The Idea Of The Muslim World Analysis

In Cemil Aydin’s novel, “The Idea Of The Muslim World,” he explains how Muslims were mainly perceived as a racial category to Europe. I find it interesting how he describes how the Muslims were viewed as a dangerous racial category as oppose to the Jewish, who were also viewed as a racial category but instead as an internal enemy. The Jewish were not considered a major threat like the Muslims were, and Europe did not take as many precautions with the Jews as they did with the Muslims. Aydin explains how the Muslims were seen as a major political threat to the Europeans, and even more so to be wary of as the Muslims had a growing population and occupied many areas of Europe. He also goes into detail about how this perception towards Muslims …show more content…
This occurred due to the rising tension between imperial powers, as Aydin shows that there was an increase in focus on race and nationality as oppose to imperial tactics. He explains how the expansion and advancement of communication through technology caused the idea of a pan-Islamic entity to emerge and become known more quickly. Aydin states how Muslims in India, “imagined their political future under Queen Victoria” (Aydin, 37) and how numerous “Balkan Christians accepted the rule of a reformist Muslim sultan in Istanbul” (Aydin, 37). However, the support that the Europeans provided the Christian movements to rebel against the Ottomans through conquests in Ottoman areas ended up damaging the imperial system at the time. Aydin explains that it was the European support of the Christian people in the Ottoman Empire that initiated the creation of pan-Islamism. Due to the Europeans intervening and aiding the Christians in rebelling against the Ottoman Empire, the reign of Abdulhamid II over the Ottoman state persuaded him to extend his rule of Muslims in southeast Asia and other areas. The interesting argument that Aydin makes is that Abdulhamid’s pan-Islamic movement was aimed to strengthen and save the Empire, not to weaken it. Abdulhamid’s idea of pan-Islamism was not meant to attack the European powers, but instead …show more content…
He makes an excellent point by bringing up the fact that the Ottoman Empire was not actually the strongest empire ruling over Muslims at the time of World War One, and that it was actually the British Empire who was the major ruler over Muslims. Therefore, the view that the Muslims were united throughout their existence until imperialism emerged proves to be wrong. It seems that the Muslims always seemed to be separated within empires as history occurred. The way how Aydin explains Britain’s empire in London provided connections between the Arabs from the Middle East and the Arabs from India after World War One is fascinating. For me, it was quite amusing to read because it showed that the British did not know what was about to happen, and did not realize that they were unintentionally creating these connections between the two areas. Thus, the British Empire caused alliances to occur between the Muslims from two different areas. As we learned from lecture, due to this unintentional connection and unification of the Muslims surrounding London, the British Empire actually suffered from destruction towards their rule and authority. As a result, the British Empire had a hard time persuading the Muslims that the empire was treating them fairly. The British Empire became a big negative issue to the Muslims, as the they