Said Halim Pasha – Philosopher Prince

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Notes

I wish to express my appreciation to Dr Moinuddin Aqeel, Professor, Department of Urdu, University of Karachi, for making available references in Urdu related to Said Halim Pasha.

1. The orthography used in the article for most names is that of modern Turkish. Otherwise, Arab sources often refer to Said Halim as Sa‘id Haleem Basha and French sources as Saïd Halim Pacha.

2. Said Halim Pasha was shot dead on 5 Dec. 1921 by an Armenian named Arshavir Shirakian (Çıracıyan), who was not apprehended. Shirakian returned to Istanbul to take part in the later assassinations of two former Young Turk officials, Dr Bahaeddin Şakir and Cemal Azmi Bey, in Berlin on 17 April 1922. Discontented Armenians within the Ottoman Empire used assassination as a political weapon. There was a famous Armenian attempt to assassinate the Sultan Abdülhamid II in 1905, and Armenians were responsible for the assassination of several political leaders of the Committee of Union and Progress who were in power when the deportation of Armenians took place in 1915, including Talât Pasha, Cemal Pasha and Said Halim Pasha.

3. Among relatively recent books are: M.H. Bostan, Bir İslamcı Düşünür – Said Halim Pasha[An Islamist Thinker – Said Halim Pasha] (Istanbul: İrfan Yayınevi, 1992); M.E. Düzdağ, Said Halim Paşa – Buhranlarımız ve Son Eserleri[Said Halim Pasha – Our Crises and Last Works] (Istanbul: İz Yayıncılık, 1991); A. Şeyhun, Said Halim Pasha: Ottoman Statesman and Islamist Thinker (Istanbul: The Isis Press, 2003); and N.A. Özalp (ed.), Said Halim Paşa: Bütün Eserleri[Said Halim Pasha: Complete Works] (Istanbul: Anka Yayınları, 2003). There is also no shortage of newspaper articles on Said Halim Pasha as well as sundry websites treating his career and publications.

4. Sadrazam (actually Sadr-ı azam; earlier Vezir, later Vezir-i Azam) was the title of the Ottoman Prime Minister or Chief Minister. He carried the seal of the sultan while in office.

5. Mehmed Talât (Bey, later Pasha – 1874–1922) was a man of great energy and organizational skills. He worked in the Ottoman postal service, learned French and joined the CUP, becoming Deputy for Edirne and Minister. He became Sadrazam in 1917 on the resignation of Said Halim. He went to Germany after leaving Turkey, and was assassinated in 1922 in Berlin by an Armenian named Soghomon Tehlirian.

6. İsmail Enver (Bey, later Pasha – 1881–1922) was a graduate of the War Academy in Istanbul. He joined the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) in 1906 and achieved national fame with the 1908 Revolution. He rose steadily, married the Princess Naciye Sultan and was appointed Minister of War in 1914. After he left Turkey in 1918 he went to Germany and to Russia and was killed while fighting the Bolsheviks in 1922 not far from Bukhara. His remains were brought back to Turkey from Tajikistan for burial in 1996.

7. Ahmed Cemal (Bey, later Pasha, 1872–1922) was, like Enver Pasha, a graduate of the War Academy. As a member of the CUP he served in many important capacities, such as Governor of Adana and Governor of Syria. He was Bahriye Nazırı (Minister of the Marine) during the First World War. He was assassinated in Tbilisi, Georgia in 1922 by Armenians named Stepan Dzaghikian, Bedros Der Boghosian and Ardashes Kevorkian.

8. Apart from Talât, Enver and Cemal Pashas, this group included Dr Bahaeddin Şakir, Dr Nazım, Bedri and Cemal Azmi.

9. The Committee of Union and Progress (in Turkish, İttihad ve Terakki Cemiyeti, in English often abbreviated to CUP) was founded in 1889 by a group of medical students. Like other covert societies, it formed several branches of which the most important was the one in Paris under Ahmed Rıza. Regrouping in Salonica in 1906, the CUP was responsible for the 23 July 1908 Revolution. The CUP was in power in Turkey during the years of the First World War.

