otects itself against opp ression, and is completely certai n abou t this. Th e wisd om of the rema ining art icles will surel y not elude the reader. ::'/('

Ii I. In Islam, j inn ('genie') den o tes a class of airy or fiery crea tures (created out of sm okel ess ~

~.flam e), in between ange ls and men (both created out of clay an d light), th e Devil "l~ 1(Shay!dn , l blis) gene rally bein g cons idered One of them (e.g. Qur. XVIII: 48). In folkl ore, ,i fthere are both male an d female, good and bad [inns (th e latter being kn own as 'alijrit),

an d the y are beli eved to in ha bi t rivers, dwellin gs, etc., besid es appea ring in their usual ~~ :l gui ses as cats, do gs, etc. See "Qiinn" EiJ (D. M acD onald), E/2 (S. Van den Bergh); "Tfrtt", EiJ (D. M acDonald), E/2 (J. Chelhod); "Shay\an ", EiJ (A. Tr itton), E./2 (A. Rippin); :I: ,"lbIIs", EiJ (A. Wensi nck), E/2 (A. Wensi n ck -- [L. Gar det]); al-Qazwlnj, 1849: 368; C. ~ I, Pad wick, 1923; E. Lane, 1923: 67, 228ff. . .·,i,'

.1 2 . (laqaYlu) ku ll 'I'ray d fi jaw! alfars'; th is saying is used for someo ne (or something) that

com bines all good qualities (thus making everything else sup erfluo us); H. Wehr, 1976: 701. : 3· It is in ter esti ng to com pa re th ese comments regard ing th e benefIts of newspapers wi th . ' ~

those al-Tah 1awl lat er makes ab out the thea tre. ., ';1

C OR E O F T H E BO O K 2 13

Abridg ement of th e current rights of the Fren ch since th e year 1138' an d th e

revision of th e C har ter. Righ ts and duties o f the Fren ch . C o ntent of th e

Ch arter after its amen dment .

Th e Fre nc h -: irresp ect ive of th eir importan ce, positio n, titl e an d wealth ­

are equa l before the laws.' Indeed, th ese are all merit s th at are useful on ly

in hu man soci ety and in tercour se, bu t n ot in th e law. Because of thi s, all

o f them have access to bo th military an d civil po sitions , jus t as all o f th em .

help th e state, each in accord ance wit h hi s mea ns.'

The law also provides that every person ha s the ri ght to enjoy hi s

personal freedo m, to the exten t that he canno t be arrested , except in

accord ance with the provis ions mentioned in the legal co di ces.' If an ybod y

seizes somebo dy in an ill egal manner, he is severely pun ishe d. O ne o f the

things en suing from free dom amongst th e French is that each pe rson wh o

pr actis es his chose n religion enj oys the pr otec tion of the state,' an d anyo ne

in ter fering wi th so rnebody's rel igious wo rsh ip is punis hed . No endowme n t

o r donation can be given to ch ur ches except with th e exp ress pe rmis sion of

th e state.'

Every Fren chman has th e right to express an opinion on p ol itica l o r

religiou s matters, on co n di tion that it do es not harm th e ord er est abli shed

in the legal cod ices.' Every pr op ert y is absolu tely invio lable, and no-one

can ever be forced to surrender h is property, except if it is in the co m mo n

interest , on condition that com pensa tio n com mensurate with th e value of

1. T h is should, of co ur se, be co rrec ted to 1831, wh ich is the date that ap pea red in the seco nd edition . H o wever, th is is equa lly in correct as the revisio n to wh ich ai-Ta htawi is referri n g is the C o nsti tu tio nal Ch arter of 4 September 1830. The err o neo us date is also rep eated afterward s.

2. C f. Art icle 1: 'Les Francais sont egaux deuant la loi, quels que scien t d 'ai lleurs leurs tit res et leurs rangs .'

3· C f. Art icle 2: 'lis contribuent in distinctement, da ns la p roportion de leurfo rtune, aux charges de rec«

4· C f. Ar ticle 4: 'Leur liberti in diuidu eile est igaiernen t garan tie, personn e ne pouuant etre poursuivi ni a rrete que dans les casp rhrus par la loi et da ns la form e qu 'elleprescrit,'

5· C f. Art icle 5' 'Chacun professe sa religion av ec une egale liberti, et obtient pou r son culte la meme prot ection.'

6. T hi s is a ra ther str ange exp lanat io n o f article 6 of th e ren ewed C onst i tution , whi ch

states that ministers o f the reco gn ized religio ns ' recoiuent des traitements du trisor pu blic'. Equa lly in terest ing is the aut hor ' s tra ns lation of ' t raitemen t' as waqf( pl. aw qaj) , whi ch is a term (I it. 'r estraining') used in Islami c law (alo ngsi de pubus, pI. apM s) for an inalienab le religio us end owme n t (us ually real estate), m ade ou t in pe rpetuity, fo r th e

benefi t of religio us an d/ or public ins t itu tio ns like mosques, sch oo ls, hos pitals, etc. See

Eli , s.v. "w akf" (He ffeni ng); J.Schac h t, 1966: 19f., 125ff. et passim. 7· Cf. Article 7: 'Les Francais ont Ie droit de p ublier et de f aire imprimer leurs op inions en se

conforma nt aux lois. L a censure ne pourra ja mais eire ritablie.'

