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Mahmud Tarzi and Saraj-ol-Akhbar: Ideology of Nationalism and Modernization inAfghanistanAuthor(s): Vartan GregorianSource: Middle East Journal, Vol. 21, No. 3 (Summer, 1967), pp. 345-368Published by: Middle East InstituteStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4324163.
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MAHMUD TARZI
AND
SARAJ-OL-AKHBAR:
IDEOLOGY OF
NATIONALISM
AND
MODERNIZATION
IN
AFGHANISTAN
Vartan
Gregorian
HEstudyof the
reformmovement
n Afghanistan
nd
of the
character
of
Afghan
nationalism
has been
practically
eglected
n the
examina-
tion
of the historyof the nationalist-revivalist
nd modernist
movements
of the contemporary
Middle
Eastand the
Muslim
world. The paucity
of
ma-
terial
is especially
remarkable
n the
case
of Mahmud
Tarzi who,
as
editor
in chief
of Saraj-ol-Akhbar-e-Afghaniyah
The
lamp
[or
torch]
of the
news
of
Afghanistan),
the first
successful
news
medium
n modern
Afghan
history
(published
from
October
1911 to
December
1918),
helped
formulate
the
basic
tenets of
Afghan
nationalismand
modernism.
As a forum,Saraj-ol-
1. In Afghanistan, until recently, the study of Tarzi's career and ideas was
discouraged,
apparently n view of his close family ties and political association
with
King
Amanullah
Khan
(1919-1928) and his ill fated reforms.Thus, until the late 1950's Afghan officialsourcesomitted
any mention of the name Tarzi. See, for instance, Said Qassim Reshtia's article Journalism n
Afghanistan:
a
brief historical sketch, Afghanistan (Kabul) III,
No. 2
(1948)
and the official
Afghan publicationpertaining o The 40th Anniversary f the Independence f Afghanistan Kabul,
n.d., 1959-60?). Currently, owever, Tarzi has been rehabilitated nd his manifold
contributions
o
the
Afghan nationalist-modernistmovement are being recognized by the Afghan
historians.
For
example, see MuhammadHaider Zhobal's MahmudTarzi pedar-e matba'at ( Tarzi,
father
of
the press ),
Irfan
(Kabul) No. 2 (1958). So far, however, there are no monographic
or
general
Afghan
studies on him
in
either
Persian or Pashto. The overwhelmingmajorityof European
and
Americanstudies on modern Islam and Asian nationalism ail to mention Tarzi,
Saraj-ol-Akhbar,
and even the topics of Afghan nationalismand modernism.The handful of works that make
casual
reference o Tarzi, his periodicaland the Young Afghans are: E. B. Browne, The Press
and
Poetry
of ModernPersia (C.U.P., 1914) pp. 24, 102; H. Kohn, A History of Nationalism in the East
(New York, 1929)
p.
344;
Sir P.
Sykes, A History of Afghanistan (2 vols., London, 1940)
II,
pp. 264-5. Among the post-WorldWar
II
studies, the late Sir W. K. Fraser-Tytler's
fghanistan,
(O.U.P., 1950
and
1953 eds.) ignores both Saraj-ol-Akhharnd Tarzi, whereas D. Wilber's (ed.)
Afghanistan 2nd ed., New Haven, 1963) p. 168, deals with them in a few lines. Most surprising
of all, both the old and the new editions of the Encyclopedia f Islam ignore not only Tarzi and
his
biweeklyperiodical,but the entire Afghan modernist-nationalist ovement.The only meaningful
biographical ketchon Tarzi
in
English is the recent article of L. Dupree, M. Tarzi: Forgotten
nationalist, American Universities Field Staff Report Service: South Asian Series, VIII, No.
1
(Jan. 1964). In French he article of H. J. de Dianous, La itteratureAfghane de langue persane,
Orient (Paris) No. 31 (1964) pp. 138-44 remainsthe sole attempt to analyzethe work and r6le
of Tarzi. The Soviet Afghaniststoo, despite their numerous tudies and their constantacknowledge-
ment of the historical importanceof MahmudTarzi, Saraj-al-Akhharnd the Young Afghans,
have
as yet producedno monographic tudies on the subject.To the best of the author'sknowledge,
until
1963 the only article on Tarzi in Russian was a sketchy translationof the Afghan
poet
KhalilollahKhalili's MahmudBek Tarzi, n ProblemiiVostokvedenniia Moscow) No. 2 (1959)
pp. 156-7.
< VARTAN
GREGORIANs
professor of history at San
FranciscoState College,
San
Francisco,
California.
345
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346
T H
E
MIDDLE EAST
JOURNAL
Akhbar
ave voice to
the
aspirations f the
Young
Afghans, a
small,
en-
lightened
elite, who, led
by
Tarzi, imnedthe
political
silhouetteof
the forth-
coming progressive
fghanistan.
MahmudTarziwas the son of SardarGhulamMuhammedKhan,a prom-
inent
leader of the
Muhammedzailan of
the powerful
Afghan Durrani
tribe.
The Sardar,a well
known Afghan
poet and
epigrapher,
who
wrote
under he
pen
nameof
MuhammedTarzi
stylist )
,3
was
charged
n
1882by
the then
Afghan
monarch,Amir
Abdur
RahmanKhan
(1880-1901),
with
conspiring
against
the
state
and was
banished
rom the
country.
After
a
brief interval
n
Karachi, he Tarzi
family
journeyed o
the Ottoman
Em-
pire. Here they
were well
received
by Sultan
Abdul Hamid II,
and
were
allowed to establishresidence n Damascus. Their two decadesof sojourn
abroadhad a
great
impact
on
the
educationand
outlook of
Mahmud
Tarzi
and
other
membersof the
family,who
attendedschools in
Damascus
and
Constantinople
nd came nto
contactwith
the
byproductsf
European
ulture
and
institutions.
They
were
exposed
to French
iterature,
he Ottoman
na-
tionalist-revivalist
ovementand
the
Pan-Islamic
iews of Jamal
al-din al-
AfghTni,
or whom
SardarGhulam
MuhammedKhan
hadgreat
reverence.'
In
Damascus,
he
youngMahmudTarzi
was
attachedo the
secretariat f the
Ottoman
provincialadministration.
In
1902,
after
the deathsof
both
Amir
Abdur
Rahman
Khan
and Sardar
Ghulam
MuhammadKhan, an
amnesty,
promulgated y the new
Afghan
ruler,
Amir
HabibullahKhan
(1901-1919),
paved
the
wayfor the return
f
the Tarzi
amily.8
Upon arrival
n
Afghanistan,
M.
Tarzi,
mbued
with
modernistic
iews, began
the
endeavorof
initiatinga
program
of
reform.He
called the
monarch's
ttention o the
glaring
deficien-
cies
of
Afghanistan
n
the
realms
of
education,
ommunicationsnd
economy,
and alerted
the ruler
to the
undesirable
onsequences
f a political,
cultural
and
intellectual solation
and
stagnation f
the
country.
Tarzi was
appointed
to serveas the chief of the Bureauof Translation f the RoyalCourt,his
2.
Saraj-ol-Akhbar
henceforth
S.A.)
I, No.
5, p.
12, In
Wilber
(ed.), op.
cit., p.
178, the
authors
have
inadvertently
onfused
Sardar
Ghulam
MuhammedKhan
with his
son
Mahmud
Tarzi.
3. On
the
life
and
poetry
of
SardarG.
M.
Tarzi
see
S.A.,
II, No.
7
p. 11,
also
Muhammed
H.
Behrouz
Adabiyat s
Abul
Farrapbe'
bad,
( Literature
rom
Abul
Farraj
on ), in
Anjomane
Aryana's
Afganestan,
(Kabul,
1955) p.
364.
Dupree,
op. cit.,
pp.
2-4,
and
Dianous,
loc. cit.,
No.
27
(1963) p.
143
and
No.
31,
(1964)
pp.
138-9.
4.
SohrabK. H.
Katrak,
Through
Amanullah's
Afghanistan
(Karachi
1929)
p.
xiv.