10. The title given to the Ottoman Minister of Foreign Affairs.

11. Said Halim Pasha's life is intertwined with that of his brother Mehmed Abbas Halim Pasha, who was born on 29 Sept. 1866 in Cairo and died on 10 Jan. 1935 in Helwan, Egypt.

12. It is variously claimed that Mehmed Ali Pasha (i.e. Muhammad Ali, Khedive of Egypt) and his descendants were of Albanian or even Arab descent, but his Turkish ancestry is stressed by Bostan, Bir İslamcı Düşünür, pp.17–18.

13. Kavala is a seaport in the eastern part of Macedonia in Greece.

14. A strict and narrow but influential interpretation of Islam propagated by Muhammad Abdul Wahhab who was born in 1703 near Riyadh (in present-day Saudi Arabia). His date of death is variously given as 1787 or 1792. Supporters of Wahhab fought against outnumbered Ottoman garrisons and stormed Mecca in 1803. Control of the Haremeyn (the holy cities of Mecca and Medina) kept changing hands until the Ottoman sultan Mahmud II entrusted Mehmed Ali Pasha of Kavala with the job of tackling the Wahhabis. Troops under his son Ahmed Tosun Pasha entered Medina in 1812 and Mecca and Taif in 1813.

15. Along with the Hijaz, Asir and the Rub’al Khali (the empty quarter), Najd is one of the major regions of what is today called Saudi Arabia.

16. For a very readable account of how the European Powers, each pursuing its own political interests, reacted to the sundry revolts of Mehmed Ali Pasha against Ottoman authority, see J.A.R. Marriott, The Eastern Question – An Historical Study in European Diplomacy (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1947), pp.225–48.

17. It was as a result of a disagreement with the Khedive Ismail that Said Halim's father Mehmed Abdül Halim Pasha brought his family over to Istanbul and established residence in a mansion on the shores of the Bosphorus.

18. The princely title of Khedive placed the title holder in Ottoman protocol at a rank equal to, but preceded by, the Sadrazam and the Şeyhülislâm (Shaikh ul Islam).

19. W. Miller, The Ottoman Empire and its Successors 1801–1927 (London: Frank Cass, 1966), p.88.

20. Other dates are also quoted, e.g. 19 Feb. 1864 in Düzdağ, Said Halim Paşa, p.xiii.

21. These included the Ottoman statesman Rıza Tevfik Bölükbaşı. See S.T. Wasti, ‘Feylesof Rıza’, Middle Eastern Studies, Vol.38, No.2 (April 2002), p.89.

22. All his published writings, apparently, were initially drafted by him in French.

23. Called the Şura-yı Devlet in Turkish, the Council of State functioned primarily as a High Court disposing of administrative disputes.

24. Beylerbeyi literally means ‘the Bey of Beys’. In the present context, the traditional title would be equivalent to Governor-General of the Balkans.

25. Mahmud Şevket Pasha (born 1856; some sources give 1858) was a distinguished soldier trained in France and Germany. After helping to crush the 31 March insurrection he was appointed Minister of War and became Sadrazam in 1912. He was assassinated in Istanbul by political opponents on 11 June 1913.

26. This raid took place on 23 Jan. 1913. See Wasti, ‘Feylesof Rıza’, p.94.

27. Said Halim's brother Abbas Halim also held the post of Nafıa Nazırı (Minister of Public Works) in the Ottoman Cabinet during 1915–17.

28. Edirne had fallen to Bulgarian forces during the second Balkan War on 26 March 1913.

29. See S.T. Wasti, ‘The Balkans Wars and the Siege of Edirne’, Middle Eastern Studies, Vol.40, No.4 (July 2004), pp.59–78.

30. See S.T. Wasti, ‘The Circles of Maulana Mohamed Ali’, Middle Eastern Studies, Vol.38, No.4 (October 2002), pp.51–62.

31. For information on the life of Halil Menteşe, reference may be made to S.T. Wasti, ‘Halil Menteşe – The Quadrumvir’, Middle Eastern Studies, Vol.32, No.3 (July 1996), pp.92–105.