2.14 1 1\ 1' . n L l ') f\ L ' ID !\ I L 1' 1 l1\L l\. t-ll ';> l:ll\ K1L

the pr op erty has been paid pr io r to th e expropriation . This is decide d b y

the cour t.

Every person has the obligatio n o f co ntr ibu ti ng to t he mi li ta ry

defenc e of th e ki ngdom wi th h is person, i.e. each year you ng men o f II

twenty-one are called up to ful fil thei r conscrip tio n dut y for the an nu al

mili tary co nti ngent.' The period of m ilitary service is eight months . Every

Frenchman wh o is eigh teen years old and in po ssession of his civil righ t s"

may vo luntari ly ent er the armed fo rces.' A number of people are exem p t

from the mili tary:

People wh o are un der 1.75 metres ta ll, i.e. under four feet an d t en

barm aq ; people wit h di sabilit ies; the eldest so n among o rphans; the eld est

or only son, or th e so n of the eld est in the event he is no longer alive ,

or the only son if the m oth er or grand mother does not have a husband,

o r th e father is blind o r seven ty years old; the eld er o f two br others w ho

are dra fted at the same time; the bro th er o f a ma n who has di stinguished

hi mse lf wh ile perfo rmi ng his m ilitary service ,' wh o died in the co urse of i t

or was wo u nded in war.

If a man wants to send someo ne else to do hi s military serv ice for

him, th e mandator stands gua ranty fo r hi s 'rep lacemen t fo r a year lest the

latter desert s, excep t if the deserter is caugh t with in o ne year o r d ies wh i le

serv ing the French flag. O n 21 December of each year, all sold iers wh o have

completed th eir military service are allowed to retu rn to thei r homes.

As not every perso n ca n himself en ter the state adm in ist ra ti o n, the

ci tize n ry in its entirety em po wers 430 representative s to act for the m, and

wh om th ey sen d to th e co ns ultative counci l in Paris. These represent atives

are ch ose n by the ci tizen s and are cha rged by the m to pr otect the ir ri ghts

an d to act in th eir in terest. Each Fr enchman wh o me et s the n ecessary

co n di tio ns - includ ing th e fact o f being at least twen ty-five yea rs o ld

- m ay par ticipate in th e election o f th e repr esen tative of hi s pr ovin c e.'

Every Frenchman as fro m the age of th irty may be a me mber of t he

1. In thi s sectio n, al-Tahta wi elab ora tes greatly o n the Fren ch text (Article 11), wh ich sim p ly sta tes: ' Lacirconscrip tion est abolie. L e mode de recrutement de l 'armie de terre et de mer est

diterminiepar un e loi'! N at urally, th e recru it ment of th e arm ed forces would have been of great in terest to al-Tah rawi' s princ ip al, M u ham m ad 'Ali.

2. T he A rabic puquq baladiyya li terally tra nslates as 'national rights' and would not h ave m ean t m uch to th e au th or ' s d omesti c readersh ip, who would probably h ave wo n dered at the natu re of th ese 'ri ghts'.

3· tapt al-bayraq (' u nde r th e ban ner') 'is, of co ur se, a calq ue fro m th e Fre nch 'so us les d ra peaux' , i.e. 'd oing one's mili tary serv ice'.

4· cr. Article 34: 'Nul n 'est Heaeur, s'il a m oins de vingt-cinq ans, et s'il ne riu nit It s a u trtS conditions dit ermin ees par la loi'

C OR E O F THE BO O K 21 5

C hamber of Deputies, provid ed he meets the conditons set forth in th e

legal co d ices.' In every di strict , there are rogatory an d electora l com mittee s, and

, -~!S~~ electoral coll eges fo r the smaller regions. The coll eges of the large district s 'I,

~ l

are composed of the majo r voters, wh o appoint 172 rep resentatives.

The elect or al co lleges of the sm aller regions [together] ap poin t 257

represen tati ves. Th e list s o f vo ters are printed and po sted alo ng the stree ts ,.{ j l a on e month befo re th e openi ng of th e electoral co lleges, so th at everyone Y't

can voice hi s opin io n on it in writing. Every vo ter can express his view in

~ secret on a piece of paper whic h he fold s and gives to th e p resident, wh o

..~

°.1: the n pu ts it in th e ballot box. !

The en tire Cham ber o f Deputies is ren ewed every five years. Members l ·1 can be ad mitt ed on ly foll owing a decision made by the assembly of bo th I ; C hambers and ratified by the king. The peop le of the town s may address

them selves to members of the Chambers by way of petition s to complain

abo u t certai n thi ngs or to submit something useful.

Judges can no t be removed.' Somebody can be tried on ly by the judges of

h is town of residence. Trials are public. Ca pital crimes can be tri ed on ly in

the presence of a gro up of peop le, known as jurors Uuriyun) . Th e punishment

of confiscation of property is abo lished.' The king has the right to pard on

so meone who has been sen tenced to deat h or to make a sen tence ligh ter.'

It is incum bent up on th e king and hi s heirs up on th eir accession to the

throne to swear to act in compl iance wit h wha t is contained in this book

of the laws of the kingdom [i.e. the Chart er].'

