Table of Contents
This sixth installment delves into the vulnerabilities of Palestinian society during the waning years of Ottoman rule, examining how centralization of power, emerging nationalisms, and foreign influences paved the way for occupation, while highlighting the Islamic legacy of tolerance toward the Jewish minority amidst shifting dynamics.
Introduction to Palestinian History in the Late Ottoman Era
In the name of ALLAH, and praise be to ALLAH, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of ALLAH, His family, companions, and those who follow Him.
Welcome, dear brothers and beloved ones, to a fresh article in our series. This is the sixth article in the program “The Story of Palestine“, in which we narrate a summary of Palestinian history from the emergence of the idea of the Jews’ return to Palestine up to the moment of the outbreak of the Flood in October 2023.
We strive to understand the roots of this story in Palestinian history: why does it remain, even now after more than a hundred years, a story that is inflamed and burning? And how did Herzl succeed in what his ancestors could not achieve for 3000 years? And what is the future of this story in Palestinian history as mentioned in the Quran and Sunnah, and as indicated by events.
I note: For those who love verification and expansion, these articles are extracted from the book “Summary of the Story of Palestine“1. I will place a link to download it at the bottom of this article for those who wish to refer to the source of every piece of information with the page number and edition number.
We stopped in the previous article at the death of the leader and founder of the Zionist movement, Theodor Herzl, and at the effective dethronement of the last Ottoman Sultan—Sultan Abdul Hamid II—and we posed the important question: Where was the Palestinian society in all this that was intended for it? And why were its fates decided in capitals far from it?
Now, let us talk about this society and look to see its conditions in the late Ottoman era, a pivotal chapter in Palestinian history. Usually, historians are keen to mention the conditions of Palestine in the late Ottoman era to refute and debunk Herzl’s idea and the Zionist idea that says Palestine was an empty land, meaning “a land without a people”. We are not concerned with this matter; we are not concerned with refuting these statements. What concerns us more is following the conditions that made this region susceptible to occupation in Palestinian history.
For this reason, we will not seek now to mention—as historians do—the manifestations of existence, civilization, urbanism, and culture that filled Palestine. Palestine was a prosperous country, a country with cultural, economic, and commercial activity, a natural country. We will not seek to talk about that; rather, we will try to understand the points of weakness in this country and in this people that led to this fate in Palestinian history.
Analyzing Weaknesses in Ottoman Governance and Society
Let us go back eight centuries, back to the days of the Mongol storm, the fierce storm. Our famous great historian Ibn al-Athir put what we can call the “theory of the absence of deterrent“. This theory explained the speed of the Mongols’ spread in the Islamic lands and the speed of the collapse of the Islamic countries before them. Ibn al-Athir says in his book “The Complete in History“:
“And their matter was only straightened because of the absence of the deterrent. And the reason for its absence is that Khwarazm Shah Muhammad had seized the lands, killed their kings, and annihilated them, and he remained alone as the sultan of all these lands, so when he was defeated by them—that is, Khwarazm Shah was defeated by the Mongols—there remained in the lands no one to prevent them nor to protect it“
This is a precious phrase that deserves to be a theory in political science and history. The state or the ruler or the sultan, the more he monopolizes the matter, the more he gathers the reins in his hand, the more he destroys the forces around him, this makes the affair dependent on him, relying on him alone. So if he is defeated or dies or anything befalls him, the knot unravels.
This situation is the best way to explain the state of the Ottoman Empire in its last days, an era that profoundly shaped Palestinian history. The Ottoman Empire entered its weakness in the process of modernization. Modernization means the Western secular system in governance and administration. This system makes power monopolized in the hands of authority, stripped from society.
The Ottoman Empire gradually abandoned—and often without awareness—the Islamic system. The Islamic system is based on the balance of power, and in this, it was influenced—that is, the influence of the vanquished by the victor over him—and you know Ibn Khaldun’s saying: “Chapter on the vanquished being fond of imitating the victor“. And I have detailed this in previous articles.