32. Although it suffered damage in a fire in 1995, the mansion, known as Said Halim Yalısı, still graces the shores of the Bosphorus and the objets d’art collected by the Pasha are displayed within it.

33. Said Halim signed the treaty for the Ottomans and Baron von Wangenheim, the German Ambassador, for the Germans.

34. Or, at least, a much delayed entry into the war.

35. See Wasti, ‘Halil Menteşe – The Quadrumvir’.

36. As subsequently narrated by Said Halim to İbnülemin Mahmut Kemal:

His Majesty sent me an invitation for a private meeting, so I went. He was unhappy about the situation as well as my resignation and said: ‘It is only you who know me, and I who know you. I feel some consolation with your presence. If you decide to leave, to whom will I be able to express myself?’ He kissed me on both cheeks. This royal trust and gracious compliment forced me to put myself and my own desires second and to continue with my duties.

37. There were even attempts to subvert the CUP government by force and intrigue, as mentioned in Bostan, Bir İslamcı Düşünür, pp.67–8.

38. Now termed the ‘Yüce Divan’, this tribunal has been and is translated in different ways as Supreme State Council, High Council of State, etc.

39. These exiles included people of the highest rank, including Said Halim and Abbas Halim Pashas. For information on this sorry episode see See Wasti, ‘Halil Menteşe – The Quadrumvir’. A far more detailed account is available in B. Şimşir, Malta Sürgünleri[The Malta Deportees] (Ankara: Bilgi Yayınevi, 1985). The book also has a list of all Ottomans exiled to Malta.

40. Şeyhun, Said Halim Pasha. The book benefits from an excellent bibliography.

41. Bostan, Bir İslamcı Düşünür.

42. Düzdağ, Said Halim Paşa.

43. Özalp (ed.), Said Halim Paşa: Bütün Eserleri.

44. Şeyhun, Said Halim Pasha.

45. The Javid Nama[The Book of Eternity] is part of the Persian corpus of Iqbal's work. Javid was also the name given by Iqbal to one of his sons. See Kulliyat-e-Iqbal, Farsi[The Poetical Works of Iqbal in Persian] (Lahore: Shaikh Ghulam Ali, 1985), pp.589–796. For an English translation of the Javid Nama, see Iqbal, Javid-Nama, translated by A.J. Arberry (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1966).

46. Muhammad Iqbal (1877–1938) was a poet, philosopher, writer in several languages, lawyer and political worker who crystallized the idea of a separate homeland for the Muslims of India.

47. Jalaluddin-i Rumi (Celâleddin Rumî in Turkish – 1207–73) was born in Balkh (in present-day Afghanistan) but migrated to Turkey where he settled in Konya. The author of many books, of which the most celebrated is the Mesnevi (Mathnawi).

48. Zinda-Rud means ‘Living Stream’ in Persian.

49. Jamaluddin Afghani (Cemaleddin Afgani in Turkish – 1838–97) was a scholar, writer and political activist who sought to create some kind of league of the Islamic nations. Although Iranian in origin, he adopted the surname Afghani and travelled in Turkey, Iran, India, Egypt and Europe. Much controversy surrounds his life and work, but he exerted great influence on many Muslim intellectuals.

50. ‘I went on and two men at prayer I did find/The Afghan led in front and the Turk stood behind’.

51. Thus, in Arberry's translation of Iqbal's Javid-Nama, p.58, Said Halim Pasha is despondent about Turkish efforts of ‘a great renewal’:

No, the Turks have no new melody in their lute, What they call new is only the old tune of Europe; No fresh breath has entered into their breast, No design of a new world is in their mind. Turkey perforce goes along with the existing world, Melted like wax in the flame of the world we know.

52. All the essays of Said Halim Pasha were reprinted in various issues of the Sebîlürreşad journal and a list of these is available in A. Ceyhan, Sırat-ı Müstakim ve Sebîlürreşad Mecmualar Fihristi[Index to the Sırat-ı Müstakim and Sebîlürreşad Journals] (Ankara: Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı, 1991).

