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This second installment of our series explores the pivotal decade in the early 19th century that transformed the ancient Jewish dream of returning to Palestine from religious poetry into serious political planning, setting the stage for the creation of Israel a century later.
The Critical Turning Point in Islamic History
In the name of ALLAH, praise be to ALLAH, and peace and blessings upon the Messenger of ALLAH, His family, companions, and those who follow Him.
Welcome, dear brothers and sisters, to this second article in our new series, “The Palestine Story”. As we mentioned previously, in this series we are concisely narrating the history of Palestine from the emergence of the idea of Jewish return until the outbreak of the flood. Our goal is to understand the roots of this story and why it remains, even after more than a hundred years, a burning and inflammatory issue. How did Herzl succeed where his predecessors failed for three thousand years? And what is the future of this story as mentioned in the Quran and Sunnah, and as indicated by events?
Once again, I’ll repeat for those who wish to verify or expand on this information: these articles are extracted from my book “The Summary of Palestine History“1. I will, ALLAH willing, provide a link to download it for anyone who wishes to review this information, verify it, and know the page number and edition according to their preference.
In the previous article, we stopped at a moment we described as very dangerous and decisive in the Palestine story, one of the most critical moments in our Islamic history, which had an enormous impact on the Palestine issue. These were the crucial ten years that revived the idea of Israel.
We can say that the moment when the weakness of Islamic civilization and the collapse of the Islamic state before the West was exposed was during the French campaign in Egypt and the Levant. Napoleon, with the French armies, was able to occupy Egypt and extend into the Levant as far as Acre.
The Mamluks in Egypt—who were the actual rulers of Egypt, though nominally subject to the Ottoman Empire—and the Ottomans were unable to repel this French campaign. This was the first time unbelievers had successfully occupied Cairo since it was built, and the first time these unbelievers had occupied the Islamic capital in Egypt since the Islamic conquest. It was a very violent shock to everyone, and we can say it marked the beginning of a new era in history.
Napoleon’s Appeal and Muhammad Ali’s Rise
At that time, it was published in the French press that Napoleon—who was secular with no religion, pretending to believe according to his interests, being Muslim with Muslims, Christian with Christians, Jewish with Jews, as he himself wrote in his memoirs—when Napoleon headed to the Levant to occupy it, the French press published that Napoleon had issued an appeal to Jews to return to the Holy Land.
Was this appeal authentic? Was it fabricated about Napoleon? This is an issue historians disagree on. But whether this appeal was authentic or not, here you can see the first practical indication—at least among those running this newspaper or those who fabricated this appeal—of the convergence of Jewish religious interests and Western colonial interests.
But when Napoleon failed and stopped at the walls of Acre, unable to occupy the Levant, this failure led to the burial of the project to return Jews to Palestine. True, French armies were expelled from Egypt—through an English-Ottoman alliance—but after their departure, the French looked for someone with whom they could establish a strong relationship who would be loyal to them in Egypt. They found a dangerous officer in the Ottoman army—the same Ottoman army that expelled them—a dangerous officer named Muhammad Ali.
This officer was a shrewd, highly active young man who himself greatly admired Napoleon and the French. The two sides allied until Muhammad Ali reached the rule of Egypt, supported internally by its sheikhs and notables, but also through French political efforts with the Ottoman state. This has been recorded by historians who admired Muhammad Ali and his family. I’m not saying this through those who opposed Muhammad Ali.
For example, Elias Al-Ayoubi, the well-known historian, has two books, “History of Muhammad Ali” and “Egypt in the Era of Khedive Ismail”, where he mentioned the French efforts in installing Muhammad Ali, quoting from the memoirs of Ferdinand de Lesseps, who was the son of Consul Mathieu de Lesseps. Mathieu was part of the French diplomatic effort to install Muhammad Ali, and there are others we won’t elaborate on.
