What comes to mind when you hear “imam?” Maybe a boisterous bearded man screaming from his pulpit or a pious, humble servant to his community, but surely not a student science. Wrong! An Imam in Paris is a firsthand account of Imam al-Tahtawi’s stay in Paris. Tahtawi, an Egyptian cleric, is commissioned by Muhammad Ali (the ruler, not the boxer) to collect and translate scientific works. During his time in Paris, Tahtawi observes the scientific advancements happening in France as well as culture and traditions of the people. Tahtawi finds himself in 1820s France after the Enlightenment and the Jacobin’s Reign of Terror. As a cleric, Tahtawi quickly notices the effects of the Enlightenment without ever hearing about the movement itself.
In this essay I shall try to find whether the Terror was inherent from the French revolutions outset or was it the product of exceptional circumstances. The French revolution is the dividing line between the Ancien Regime and the modern world. After France the hierarchy that societies of the time had been founded on began to change and they began to sweep away the intricate political structures of absolute monarchy, but however to achieve this was the Terror absolutely necessary? And was it planned/ or was it just the extraordinary circumstances, which the French had lead themselves into once they had deposed of Louis the sixteenth. Whatever way it is looked at, the political ideology of the rest of the world was going to change after the French revolution. The conflicting ideology's of the French revolution from socialism to nationalism would now be mainstream words and spearhead many political parties in years to come. The French revolution had been in high hopes that a peaceful transition could be made from absolutist to parliamentary monarchy, but what went wrong? Surely the terror could not have been in their minds at this time? Surely it was not inherent from the start.
The Chronicle of the French Occupation, 1798 – Napoleon in Egypt, was written by the Egyptian born scholar and jurist, Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti (c. 1753-c.1825) between 1798 and 1801, framing the French occupation of Egypt. Both the Middle East and Europe, during the late 17th century were in a state of redefinition. Although the chronicle had covered only the brief period during first seven months of 36, it serves as a crucial accounting. Clearly illustrated is a paradigmatic shift between a modern culture and an antiquated system with a chronicle of events that swings between something that is merely observational to something written by an emotionally charged spectator. Although the work has been widely accepted, there is still some speculation as to degrees of censorship and possible omissions through various translations.
...y by compiling a summary of Islamic history, and, by doing so, creates a complete Islamic history that can go toe to toe with European history. As a result, his argument stands to be thorough, suggesting that Islamic history indeed plays a role in today’s international world
To summarize the book into a few paragraphs doesn't due it the justice it deserves. The beginning details of the French and Ind...
“Society was cut in two: those who had nothing united in common envy; those who had anything united in common terror.” The French Revolution was a painful era that molded the lives of every citizen living in France and changed their ways of life forever. Beginning in 1789 and lasting ten years until 1799, the people of France lived in a monarch society under King Louis XVI’s rule. He was a very harsh ruler and had many restrictions placed on his people. They eventually overthrow him and become a monarch society. Among his deceptive ways, the people also experienced “The Reign of Terror,” which was a period where many lives were taken by the guillotine. Other revolutionary events included rebellions, constitutions, and groups. One of the popular groups that contributed greatly to the French Revolution were the Jacobins who were led by Maximilien Robespierre.
In order to investigate the claim that ‘Napoleon betrayed the revolution’, it has to be determined what is the French revolution? And what are the revolutionary ideals that Napoleon allegedly betrayed? If Napoleon betrayed the Revolution then he betrayed the ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity. However if Napoleon did not betray the revolution, he consolidated the revolutionary ideals. The only way of determining whether Napoleon consolidated or betrayed the revolution is to explore his actions such as his military success, Dictatorship and social reforms. The difficulty of this analysis is that Napoleons motives for his actions determine whether he consolidated or betrayed the Revolution.
New York: Barnes & Noble, 1969. Print. The. Kreis, Steven. A. A. "Lecture 12: The French Revolution - Moderate Stage, 1789-1792.