5.
Abdul
Wahab
Tarzi,
Afghanistan
n
Islam
Ansiklopedisi(4
vols.,
Istanbul,
1945) I,
p.
169. H. J. de Dianouswrites in Orient,No. 31 (1964) p. 139, that MahmudTarzi was born in
Damascus
n
1867. This is
wrong.
Tarzi was
born
in
Ghazni,
Afghanistan.
6.
A.
W.
Tarzi,
loc.
cit.,
pp.
169-70.
See
the
qasida
of
SardarG.
M.
Khan
Tarzi
on
al-Afghani
in
Dianous,
loc. cit.,
No.
31, p.
138.
7.
Dupree,
loc. cit., p.
5.
8.
Katrak,
op. ci.,
p.
xiv.
In
his
Raudat-i-Hikam
The
Gardenof
Wisdom )
(henceforth
R.H.)
(Kabul,
1913)
pp.
139,
144,
Tarzi
speaks
of
his
heart-breaking
ostalgia
or
the
Afghan
fatherland.
9. A.
W.
Tarzi, oc.
cit., p.
170.
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MAHMUD TARZI
AND SARAJ-OL-AKHBAR
347
main
task
being to
inform
and
satisfy
the Amir's
curiosity
s
to
events
within
the
Muslim
world and in
Europe.In
1911,
as a result of
Tarzi's
untiring
efforts,
and the
moral
support
ent
him by
Inayatullah
Khan,
the
eldest son
of the Amir (in chargeof the administrationf educationn the Kingdom
andthe
Royal
pressat
Kabul),
there
appeared
hefirst ssueof Saraj-ol-Akhbar.
It was
published
under
the
auspicesof
the
Amir,the
editorship
of Mahmud
Tarzi,and
the
supervision f
the
Court
Chamberlain
Ishikaghassi).
0
During
the
first
year,the
biweekly
Persian
anguage
periodicalwas
lithographed.
ub-
sequently,
as a
result
of the
importation
f
new
printing
presses,
he
quality
of
the
paper
and
its
printingand
engraving
mproved
o much that
in
many
technical
spects t
remains
uperioro
many
current
Afghan
publications.
The immediateaim of Saraj-ol-Akhbaras to provideAfghanistan with
one of the
most
essential
ools of
modern
civilization -a
newspaper.
Except
for
the
bedouin
ndthe
savage
tribes,
wrote
Tarzi,therewere no
organized
societies
without
news
media.
As
such, the
paper
brought to
the
Afghan
literati
both
domestic
nd
foreign
news.
It
translated
eports
nd feature
articles
from
the
English,
Urdu,
Turkishand
Arabic
press,
or
reproduced
arious
articles
rom
Persian
newspapers
nd
journals.
The
periodical
lso
introduced
photography
ndcaricature.
araj-ol-Akhbar,
owever,
was not
merely
or
the
dissemination
f the
news. It
espousedthe
cause
of the
modernization f
Afghanistan
and
the
political
andsocial
education
f the
Afghan
ruling
class
and literati.
The
periodical
ttempted
o
definefor them
both
the
nature
and
the
ultimate
aims
of
Afghan
nationalism
nd to
formulatea
theoretical
asis
in order
to direct
and
justify
the
projected
ocioeconomic
ransformationf
Afghanistan.
The
important ole
that
Saraj-ol-Akhbar
as
destined
o play
and the dif-
ficulties
of
Tarzi's
ask
can
best
be
seen
againstthe
historical
background f
nineteenth
century
Afghan
political
and
cultural
realities
and
the
attitude
of theAfghanrulingelitetowards ocial, echnologicalndinstitutional
hange
and reform.
In the
first decadesof
the
nineteenth
century, he
Afghan
monarch
ried
to
borrow
rom
European
military
echnology
and to
introduce
imited
insti-
tutional
changes
with
the
technical
assistance
of a few
Europeans.The
aim
was
to consolidate he
position of
the
monarchy
and
to
containthe
rising
threat
of the
Sikhs
n
the
East
and of
Persia
n
the
West,
and
also
to
strengthen
the
Afghan
hold over northern
Afghanistan
n
competition
with the
Khanate
of Bukhara.The haphazardAfghan modernistschemeswere at this stage
confined
o
military
echnology
and did
not
extend
to the
cultural
realm.
During
the
period
from
1839
to
1880,
as
a
consequence f
the
Anglo-Rus-
sian
imperial
rivalries
n the Middle
East
and
Central
Asia,
andthe
attempts
10.
Browne,
Press
and
Poetry of
Modern
Persia, op.
cit., p.
102.
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348
THE
MIDDLE EAST
JOURNAL
of
Great Britain
to
strengthen
ts
diplomatic
position
in
Afghanistan, wo
Anglo-Afghan
wars
were
fought
(1839,
1879).
They
resulted n
the
British
occupationof eastern
Afghanistan,
uccessful
Afghan
resistance,
and
subse-
quentBritishevacuation f the country.The warsresulted n the diplomatic
isolation
of
Afghanistan
and
gave a
great
impetus of
Afghan
nationalism.
Internal
anarchy
and the
Anglo-Afghan
wars,
however,also dealt a
heavy
blow to the
meager
Afghan
economy
and
to the
continuity
of
the
very
few
Afghan reforms
that dealt with
the internal
administration f the
country,
military
reorganization
nd
attempts
(under
Amir
Sher
Ali)
to
form
the
nucleus
of a
school
patterned
on
Western
systems
and
a
periodical-Shams-
ul-Nahar,
1873.
Under heironrule of theAmirAbdurRahmanKhan,thecountrywitnessed
the
implementation
f
the
first
successful, f
somewhat
modest,
program
of
modernization.
tate
owned
and
operated
workshops
were
established
n
Kabul,
the
capital, o
provide
he
Amir
with
the
necessary
rsenal o
control
and
pro-
tect
his
Kingdom
against
both
internal
and
external
foes.
Modernism,
n
terms
of a
relatively
elective
technological nd
institutional
borrowing,was
used
as a
tool with
whichto
centralize
he
powerand
stabilize
the
position
of
the
Afghan
monarchy.
During
this
time
Amir
Abdur
Rahman
Khan
laid
down
the
foundation
f an
Afghan
policyof
limited
andautochthonousmod-
ernization.
This
policy
called
for
military
trength
nd
self
sufficiency
racketed
by
a
deliberate
policy
of
isolationism nd
economic
underdevelopment
s
the
surest
safeguards
or
continued
ndependence
f
Afghanistan
vis a vis
the
Anglo-Russian
mperial
nterests
and
designs.
Suclha
policy
had to
prevail,
according o
the
Amir,
until
Afghanistanwas
militarily
strong
enough
to
develop
its
economic
resources
without
endangering ts
political
entity
or
independence.
At
the
startof
the
twentieth
entury
he
Afghan
monarchy
ad
been
success-
ful
in
recreating
he
political
and
administrativenity
of
Afghanistan.The
Afghan
ruling
dynasty
had
failed,
however,
to
achieve
the
economic,
ocial
and
cultural
ntegrationof
the
countryand
to
establishany
meaningful
cul-
tural
contacts
with
the
outside
world,
pr
to
initiate
educational
eforms.
The
monarchy
had
also
been
unableto
cast
off its
political
solation;
ts
foreign
relations
continued
under
the
control
and
directionof
the
British
government
in
India
until
1919,
the
third
Anglo-Afghanwar.
Parallel
to
this
political
isolation
we
note
the
absenceof
any
noteworthy
nstitutions
f
learning,
or
re-
formistmovements mongst he Afghan 'ulami',and the want of an intelli-
gentsia.These
had
obviated,
n
the
nineteenth
entury, he
possibilities
f
link-
ing
Afghan
national
sentiment o the
cause
of
Afghan
modernism. t
was
only
during
Amir
Habibullah
Khan's
rule
that
Habibiya
College, the
first
school with
a
modern
curriculum,
was
founded
(1904), and
attempts
made
to
create
a
Departnent
of
Education,
which
would
supervisehe
establishment
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MAHMUDTARZIAND
SARAJ-OL-AKHBAR
349
of
a
few
elementary
chools
to coexist with the traditional
mosque
schools
(maktabs).