53. Mehmed Akif Ersoy (1873–1936) was a writer and poet who provided the words of the Turkish national anthem. A veterinarian by profession, he later served in the Turkish Grand National Assembly as a deputy from Burdur. A man of deep faith, he left Turkey for some years to teach in Egypt, where he was supported by Abbas Halim Pasha, Said Halim's younger brother, and his family.

54. All translations, except those from Pickthall (which are given in italics) and all the selections from the writings of Said Halim Pasha for this article are mine.

55. The names of all the publishers and associated dates are to be found in the endnotes to the introductory chapter in Düzdağ, Said Halim Paşa.

56. Although often using the term ‘West’, Said Halim refers more frequently to ‘European nations’.

57. Sebîlürreşad means the Correct Road and was founded as a journal in 1908 by Ebül Ulâ Zeynel Abidîn and Eşref Edib with Mehmet Akif as the editor under the name Sırat-ı Müstakîm[Straight Path] but the name was changed to Sebîlürreşad in 1912. The journal ceased publication in 1925; it was revived in 1948 and continued until 1965.

58. In Arabic, shar‘iah (meaning ‘way’) is the system of Islamic canonical law. The Turkish equivalent for the word is Şeriat. Said Halim puts it as follows: ‘The shar‘iah is the small part of the Sublime Reality embracing the whole universe that applies to human beings.’

59. See Şeyhun, Said Halim Pasha.

60. The French version of the essay by Said Halim, published in 1922, was entitled: Notes pour servir à la réforme de la société.

61. The English version of this essay was first published in the journal ‘Islamic Culture’ of Hyderabad (Deccan) of Jan. 1927, pp.111–35. In a footnote Marmaduke Pickthall, who was then the Editor of this journal, writes:

This article was written in French for the Review ‘Orient et Occident’ (Paris), edited by that staunch friend of Muslims, M. Gaston Gaillard, only a few weeks before Prince Said Halim Pasha was assassinated in Rome. It contains some of the ideas developed in his epoch-making work in Turkish, ‘Islamlashmaq’ (Islamise). Our present translation is being published in book form by Maulvi Abdullah, Secretary, Jami’at-i-Dawat-o-Tabligh Islam, outside Akbari gate, Lahore.

Since that time, the essay has been translated into many languages.

62. See Düzdağ, pp.225–89.

63. Fiqh in Turkish is Fıkıh and comes from the Arabic word for ‘discernment’.

64. Apart from Said Halim Pasha himself, a short list would include Amir Shakib Arslan, Maulana Mohamed Ali, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Muhammad Iqbal, Halil Halid, Sir Ameer Ali, Mushir Hosain Kidwai, the Aga Khan and many others.

65. M. Riaz, ‘Iqbal aur Said Halim Pasha’[Iqbal and Said Halim Pasha], Iqbal Review (Karachi: Iqbal Academy), Vol.12, No.2 (July 1971), pp.48–62.

66. M. Iqbal, The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam (Lahore: Sh. Muhammad Ashraf, 1965), p.156.

67. This quote is from the essay İslamlaşmak by Said Halim. See Düzdağ, Said Halim Paşa, p.213.

68. Eşref Edib Fergan (1882–1971), journalist and author of many books. He was the owner of the journal Sebilürreşad and friend of Mehmet Akif Ersoy (note 42).

69. E. Edib, ‘İslâm Alemi için pek büyük bir Kayıp’[A Very Great Loss for the Islamic World], Sebilürreşad (Istanbul), Vol.19, No.492 (16 Jan. 1922), pp.256–9.

70. Şimşir, in Malta Sürgünleri, is less favourable to Said Halim and says that although the incarcerated Pasha initially turned to the British and French authorities for justice, he later began to put his faith in the growing strength and prestige of the Turkish Resistance after its victories under Gazi Mustafa Kemal.

71. Celâl Nuri İleri (1877–1939) was a prolific writer and journalist who was the deputy for Gelibolu (Gallipoli) in the last Ottoman Chamber of Deputies. He also served in the Turkish Grand National Assembly after the establishment of the Republic.

72. The phrase has acquired universal currency after the publication of S. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996).