Muhammad Ali: The Architect of Change
This Muhammad Ali is considered the most dangerous figure in the history of the East for two hundred years. This man succeeded where Napoleon failed. He was a ruthless, tyrannical despot, extremely cunning and ambitious. He ruled Egypt for about half a century, approximately fifty years, from 1805 to 1848. He left Egypt having broken its Islamic society and established a modern, centralized state on the Western secular model. He was more tyrannical than Napoleon, but with a Muslim name, claiming to be a governor subordinate to the Ottoman Caliphate.
This Muhammad Ali was defeated in all his wars against the unbelievers, wars he entered into out of necessity, not by choice. And he was victorious in all his wars against Muslims, responsible for historic massacres in the Levant, Hijaz, Sudan, and of course in Egypt.
But what concerns us now—his story is long—what concerns us now is the Levant. Muhammad Ali had formed an army of Egyptians—the formation of this army, enslaving and kidnapping Egyptians to form this army is another bitter story for another time—but with this army he formed from Egyptians in the modern style, he invaded the Levant, seized it from the Ottoman Empire, defeated the Ottoman armies, and nearly destroyed the entire Ottoman Empire, as he almost reached Constantinople.
Of course, this had serious international repercussions, as the West could not tolerate this political earthquake at that time. Therefore, the English, Russians, and French rose to turn Muhammad Ali away from Istanbul, recognizing his rule in Egypt and the Levant. So he continued to rule Egypt and the Levant.
After another ten years, and after multiple events we have no time for now, Muhammad Ali’s rule was removed from the Levant in exchange for Egypt being subject to him and its rule passing to his heirs, his children after him.
The Decisive Decade for Israel’s Concept
These ten years in which Muhammad Ali ruled the Levant and controlled Jerusalem were decisive and crucial in reviving the idea of Israel.
Muhammad Ali’s policy was one of blatant occupation, even shameless occupation. There was no difference between Muhammad Ali’s period and the English and French occupation, perhaps it was even worse. And most dangerous of all, his Muslim name and nominal subordination to the Ottoman Empire made him more dangerous and more ferocious, and also made resisting him more difficult, for confronting a foreigner is not the same as confronting a Muslim who declares his intention for the Ottoman Caliphate.
His policy in the Levant—and I want you to focus with me because you will likely hear many harsh surprises you didn’t know—we can summarize Muhammad Ali’s approach in one sentence: Muhammad Ali provided complete empowerment to foreigners at the expense of the subjects, elevating foreigners above the subjects. And among these subjects, he elevated Jews and Christians above Muslims.
Muhammad Ali encouraged Jewish migration to Egypt and employed many in his administration. This was mentioned, by the way, by the well-known Jewish historian specializing in Egyptian history in the Ottoman era, Michael Winter, in his research within the book “History of Jews in Egypt in the Ottoman Era”, and also mentioned by Stanford Shaw, the famous historian, in his book “Jews of the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish Republic”.
I even found a mysterious document in the book “Egyptian Royal Archives”. This book was written by the Lebanese Christian historian Asad Rustum, which serves as a guide or summary of documents from Muhammad Ali’s period, of course not all documents but the most famous ones. The document I’m talking about is dated nine years before Muhammad Ali’s occupation of the Levant. It’s a letter from a Levantine Jew conveying to Muhammad Ali the conditions in the Levant, Iraq, and Iran, and anticipating the conditions of the Levant. Of course, it couldn’t be just one Jew doing all this, which may indicate a Jewish organization working for Muhammad Ali in these regions.
Preferential Treatment of Non-Muslims
As soon as Muhammad Ali’s armies entered the Levant, he removed all taxes that were taken from Christian and Jewish pilgrims to Jerusalem. He repaired Greek monks’ monasteries. He built a health quarantine for incoming Christian pilgrims, and placed the funds of this quarantine—the money these pilgrims would pay—at the disposal of the monks.
You know that Muhammad Ali’s economic policy was one of monopoly, the policy of a monopolistic man, with the state monopolizing funds. So this action cannot be understood from a monopolistic man building a modern state that centralizes funds in its hands, but this is what he did.