The Amir
also introduced he
telephone,
photography
nd
a
few
motor cars. He
helped
in
the formation
of the
first
Afghan
joint
stock
com-
panyand inaugurated n orphanageand a rudimentaryispensary t Kabul.
No
attempts,
however,
were made-nor
were
there the means-to
adopt
the
precepts f
universal
ompulsory
ducation
r to
overhaulhe entireeducational
structure f
the
Kingdom.
On the eve of
the
publication
f
Saraj-ol-Akhbar,
and
excluding
Qurans
and
some
imported
tandardeligious
exts,
the
number
of all
other
books
published n
Afghanistan,
ncluding
lassicalPersian
iterary
anthologies,did
not exceed
ten.
11
In
their
efforts
o
formulate he
tenets
of
the
Afghan nationalism
nd their
desireto reweave the socioeconomicabric of the Afghan Kingdom,Tarzi
and
Saraj-ol-Akhbar
ad,
amongother
things,
the
difficult ask
of
coping
with
the
complex
problem
presented
by
the ethnic
mosaic
of
Afghanistan.
n
a
country
where
only
slightly
over
50 per
cent
of the
population
was
ethnically
Afghan,
Saraj-ol-Akhbar
ttempted
o redefine
he
term
Afghan
on
a
geo-
graphic
and
religious,
rather
han
merely
ethnic,
basis,
implyingthe
equality
of all the
inhabitants
f
the
country.
n
this
way
he
hopedto
avert
possible
apprehensionsn
the
partof
non-Afghans,
hat
modernization
f
Afghanistan
mightserve
as a
means
to
further
trengthen
he
Afghan
hold over
themand
their
regions.At
the same
time Tarzi
had to
soothe
the
fears
of
the
Afghan
monarchhat
socialand
economic
ransformation
f his
realm
would
neither
invite the
threatof
foreign
intervention
nd
domination
nor
jeopardize he
positionof
the
Afghan
monarchy
nd its
dynasty.He
had
to
argue hat
national-
ism
and modernism
would serve
to
reinforce
he
central
authority,
he
power
of the
monarchy,
he
stability
of the
Kingdom,
and
stave off
external
hreats.
Further
ttempts
were
also
to
be
made
to
answer
he
objections
f the
Afghan
religious
establishment
s
to whether
Islam,
modernism
nd
secularism
were
compatible.Thentherewas theneedto convince he Shia Muslimminority f
the
Kingdom
that
modernism
was
not
a
mere
device
to
undermine
he Shia
community's
lready
weak
position
and
to
asserttotal
Sunni
control.For
the
benefit
of
the
Afghan
tribal
chieftains
and
their
interests,
Tarzi
had
to
find
arguments
o convince
hem
that
a
modern
Afghanistan eed
not
be an
instru-
ment
ending
the
privileges
of
their
tribes
or
threatening
Afghan
ethnicrule.
Other
factors
that influenced
he
content
and
direction
of
Tarzi's
and the
Young
Afghans'
sociopolitical
deasweresuch
momentous
ventsas
the
Russo-
Japanesewar,theAnglo-Russian onvention f 1907,the constitutionalmove-
ments
in
Persia,
the Ottoman
Empire
and China
(1906-1911),
the
influence
of
Pan-Islamism,
the
Italo-Turkish
(1911)
and the Balkan
wars
(1912-1913),
11.
Behrouz,
loc.
cit.,
p.
369.
Dianous, loc.
cit., No.
31, p.
140, sets
the
numberat
two.
It
seems,
however,
that
his
figure
does not
include
a
few
other
workswhich
appeared
during
the
reign
of
Amir
AbdurRahman
Khan.
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World War I, the 1917 March and NovemberRevolutions n Russia, and
the proclamation f Wilson's FourteenPoints, which enunciated he concept
of equalityand self determination f all peoples. Each of these events and
movements, lus the great body of Muslimrevivalist-modernisthoughtwax-
ing strong
n
India and the
Middle Eastat that time, left its impacton Tarzi
and
the
Young Afghans.
Decline of Afghanistan:
A
modernist
iagnosis
As
proselytizers
or
modernism,
he
first
task
that
Tarzi and
his
associates
undertook
was
to
establish
nd
analyze
he
causes
of the
declineand
decadence
of
Afghanistan
and the Islamicworld.
Tarzi
insisted
that
such
inquiries,
o
muchin the interestsof the Islamiccommunity f Afghanistan,were both
the
privilege
and the
duty
of
every
devout
Muslim
and
patrioticAfghan.
Only through
self
examination
nd
self criticismcould
individuals
and na-
tions
hope
to overcome
heir
shortcomings
nd
avoid
the
repetition
of
past
mistakes.
2
For
Tarzi,
a
thorough
examination
of
Afghan history revealed
that
one
of
the
principal
easons
or the
backwardness
f
the
region
was
the
fact
that
the
Afghans
had fallen
behind
in
learning,understanding
nd the
applications
f
the sciences.
He
pointed
out that there
were
currently
more
educatedpeople n a singleIndiancityof Punjabhan n all of Afghanistan.
3
Such
utter
neglect
of
learning,
Tarzi
explained,
temmed
partly
from
Afghan
preoccupation
ith
the defense
of their
fatherland,
xcessive
elianceon
physi-
cal
forceand
might,
and
the fact
that education
nd
learning
were
considered
the exclusive
domain
of the
mirzas
(secretaries)
and
the
mull/hs
members
of
the
religious establishment),
whose
own
learning
was
narrowly
imited.
The
education
of
neither
group
included
mathematics, eometry
or
the
pure
sciences.
Thus,
for
generations
he
Afghan people
had
been
deprived
of
able
andeducatedeachers.
n
place
of scientific
hought, uperstition
nd tradition
reignedsupreme
ndthe
Afghans,
ike
theirfellow
Muslims
n
general,
wrote
Tarzi,
had
thus failed
to
tap
a
multitude
f both
human
and
natural
esources.
The light
of science
shone
in the West
whereas
darkness
had
engulfed the
East
andAfghanistan.
A veil
of
apathy
had fallen
on the
Afghanswho, caught
in
the
vicious
circle
of their
private passions
and
appetites,
had
neglected
their
fatherland
and
endangered
ts
independence
nd
future
development.
4
Tarzi
singled
out
the divisions
and
disunity
of the
Afghans,
as
well
as the
prevailing
anarchic onception
f
freedom
and
law,
as
contributing istorical
factorsto this condition.The calamityof disunityamong the Afghans was
such,
he
declared,
hat
it had
set
city against city, village against village,
street against
street,
tribe
against
tribe,
and
the members
of
families one
12. S.A.,
I, No. 21,
p. 15,
and No. 2, p.
9.
13. Ibid.,
VII,
No.
16, p.
6.
14.
R.H., pp.
140-2;
also S.A.,
VII,
No.
14, p.
4;
No.
18,
pp. 4-6;
III, No.
16,
pp. 10-2.
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against
another.
These
divisions defied both the
precepts
of
Islam,
which
ordained hat all
the faithful were
brethren,
nd the
dictates
of
reason,
which
showed
that
societyfunctioned
best within a
framework f
unity
and
mutual
cooperation.Had the Afghannationalstrengthnot beenirreparablyamaged
by
this
disunity,
Tarzi
asked,
who then could have wrested
from
them
Pesh-
awar,
Baluchistan
nd Sistan?
5
One of the
results of
the
prevalent
disunity
was that a
majority
of the
Afghans
had
developeda
negative
conceptof freedomwhich
equated
free-
dom with the
absenceof
restraint nd
the
lack of
governmental
uthority.
To
Tarzi
lawlessnesswas
historically egressive
and
alien to the
spirit
of Islam
and its
high
ethics.
