• Home

Speeches

• Prof. May Schinasi
• Dr. Zahir Aziz
• H.E.Prof. Meliha Zulfacar
• H.E. Hayri Erol
• Dr. Halim Tanwir
• H.E. Karim Khuram
• Prof. Ziya Kaysari
• Prof. Senzil Nawid
• Prof. Ahmet Suphi Furat
• Dr. Keyamuddin Rayee Barlas
• Mr. Omer Tarzi

click on the names to read texts

 

Tarzi and the Emergence of Afghan Nationalism:
Formation of a Nationalist Ideology

                                                        by

Senzil K. Nawid

 

 

وطن بحب وطن قايمست و هم محفوظ                     که هست حب وطن تير سهمناک وطن
                                                                               (محمود طرزی)

Introduction

The modern nation-state and the concept of national sovereignty developed in Europe [when?] and spread from there to other parts of the world.  Nationalist ideologies developed in the Middle East, as in many other parts of the Third World, in reaction to Western aggression and the presumption of Western cultural and political superiority.  A primary concern of the first generation of Islamic modernist thinkers was to reinterpret Islam in the context of modern science and stop further decline in the standing of the Islam in the world.  Muslim reformers of the mid-nineteenth century tried to find religious justifications for change in order to reconcile Islamic morality and Western modernity.  Prominent among these nineteenth-century reformers were Sayyid Jamal al-Din al-Afghani (1838-1897) and his student and close associate, Sheikh Mohammad `Abduh (1849-1905) of Egypt, who were best known for their advocacy of unity among all Muslims in opposition to European imperialism and promotion of Islamic ‘reform’ and ‘renewal’ (islah wa  tajdid اصلاح وتجديد .)

`Abduh, who later became rector of the Islamic University of Al-Azhar in Egypt,  rejected blind acceptance of traditional doctrines and customs, asserting that a return to the purity of early Islam would restore Islamic spiritual vitality and create free-thinking conditions conducive to the adoption of modern science.  He rejected the practice of taqlid, blind adherence to the interpretation of Islam by medieval jurists, and called for a fresh interpretation of the shari`a.  In so doing, Afghani and `Abduh laid the intellectual foundation for social and political reform in the Middle East.

Nationalist discourse in the Middle East evolved along with the quest for reform. Althoughhistorically and ideologically grounded in Islamist thought, the nationalist movement in the Muslim world was greatly influenced by the Western ideal of the modern nation-state and was spread by the media, mainly journals and newspapers.   Nationalist writers in the Middle East began to look at Western models and Western forms of government to reshape Islamic society and re-imagine the Islamic polity. Thinkers such as Namik Kemal (1840-1888) and Zia Pasha (1825-1880) of Turkey attempted to merge pan-Islamism with Ottoman nationalism. Later, several writers in Turkey, Egypt, and other parts of the Middle East attempted to promote ideals of national solidarity and national identity within the particular conditions of their respective national societies.

In this paper, I will examine the work of Mahmud Tarzi (1865-1933), the ideologue of nationalism in Afghanistan. Inasmuch as I cannot examine all aspects of Tarzi’s thought and writings in this paper, I will concentrate on his ideas of fatherland, nationality, statehood, and national sovereignty.  I will base the analysis primarily on Tarzi’s writing in Seraj-Al-Akhbar, the newspaper he edited and published in Kabul.

Before delving into Tarzi’s ideology, a word should be said about his early life and the influences that shaped his political thinking.

Early Life and Intellectual Development

Mahmud Tarzi was born in 1865 in Ghazni[, Afghanistan, to a notable family of the Muhammadzai ruling clan. His father, Gholam Mohammad Tarzi, a well-known poet, was forced to leave Afghanistan for India in 1882 by Amir Abd al-Rahman (1880-1901) as a result of rivalry between two branches of the ruling dynasty.