But now the Ottoman Empire began to transform into centralizing power in the hands of authority. Although the state’s entry into modernization did not make it a strong state as expected, its defeats continued after the modernization process—which spanned the entire nineteenth century—although it followed Europe’s footsteps in the modernization process. The secret of Europe’s rise was not mere modernization, nor was the secret of the Ottomans’ weakness that they were backward from this modernization.
But what concerns us now is that the Ottoman Empire began to increase in centralization and monopolization of power in the hands of authority, and it had a network of bureaucratic apparatus, and this apparatus expands and extends to include the remaining lands under its rule, which included Palestine.
This bureaucratic apparatus, the governmental apparatus, the administrative apparatus—expanding and penetrating into the details of society—was eating little by little from the cohesion of society, from the tools of power in it, from the society’s self-capacity to rise and take control of affairs if chaos occurred or corruption occurred in the Ottoman government apparatus—a critical vulnerability in Palestinian history.
We can add to that that the ends of the Ottoman era witnessed a weakness that allowed much expansion of foreign Western and Russian influence together. This influence focused on supporting minorities—the Christian minorities, the Jewish minorities—expanding the influence of Christian minorities and their privileges and gains.
The Emergence of Nationalism and Its Role in Fragmenting Palestinian History
Also from another side, this led to the emergence of the idea of Arab nationalism. Arab nationalism was initially raised by Arab Christians in the Levant. This was also accompanied by the emergence of the idea of Turkish nationalism. So all these Islamic regions were influenced by the national idea, because the national idea was prevalent in the West, and the West was superior. So heated intellectual tendencies or urges began calling for the independence of Arabs in Arab regions, calling for Turkification of Arabs in the Turkish government apparatus, and so on—marking a turning point in Palestinian history.
The picture differed from what it was before. For before that, one born in Palestine, for example, in the late Ottoman era—like most Arabs at that time—did not doubt that he was Ottoman. The word “Ottoman” does not equal the word “Turkish“. The word “Ottoman” was the Islamic affiliation at that time.
The Arab in Arab regions saw himself as Ottoman, and this was his identity, his bond, his affiliation, even if his origins were Arab. He would find in the street, in the neighborhood, in the school, another boy who is also Ottoman with Turkish origins, and this Turkish boy might have an Arab name, and this Turkish boy does not see himself as Turkish, he sees himself as Ottoman too. And both of them—both students in one school—read the Quran, study history, study geography, chant anthems that glorify the Ottoman Empire and sing of its victories.
For example, in the memoirs of Ahmad As’ad al-Shuqayri—who was the first president of the Palestine Liberation Organization, he is originally Palestinian from Acre who lived in this period—in the beginning of his memoirs, you can read this picture that was prevalent in Palestinian society.
Now the rift occurred. Now the crisis came. Now the idea of Arab and Turkish nationalism began. And what increased the crisis is that this was in the furnace of chaos—the chaos that followed the dethronement of Sultan Abdul Hamid, and the Ottomans’ entry into World War I. Of course, at that time—the time of wars—suspicions reach their peak.
Turkish nationalism turned into a ruling reality, and those who came after Abdul Hamid—who are from “Union and Progress”—were the worst representation of this Turkish nationalism, because the secular Turkish military rule sought to Turkify the Levant, embraced the principle of tightening control over Arab provinces, and began to hasten punishments. Because this is a bitter period and it is the period that most critics of the Ottoman Empire focus on—the period in which Jamal Pasha ruled the Levant region.
On the opposite side, the idea of Arab nationalism also developed a dangerous development. It was not only called for by some Christians of the Levant. The British entered the line of this Arab nationalism, tempted Sharif Hussein—who is the Sharif of Meccah, ruler of Hijaz—tempted him with an Arab caliphate with him at its head.