True
freedom,
he
wrote, ay
in
the adherence
o a
positive
conceptwhichconceivedof it as a cohesiveandconstructiveocial forcecon-
tributing o
the
development f
religion,national
genius
and,
ultimately,
he
advancement f
civilization.
6
The
absence f
normal ntercourse
ith
theoutside
worldandthe
fanaticism
of
an
unenlightened
raditional
roup
were also
singled
out as factors n
the
declineof
Afghanistan.
The
want
of
meaningful
and
direct
channels
of con-
tact
had,
in
Tarzi's
view, prevented he
Afghans
from
borrowing
electively
fromthe
Europeanultural
eservoir.Cut off from
the main
currents
f
mod-
ern
civilization,
he
Afghans
had access
only
to
those
productsof
European
culture
hat were
designed
exclusively
or
the
internal
consumption
f
Euro-
pean
colonies.These
limitedEuropean
ulturalexports,
permeated
with ma-
terialism
and
political
design,
restricted
Afghan
choice
and
prevented he
successful
grafting
of
secular
and
foreign
learning
to
the national
and re-
ligious
heritage
of the
Afghans.
7
In their
diagnosis
of
the
causesof
the
sociopolitical eclineof
Afghanistan,
Tarzi
and
his
periodical
ejected
he
contention f
those
Christian
missionaries
and
European
writerswho
considered slam
the
major
mpedimento
learning
and therefore hemainsourceof thebackwardnessf theMuslims.
Obversely,
theyregarded
Christianity
s
the
essential
ngredient
n
the
success
nd
progress
of
Europeans.
o themTarzi
retorted
hat the
causes
of
the
material
progress
and attainments
f
Europeans
were
to
be
found in
the
separation
f
religion
and
learning,
not
in
their
union. The
reasons or the
decline
of
the Muslim
societies
were
to
be
found
in
the divisions
and the
conflicts
mongthe
Muslim
rulers over
expansionism,
which
had
wrought
the
political
disintegration f
the
Islamicworld.The
wideninggulf
between
ecular
nterests
and the
ethical
standardsf Islamhad caused heneglectandsubsequenteclineof theMuslim
institutions
of
learning.
8
The
superstitions
nd
traditions,
whichmitigated
15. R.H.,
pp.
146.7, 149.
16. S.A., III,
No.
13,
p.
13,
and
No.
19,
p.
7.
17.
Ibid., VII, No.
18, p. 7.
18.
Ibid., II, No.
13, p. 3;
No. 18, p. 15;
also
II, No. 14,
p. 23;
No. 21, p. 9.
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againstreasonand learning,
Tarzi claimed,
had no basis in the fundamental
realitiesof
Islam. The past achievements
f Islamic
societiesare exemplary
proofs. Therefore,
he
Muslimsthemselves,rather
than their religion,were
responsible or the decadenceof their respective ocieties.
9
This idea was
reiteratedn a poem reprinted
rom the Persianpaper
Nobahar,
published n
Meshed,
Iran:
The black
moke, ising rom he roof
of
the fatherland
is
causedby us
The flames hatdevour
sfrom eft toright
arecaused y us.
The disunity nd he
weakness f Islamwasnot
caused y
Christ r the Church
but
was
causedby
us.20
On
the benefitsof
modern ivilization
nd
its
compatibility
ith
Islam
After
arguing
that
the
foremostprerequisite
or the revival
of
Afghan
society ay
in
the Afghanrecognition
f the cause
of their
presentsituation,
Tarziproceeded
o demonstratehe
values to be
found in modern
civilization,
their
compatibility
with the
spirit
of Islam and
the
necessity
of their
intro-
duction ntoAfghanistan.
Tarzi
was one of the first
Afghan
modernists
o
argue
that
the
preponder-
ance of Europe
was
not
wholly
due to its
militarymight,
but
also
to its
achievements
n the
cultural,
economic
and
industrial domains.
1
Simple
adaptation
of
military
echnology
would not
be
sufficient
o
cope
with
the
overall European hallenge,
or
to
rejuvenate
he
traditional tructrue
f
so-
cieties.
Only by
a
thorough eorganization
f their institutions ould
the
Mus-
lims
possibly
achieve
such
an
aim,
and
this was
regarded
as axiomatic
or
all
emergent countries (e.g. the Russia of Peter the Great, and Japan).
22
The
Afghans
were
urged by
a
collaborator
f
Saraj-ol-Akhbar
o do this
and
to
adopt,
at the same time
as
military echnology,
lectricity,
hemistry,
he
tele-
graph,
railroadsand
the
like,
all
of
immense
potential
for
Afghanistan.
3
Such
borrowings, hough,
warned
Tarzi,
should
not
be
geared
solely
to na-
tional
defense
nor should
hey
be allowed
o
degenerate
nto
mere
unproductive
copying.
The
cultural,
cientific
nd institutional
ppropriations
ere
to
develop
science
and
learning
n
Afghanistan
and
thereby
contribute
o the
country's
modernizationnd the generalwelfareof tie Afghan people.
4
19. Ibid., VI,
No.
14, p. 2,
and
I,
No.
10,
p.
13; II,
No.
16,
p.
3.
20.
Ibid., III, No.
16, pp.
10-2.
21.
Ibid., I,
No. 16, p. 1; III,
No.
2;
also
III,
No.
17, pp. 5-8.
22. Ibid., 1,
No.
16, p. 1,
and
III,
No.
2, p.
8;
No.
8, pp.
5-6;
also
V, No. 17, p.
8, and VII,
No.
19,
p. 8.
23.
See the letter
of
Indian
revolutionary
M.
Barakatullah
rom
Tokya,
Ibid., III, No. 2, p. 8.
24. Ibid., IV,
No.
8, p. 5,
and
V,
No.
19, p.
2.
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353
The plannedmodernization f Afghanistan-or of any Islamic
society-ac-
cordingto Tarzi, was not incompatiblewith the true spirit
and character f
Islam.To demonstratehisbelief,Tarziandhis colleagues ssumedhe privilege
and the duty of interpreting he true meaningand significance f the pre-
cepts
of
the Quran, the various Muslim holidays, and the
sayings of the
Prophet.
5
This in itself was an importanthistoricaldevelopment.
For the
first time educatedAfghan laymenpublicly nterpreted he
Quran, n strong
opposition to tie traditionalelements and the
mullhs,
who had advanced
violent objections o the modernization f Afghanistan.On
the position
of
these traditionalists, ara -ol-Akhbaraunchedits attack. They had raised
doctrinal
bjections
o
Afghan
use
of
European tyle
hats
and
clothing
and
to
the
Afghan adoption of photography.
Tarzi
asked
rhetorically f Muslims
were to
be distinguished y
their
clothing
or
by
theirfaith?Answering
himself,
he assertedthat faith and ethics, not appearances nd/or conventions, on-
stituted
the
important ngredients
of
Islam.
Clothing
was not
an
article
of
faith,
Tarzi
argued,
otherwise world convention f
Muslims
would or should
have gathered
o
prescribe
uniform
for
Muslims.
6
He
castigated
hose of
the
religious
establishment
who condemnedmodern science
because
t was
the
product
of
the
kafirs
f
Europe:
such
an
attitude,
he
pointed out, be-
trayedabysmal gnorance,
as
in
the West science
and
religion
were
treated
and studiedseparately.n Afghanistan,unfortunately,here was neither
sep7
aration
nor
study.
The 'ulamd'of the
country
had done a
great
disservice o
the
children
of
the fatherland
hrough
heir
negligence,
ndifference
nd
ig-
norance.This
ignorance
xtended
beyond
he
sciences,
ven
to theology.
nstead
of
mastering
hat
study through
examinationand reflectionand
only
then
enunciating
he true
precepts
f
Islam,
the
'ulamX'
memorized
ages
of
words
like
genuine parrots,
and
used
charges
of
heresy
nd
irreligion gainst
theircritics
o shield their
ignorance.
7
Their insistence
hat
learning
was the
exclusivedomainof judges, interpretersf law and othermembersof their
establishment
aised
a
formidableobstacle
to
the
development
of
education
and
dissemination
f
learningamong
their
coreligionists.