Tarzi was educated by his father and private tutors until the age of sixteen. One of these tutors, Mullah Mohammad Akram Hotaki, who accompanied the Tarzi family into exile, was an eminent scholar from Qandahar.  After spending three years in Karachi in India, the Tarzi family moved to Baghdad and finally settled in Syria.   It was in Baghdad and Syria, then parts of Ottoman Turkey, that the young Mahmud at the age of twenty began to learn Arabic. In Baghdad he studied Turkish under Mohammad Effendi, a private tutor introduced to his father by Hidayat Pasha, the Ottoman military commander in Baghdad.   According to his own account, Tarzi’s interest in Turkish literature began with his exposure in Istanbul to a book by Ahmed Medhat, a noted Ottoman Turkish writer.  “As soon as I opened the book, art and science began to talk to me. Whatever it said, I understood. The more I read, the more I became enthralled.”   Tarzi’s passionate desire to learn Turkish and his long residence in Syria [within?] the Ottoman Empire led to his acquiring fluency in Turkish and initiated a life-long interest in Turkish literature. He soon became acquainted with numerous Ottoman political writers.  “Driven by an intense desire to learn about science and literature, I acquired whatever work I could find and devoted days and nights to reading them. The more I became acquainted with the writings of Ottoman authors the more passionate I felt about my own country and became increasingly absorbed in the love of homeland.”   “I was in flesh an Afghan but considered myself culturally an Ottoman--I began to dream the lofty idea of the establishment of close ties and cultural relations between these two countries and the two noble nations.”

At the same time, as May Schinasi points out,

…[t]he tidal wave of books which inundated Turkey in the form of translation and adaptation offered a very wide choice of what Europe had produced through the ages. Mahmud started to read and learn and thanks to a rapid mastery of the Turkish language, he delved into every possible subject.

 

An important event for Tarzi was his encounter in 1896 with Sayyid Jamal al-Din Al-Afghani in Istanbul, where he spent seven months benefiting from the teachings of this renowned Muslim thinker.  Afghani’s strong influence on Tarzi is revealed in his written account of his meetings with Al-Afghani in Istanbul.  Tarzi refers to the Sayyid as “the wealth of knowledge (معدن عرفان  )” and describes his seven months of companionship with him as “equivalent to seventy years of travel.”  

Tarzi and the Rise of Afghan Nationalism

In 1904, Tarzi moved his family from Damascus to resettle in Kabul after twenty years of living in exile. His return to Afghanistan coincided with the rise of Afghan nationalism invoked by the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907, by which Iran, Afghanistan, and other regions of Central Asia were divided into spheres of Russian and British influence.  The resolutions of the Convention, formulated and imposed without the knowledge or participation of the countries affected, evoked strong repercussions in Afghanistan and Iran and heightened anti-imperialist feelings.   A small group of nationalist writers, teachers, and liberal court members began to form a loosely organized group, known as the Young Afghans, and demanded modernist reforms and Afghanistan’s complete independence from Great Britain.   

 

The leading figure in this group was Mahmud Tarzi, whose ideas had attracted educated individuals, and liberal members. In 1911, Tarzi received permission from the amir to start the bi-weekly Seraj al-Akhbar (The Torch of News).  The paperbecame the vehicle for Tarzi with which to disseminate his modernist views and to give concrete expression to nascent Afghan nationalism.  As outlined in one of his editorials, Seraj al-Akhbar‘s objectives were to provide information on important events in the world, raise religious and national consciousness of the public, inspire in the citizens the love of homeland, advocate for national unity and obedience to the sovereign, promote modern education and science, promote ethical principles that would ensure progress, civility, and prosperity, make known to the public the enemies of Islam and the homeland,  and promote independence and national sovereignty.    

Seraj al-Akhbar played a crucial role in introducing Western ideas into Afghan intellectual circles by reporting international news from foreign newspapers. Tarzi used his position as the editor-in-chief of Seraj al-Akhbar to draw the attention of the Amir and the ruling elite to Afghanistan’s backwardness and to push for social and institutional reforms.

Although Tarzi’s ideas for Islamic modernism had their roots in the ideas of Al-Afghani and other nineteenth-century reformers, his nationalist ideology was distinct in dealing with Afghanistan’s particular social and political conditions.  He set forth an exclusively national ideology in which loyalties of kinship, region, and village were to be subordinated to national solidarity.  This nationalist ideology was however articulated within a framework of Islamic principles.

State and Nation

Tarzi’s political views are best expressed in a series of articles titled “Religion? State? Fatherland?, and Nation?”(din?, dawlat?, watan?, millat?), which appeared in the Ethics (akhlaqiyat) column in the Seraj al-Akhbar under He explained that these four elements were interrelated. The foundation of humanity, he wrote, is based on these four elements. The person who does not love his homeland will not be able to protect his national honor.