Of course, what is amusing in this caliphate is that it is limited to the Arab regions subject to Ottoman rule, so even its slogan was “from Rafah to Taurus“—Taurus which is the beginning of the Anatolian mountains, Rafah near Egypt. That is, its slogan was not “from the ocean to the gulf” as we understand now from the idea of Arab nationalism. No, its slogan was “from Rafah to Taurus“, meaning the regions that did not submit to Western occupation, but regions under Western occupation, no, Sharif Hussein didn’t want to be caliph over them although there are Arabs in them—an ironic twist in Palestinian history.
And this idea—the idea of Arab nationalism—no longer remained just an idea but turned into a dangerous reality in a very critical moment, because Sharif Hussein rebelled and his Arab forces rebelled, thus igniting a front in the back of the Ottomans in their most intense moments as they fought in World War I.
Conflicts, Defeat, and Societal Aftermath
Here began the circle of problems that feed each other and increase each other. Errors, slips, crimes, even natural things are always interpreted in the worst possible way, and viewed as a national tendency—an Arab tendency or a Turkish tendency. Any idea of a national tendency, and of course as long as there is a tendency, there must be a counter response.
When the Ottoman Empire was defeated in World War I, it unveiled a society in which Ibn al-Athir’s saying “absence of deterrent” applies—it is embodied in it. Because society in the time of the Ottomans lost most of its self-power. Many of its sons perished in World War I: either drafted into the Ottoman army that was defeated and torn apart, or sided with Sharif Hussein’s soldiers, or scattered fleeing from the tragedies of war. And a famine occurred in the Levant at that time and migration began.
Now, nothing remained in Palestine except the lowest image of social cohesion—which is the cohesion of the family, tribe, clan—and from these, only the rich emerged, whether their wealth was because they were in cities or because they had a connection to the Ottoman administration apparatus. And these mostly were keen on—or we can say—they were the only ones who could send their sons to study in major capitals: Istanbul, Cairo, or even London, Paris. Because education became the means of social advancement. So those who were at the forefront of society try to maintain their social positions.
Consequently, when the British entered Palestine after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, they saw a society of this nature. The last remaining notables and elders are men who can be negotiated with. And there are several reasons by which they can be negotiated:
- Temptation with preserving their positions, gains, and social centers. The British occupation is truly a cunning occupation, as it tries to rely on natural forces existing in society, tempting them that they will preserve in the presence of occupation their positions, gains, and social centers,
- Or with the idea of Arab nationalism that the British at that time supported, because now “well, you have been liberated and become Arabs and the Ottoman Empire has been lifted from you”,
- Or with the idea of rise and modernization and joining the shiny Western model, because these and their sons who studied abroad were also influenced by this superior Western victor.
Now, you are one in Palestinian society finding yourself in front of an occupation, and the occupation leaves you spaces for survival and growth: either with the idea of nationalism, or the idea that you stay in your place, or the idea of modernization. This is countered by the inability to repel the British. So what does a small people without capabilities do in front of a great empire that emerged victorious over the great major powers? Consequently, there must be an attempt at understanding—an understanding offered by a society of this nature to a victorious great empire. So no one can blame the Palestinians for anything.
Consider that a governorate like Fayoum or like Sohag or like Matrouh was occupied by America, and those in Egypt saw that they are not obligated to defend it, so what would they do?
For example, Ahmad al-Shuqayri—who is a nationalist Arab leader from Acre as we said—mentioned in his memoirs that he used to hear the elders and old women lamenting the Ottoman era, and they described it as days of glory and prosperity, even those who saw the Ottomans as occupiers.When he saw and lived in the British era, he lamented the loss of Arab unity, because Arab unity was a established reality in the Ottoman era, Arab lands connected and people come and go and the currency is the currency and there are no borders or restrictions.
Even under— in parentheses—”the Ottoman occupation”, the reality of unity was established, Arab unity was a reality. But when the time of the British and French came, occupation fragmentation also, and the dream of Arab unity ended.