From the first days, he began restoring and building new Jewish synagogues, even before his occupation of the Levant was stabilized. Nine Jewish temples were established in Jerusalem, in addition to churches and monasteries. The Jews in Palestine had a disagreement: should they use these funds to build new temples or to build housing to accommodate new Jewish immigrants? Jerusalem suffered from an excess of Jewish immigration.
Similarly, Christians were granted the right to restore their churches and were granted the right to build new churches without seeking permission from the authorities. This had been granted to them before but with the permission of the Ottoman authorities; now they no longer needed permission.
He granted foreigners the right to enter Islamic holy places, and they entered under the protection of Muhammad Ali’s soldiers. He allowed foreign merchants to trade within the Levant. The Ottomans had prevented them from entering the Levant, restricting them to trade in coastal cities only. Muhammad Ali allowed them to enter and penetrate the Levant.
The tax on Muslim trade reached seven times the tax on foreign trade. Government control over foreign trade was restrained. He organized a legendary entry for the English consul into Damascus. The Ottomans did not allow foreigners into these interior cities. The Ottomans viewed the Levant as a sacred Islamic abode, which is why they called it “Noble Levant”. Ottoman ships were prevented from trading in the Levant.
The Foundation for a Jewish Presence
He allowed Jews and foreigners to establish schools in the Levant. Wealthy Jews established modern schools aimed at creating elites of Eastern Jewish youth to be qualified and self-sufficient, not needing Western Jews to defend them.
He introduced Christians and Jews into army and administrative positions, and they were granted ranks and titles. For the first time, Jews, Christians, Armenians, and foreigners were appointed to the Jerusalem Shura Council, which managed Jerusalem’s affairs. They were granted licenses to establish economic and commercial projects, even using Islamic endowment lands and lands belonging to the Ottoman Sultanate for this purpose.
For the first time in the history of Jerusalem, a foreign consulate was established there. It was in 1839—during these ten years we mentioned from 1831 to 1840, in 1839 an English consulate was established in Jerusalem—and this consulate would have a very dangerous role in caring for Jews and Protestants in Jerusalem and the Levant, becoming a center of great English influence, even a stronghold for spreading Christianization in Palestine.
At that time, the American consul—based in Jaffa—also requested to appoint a deputy in Jerusalem—the seed of an American consulate in Jerusalem—and at that time American activities in Jerusalem began.
During this period—Muhammad Ali’s period—the first Jewish attempt to seize part of the Al-Buraq Plaza, which they call the “Wailing Wall”, occurred. This Jewish attempt had assistance from the English consul, and the Egyptian authority responded to it.
The Inversion of Social Order
Jews and Christians enjoyed above-the-law status. Punishment was inflicted on any soldier of the authority who offended them, even unintentionally. Muhammad Ali’s soldiers—who could brutalize Muslims without punishment—if one unintentionally offended a Jew, foreigner, or Christian, he would be punished. In fact, sometimes—there is a very famous incident called “The Budairi Incident”, for which we don’t have time to discuss—murder crimes committed by Jews were pardoned despite proven guilt.
If a rebellion occurred in a town in the Levant, the authority—Muhammad Ali’s authority—would commit every crime with all brutality to punish the town where this rebellion occurred, but would exempt Jews and Christians. And if these rebels were Christians, they would be treated with the utmost gentleness.
Frankly, these scenes have no explanation except the extreme disbelief, enmity, and hatred that Muhammad Ali and his men harbored for Islam and its people. I cannot now mention the details, but whoever reads this—and I have written some research on it—whoever reads this will clearly see what I’m saying.
In contrast to Muhammad Ali’s interest in churches, synagogues, and monasteries that were established, cared for, and restored, Muhammad Ali’s authority seized some mosques and turned them into horse stables. In reality, Muslims suffered terrible persecution, which we don’t have time to detail now, but some people believed this was the end of Islam on earth.
Even Islamic endowments were subjected to the most extensive operations of sabotage and seizure at that time, while he cared for and preserved Christian and Jewish endowments. To the extent that many prominent Muslims and notables were forced to seek protection under foreign consuls to flee and save themselves from humiliation, forced conscription, and exorbitant taxes imposed by Muhammad Ali’s authority.