Tarzi’s search for statehood and nationality was founded on territorially defined conceptions of the modern nation-state and a geographically distinct and historically unique Afghan nation. He sought to awaken a consciousness that would supersede local parochialism, redefining the meaning of the term “watan,” which traditionally meant merely one's birthplace. The term watan, he wrote, referred to a territory with fixed boundaries to the north, south, east, and west, separating it from other countries.  For Tarzi, it included regions, cities, and villages governed by a single state and a single government.  The changed meaning of the word ‘watan’ and the portrayal of the whole country as ‘native place’ were integral to Tarzi’s idea that the territory of the state was an indivisible whole. The concept of the unity and indivisibility of the Afghan State, as articulated by Tarzi, appeared early in the reign of King Amanullah in the First Article of the 1923 Constitution, following Afghanistan’s declaration of independence.
 
Tarzi’s paramount goal was to instill national consciousness by means of leadership from above. He believed that a benevolent ruler concerned primarily with the people’s welfare could win the loyalty of the masses and educate them to participate effectively in the government and social development. It was the responsibility of the state to maintain a harmonious social balance through legislation and administration. The state was responsible to provide to its subjects not only security, but also comfort and prosperity ( (راحت و رفاه . Although a liberal, Tarzi was not an advocate for constitutional government. In the volumes of the newspaper he published there is no article favoring political democracy or parliamentarianism. Tarzi’s indifference to democratic government may have been the result of his close association with the royal court or the conviction that the country was not yet ready for political democracy.  For him the test of good government was the prosperity of the people. The progress of the nation, according to Tarzi, depended on the efficiency of the state and its success in carrying out policies that promoted national security and progress. He, therefore, enthusiastically applauded Amir Habibullah’s early program of reform.

The nation and the state, he argued, had mutual responsibilities (hoquq-i-motaqabela حقوق متقابله ) and were mutually dependent on each other for survival.  The failure of one would cause the failure of the other.  He urged discipline, devotion to duty, and the subordination of individual pursuits to the good of the state. If the nation refuses to obey the laws and regulations of the state, then that nation is ineffectual, paralyzed, and sickly.  An ailing nation cannot benefit from the state, nor can the state benefit from it.  

He promoted the concept of a single Afghan identity that would bring together the disparate ethnic and religious groups of the country as one nation.  His discourse on reform was thus combined with the idea of brotherly union of different peoples, whose cooperation was important for the progress of the homeland.  Recognizing that ethnic identity loomed large in the historical and social background of the nation, he advocated for unity under the banner of Islam. 

Education

Tarzi’s nationalism was not confined to the world of politics. It was also cultural.  He paid serious attention to issues of language and literature and modern education, which he saw as essential not only for national progress but for the realization of social and political homogeneity.  Education would be the key to forging a new national consciousness and reducing cultural differences among diverse elements of the country. He argued that education was a necessity that man could not do without, and he stressed the importance of the mind as a power governing human life. “No country or nation has attained or will attain progress and prosperity without scientific knowledge and technology….Can the astonishing achievements of the civilized world, the extraordinary inventions that have illuminated the world be attributed to anything other than the radiant effect of science?”

He believed that the acquisition of modern science and technology was essential for Afghanistan’s economic growth, cultural progress, and national strength.The love of the homeland, he argued, includes taking interest in the future of the children of the homeland and making it possible for them to attain proper training in modern science. Additionally, Tarzi urged the youth to strengthen their faith through knowledge. The greatest and noblest worship, he argued, was to obtain knowledge, because it is only through knowledge that a Muslim will be able to acquire full intellectual capacity to understand God’s Unity. He advocated for compulsory education for men and women with a uniform syllabus to instill patriotism in the minds of the new generation and diminish cultural differences among different ethnic groups.

Language

Tarzi recognized the need to pay close attention to the symbolic role of language in the ideology of nationalism.  He published a series of articles on the importance of language and devoted a column of Seraj al-Akhbar to Persian and Pashtu literature under the aphorism: “A nation survives through its language and its language survives through its literature.” (هر قوم بزبان خود, هر زبان به ادبيات خود زنده ميماند ).   

Comparing the “fatherland” to a vessel ( (ظرف and the nation to substance (مظروف ) contained therein, he pointed out that the contents of a vessel can be composed of one particular ingredient, such as water, or a combination of two or several ingredients. The Afghan nation, he wrote, is composed primarily of two constituents, speakers of Persian and speakers of Pashto. Although Tarzi wrote exclusively in Dari Persian, he urged readers to make a concerted effort to enhance the status of Pashtu. He promoted Pashto as Afghanistan’s national language but argued that “given Persian’s long-standing status as our official language, it has always enjoyed (تقدم اعزازی ) the greater prestige.”  