Tarzi
insisted
that
the
imprecations
nd accusations
f the
Afghan religious
establishment,rising
as
they
did
from
ignorance,
hould
not
be
allowed
to
distortor
misinterpret
the
significance
f
modernism hich
n
essenceand
in
principle
was
in
harmony
with the
lofty teachings
f Islam.
How,
for
instance,
could
the
Afghan
Muslims
even
be asked
to
consider
scienceand technology mpiouswhen they could greatlyhelp to consolidate
the
defenses of Muslim
Afghanistan
and to
preserve
ts
independence? he
acceptance
f
European echnology
did not
necessarily
ntail
the
adoptionof
25.
Ibid., II, No. 1, p. 16.
26.
Ibid.,
No.
16,
p.
8.
27.
Ibid., IV, No. 15, pp. 6-7, 8.
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THE MIDDLE EAST JOURNAL
European
mores.
8
The
historyof Islam
in itself, Tarzi argued,was the
best
indication hat in its golden
age and times
of greatness, he Islamic
comnimu-
nity was engaged
n the preservationnd
propagation f
scienceand learning
and derivedmuch of its vitalitytherefrom.Knowledge,and efforts o acquire
it through
education,werenot only compatible
with the precepts
f the Quran:
they formed
an essentialpartof it.
29
By
ordaining he
faithful to better
the
fateof the Islamiccommunity
nd secure ts future,the Quran,
t
was
argued,
was in concord
with the spiritof each age
and the needsof everyera.3
The
Quranwas not prescribed
or
the eternal
ife alone, but for
this world too,
where
the
triumph
of
good
deeds
was essential
for
personal,
social and
na-
tional
self
improvement.
The
culturaland
material
progress
of
the
Islamic
community ad traditionally ontributedo the strengthand spreadof the
Islamic
aith,
and
there
was no
reason
o believethat
current ndfutureprog-
ress of the
community
would undermine
he
position
of Islam.
1
The
necessity
of
knowledge,
and therefore
cience,
according
o
Tarzi,
was
clearly
acknowledged
nd condoned
by
the
ProphetMuhammad,
who
advo-
cated
that
ignorance
and
knowledge
could not coexist
any
more
than cleanli-
ness and
uncleanliness,ight
and
darkness.2
This was
reiterated
n
one of
the
hadiths
of Islam,
whichstated
hat
man's
aith
lay
in his
reason.
Knowledge
wastherefore ssentialnot onlyin knowingoneselfbutalso in knowingGod,
man's
Creator.33
incethe
distinguishing
rait in
which lies
the
inherent
su-
periority
of
man
over
the
beasts
was his
God
given
reason,by inference, he
neglect
of
its cultivation
nd
application
was
a
great
disservice
o
oneself, one's
community,
slam
and
God.
One of Tarzi's
most
important
ntellectual
fforts
was the
portrayal f the
unity
of
humanity
nd
the
universality
f scienceand
learning
as
demonstrated
in
the
texts
of the
Quran.35 ollowing
this
line,
Abdol
Hadi,
a
contributor
to Sara
-ol-Akhbar,
ried
to
prove Quranic
anction or
travel
abroad n
pur-
suit
of
learning.
He wrote that
the
Quran
had
implicitly
acknowledgedhe
capacity
of the Chinese
and other non-Muslim
eoples
of
possessing
and in-
creasing
their
knowledge,
from
which
the Muslimscould
benefit,when it
urged
the
faithful to travel even
to China or the
sake of
learning.Surely
28. R.H., p.
156.
29. S.A., II,
No.
14, pp. 14-5,
and
V,
No.
17, pp.
10-1.
Also
the article of AbdurRahman,
III, No. 17, pp.
5-8.
30.
Ibid.,
III,
No.
2, pp. 2-3,
and
I,
No.
10,
p.
13.
This
is
reminiscent
of
Syed
Amir Ali's
general thesis, The Spirit of Islam (London, 1891), and the views of S. Khuda Bukhsh, Essays:
Indian
and
Islamic
(London, 1912).
It also follows
the
Quranic interpretations f Muhammad
'Abduh (1848-1905)
and his
disciple
Muhammad
Rasid
Rida
in
Egypt.
See
J.
Jomier,Le commen-
taire Coranique
e Manar(Paris,1954).
31. S.A.,
III,
No.
17, pp. 5-8;
also the article of
Mullah
Tuti, Ibid., III,
No. 8.
32. R.H., pp.
9, 11-2,
14.
33. S.A., VI,
No.
14, pp. 2-3; I,
No.
4, p. 9; III,
No.
17, p. 4; V, No. 17, p. 5.
34. Ibid., I,
No.
12, pp. 1-2,
and
III,
No.
8, p. 5;
No.
17, p. 4.
35. R.H., pp.
15-6,
38.
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355
this
passage,
by
extension,
anctioned
he
travel
of
Muslims o
the
West for
the same
purpose.
Abdol Hadi
cited the extensive
ravelsof
famous
Muslim
geographers,ages
and
navigators f the
past
as symbols
of
open
mindedness
and indications f the fact that knowledgewas universal. It was this uni-
versality,
according o
Tarzi, that
had
allowed the
West to borrow
from
Islam
manyof its
past
scientific
achievements.
Science
and
knowledge,
whateverthe
language
and wherever
he
source,
were
beneficial; a
diamond
encrustedwith
mud is
still a diamond.
7
By
resorting o
ironyand
further
castigating he
logical
nconsistencies f the
traditionalists,
M.A.,
another
collaborator f
Saraj-ol-Akhbar,ejected
heir
view that
modern
science
and all its
byproducts, s works of
infidels
were in
essencealiento Islam.If we acceptsuch a conclusion, e wrote,we muststop
the
import
of all
foreign
goods,
including
even matches
and
clothing,
which
would do
nothing
more than
leave
the
Afghan people naked and without
light.
38
Why,
Tarzi
asked,
should a firm
belief in Islam
as
the
best
and most
sacred
of
all
religionsdeter
the Afghans
from
trying
to rid
their
country
of
ignorance,
want,
misery,
diseaseand
dependence.
On the
contrary, fforts
to
help mold
a
free,
strong,
healthyand
independent
slamic
communityn
Af-
ghanistan
hould
be
welcomed
as acts of
religious
piety.
39
Since
knowledgewas
beneficial
and servedthe best interestsof Islamand
the
Afghans,
he
learningof French
and
Englishcould not
corrupthe
Afghan
youth
or harm
the
Afghan
national
genius.
To
dissipate
hese
traditionalist
fears,
Tarzi
advanced
everal
arguments.He
invokedan
historical
precedent
by
reminding
is
readers
hat such
patriotic
Afghan
rulers
as
Dost
Muhammed
and
SherAli
had
allowed the
use
of
the
English
anguage n
military
ogistics
and
terminology.
He
argued
that the
acquisitionof
both
foreign
languages
and modern
echnology
by
Japan,
a
major
non-Christian,
siatic
nation,
had
certainly
benefited ather
han
harmed he
development f
her
national
nsti-
tutions and genius. Tarziused the anti-Britishentimentsof the Afghans
againstthemselves.
Knowledge
of
English,
he
argued,
would enable
the Af-
ghansto
learnthe
secretsof
British
scientific
nd
technological
chievements
and to
understand
etter
heir
policies
and
political
designsvis
a
vis
Afghanis-
tan.
For
similar
utilitarian
easons,
ourism
and
travel n
general
werehailed
as
beneficial o
the
Afghan
nation
in
the
promotionof
tradeand
broadening
the
horizons of individual
Afghans,
strengthening
heir
grasp of
complex
political
and
strategic
problems.
1
The reformationof Afghan society,Tarzi concluded,was a necessity o
36.
S.A.,
V,
No.
23-4, pp.
8-10.
37.
Ibid., III,
No.
6,
p.
4
R.H.,
p.
6.
38.
S.A.,
V, No.
17,
p.
7.
39.