It wou ld take us to o lon g to mentio n the judgments or the laws of I the French . We sho uld [jus t] like to say th at their legal judgm ents are 'I not derived from th e div ine books but are for th e most part taken from

politics. This is com pletely d iffe ren t from shari'a law and is not rooted in

fu ndament al princip les. It is referred to as 'French law' , whic h means the

righ ts that are in fo rce am ong them. There are many different legal syst ems

am ong the Franks.

In Paris, there are a n um ber of court hou ses, in each of which there is a

'chief jud ge' [pr esident] , who may be consid ered the su preme judge am on g

I. Cf. Art icle 32: 'A ucun depule ne peut hre admis dans la chambre, s'il n 'est age de trente ans el

s'il ne riun it les au tres conditions diterm inies par la loi.'

2 . Cf. Articl e 49: ' Les j uges nom mes par le rois sont inamoutbles.'

3. Cf. Arti cle 57: 'La pein e de la confiscation des biens est abolie et ne pourra hre ri tablic. '

4. Cf. Arti cle 58: 'L e roi a Ie droit defairegrace et celu i de com muer les pein es.'

5. Cf. Art icle 65: 'L e roi et ses successeurs j u reront Ii leur au enement, en p resence des cbam bres

ri u n ies, d' obseruer fidele m eru la cbarte constit ut ion nelle'

2 1 0 L t\. f\. fl L l -? £\ L- lLJ.l \. l L. 1' 1 I t'\ L f\.rll ,:' Dl"\f\.lLJ

~:

the judges. H e is surrou nd ed by fellow pres id ing judges and adv isers,

represen tatives from th e adve rsaries, lawyers for both parties, substitutes

for the lawyers and the recorder of the proceedin gs.'

Fourth Section. On the housing ofthepeople of Paris and related matters

It is kn own that the degree of civilization of a town or ci ty is measured by

the level of learning and its d istance from a sta te of savagery and ba rbary.

The co u n tries of Europe are wellendowed wi th all types of knowle dge

an d refinement, which , no-one will deny, are co nd uc ive to sociabil ity

and em belli sh civili zation . It has been established that the French

nation d ist in guishes itse lf among Eu ropean countries through its great

at tachm ent to the arts and scien ces. I t is t ru ly the greatest nation in terms

of it s m an ners and cu lture. When it comes to the type and style of buildings, the prov incial capi tals'

are generally superior to villages and ha m lets; the large cities surpass all the

provincial capi tals, and the capital of the kingdom is fo rem ost among all

o ther c ities. Th erefore, it is not sur prising tha t it is said th at Paris, whic h is

the seat of the king of the French, is one of th e greatest cities of the Fra n ks

in term s of its bui ldi ngs an d architecture. And althou gh its buildi ngs are

not made of good materials, the arch it ectural design and craftsmanship

with wh ich they are constructed is excellent. By the sam e tok en, it is

so metimes also said tha t the materi als are good, even thou gh th ere are fl aws

because of a deficiency of marble and the fact that they lack certain o ther

things. Yet, the overall qua lity of cons tr uc tion should no t sur prise anyone '~since the fo undations of th eir walls as well as the exterio r walls are m ade ~i

ou t of freestone. Th e in terior walls are ma de ou t of high-quality wood. L

' '''':'1:

The majority of the columns are made out of coppe r, thou gh occasio n ally

there are some in marble. For th e gro un d covering they use tiles, which are !;

mad e ou t of stone an d black marble. The ro ads are always paved wit h sq u are

flagstones, as are th e courtyards, wh ile th e vestibu les are covered with baked

bricks, woo d or black marble with finely-worked t~ l es. The qua li ty of the

sto ne or woo d varies acco rdi ng to the prosperity of the resid ents.

I. The Arab ic muwaqqi ' al-uiaqa 'i" is a translat ion of the French greffier. Th e cho ice of muwaqq i' is qui te apt within the context, since it denoted an official char ged with reco rd ing the decisions made by a ruler in the co urse of audie nces o r in reply to requests.

2 . banadir, sing. bandar: of Persian origin, this word meant 'port; harbour ' in CA, b ut in Egypt denotes a large town or district capi tal and thus neatl y corr esponds to the French 'chef-lieu', i.e. the capital of a dipartement , which is rou ghly equiva len t to the B ritish 'coun ty towri'. On the etymo logy of thi s word , see also S. Elatri, ' 974: 2°4.

III

306 TA Kl-ILl S AL-IBKIZ 1--1 TALKHI ? BARIZ

among the best and most famous of their history, while they may indeed have

marked a milestone in historyfor them.]

First Section, Being an in troduction in order to understan d the reason why

the French no longer obeyed their king

You sho uld kno w tha t th is people' is divid ed in terms of their opinion into

two m ajor par ts: the Royalist s and the Liberals. Th e former term refers to

th ose who follow th e king an d who claim that the pow er mu st be han d ed

over to the person in charge' without opp osition fro m the people. The

ot her group have a p redilectio n for freedom, i.e. they hold th at only the

laws need to be taken in to accoun t, an d th at th e king is only th e execu tor

of decision s and jud gments in acco rdance with the laws - in other words,

he should mer ely be co nside red a tool. Th ere is no do ub t th at the two vie ws

are divergent, which is why there is no un ity am ong the people of France

since there is no unanimity of op inion.