The Promotion of Women

Tarzi also initiated the first public debate in Afghanistan on the issue of women’s right to education and courageously broached the question of equality for women with men. Not unlike other contemporary Muslim modernist-nationalist writers, such as Qasim Amin and Mohammad Lutfi al-Sayyid of Egypt, Tarzi linked nationalism with feminism. He viewed women as forming the core of the family and, inasmuch as the family was the foundation of the society, women’s intellectual progress or backwardness had direct influence on the progress or backwardness of the nation.  He claimed that Islam was founded upon equality for all, women and men. Quoting a saying of the Prophet, “Women are the other half of men and exactly like them” (انماالنساءِ الشقايق الرجال ), he argued that the original human being was composed of these two halves and that one part could not progress without the other.

Tarzi began his defense of women in an article that became the prelude of a series of biographical accounts of famous women (مشاهير زنان جهان ). He argued against the common belief that the subordination of women to men reflected a natural order in which women are by nature unequal to men. It is an established fact, he wrote, that the human race originated from a man and a woman and that both contributed to the propagation of the human race. His purpose in assigning a column in his paper to “famous women” was to set the stage for discourse on women’s role in society, to celebrate women’s intellect, and to accord women a sense of pride.  He intended, first, to demonstrate that, given the opportunity, women would be able to develop their minds the same way men do and, secondly, to pave the way for opening public schools for girls to enable them to participate in the progress of the nation.  In his view, the progress of the nation depended on the progress of women. Accordingly, Tarzi advocated for the opening of schools for girls and believed that education would give women a sense of accomplishment and enable them to contribute to Afghanistan’s progress as the mothers of the country’s future generation.

Patriotism and National Freedom

Central to Tarzi’s message was love of fatherland. He saw patriotism as a noble sentiment and a solid base for nationalism and for the establishment of a powerful state. A significant contribution was his promotion of the concepts of “national sovereignty” (hakimiyat-i-milli حاکميت ملی ) and “love of homeland” (hubb-i-watan حب وطن  ).  
He tried in many articles to create a sense of commonality rooted in the love for the “homeland,” and he repeatedly enjoined his readers to feel and demonstrate that love. The “love of fatherland” hubb al-watan, he argued, was the nation’s most effective weapon against foreign aggression. We love our homeland for many reasons, he wrote, but most of all because our homeland is our universe, because our existence is connected to it. The love of fatherland, he wrote means to cherish one’s faith, honor (namus), national pride (sharaf wa `izzat-i-milli), and national freedom (azadi).
He cited Afghanistan’s fierce resistance against the British during the First and the Second Anglo-Afghan Wars as examples of the natural nationalistic character of the Afghan people.  

Call for Independence

In many of his articles, Tarzi stressed the importance of independence and national sovereignty. The British control of Afghanistan’s foreign policy, in Tarzi’s view, had deprived Afghanistan of direct channels of communication with the outside world. The establishment of direct diplomatic, commercial, and cultural relations with foreign countries was essential, in his mind, to bring the country out of decades of political and cultural isolation and pave the way for its progress.

The outbreak of World War I in Europe had far-reaching effects in the Middle East. It also had an impact on Afghanistan. In November 1914, Ottoman Turkey, which had recently been humiliated by setbacks in Libya and the Balkans, joined the War in support of the Axis powers against the Allies. The Ottoman Sultan’s call for an Islamic jihad against France, Russia, and Great Britain aroused strong pan-Islamic sentiments in Afghanistan.  Seraj al Akhbar took lead in expressing deep sympathy for Ottoman Turkey and became a strong political voice in the region during the Great War.  It enjoyed a wide circulation, with many readers in Central Asia, Iran, and India.  An issue of Seraj al-Akhbar in which Tarzi declared British India the “Abode of War” (dar al-harb دار الحرب ) caused a great sensation in India.   Alarmed by the paper’s growing influence, on December 14,  Lord Hardinge, the Viceroy and Governor General of India to Amir Habibullah and complained abut the strong anti-British tone of the Seraj al-Akhbar, adding  ‘You may be sure that I have not the slightest desire to interfere in any of the internal affairs of Afghanistan, but I would suggest to Your Majesty as a friend, the desirability of taking steps, either to suppress this paper or to alter the present tone.”