Sometimes a Muslim, a dignified man, one of the notables, would enter under the protection of Christians and Jews who worked in consulates and foreign interests, because these Christians and Jews were covered by foreign protection. So the noble, honorable master of yesterday now worked under his former Christian or Jewish servant, entering under his protection to escape the oppression of Muhammad Ali’s authority. This is apart from those who left the country and saved themselves.
The Demographic Shift in Jerusalem
These conditions created a population revolution in Jerusalem. Jews became the majority for the first time, followed by Christians, with Muslims becoming a minority. According to a statistic published by the well-known English researcher, Karen Armstrong, in her important book “Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths”, this statistic says that the number of Jews became 6,000, Christians 3,000, and Muslims 600… and this is a revolution, a demographic revolution. Before that, throughout the Ottoman period, Muslims were seventy-five or eighty-five percent of the population.
This demographic revolution and the political revolution produced a revolution in social and economic conditions, with Muslims declining in status and Jews and Christians rising above them, and foreigners rising above all.
This revolution in politics, economics, and society opened the appetite of a wealthy Jewish man named Moses Montefiore. This man now thought about a project to resettle Jews in Palestine, and this we can say was the strongest attempt before Herzl, the founder of Zionism. He tried to buy land, extensive land—two hundred villages—on the condition that this land would enjoy special privileges in agriculture and trade.
Indeed, Moses Montefiore went and met Muhammad Ali and received a very warm welcome. Muhammad Ali gave him more than he asked for. Muhammad Ali agreed that these villages Montefiore would buy would have self-governance, but on condition that he obtain authorization from the Ottoman Sultan that these lands would follow the Ottoman Sultanate in any form, whether by bribing some of his men or whatever. Essentially saying: “Do what you want, but get some kind of permission and take these villages with self-governance”.
Indeed, Moses Montefiore established agricultural settlements, industrial projects, and the first Jewish neighborhood outside the walls of Jerusalem, creating a situation for Jews in the Levant and Palestine with special privileges, assisted by the English consul.
As Dr. Abdel-Wahab El-Messiri says, this contributed to transforming these Jews into a foreign element disconnected from the region with a special susceptibility to transform into a functional settlement group. Those who know Dr. El-Messiri and his terminology regarding the functional group understand his intent well—that these Jews became in this way a functional part subordinate to foreigners.
The Birth of a Political Idea
The most dangerous result of all this was that during these ten years, the idea of removing Jews from Europe and establishing a state for them in Palestine was born. Meaning that Jewish dreams that were the poems of dervishes and calls of rabbis, and matters that existed in the temples of the religious, this idea moved here for the first time to politicians’ meetings, newspapers, articles by thinkers and intellectuals, parliaments, and government plans. The idea of establishing Israel began to invade the offices of decision-makers after being mere poems and dreams.
Therefore, we’ll see that the ideas calling for returning Palestine to Jews and returning Jews to Palestine—even those coming from non-Jews—were in these ten years. Of course, there are several observations, but the most important:
A socialist thinker named Charles Fourier, a Frenchman, has a book called “The False Industry”, published either in 1835 or 1836. This man actually hated Jews and saw them as the source of the world’s evils. He had a theory in which he saw trade as undeserved profit and not natural production—which doesn’t concern us now—but in this book, “The False Industry”, he suggested getting rid of the Jewish problem by expelling them from Europe and settling them in the Levant.
Three years later, the famous figure Lord Shaftesbury published in a magazine called “Quarterly Review”, a widely circulated magazine at that time, a review of a book written by a traveler who visited Palestine and wrote about it. In this review, he wanted to say “this is a suitable land for Jews to go to, to go as a workforce under the supervision of the English consul in Jerusalem, and thus we get rid of Jews”.
Two years after this, this idea—published by Shaftesbury—was presented in a document to Palmerston. Palmerston was a figure in English history at that time similar to Kissinger in our current era. Palmerston was a foreign minister and later prime minister, a famous and renowned English personality, considered the most important English politician at that time. Shaftesbury presented this idea to him and elaborated on the benefit of this project for Britain.