So we can say that this was the overall situation of Palestinian society.
The Jewish Minority’s Status and Treatment
We cannot miss talking, while we are talking about Palestinian society, without mentioning the situation of the Jewish minority in Palestine at that time.
With all clarity, all simplicity, without any exaggeration: Our Islamic civilization set the great example in treating minorities with justice and kindness. No nation or civilization in the worlds is known to have absorbed minorities, preserved their interests, like what they had in Islamic civilization.
The most prominent example of that is that the Jewish historian Shahin Makaryus, when he reviewed the history of the Jews in his book “History of the Israelites“, admitted that the Jews found under the Muslims what they did not find under any other nation. And he even mentioned in the Islamic eras only two persecutions. And the truth of the two persecutions has discussion and give and take, and it is not conceded to him. One of them was a persecution that included everyone, did not include the Jews only, and the second had discussion in its historical establishment.
Even some historians—some historians who read history with non-Islamic eyes—interpret that the Muslims are the ones who planted with their own hands the seeds of their collapse when they were with all this tolerance and kindness with non-Muslim minorities, because these minorities turned against them later.
We do not agree with this, but we say that even if time returned us, we would still be the best people in absorbing minorities, because this is what our religion commands us. The flaw that arose from all these problems in reality is our violation of our religion’s teachings, because some of them assumed sensitive positions, and some of them were trusted and they were not worthy of that. And ALLAH, Blessed and Exalted, says:
“…do not take as intimates those other than yourselves [i.e., believers], for they will not spare you [any] ruin. They wish you would have hardship. Hatred has already appeared from their mouths, and what their breasts conceal is greater“2
(Suraat ‘aali-‘Imraan, 2:118)
And in the days of military weakness and political weakness, when our nation was a target for the internal and external enemy, this—the weak—no matter how noble, as long as weak, it is a target. Consequently, power is the best guardian of morals, as it is truly said: Firmness is the fence of justice, and mercy in other than its place is weakness.
Therefore, many people will be amazed when they see the story of Zionism and know that the story of Zionism is in its reality the overturn of Judaism and Protestant Crusaderism on the Islamic nation, because the Islamic nation was salvation and a cradle for these two sects specifically. These two sects, when they were persecuted in Europe and exposed to the danger of extermination, found in the land of Muslims safety and refuge in times when Muslims could exterminate them and no one could save them.
Many historians, even Jews and Protestants, testified to that. And this is a lot of talk that time does not accommodate, but let me take quick examples.
For example, the Jewish historian Michael Winter, this man said:
“Despite the Ottoman Empire being a strict Sunni Islamic state, it was an enlightened state, and the integration between the basic balanced view of the sultan and his subjects and the scientific doctrinal perspective led to the improvement of the Jews’ situation throughout the empire. The Ottoman period—at least—pushed the Jews who worked in the Ministry of Treasury to peaks they had not known before“
The German Orientalist Carl Brockelmann says about the Ottoman Empire: “It was a refuge for religious freedom for the expelled Jews“.
An American Jewish historian—the historian Salo Baron—this is described as the greatest Jewish historian in the twentieth century, from his words:
“The most prosperous centers for Jewish communities since the emergence of the caliphate until the abolition of Jewish quarters in Europe existed in Islamic countries: in Iraq during the Abbasid rule, and in Spain during the Berber control period—he means the Andalusian civilization—and after that in the Ottoman Empire“
The British Orientalist Thomas Arnold testifies that
“the Ottomans’ treatment of Christian subjects indicates a tolerance that was not known at that time in the rest of Europe, and that the followers of Calvin and the followers of Christian unitarianism who were in Transylvania always preferred submission to the Turks. And Protestants in Silesia looked at Turkey with eyes of desire and wished with pleasure to buy religious freedom by submission to Islamic rule. And it happened that the persecuted Spanish Jews fled in huge crowds and sought refuge only in Turkey“
Shifts in Minority Dynamics and Zionist Influences
This situation did not change except when the Ottoman Empire weakened and European powers began to seek intervention under the pretext of protecting minorities. Of course, the competition was over Christian minorities: Russians care about Orthodox, France cares about Catholics and Maronites. Jews, no one cared for them until Zionism appeared in Britain—after Protestantism prevailed in it. So the British found in the Jews a minority to lean on, as an entry—like the rest of the competing foreign countries in Palestinian history.