Ibid., IV,
No.
21,
p. 6,
and
V,
No.
17,
p.
9;
also
III,
No.
2, p.
7.
40.
Ibid.,
II,
No.
13,
pp.
3-4,
and
III,
No.
2, p.
8;
also
V,
No.
17, p.
8, and
R.H.,
pp.
153-4.
41.
On the
use
of
English
see
S.A.,
IV,
No.
22,
p.
7; on
tourism
see
R.H.,
pp.
45-7,
49.
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THE
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be realized
only
with
the
reorganization
f
its
institutions
nd
the
introduction
of modern
scienceand technology.He felt
that the burden
of
this
great
task
should be
carried ointly by an enlightened
Muslim religious eadership,
he
Afghan scholarsand the ruling elite. It was for the religiousleaders and
intellectuals o demonstratehe progressive
pirit and precepts
of
Islam and
thus purge the
Islamicsocietyof Afghanistan
of
a superstructure
f
supersti-
tion, customsand
habitswhich
were
inherently
non-Islamic.
2
These
Afghan
leadershad to
becomeactivists
n
this
supremelymportant ause:
Timesof poetry rebygone.t is now the time
of
action nd
effort.
The era
is
thatof
motor,
ail,and electricity.
he times
of camels, xen,
and
donkeys
re
bygone.43
The firstconcrete tep generating ocialchange and reform,accordingo
Tarzi,was the
establishmentf widercultural ontactswith the external
world.
To this end,
Saraj-ol-Akhbarssumed he r6le of a bridge between
Afghan-
istan and the
rest of
the world
and took
upon itself the
task
of
informing
he
Afghans
of
intellectual, cientificand
technological chievements
n
Europe,
and
the natureof
the continent's ocial
and political
institutions.
Numerous
articles
discussed uch new conceptsas the naturaland evolutionary
rogress
of
humanity, atural
auses
of
cyclones,blood
circulation,he microscope, nd
the telescope,meteorology, eologyandcosmography,nternationalaw, politi-
cal
science,
municipal
elf
government,
he
importance
f
joint
stock
companies,
archeology, eography, istoriography,
t
cetera.
Among technological
chieve-
mentsthe
periodical oticed
railways, utomobiles,
he
telephone,
photography
and
airplanes.
Hundreds
f
short
tems
and
poems
on the natureof
literature
and
the
history
of sciencewere
carried,
all
of
them
exalting modernityand
progress,
tressing he immensepower of scientificknowledgeand the
possi-
bilities
t offered o the
Afghans.
The latterwere
exhorted o follow
the exam-
ples of Japan, he OttomanEmpireandPersia,whohadlearned hehardway
tlhat
n
the
contemporary
orld
you
could
not meet the
challenges
of
modern
armies
and the scientific nd
technological
uperiority
f
the
Europeans
with-
out
their
proper
counterparts.
Saraj-ol-Akhbarnunciated he
concept
of
individual
rights.
Tarzi
was
the
first Afghan
to
champion
he
rights
of women in
modern
Afghanistan.
n a
series
of articlesdedicated
o
famous
women n
history
he
explicitlydefended
the
many
abilities
of women.
Although
he
ridiculed he
extremism
nd
eccen-
tricities
f someFrench
eminists,
he
acknowledged
he
feminine
contributions
to scienceand human
progress.
n
Europe,
he
reported,
here
were
women
doctors,
cientists,writers, awyers,
eachers nd
government mployees.While
42. S.A.,
VII, No.
19, p. 9,
and
II, No.
24, p. 3.
43.
Ibid., V, No. 6,
p. 9.
44.
Ibid.,
No. 17, pp.
1-2, and R.H.,
pp.
151-2, 153.
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357
supporting he
individual
ightsof
women
and their
right
to
education,
Tarzi
agreed
that the primary
duty
of womenstill
lay
in
raising
amilies
and
man-
aging
a
household.
Himself
monogamous,
arzi
attacked
olygamy, lthough
neverexplicitly.He referred onstantlyo thevalueandthe importancef the
typical
deal
family,which had
as a unit
one wife
and a few children.
6
In
Raudat-i-hikame
discussed
he
fact that
monogamy
s
universally racticed
in
Europeand
that
Europeansderide
the Muslim
custom
of marrying our
women.Since the
health,
welfare and
educationof
Afghan
families
were es-
sential n
the
processof
buildingprogressive
Afghanistan,
Tarzi
attacked he
extravagant
xpendituresncurred n
polygamyand/or
custom
whichruined
the
healthand
potentialof
many
economically
eprived amilies.
On the
importance f
education, ublic health
and
other
benefits
of
modernization
Saraj-ol-Akhbarublisheda
greatnumber
of
articleson the
regrettable
b-
sence of
modern
educational
acilities n the
Afghan
fatherland.
To
acquaint
Afghan youth
with the value
of
education, e
publisheda
supplement,
alled
Saraj-ol-AtfalChildren's
Lamp),which
was the
first
Afghan
publication
e-
signed for a
juvenileaudience.
Here,
through
selectedstories,
moralistic nd
didactic ales, charades ndpuzzles,Tarziattempted o informthe youthof
Afghanistan.
n
an
articleon
religion,
for
instance,
he
adjured
he youth to
strengthen
heir faith
by obtaining
knowledge, ince
knowledgealone
would
enable
hem o know
God and
Creation,
o know
the known
and the
unknown.48
In
other
writings
he
praised he
greatness f
true
scholarshipnd
sciencewhich
had
conquered nd
enlightened
he
world,and treated
knowledgeas the
only
sourceof social
wealth
and
individual
ulfillment.9
Tarzi
presented
Afghan
parentswith a plea
to
recognize he
worthand the
rights
of their
children.
The
latter,
he
wrote,
were
not
objects, nstruments
f
labor or
capital
nvest-
ments.
Their
educationwas
more
mportanthan
the
procurement
f
material
gainswhich,
withoutthe
benefitsof
learningand
know-how,were
ephemeral;
education lone
was
a
lasting
nvestment, enefiting
he
individual, he
nation
and
the state. To assure
progress
or
Afghanistan
nd to secure
ts
modern-
45. S.A., I. No.
3,
p. 7
ff;
also
III,
No.
7, pp.
10-1.
A.
A.
Jafarova,
writing on
The
position
of women
in
Afghanistan n
Kratkii Soobscheniia
Instituta
Narodov
Azii
(Moscow) No.
73
(1963) says that Tarzi
advocated he
need for secular
schools for
girls. I
could
find no
such
cate-
goric statement.
The
ambiguity
of Tarzi in this
matter,
think,
was
deliberate,
because
of
the
delicacy
of
the
subject
matter.
46. S.A., I, No. 3, p. 7. Tarzi had some 20 children,ten of whom
still
survive.
See
Dupree,
op.
cit.,
pp. 5, 21.
47. S.A.,
III,
No.
7,
pp. 7-8.
Amir
Habibullah
Khan,
and
later
Amanullah
Khan,
imposed
a
legal
limit to
the
sum of
money
nvolved
n
the
proceedings
f a
marriage
eremony.The
limits were
aligned
with social
status-Royal,
noble,
common.
48.
Saraj-ol-A
4l,
(Kabul),
I,
No.
4, p.
4.
49. S.A., 1, No.
12, pp.
14-5;
also
R.H., p. 5.
50.
Ibid.,
1,
No.
4, pp.
7-8,
and
II,
No.
16
pp.
11-12.
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ization, the Afghans needed compulsorypublic
education.
This
had to
be
accomplishedhrough he establishment
f
a
networkof
modern
schools
with
well balanced urricula nd accompanied y the erectionof public
ibraries.
In order to generatepublic interest in scienceand learning,Tarzi made
a
number
of translations rom
European
iteraturento
Persian,
which
were
dominatedby science fiction. Among these
were
Jules
Vernes'
Around
the
World
n
EightyDays, Twenty
Thousand
Leagues
under he
Sea,
The
Hidden
Island, et cetera.He published (1914-15) a personal travelogue
entitled
Travel n Three Continentsn Twenty-NineDays,
written
n
the
1890's.