In 1915, a Turko-German mission led by Oskar Niedermayer arrived in Kabul to encourage Amir Habibullah to join the war in support of Turkey. The mission included a number of Turkish officers and Indian revolutionaries. Amir Habibullah took advantage of the opportunity to play one side off against the other.  However, after much procrastination and despite securing an agreement from the Central Powers for a huge payment and arms provisions in exchange for attacking British India, he decided to remain neutral, hoping to use his policy of neutrality during the War as a bargaining chip in future negotiations with the British for Afghanistan’s independence.  In fact, on March 3, 1915, the viceroy wrote a letter to Amir Habibullah in which he commended him on his wise and courageous decision. “I am delighted,” he wrote, “to have proof that in spite of such influences as may be at work in your territories Your Majesty is steadily pursuing the policy of neutrality which throughout you have declared to the King Emperor’s Government.”

The nationalists and the religious leaders, on the other hand, saw an alliance with Turkey as an opportunity to end the British control of Afghanistan’s foreign policy.  The Amir’s decision to remain neutral during the War generated strong resentment among the nationalists.  At this time, Seraj al-Akhbar moved in a new direction and abandoned its laudatory tone in reference to the Amir.

In June1916, a British-inspired Arab revolt was launched by Sharif Husain, the governor of Mecca and Medina, who entered into an alliance with England and France against Ottoman Turkey.   As tension between the contradictory sentiments of pan-Islamism and pan-Arabism intensified during the Great War, Tarzi shifted his attention from support of Turkey to the issue of Afghan independence. The strong Islamic nationalist feelings aroused during the war in defense of Ottoman Turkey encouraged Tarzi to become bolder in his anti-British rhetoric.  He intensified his efforts to channel the sentiments aroused by the Great War in favor of defense of the fatherland.  His patriotism is expressed to the fullest in a stirring article titled “Rise Up for Prosperity” (حی علی الفلاح ), in which he used the second phrase of the call to prayer to advocate for a national uprising against the British. He decried Muslim indifference toward the war and made a passionate appeal to Afghan pride, calling upon the nation to rise up against the British.

Rise up for prosperity, Oh noble Afghan nation! You must protect your dignity and your national honor. You must protect the independence of your government.  The Afghans, who have become known for bravery, pride, and strong belief in Islam, must not accept the control and protection of a foreign non-Muslim nation.

Tarzi then went on to elaborate what being a British protectorate would mean. He argued that the meaning of ‘protectorate’ is precisely that circumstance in which one state dictates to the other not to recognize any but itself, not to enter into negotiations with any state but itself and not to conclude any treaty with any nation but itself. 

Tarzi asked rhetorically, “Can the Afghan people, who are known for bravery, accept the domination of another nation over their foreign policy?” “Never,” he replied.  
According to the Afghan historian Abdul Hai Habibi, this issue of the paper was immediately censured by order of Amir Habibullah before reaching readers, and Tarzi was reprimanded and fined for his “call to prayer” at an inappropriate time. 

In 1918, Seraj al Akhbar was shut down by the order of the Amir.  By that time, however, Tarzi had accomplished his objectives.  He had established a philosophical base for reform and had developed the intellectual foundation for Afghan nationalism and ultimate independence. His views and ideas had a profound effect on a rising generation of Afghan intellectuals, mostly young liberal members of the court, writers, and school teachers.  An Afghan cultural consciousness began to take shape as writers stimulated interest in the history of Afghan peoples and Afghan literature, and the definition of the national language.

In 1919, the nationalist-modernist movement advocated by Tarzi was abruptly transformed from a theoretical movement to a plan of action with the rise to power of King Amanullah.  Immediately following his ascension to the throne, Amanullah created a Ministry of Foreign Affairs, presaging his intention to declare Afghanistan’s independence.   The appointment of Tarzi as the first Minister of Foreign Affairs marked the triumph of Afghan nationalism, begun a decade earlier by Tarzi and his associates.

On March 3, 1919, King Amanullah sent a communication to Lord Chelmsford, Viceroy and Governor-General of India, expressing the wishes of the people of Afghanistan to conclude a treaty of friendship with India. Unwilling to await a response from the Viceroy, the new king unilaterally declared Afghanistan’s independence and a national uprising against the British.  This conflict, the Third Anglo-Afghan War ended in the same year with the official recognition of Afghanistan’s unconditional independence by the British.