Th e m ajority of the Roy alists are priests and their followers, whereas

m ost of the Liber als are phi losophers , scho lars, docto rs and the ma jority

of the po pulation. Th e first part y) attempts to supp ort the kin g, whereas

th e o ther suppo rts th e weak and wishes to help th e people. Th e second

p ar ty con tains a large gro up wh o wan t all the powe r to be in the hands

of the pe opl e, as a result of wh ich there is no need whatsoever for a king.

H owever, as the people cannot simultaneous ly govern and be governed,

the re must be people who repr esent them and are chosen by them to rule; this is 'republican governm ent';' an d the leadin g members are called

1. ta 'ifa (pl. fawa'ij); der ived from a roo t meani ng ' to turn around' (somethi ng, esp. the Ka ' aba), the word deno ted a gro up of peo ple (cf. qawm) and later also 'a trade corporation'. In later mediaeval and modern usage, the meaning of the word is limited to a ' religious o r sectarian gro up', the de rivative fti'ifiyy a deno ting 'secta riani sm'. In ~ufJ

terminol ogy it means 'communi ty', 'sect' , and is th us syno nymous with tariqa. Td'ifa was also consistently used for th e French by al-Tahtawi 's compatriot aI-Jabart ! (199T IV, passim ). See EIz, s.vv. "\a' ifa' (E. Geoffroy), "\a 'ifiyYa" (A. Rieck).

2. In th e Arabic text the aut ho r un derscores thi s idea through his choice of wo rds: ta slim al-am r li-zaal! al-amr.

3. fi rqa ('division', 'group'). Th e modern term de noting a poli tical party, i.e, [Jizb (w hose basic meaning is 'a group of su pp ort ers of a ma n who share his ideas and are ready to de fen d the m', but also 'a con fede ration of id olatrous Arabs united to wage war on the Prophet', ' ha rd soil', and, gene rally, 'a body of men '), would only appear la ter. Th e fir s t aut hor to use [J izb in the mo dern sense was the reformer and champion of Pan-Islam ism, Jamal aI-DI n aI-AfghanI (d. 1897) at th e end of th e cen tury. See El», s.v , "ilia m' iyya" (A. Demeersem an), "hizb" (E. Ked ouri - D. Rustow); E. Lane, t863-74: 559;' Ibn Ma rr zur, t881-9o/ t: I, 299-300.

4· buk»: al-jumhuriya, 'govern men t by th e masses'.

As

CORE OF T H E BOOK 305

The Ministry for War

1, the undersigned, Chevalier, former studen t at the school ofsciences, called the

'Polytechnique (bu lu tiknlqa),' officer in the engineering corps, registered with

",he Min istry for War, charged by Monsieur [omard and the Efendis with the

\ upervision of the studies of Monsieur Shaykh Rifd'«, hereby testifY that for the

i'approximately three and a halfyears that the above-mentioned stu de ~t was with

'm e I have not seen any thing in him that has given me causefor dissatisfaction;

; this is true f or his studies, his general behaviour - wh ich is full of wisdom and

caution - his good nature, as well as his p leasant disposition.

In the first year, he studied French and cosmography (qusm u ghra fiya)

with me, f ollowed by geography, history, a rithmetic, as well as other subjects.

he was devoid of the required inclination and agility to study drawing

with success, he wo rked at it only once every week, merely to comply w ith the

orders of his benefactor. H owev er, he exerted himself with the utmost zeal in

translation, which is his chosen tra de. H is activ ities in it are expounded in my

special monthly bulletins, especially in thefirst reports (jurrial at) I submitted to

M onsieur[omard. The contents of these bulletins and reports sufficiently provide

a profile of this studen t.

M ention should also be made ofM onsieur Shaykh Rifa 'a's zeal, which went

sof ar that it made him work for long periods during the night. This even caused

a weakening in the left eye, to the extent that he needed to consult a doctor, who

for bade him to read at night; however, he did not comply with this instruction fo r

fea r it would hamp er his progress. And when he saw that in orderfor his studies to

progressfas ter he required other books than thoseprovidedfor him by the state, and

that he should also have another teacher in addition to his official one, he spent

a large part of his stipend on the pu rchase of books and on a teacher, who stay ed

with him f or most of the year and prov ided classes for him' during study periods

that he was not work ing with me. I thought it my duty upon his departure to give

him th is report, wh ich truly corresponds to reality, and to add to it my conv iction

ofhis merit andfriendship.

Monsieur Chevalier, 18th of the month ofFebruary oftheyear 1831.

Fifth Essay

[On the revo lution in France and the removal of the k ing pr ior to my return

to Egypt. I include this essa)' only because the French consider these events to be

1. ; 'Ecole polytechnique'. 2. T he Arab icyu '!ihu al-duriis is agai n a calque fro m French - 'donner des lecons'.