Rifa'a al-Tahtawi was one of the first Arab authors to introduce the ideas of the Enlightenment to the Arab audience via his native Egypt. Tahtawi’s own introduction to these ideas came when he was selected as part of one of Muhammad Ali’s university missions to France (we are of course referring to the governor of Egypt during the Ottoman Empire and not the boxer). Tahtawi was in France between 1826 and 1831, and out of this trip came his famous translation of La Marseillaise. Tahtawi’s translation is remarkable in that it highlights a very conscious and for the most part successful effort to avoid losing meaning through translation, and this is especially impressive when one considers
The French people were quick to blame the government for all the misfortune they possess, yet ignored the potential evil or crisis the social body was heading towards within themselves. Because of the rapid sequence of horrific events in the beginning of the French revolution, it prevented the subversive principles to be spread passes the frontiers of France, and the wars of conquest which succeeded them gave to the public mind a direction little favorable to revolutionary principles (2). French men have disgraced the religion by ‘attacking with a steady and systematic animosity, and all it is there that the weapon of ridicule has been used with the most ease and success (2). Metternich was not in support of the French
In his book Twelve Who Ruled, Palmer eloquently writes this narrative, "weaving the biographies of the twelve into the history of their time," and provides a coherent and convincing explanation of the terror. The book is not only educational for someone interested in the time period when these twelve men ruled the nation of France, but it is also enjoyable from the perspective of a person reading the book solely for interest in revolutions and how they affect the people who are involved in them. The book deals with a brief period of time during the French Revolution, namely the year of terror. The book ventures to interpret the foundations and rationale for the terror and Palmer illustrates his speculations on the subject through gracious, flowing writing.
“Culture belongs to the imagination; to judge it rationally is to misunderstand its function” (Wilson 79). In “The Butterfly Mosque” by G. Willow Wilson, she acknowledges culture and explains why cultures can differ so greatly. She emphasizes why its highly inconclusive to try to find a meaning behind ones culture. As a young American Muslim women she is faced with cross cultural ironies as she tries to find her identity and where she fits in. Her conversion to Islam brings into light her internalized prejudice and the different perspectives of Westerners towards the Middle East and vice versa. In her memoir, she depicts both positive and negative aspects of both cultures and, her struggle to find a common ground between the two.
Nardo, Don. A. The French Revolution. San Diego, California: Greenhaven Press, Inc., 1999. Print.
Today, as historians look at the enlightenment they look at it through the eyes of the great thinkers.“The philosophic spirit itself took refuge in the writings of some great men”(D’Alembert,7).They helped create knowledge in how it is viewed today. However, the question remians what is the category that these men fall into. There are many different names and definitions of what these men can be called and who qualifies to fit in this group. It is said that many of the men that were classified in the category were not actual philosopher thinkers that expanded the mind and challenged thought. In the essay “The High Enlightenment and the Low-Life of Literature” by Robert Darnton he discuses the status of these philosophes that were being produced during the High Enlightenment. He argues that “the summit view of eighteenth-century intellectual history has been described so often and so well that it might be useful to strike out in a new direction, to try to get to the bottom of the Enlightenment, and try to penetrate into its underworld...from below”(Darnton,57). He decides to look at the status of the enlightenment thinkers during this time to see the social standing that they had and the influence upon the world around them, not from the overall philosophes. Not from their works that were produced or the social responses to them; from the actual men of letters themselves.Darnton criticizes other historians for having looked at the Enlightenment “only through the eyes of this elite and proposes that, instead, we examine it from the perspective of those who failed to break into this closed elite of ‘literary aristocrates’”(Who were the Philosophes, 44).
I have been somewhat critical of the author at times, but this is only because he opens the door for the reader to think. I would not be able to formulate opinions if he hadn’t questioned whether Muhammad was being a fair and effective leader. After all, he greatly changed the course of history as we know it. Cook’s objective way of looking at Muhammad’s life allows one to attain a clear view of just how deep of an impact he made.
Moreover, the main character of this arguably structural fictional novel, travelogue and biography, which encompasses both historical and biographical events, begins his journey through the truths of studying eleventh century Egypt. Amitav places himself in the story as a doctoral student who is given the opportunity to study social anthropology. As we learned and discussed throughout this course, there are a variety of methods in which to study religion. Social anthropology focuses on“the study of human beings and societies viewed primarily as both the creators and the creations of culture . . . sociology of religion . . . focuses its attention on social behavior and the way in which religion interacts with other dimension...