Note here: this project now had political and colonial benefits that politicians and decision-makers were thinking about, not just implementation of religious promises and dreams.
For example, among what appeared during that period: The Times newspaper—considered the most famous English newspaper at that time, similar to the New York Times in our days—wrote that the matter had now become a real issue raised at the political level.
Another newspaper called “Globe”, published in London and close to the Foreign Office, published a series of articles in 1839-1840 supporting the settlement of large numbers of Jews in the Levant, and these articles had gained Lord Palmerston’s approval.
Here also in the same year, Palmerston wrote a letter to the English ambassador in Constantinople, in Istanbul, suggesting the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. How would he market this project to the Ottomans? He said that the emergence of a Jewish state is the guarantee that Muhammad Ali would not attack the Levant again. Meaning a Jewish state would be loyal to the Ottoman Sultan and would serve as a wall against the expansion of someone like Muhammad Ali.
A fourth matter: Colonel Churchill presented in 1841 a memorandum to Moses Montefiore suggesting to him the establishment of a political movement to support the return of Jews to Palestine.
The Legacy of Muhammad Ali’s Decade
In summary: it would not have been possible to think about establishing a Jewish state at that time without what Muhammad Ali’s policy did in the Levant. Muhammad Ali’s policy in the Levant revitalized the idea of returning Jews to Palestine again. Therefore, this dangerous man, this criminal man, is undoubtedly the first paver, if not the first founder of Israel. Had it not been for circumstances—international political circumstances—that were stronger than him, meaning calculations beyond his will, Israel would have emerged fifty years ahead of schedule. We would have seen it emerge in 1901 or 1910, perhaps earlier.
The summary of these international circumstances is that Europe was about to enter into a fierce conflict over the inheritance of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire was a large, great state. The Ottoman Empire, even in its weakening period, was a power and a feared power as well.
They—the Europeans—were not thinking of a comprehensive collision with it, nor were they thinking of disputing over its inheritance, because there were conflicting interests. Russia on one side, and England and France on the other, with conflicting interests also between England and France. And Muhammad Ali was counted in this international conflict on France’s side. Everyone knew Muhammad Ali’s loyalty to France, and they expressed it in their documents as “France’s boy”.
Therefore, when the Ottoman Caliph, faced with the advance of Muhammad Ali’s armies, tried to seek help from Europe, they delayed. He sought help from Russia, which hastened to him. When Europe, especially the English, saw Russia hastening, Europe and England feared that the final result would be that the Russians would increase their influence and presence in the Ottoman Empire, so they hastened to enter the line of this battle so as not to be on the losing side.
England, Russia, and the Ottoman Empire were against Muhammad Ali’s penetration and expansion; of course, France was with him. This, by the way, encouraged Muhammad Ali to engage in the battle that took place in 1840. But in the final moments, the government in France changed. The new government abandoned Muhammad Ali after entangling him in the position of war, as he had been entangled with the old government, and the new government chose to stand with the alliance.
The important thing is, he clashed and was utterly defeated in 1840, and therefore withdrew from the Levant and his army was torn apart, with the compensation being that he would retain rule of Egypt for himself and his children. This is a very brief summary of the story.
What interests me in it is that this sudden end for Muhammad Ali in the Levant was for reasons beyond his control. This end obstructed the establishment of Israel and obstructed the Jewish projects that were growing strongly in Palestine at that time.
Therefore, an important question comes to us: if circumstances obstructed the establishment of Israel, and if the Ottoman Empire returned once again, then why was Israel established later? How was the attempt renewed? This, ALLAH willing, is what we’ll see in the next article.
We ask ALLAH Almighty to teach us what benefits us and to benefit us with what HE has taught us and to increase us in knowledge, and peace be upon you and ALLAH’s mercy and blessings.
Sources:
- Mohamed Elhamy. قصة فلسطين | 2. عشر سنوات خطيرة وحاسمة في تاريخ فلسطين. YouTube Video.