His
other
works feature
collectionsof
essays
and
pamphlets,
he
most
important
of which
are
What
is to be Done
and Scienceand
Islam,
which is
yet
another
attempt o demonstratehecompatabilityf Islamand modern cience,andto
relatethe past scientificachievements
f
the Islamicworld. Other important
translations
ncluded,
from the
Turkish,
Hasan
Fahmi Pasha's
International
Law,
and
a
five
volume
Historyof the Russo-Japanese
War, publishedby
the
Ottoman
Army's
Chief
of Staff.
The former
constituted, think,
the first
introductionnto Afghanistanof conceptsof
internationalustice and legal
order.
2
There s hardlyanything hat Tarziand Saraj-ol-Akhbar
verlooked n their
efforts o educate
he
Afghan public.
In
the
field
of
publichealth,
for
instance,
Tarzi
and
his
collaborators
ntroduced he
conceptof the germ, and triedto
press home the necessity
of
providing he people with non-pollutedwater.
He
attacked he
widely
held
notion,
so
prevalent
n
easterncountriesat that
time,
and
even
now,
that
water,
no
matter
what
its
origins,
was
pure as long
as
it was
running
and not
still.
To
promote
cleanliness,Tarzi stressedthe
necessity
of
using soap,
and
even
invoked the
injunctions f the Quranon
cleanliness,
without
which,
he
said, prayers
would
be
invalid.
Tarzi also criticized he
meager
and
antiquatedknowledge of the local
hakims(physicians)whoselearning,he contended, adnot gone beyond hat
of
the
ancientGreeksand the Middle
Ages.
To
avert
tragediesand to combat
the
widespreadmisery
of
Afghans caught
n
the
grip
of
disease,he proposed
the
hiring
of doctors
with
modern
raining
nd
the
establishmentf pharmacies
and
publicdispensaries.
Along
with the
establishment
f
modern
educational acilities and the
raising
of healthstandardsn the
country,
Tarzi
gave priority o the improve-
ment of
the
country's
means of
communications
nd
economy.Afghans had
51.
Ibid., IV,
No.
15, pp.
6-7, and
VII, No.
16, p.
6;
also II,
No.
16,
pp. 11-12.
On the
need
for
public
libraries,
ee the
article
of
M.
Fazli,
Ibid.,
1, No.
17,
p. 12.
52.
D.
Wilber
in
Annotated
Bibliography f
Afghanistan
New
Haven,
1956)
p.
81, attributed
also
Siraj-ol-twarikh
Kabul,
1913),
the
two-volume
history
of
Afghanistan, o Tarzi.
This
is
not
correct.
53.
S.A.,
II,
No.
8, p.
13;
No.
2,
p. 3; No.
7,
p.
15.
54.
Ibid.,
II, No.
3, p.
12,
and
I,
No.
3, p.
8.
55.
Ibid., II,
No. 3,
p.
10.
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to
accept
modern
technology
and
introduce
various
basic
industries.
They
were
urged
to
adopt such innovationsas the
telephone,
the
telegraph,
he
automobile
and
industrial
machinery,
o
establish
post
offices,
and form
joint
stockcompanies.Thesewould all assist n the economicunification f Afghan-
istan.
6
To
speedup
this
process,bolsterthe
country's
efenses
and
improve
conditions or
the
forthcoming
ndustrializationf
the
region,
Tarzi
insisted
on
the
introduction f
the
railway,
omething
which
for
political
reasons
had
always
before been
steadfastly
refused by
the Afghan
rulers.
According
o
him, the
railway
would
have a
tremendous
mpactupon the
Afghan
society,
completely
revolutionizing
Afghannotions of
time and distance: he
Kabul-
Herat
journey
of
35
days, for
instance,would
be reduced o three
days.
The
railway ould allow theAfghansto unearth he mineralwealth of theirrealm
and,
in
cases of famine
or
shortage,
o
transfer
grain
and other
foodstuffs
from one
region of
the
country o
another
without
undue
delay.It would
also
permit
he
peopleto
market heir
chief
export
tem, fresh
fruit,much
more
efficiently.
Above
all, the
railway
would
vastly mprove
he
country's
efenses.
This was
especially o in
view of
the
fact that
Russia
and
BritishIndia
had
extended heir
respective
ailway
systems o the
very
bordersof
Afghanistan.
If
necessary,
hese
countriescould throw
at
once
hundredsof
thousandsof
soldiers
against
Afghanistan,whereas
it
would take
the
Afghans
a whole
month
to send an
armyto
the
northby the
only
available
means,
horse and
camel.
Tarzi
recognized,
however, hat a
railway
n
Afghanistan
might
also have
drawbacks.
Railway
concessions o
Great
Powers,
or
the
scramble
or
them,
would have dire
political
consequences,
s
had
been
the
case
with
China,
the
Ottoman
Empire,Persia
and Morocco.
The
railway
might also
lead to
the division
of
Afghanistan
nto
spheres of
influence
between
Russiaand
Britain,
whereas
he lack of
it
served
now
as a
British
bulwark
against
Russia.
The Afghans faced a dilemmaon this question,for the potentialpolitical
drawbacks
nd threats
o
national
sovereigntywere
quite
as
powerful as the
possiblebenefits.
Tarzi
found
a
plausible
solution
to the
dilemma n
inter-
national
aw,
whereby
all the
interested
arties
would
pledge not
to inter-
vene in
the
internal
affairs of
Afghanistan.
Only
on this
basis
could the
Afghan
government
llow
the
construction
f
badly
needed
railways.7
He
was
not,
however,
so
naive as
to
acceptforeign
pledgesof
non-intervention
and
the
spirit
of
internationalaw
by
themselves
as
adequate
afeguardsof
the integrityandsovereignty f Afghanistan.Tarziwarnedthatthe Afghans,
valuing
freedom
more
than
material
well
being, could
destroythe
railways
if their
country
were
subjectedo
foreign
interventionism.
e even
published
56.
R.H.,
p.
151,
also
S.A.,
I,
No.
5, p.
5;
No.
7,
pp.
1-2;
No. 11,
p. 10;
No.
20, p. 2.
57.
ibid.,
No.
24,
pp. 10,
11-2.
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a manual, or the benefitof the Afghan military,on the subjectof effective
destruction f railways, n order to prepare
hem for such an eventuality.
B
The deep seatedfear of capitulations ndforeign interventionorcedTarzi
and some of his associates o advanceunrealistic lans for the modernization
of
Afghanistan, ncluding
he
introduction
f railways,withoutsorelyneeded
foreign capital. However, they had no immediateconcrete,realistic
and
convincing
olutionto the main dilemmaof the
Afghan
rulers:
how
to har-
monize
the needs
of
modernization
nd
the
causes
of the
Afghan monarchy
and independence
is
a
vis
internal
and
external
hreats.Only
in nationalism
did
Tarzi
discerna
mighty
force
capable
of
sustainingboth
the
integrity
and
sovereignty f Afghanistan, nd securing ts
unhinderedmodernization.
Afghannationalism: lly of modernism
Tarzi
found
the raison
d'&re
of
Afghanistan
n
the teachings
of Islam and
made an ingenious attempt to link its aspirations
with the causesof
Pan-
Islamism,Pan-Asiatic olidarityand modernism.
According o him, the ethos
and
the
concept
of an
Afghan
fatherland
and nationhood
emanated
rom
Islam. To substantiatehis contention
Tarzi
quoted
a
saying
of
the
Prophet
Muhammad:
Hubb
al-watan
min al-iman Patriotism
derives
from
faith).
Sincethe Afghanshad accepted slamby the graceand will of God, it fol-
lowed
that Afghanistan
was
a
God
given country,
and love
for the
Afghan
fatherlandwas divinelyordained.The fatherland
was the cradle of religion,
the
foundationof
freedom,honor,nationalityand
individual
dentity.