I

i r

III )

C OR E OF TH E B O O K 30 7

'sen ator s'.' Thi s is similar to wha t happened in Egyp t d uring the H am rnam

regime, when Upper Egypt was gove rned th rough iltizam-based majo rity

ru le.' From this it becomes clear tha t so me French men wan t an abs o lute

m onarch y, whereas oth ers want a mona rchy lim ited by th e prOVISIOnS

em bedded in th e laws, or a republic.'

The Fren ch already rebelled in 1790 [sic], an d sen te nced th ei r k ing

an d qu een to death, Then they insti tuted a republic an d expelled th e

ruling fami ly ca lled th e 'Bourbons' (al-Barbun) from the ci ty o f Par is,

and procl aim ed th em ene m ies [of the sta te], The effects o f the revolut ion

co ntinued until th e year 1810 [sic], after which Bonaparte (Bunabartah),

wh o was known as Napoleon (N abulyun), became ruler an d to ok the ti tle

1. The Arabi c o rigina l mashay ikh wa jumhu r ('Elders and the peo pl e' ) sho uld be co rr ected r~ I to mashdyikh al-jionhur (' th e Eld ers of the people'), The wo rd masbyakha (sing, o f ,

mashayikh) co uld also mean the ab st ract 'shaykhhood ', i.e. the office o f sbay kb. In th e M usli m W est , h owever, it d enoted the group of ur ban eld ers an d n ot ab les, See El z, s.v, " rnasjjy akha" (A , Ayalo n) .

2 . jumhtiriyya iltizamiyya. T he referen ce is to th e p ower str uggle between the shaykh al-'Arab

,~

:,

(Sh ar af al-da wla) H am m iim b. Yiisuf al-Ha warl, who h ad taken co n tro l o f Up per Egypt, and ' Ali Bey (d . 1773), the ch ief Mamliik of C a iro (shay kh al-balad]. In 1769, after bein g be traye d by c h iefs of the H awari tr ibes wh o had co ns ti tu ted th e mainstay of h is power,

I

I I • H amm iim was de feat ed by ' AlI, wh o th us effectively ga ined con trol of th e who le of I I , Egypt. H am m iim fled h is capita l Far shut (east o f N ag' H am rnad l) an d went to Esna ,

whe re h e died o n 7 D ecember o f that year. His rem ain s were bu ried in Qarnu la, a vill age

I n ear Luxor. See 'A. al-jabar tl , 1997' 11 ,646-8. I 3, jumhuriyy a. Th is is the fir st time ever that th is word is used in Arabi c lit erature to

d en ot e a ' rep ublic' . H owever, th e Ot tomans had alre ady coi ned ju mhuriyy el (m od. Tu . I ~ ~ cumhuriyel) at the end o f th e i Sth century, ba sed o n the Arabic j umhUr, whi ch basica lly mean s 'gr o up o f peo ple' (for o the r clas sical me anings, see E, Lane, 1863- 74: I, 461-2;

G, Freytag, 1830-37: I; 308; Ibn Manz ur , 1299/1 881-130 8/ 1890- 91) [1300/ 1883]: V, 219­20) , A t the turn o f th e pr eceding cen tu ry, two eyewitnesses o f the Fren ch in vasio n of Egypt, ' Abd al-Rahrnan al-jab artl an d N iqu la al-Turk, used al-jum bar al-Fara nsdu d an d jumhia Faransaunyya , resp ectively, for the Fren ch rep ubli can gov ern me n t. Converse ly, the ea rl ies t Frenc h-A rab ic d ic tio n ary of th e cen tury, by the mi lit ary interpreter J.-F.~ ;li!

. I

. Rup hy (1802: 185), li sts masby akba , whi ch was th e ter m subseque n tly used in o ffic ial co m m un iq ues of th e Frenc h occ upa tio n army in Egyp t, It is a lso sugg ested by E. lr I .

r , . Boctho r (1882: 707 ) - alongside j umhlir - who al so used th e lat ter wo rd in hi s tr an slation of ,dem ocracy' , i.e. 'qiyam al-jumbtcr bi 'l-huk m ' (E, Bocthor, 1882: 242) . The ne w co in ing 1,I seems to h ave caug h t o n ver y quickl y, and is found, almost to t he excl us ion of all o the rs, as fro m th e m idd le of th e 19th century; cf. Kh ayr al-Di n , 1867: 121, 321, 335; M . Bayram V, 1884- 93: ][1, 83 el passim; M, al-San usl, 1891-92: 13 et passim. T he Tu ni sian statesm an Khayr al-D ln , wh o is the only o ne to hav e the borrowin g ribublik, also used ju mhur in it s ad jectiva l fo rm in co m pou nd s like datel a jumba riyya (' r epubli can sta te'; Khayr al-Dln, 1867: 87, 124,325 et passim'[; pukm jumhliri ('repub lican ru le' ; ibid., e.g. 327 et passims, whi le Ib n Abi ' I-Q iyiif tal ks o f al-mu lk al-jum bicri (1963'5' I passim). See El z, s.vv. "Qiu mh ur iyya"

(B, Lewis), "hurriya" (B, Lewi s); A. Ayalo n, 1989; H . Reb ba n, 1986: 65-9; H . W ehr , 1934:

40-41 ; V. M onte il, 1960: 191.