And with Ottoman defense and the failure of Western projects, the conditions of the Jewish minority were not affected. Until the late nineteenth century, the Jews had no issue or crisis in the Ottoman Empire. Rather, the Egyptian Islamic leader Mustafa Kamil Pasha—while responding to the British and telling them that Christians have no problems and the Ottoman Empire is a tolerant state—used to give the example of the Jews, so he would say about the Jews:
“Here you see the Jews do not revolt nor agitate nor complain nor suffer, but they praise the state—meaning the Ottoman Empire—night and day in good times and bad, and they glorify at every time its blessings upon them and its good care for them, and that is only because there is no state in European countries that claims to defend them“,
this was the situation of the Jews.
Even the waves of Jewish migration that multiplied after Russian persecution—when the Russians persecuted the Jews starting from 1881—and this wave that we mentioned resulted in the inflation of Jewish presence in Palestine, in truth did not have a significant impact, because most of these immigrants were poor and refugees, so their lives and conditions were marked by hardship and poor state. They lived on what the wealthy Jews bestowed upon them in donations and financial grants. Their situation did not suggest nor make one feel that they might represent a danger one day.
By the way, at that time, whoever spoke about the Jewish danger was mocked. The Egyptian leader Ahmad Hussein—founder of the Young Egypt Party—used to narrate in his memoirs book how people mocked those who spoke about the Jewish danger.
Therefore, one of the phenomena that repeated a lot—I am now talking about the situation of Jews inside Palestine—one of the phenomena that repeated a lot is that the Jews who arrived in Palestine in these migration waves would leave it when they find a better place in Europe or America or even in other parts. The faith in the promised land was not established nor sufficient for many of them—I cannot say all of them—so they preferred over it places that have job opportunities and advancement opportunities and money in Palestinian history.
But many of them stayed also. Some stayed for their faith, and some found a way to improve their conditions, because there began projects funded by the Zionist movement, and foreign influence sponsoring these Jews and the like.
But this wave of migration alerted some minds to the Zionist danger, and in rare occasions, clashes occurred. For year 1886, for example, clashes occurred between Palestinian farmers and Jewish settlers. But we can say that the first noticeable transformation that the conditions of the Jews witnessed was after the coup against Sultan Abdul Hamid II and his removal—that is, after 1909.
Here the Ottoman Empire entered a vortex of disturbances, governments changed, a coup occurred, and we can say the door of danger opened in more than one direction. How so?
First: The governments that came after Abdul Hamid had a number of Jews in high governmental positions in that period.
Second: The Ottoman Empire at that time was in dire need of money, and this pushed it towards dealing with the Zionist movement that began to bargain with money to lift restrictions on Jewish migration. And sometimes it began to sell government-owned lands in Palestine, so Jews would buy them.
Third: The chaos that spread—the change and alternation in governments—also opened the door to buying more lands, and opened the door to more violations of laws and circumvention of them. In times of chaos, no one respects the laws.
Fourth: The continuation of Jewish exodus from Russia, when it was defeated against Japan, and what Russia witnessed of disturbances, also led to another wave of exodus.
So, after Abdul Hamid and with these circumstances, the conditions of minorities began to change.
Advancements and Conflicts Involving the Jewish Community
In the midst of these turbulent conditions, Jews in Palestine advanced another step. They proceeded to establish an armed Jewish guard for their colonies. This was at the dethronement of Abdul Hamid—1909. This colony guard will be the first seed of the Zionist army in Palestinian history.