Tarzi
proceeded o
demonstratehe
compatibility
f the ideas of Afghan nationhood
and
the
Quranic oncept
of
one
single
Islamiccommunity umma). He
wrote
that
all
Muslims
were
membersof that community, ut that within it there
were a
number
of
political entities,
which constituted atherlands or given
communities iving therein,who formed nations. Being Muslim political
entities,
the love
citizenshad for
their
particular
atherlandswas, ipso facto,
sanctioned
by
Islam
and
by
God.
To
love one's
country
was
to love one's
religion
and vice versa.
0
By making
Islam the foundation or
the state
of
Afghanistanand Afghan
nationality,
Tarzi
developed
a
religio-political
ormula
that transcended he
58.
Ibid., V,
No.
7, p.
8.
59.
Thus,
Ali
Akbar,
a
collaborator f
Saraj-ol-Akhbar,roposed
in
1916,
the
adoption of a
policy wherebythe
Afghans
could modernizetheir
country by
a
system
of
individualmandatory
savingsthroughoutAfghanistan.By placingthe numberof Afghansat 20 million, Ali Akbaresti-
mated an annual
revenue of 20 million
krans
which,
he
argued,
would
permit them to
pursue
a
policy of autochthonousmodernization.
Tarzi
himself
advocated
a
more
ingenious,although equally
unrealistic,plan.
Every year, according
o
him,
millions
of
rupees
worth of
animals
were
sacrificed
to
religious
purposes.
f the skins of
the
animals
alone
were
contributed
o
the
cause of
Afghan edu-
cation,
they
would
net
an
annual
revenueof
a
million
or
so
rupees.
This would benefit
the Afghan
nation,help its
progress,
and at the
same time widen
the
scope and
meaning of religious
saaifices.
60.
S.A., 1,
No.
7, pp.
6-7.
On
this
theme see also
Ibid., IV,
No.
17, pp.
3-4;
III, No.
16,
pp. 14-5.
For
poems
on Fatherland
watan), see
IV, No. 10, p.
7; VI. No.
24, pp. 1-3.
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existingethnic, inguisticand religiousdivisionsof the country.
He
attempted
also to link the legitimacy f the Afghan
monarchy nd
its
centralizing
ctivi-
ties with the preceptsof Islam. Religion, the nation, the fatherland
and
the
governmentwere four inseparable nd sacredconcepts.
1
If the fatherland
were to be compared o a being, the nationwould
form its
bones
and
flesh,
the King its soul.
62
Therefore,
Tarzi
concluded,
it was
the
religious duty
of
every devout MuslimAfghan to love and servenot only his
fatherland
and
nation,but also his government nd monarch,or
a Fatherlandwatan)
with-
out a
nation
(millat),
a
nationwithout
a
fatherland,
oth
without
government,
andgovernmentwithouta King,wouldresemble
norganic ubstance
r a
car
without
an
engine.'
63
The next logical step for Tarzi and Saraj-ol-Akhbaras to identify the
love of
the
fatherland
with the causeof modernism.
The
arguments
dvanced
were as follows: patriotismwas explicitly
sanctionedand
exalted
by Islam
as
a
religiousduty.Almostby
definitiont
requiredommitments
o the
defense
of
the fatherland.
Or, progress
and civilization
being indispensable
o the
defense
and
strength
of
Afghanistan, hey
were
compatible
with Islam.
Only
through
modernization
ould the
AfghanKingdomreorganize
ts
army,bolster
its
defenses
and thus protect
ts
independence,
onorand the
position
of Islam
against
he
insatiable ppetite,designs
and
encroachmentsf the Europeans.
4
True
patriotism,however,went beyond
the
mere
physical
defense
of
one's
homeland
and extended
to
its
reformationand modernization. t was
de-
monstrably
he
duty
of each faithful
patriot
to
promote earning
and to
con-
tribute to the development
of
educationalnstitutionsand the progressof
Afghanistan.
5
Divinely
ordained
principles
of law
and other
precepts of
Islam,
as
well
as the causes of
freedom
and
progress,necessitatednational
unity.
Thereforethose who
opposed progress
and
contributed
o
disunity
providedweapons
o the enemies
of Islam
and
the
Afghan fatherland. t was
the supreme ask of all Afghansto support hose policiesof the monarchy
that
aimed towardsocioeconomic nification f
Afghanistan hrough
central-
ization
and
to
secure
ts
progress hrough
modernization.
6
The
development
of
Afghan historiography
as
regarded
as
essential to
the
growth
of
Afghan
nationalism. cholarswere
urged
to
develophistorical
rationalism,
o establish
ausal
relationships,
nd
through
a
comparativetudy
to
discover
and
reveal the sourcesof the
strength
and
weaknesses
f
civiliza-
tions.
This would
enable
the
Afghans
to
understand
hose
factors
hat
under-
61.
Ibid.,
IV,
No.
10, pp.
4-5;
No.
21, p. 6,
and
I, No. 18, p.
1; No. 8, p. 4.
62.
Ibid.,
No.
7, pp. 6-7;
IV,
No.
20, p.
6. In
anotherarticle,
Tarzi compared he
ruler to a
tree
and the nation to its roots.
See
I,
No.
10, p. 7.
63. Ibid., IV,
No.
20, p.
6.
64.
R.H.,
p. 151.
65.
S.A., II,
No.
7, p. 14;
No.
8, p. 12;
also
V,
No.
17, pp. 1-2,
and R.H., p. 145.
66.
S.A., III,
No.
16, p. 13;
No.
22, p.
1;
also
II,
No.
8, p. 12; No. 21, p.
2.
7/23/2019 Tarzi Akbar...Ideology of Modernization Iin Afghanistan
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THE
MIDDLE
EAST
JOURNAL
mine or assist a country's ndependence nd
prosperity, nd
thus
help
them
to securethe future
development f their
own.
7
The
study
of
Afghan
and
general history had to be accompanied, ccording
o Tarzi, by
a
concerted
effortto raisethe statusof Pashto, theAfghanlanguage. SincePashtowas
the manifestation
f
national
genius
and
the ancestor
of all
languages
ts
studywas essential.
As the national anguage,
maintained
Tarzi,
Pashto
must
be
taught
to
and learned
by
all the
ethnically
non-Afghangroups. Islam,
Afghan history
and
Pashto
he
felt to be those
matrices rom
which the ethnic
mosaic hat
constituted
Afghanistan
ould
grow
and
progress
s one.
Afghan
Pan-Islamism
As proponentsof Pan-Islamism nd foes of European mperialism, he
reformers ttempted o
utilize
the programand the
impact
of Pan-Islamism
to
advance he
causesof
Afghan
nationalism nd
modernism.
n
1911-1912,
Tarzi advocated
he
use of
Turkish
officers,
echnicians nd medical
experts
in Afghanistan.
Their
employment
would
serve as an
example
of intra-Mus-
lim
cooperation
and
solidarity.
As
coreligionists,
heir
presence
would not
cause
internalfriction
and would
both
facilitateand accelerate he reforma-
tion
of
theAfghan
armiesand
other
modernist chemes.
Echoingthe views of Jamal al-din al-AfghTni,Tarzi and Saraj-ol-Akhbar
attacked he
position
of
those
European
authorswho saw
in
European
m-
perialisma progressive
historicalforce. Europeancolonial rule, Tarzi con-
tended,pursued
both
political
and
religiouspolicies
propagating
materialism
with the ultimateaim of
undermininghe vitalityof Islam.
With this intent,
they supported
he
activities of
Christian
missionaries, apitalizedon and
sustained
he divided
state of the Muslim
world and
devised
such
colonial
educational
programs
hat
would
stifle the
revival
of
Dar-al-Islhm.
0
The
onslaughtof Europeanmperialism ould be checked,Tarzi believed,by ad-
hering
o the Pan-Islamic
redoof
al-Afghani
and
promoting olidarity mong
all
the Muslims. n this
process,
he Ottoman
Empire,
ran
and
Afghanistan,
the three
remainingndependent
Muslim
politicalentities, had an important
historical
role
to
play. They
were
to
establish
close
polit