,;'11 308 T AKHLi s AL - IB R i z Fi T ALKHi ~ BA Riz

\ I

of 'e mpero r' .' Later on, when he becam e involved in an in creasin g n umber I of wa rs, and co nquered so m any co un tr ies tha t h is strength an d might

b egan to be feared, the kin gs o f the Fr anks entered in to an all ian ce against I h im in o rd er to drive hi m out of h is kingd o m. They succeeded in doing so, I

in spi te of th e love the Fren ch people had for him. T hen th ey rein stated t he , I Bou rbons, alb eit again st the wishes o f th e French nation.

The first of the Bou rbo ns who m th ey mad e ru ler of Fran ce was Louis I I

XVIII. In ord er to ma ke h is regime popular am on g the pe ople and to

consolidate his au thority, he creat ed a law tha t gove rn ed both him and

all Fren ch peop le, aft er co nsu lting th e latter an d ob taining the ir ap p roval. I He forced h imself to follow it an d n ot to dep art from it. Th is law w as

the Charter ial-Sharta], whi ch we have already quoted in transl at io n in the

cha p ter on the politi cal syste m of the French. There is no dou bt th at t he

word of a noble man is m or e bi nding th an the deb t o f a de btor. And he

[Louis XVIII ] made this law both for h im an d h is succ esso rs who wo u ld

inheri t [the th rone o f] the ki ngd om of France. N o thing can be added o r

take n away from it , except wi th the approval o f the king, the C hamber o f

Peers and the C ha m ber o f Depu ties . As a resu lt, both counci ls and the k i ng

are abso lu tely necessary. It is said that he did all o f th is against the will of

h is fami ly an d entou rage, who wo uld have liked to h im to hav e absolu te

power ov er the people. It is also sai d th at they co ns pi red against hi m and

tha t his brother, Charles X (Sharl), was the leader of th e gro up . H owev er,

the kin g fo und out what he was secretly pl ottin g and foil ed h is p lans. I t is

said tha t when Louis XVIII ha d grown old C harles X wanted to rescind t his

law and return to abso lutist reign, bu t was unabl e to do so.

After the death of his br o th er, C harles rever ted to a ruse, sup pressed

1. The Arab ic sulfan al-saldtin , th ou gh tr an slat in g lit er all y as ' ru ler of rulers' , seems to be al-T ah ta wl' s way o f rendering th e Fren ch "empereur'; even th ou gh th e Lati n bo rrowi n g imbara(a}fur alread y ap pears in m ediaeva l Arabic geog ra ph ica l l iteratu re: al-Dim ash ql , 1866: 342 (Inbara,ttir, Inbarur); Ibn Sa' Id, 1958: 126 (Inba ra{ur); Ab ii ' l-Fid a ', 1840 : 202; Ib n Khaldun [n .d .]: 238 iLnbaradhen. Further m ore , in the 17th and rSth centur i es, imperador/imp eraton was th e cus to m ary ti tl e used in o ffici al 'O tto m an corresponden ce

wi t h th e Ro m an empero r (cf. M. Ko hbac h, 1992) . T h e borrow in g also ap pears regula rly in the wo rks of o t her Musli m visit or s to Europ e: K hayr a1-DIn , 1867: passim (Imb ariifur); S. aJ-W ardiini, 1888-90 : no . 11 (inbarafur); F. al-Shi d yaq , 1881: 256 (im barafur); M . a l­Sanusi, 1891- 92: 16, 138 (imba ra{ur); A. Ilyas, 1900: 4,5, 15 et passim. Very early on, t he word al so became inflect ionall y active, with imba rafuri fo r 'imp er ial ' (e.g. F. al-Shi dya q, 1881: 228; Kha yr al-Dt n, 1867: e.g. 32"5), K hayr al-D i n even usi ng i t to de note 'Ernp i r e' in co nnection with Fran ce (ibid.., 125, 132) an d Austria (ibid.., 241, 242). Also see E. Gas selin , 1880-86: 1, 627 (anbarur) ;J. Redho use, 1880 : 10 8; J. Zenker, 1866: i53 (who ad d s the T urkish fem in ine form, tho ugh ad di ng ' nur von der Kaiserin Maria Theresia'!). F ar more en igm ati c, how ever, is the d at e 1810, as Nap ol eo n was p roclaim ed em p ero r in May 1804 !

Je.

I _ • • _ ~ '" .. .... • ~ _ _ . _ • • _ ~ ......... .L ... J.,. l "! L',t1.1.'\..1L..o )' ~

CORE OF THE BOO K 309

his inten tion and pr etended th at he had never wan ted such a thing" H e

allowed everyone to express th eir opinon in th e newspape rs, without

requ iring revision pr ior to pr inting and pu bl icat ion. People believed hi s

words and were conv ince d that he would not renege on hi s pr om ise. What

is m ore, the en tire popul ation rejoiced at h is gove rn ment an d the way in

wh ich he compli ed with the laws. But, in the end , he sha med the laws in

whic h th e righ ts of th e French people were ens h rined.' An indication of

thi s even befor e the law was broken was the fac t that he entrusted the pr ime

ministersh ip to the Mini ster Polign ac (Buliny aq),' whose id eas and po lici es

are well kn own; he is in favour of putting all th e decision-making power

in the hands of the king. It is said that th is minister is the offspring of an

ad ulterous relati onship his mother ha d with th is king, so that he is, in fac t,

th e kin g's son. H e is fam ou s for bein g unjust and opp ressive. Accord ing

to a hig hly common adage , the injustice by the foll owers fall s back onto

th e rul er. In a baditb we find th e fo llowing: 'He who pu lls out the sword of

inj ustice, again st him the sword ofdefeat is drawn, and sorrow will stay with him

fo r ever. ' A poet said:

H e who isjus t to people, yet does not demand

recompensefrom them in exchange, is truly a prince

Asfo r him who wantsjustice in the same measure

he has given it, he is truly unique

But he who wants justice, while he hims elf

does not show it, is truly a despicable wretch

When this aforesaid minister had been sent to the land of the Engli sh, i.e.

as a messenger acting in the interests of both countries, the French used to

at t ribu te to him everything that ran coun ter to freedom. Each tim e th ere

was a rumour going around tha t he was coming back to France, all people

thought that he had come back only to take up the post of Prime Minister

and to change the laws. Because of this , all of the Liberals and mo st of th e

population hated him. The French knew in advan ce that his appoin tmen t as

Chief Minister was something that was in store for them. And this is indeed

what hap pened app roxima tely one year after the king's accession to pow er.

1. Th e Ar abic clearly shows the difficu lty al-Tahtawl ha d in exp lain ing the concep t of no n-religious laws, rights of the peo ple, erc.: 'ba taka al-qasodnln allati biya sbard 'i ' al­Fara nsaieiya' ,

2. Ap poi nted M iniste r for Fo reign Affai rs in Augus t 1829, Auguste-Ju les-Armand-Ma rie, Prince de Polignac (1780--1847) was made Pr ime Minis ter only three mon ths la ter. In

D ecember of the following year, he was im prisone d an d then bani shed.

,'='

As we have alrea dy said, the Cha mber of Deputies, who are the

representatives of the people, gathe r each year for a general consultation.

And when this Chamber met, they su b mi tted a pe tit ion to the king

reque sting that he should d ismiss this Minister [Polignac] as well as all

six other ministers. H owever , he did not pay any heed to their wo rds . It

is custom ary in this consul ta tive cou ncil that all matters are deci ded by a

majori ty of its members. When the ma tter of th e minister was pr esented

before the assembly in thi s co nsulta tive cou nci l, 300 of the 430 people

p resen t vot ed against reta in ing the mi nis ters, whe reas 130 were in fav o ur

of retai ni ng the m. So, the maj ority was against them and a minority was ',\1., j in favour of th em . As a result, it was cert ain th at they were going to be h

:~" I

deposed. H owever, the king wanted th em to stay on as he sough t t h eir ::'1 help in o rd er to carry out his secret plans, and so he kept them on. Then,

~···it . he br oke th e law [the Cha rte r] thr ough a nu mb er of royal decre es, wh ich t~'*~~.:'1~'1i-;, ,

.~_.i~~~ · .resulted in the removal from office of th ese ministers and th eir bani shment

from the co un try. This is how the po et p ut it:

H e did not know the harm the word would bring him

nor to what things it would eventually lead him

holdingforth in the way he had always spoken

without clearly thinki ng about the consequences of his words

Such is the way ofcareless speech

and the consorting wi th ev il andf ools

A foo l humilia tesyou when he extolsy ou

and harms you when he clai ms to be useful toy ou

Second Section. On the changes that were in troduced and on the revolution

that ensued from them

When discussing th e laws in the cour se of our expose of th e rights of the

French we have shown that pursuant to Article 8 rio-one in Fran ce may be

prevented from mak ing hi s opinion public, writ ing it or prin ting it, on

ccri d iti o nthat it does not violate the pr ovisions co n tained in the laws. If it

d oes, th en a stop is put to it. However, in 1830 the kin g sudden ly issued a number of ordinances , one

of whi ch pro h ibited peopl e from expressing the ir opin io ns, writing them

or pr inting th em under certa in conditions, especially if it involved th e

newspa pers . Henceforth, th ey had to submit what they wanted to pr in t to

a state official, who th en examin ed it and decided whether o r not it co u ld

~[I , -I'w ":(%,." II .,~":'l

;\~'"

! ;~ I :r~i· 1 .~ 1, :,t :; • :;1' I -;; , ', I

:~\> i ;;?i·{·1 i$~~""-'~':

. ~~ '-~.

. ' 10"';.tj: "' I~.,~.j~

334 I f\1\. 1-j L1 ~ A L- I I:SK 1Z FJ TALK I-I J ~ BAR t Z

th e kingdom of France, for exam p le, can n o t become bigger tha n it was

before th e revolu tion.

I t seems that mos t of the kings who ackn owledged the new king of

.France did so only on this basis and app roved of what had hap pened only

provisio nally. The French felt th is, an d said so in pu blic, as if th ey did not

t ru st th is peace, whi ch , as one can see, is like a truce an d a state of limbo.