Two years later—year 1911—Jews began demanding recognition of the Hebrew language as an official language.
Another leap comes: Jews siding with the Allies in World War I against the Ottoman Empire ruled by the Unionists—Union and Progress Party. This siding led the Turkish government to overturn the Jewish presence. For example, information reached Jamal Pasha—who was the Ottoman commander in the Levant—that there is Zionist conspiracy to establish a Jewish state in Palestine.
So he launched a wide campaign on Jewish institutions, confiscated their money, disarmed the colony guard, prohibited raising the Jewish flag, prohibited raising any banner in Hebrew. But when the Ottoman Empire was defeated and its rule was lifted from the Levant in World War I, here we can say a new stage began in Palestinian history.
In summary, the story of Israel in truth indicates this malicious and vile nature—the nature that ALLAH, Blessed and Exalted, informed us of in HIS noble book—about these people. These who lived in the lands of Muslims a bliss they did not live in any other lands, when an opportune chance appeared for them to pounce on the Muslims who honored them and sheltered them, they did not fall short nor hesitate. So this story—the story of our nation’s greatness and nobility—what counters or equals it except the baseness of these people, their malice, and their vileness.
But also what must be said here, we must remember that until the last moment—when the Ottoman Empire was in its utmost states of weakness—it was allowing a solution that saves the Jews from persecution and massacres, whether from Russia or others, but does not make them a danger to it. The idea that Jews be granted to be Ottoman subjects under Ottoman sovereignty was offered to them, but they wanted to always be under foreign protection. They refused except to be a claw for the Western enemy in tearing apart the Ottoman Empire.
Dr. Al-Mesiri, may ALLAH have mercy on him, quotes in his encyclopedia, says this important phrase, says:
“The Zionist settlers were always offered to obtain Ottoman citizenship and settle in Palestine as Ottomans, not as a settlement element affiliated with a Western state. And the issue was not several thousands of Jews without a homeland or persecuted in their homelands searching for shelter, but it is the issue of implanting a strange human element that turns into a state with a Western colonial settlement orientation, and for this this solution was rejected“
Key Distinctions and Lessons from Palestinian History
In the end, I want to point to two matters we must pay attention to while reading the history of Jews in Palestine in the late Ottoman era and in the British occupation era in Palestinian history.
The first matter: We must always distinguish between the Jews of the country—who lived under the Ottoman Empire—and those coming from outside. The first ones—these—were less harmful and dangerous, rather they sometimes feared Zionism and feared the creation of Israel so as not to harm their position. But they did not delay in engaging in the Zionist project because it is the prevailing project, absorbed its plans and goals, and also turned against the Islamic nation, and betrayed the Muslims among whom they lived. There are bitter stories on this subject, so whoever opens the memoirs of those who lived at that time hears enormous stories of meanness.
The second matter I want to alert to: From the Jews—even from the Zionist migrants coming from outside—some enjoyed security and appreciation from the Arabs, even in the most intense times of clashes, because he was able to coexist and deal with his Arab surroundings with good morals. And even Sharon mentions the story of a migrant Jewish doctor, how she could move at any time and in any clash while adorned with security, because the Arabs respected her and because she served them and did not differentiate between Arabs and Jews in Palestinian history.
Now we have reached the doors of the bitter story, which is the beginning of the British occupation of Palestine, and this is what we start with, ALLAH willing, in the next article.
We ask ALLAH, Blessed and Exalted, to teach us what benefits us, and to benefit us with what HE taught us, and to increase us in knowledge, and peace be upon you and the mercy of ALLAH.
Sources:
- Mohamed Elhamy. قصة فلسطين | 6. كيف كانت فلسطين في ظل العثمانيين، قبل الاحتلال الإنجليزي. YouTube Video.
- The Summary of the Palestine Story ↩︎
- Saheeh International translation ↩︎