When I left Fran ce, all th e people expected a decl ar at io n of war an d an

outbreak of hostiliti es wit h th e Aust rian s an d Muscovites o r th e Spa nish

(al-Isbanyu{) and Prus sian s. But God the Almi ghty - may H e be praised ­

alo ne knows best what has been an d what will be! A t presen t, the Fren ch

an d English enj oy bett er relations th an ever befo re! For th e acco unt of my

retu rn , the reader is referr ed to the epilogue of th is tr avelogue.

Sixth Essay

C on tain ing extracts fro m th e sciences and arts already deal t with in the

seco n d ch ap ter o f th e in troduction . It co m prises several book s. Th e first

sec tio n deals with th e d ivision of th e scien ces and arts as such , as well as

wit h all the ar ts and scienc es tha t are im portan t to all st ude n ts.

First Section. On the division ofthe sciences and arts according to the Franks

Th e Franks h ave divided hum an kn owledge into two parts': th e scien ces and

t he arts. Th e fo rmer are ach ievemen ts that hav e been empirica lly proven.

Art, on the othe r hand , den ot es skills, i.e. knowledge of th e techn iques for

certai n thi n gs in acco rda nce with spec ified rul es.

T he scien ces are subdivided in to mathematical branches an d n on­

m athema tical b ranches. T he latter are, in turn , sp lit into natural an d

t heological sciences. Th e m athem at ical sciences are mad e up of arithm etic,

geom etry an d algebra .' The natu ral scie nces are co m po sed of na tural

h isto ry, physics an d chem istry. N atu ral h istory is taken to refer to botany,'

1. The Arab ic text refers to al-jabr wa 'l-muqabala; the former concep t denot ing ' to make so meth ing complete' (i.e. to restore frac tions to a complete n umber), and the latt er ' to be in opposi tion' (i.e. two side s of an equatio n). Th e combined expression is used in old mathematical works for ' the meth od of so lution -of equations of the fi rst and seco nd degree'; ElI , s.v. "al-djabr" (H . Suter).

2 . The Arabic 'ilm al-bashd 'isb wa 'l-a 'sbdb li terally tra nslates as 'scien ces of grasses and pla nt s' . Th e modern term " ibn al-nabdt' (' the science of plan ts') would be introd uced so me time later.

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CO RE O F THE BOO K 335 .

mineralo gy,' an d zoo logy. Th ese th ree branc hes are called ' th e cl asses of

pro ducti on ': i.e. th e botanical class, themineral class and th e an i mal cl ass.

As for th eolo gy, i t is also referr ed to as 'metaphysics'!

Th e arts are subd ivided into in tellectua l art s' and app lied art s. Th e

former are closest to the sciences an d incl ud e, fo r in stan ce, the s cien ce of

eloqu ence and rh etoric,' gram m ar, logic, poetry, drawing, scu lp tur e an d

music. All of th ese are intellectual arts because they requ ire scien tific ru les.

Conversely, th e applied arts are th e crafts.

Such is the division d raw n up by Fran kish scholars. H owever, In our

coun try there is very often no differen ce between sciences an d arts; a

dis ti nct ion is mad e based only on whe ther an art is an in dep en dent scienc e

o r serves as a tool fo r an othe r.

Th e sciences th at are obligato ry fo r all pupi ls are arith me tic, g eo graphy,

histo ry an d dr awing. Th e kn owledge of all th ese subjects co m es afte r

th e knowledge of th e French lan gu age and matters related to it. For th is

pu rp ose, we sh ould discuss it br iefly he re.

J Second Section. On the classificat ion of the languages as such, and the use of

the French language

II {

" . ~ . .;.:~ " Kn ow that langu age in the sense of a preco ndi tio n for compreh ens io n o n th e ' '1 part of the listener is something about whic h it is best no t to say a ny m ore;

\' . \ rather, as it is necessary to make something und erstood both in sp eeches an d

d ialogues, it is vital for studen ts in all nations that they should sta rt wit h it , t ~I! and make it the means with which to acquire othe r things.

Lan guage as such consis ts of specific expressions th at de n o te spec ific

mean ing s. It is conveyed thro ugh th e various spe ech and writi ng systems

used by vario us n at io ns. There are two typ es of languages; th o s e th at are

used and th ose tha t have fallen in to d isuse. The fo rm er catego ry c o m prises

th ose th at are cu rren tly spo ken, su ch as those of the Arabs, Persia ns , T urks ,

Indians, Fren ch , It alians, En glish, Spa niar ds, Austrians an d Muscovi tes.

The second catego ry co n tains lan gu ages who se peoples ha ve perish ed a nd

wh ose speakers have died out, an d wh ich do no t exist excep t in books.

1. 'ilm al-ma 'ddin wa 'l-abjdr: ' the science of min erals and s tones' . 2. 'ilm md tuara ' al-tabi 'dt: 'the science of wha t lies beyond the n atu ral occ urre n ces' . T his is

synony mous with th e more tr adit iona lft lsaj a md taara ' al-tabt'a . jllnun 'aqliyya , which Can also be trans lated as ' theoretical arts' (cf. theor etical/pu re vs. ap plied science). . . .

3·

The Arabi c term s al-fastb wa 'l-baldgba deno te eloq uen ce in both senses : flu en cy o f " 4· ;: speech and the science of rhetor ic in the classical sense of the use of sty l ist ic devices .

Also see ElI, s.v. "ba lagha" (A. Schaa de).