Table Of ContentSTUDIES IN MIDDLE EASTERN HISTORY
Bernard Lewis, Itamar Rabinovich, and Roger Savory,
General Editors
Israel Gershoni and James P. Jankowski
EGYPT, ISLAM, AND THE ARABS:
The Search for Egyptian Nationhood, 1900-1930
Ami Ayalon
LANGUAGE AND CHANGE IN THE ARAB MIDDLE EAST
The Evolution of Modern Political Discourse
Other Volumes Are in Preparation
LANGUAGE AND CHANGE
IN THE ARAB MIDDLE EAST
The Evolution of Modern
Political Discourse
Ami Ayalon
In cooperation with
THE DAyA N CENT ER FOR MIDDLE EASTERN
AND AFRICAN STUDIES
Shiloah Institute
Tel A.viv University
New York Oxford
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
1987
Oxford University Press
Oxford New York Toronto
Delhi Bombay Calcutta Madras Karachi
Petaling Jaya Singapore Hong Kong Tokyo
Nairobi Dar es Salaam Cape Town
Melbourne Auckland
and associated companies in
Beirut Berlin lbadan Nicosia
Copyright© 1987 by Oxford University Press, Inc.
Published by Oxford University Press, Inc.,
200 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016
Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of Oxford University Press.
Library of COngress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ayalon, Ami.
Language and Change in the Arab Middle East.
(Studies in Middle Eastern history)
Bibliography: p. Includes index.
1. Arabic language-19th century. 2. Political
science-Arab countries--History-19th century.
3. Arab countries--Politics and government. I. Title.
II. Series: Studies in Middle Eastern history
(New York, N.Y.)
PJ6075.A89 1987 492'. 7'09 86-18068
ISBN 0-19-504140-2
A
11 151{;1
24681097531
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
To Yael
Preface
Do ideas change reality? Or does reality remake ideas? Or is
history what T. S. Eliot called "the endless cycle of idea and
action"? Each proposition is arguable. But at whatever point the
"endless cycle" may momentarily halt, it is language with which
we capture both idea and action. Language mirrors its speakers'
understanding of their culture, their past, and their present. As the
"cycle" moves on and the historical situation changes, so does
language. New words are coined, old words acquire new mean
ings, their intellectual or emotional "loadedness" accumulating or
waning. Usually, such transitions are slow-paced and evolution
ary. But sudden, rapid historical change can confuse language and
cast a society's accustomed idiom into crisis. This can be the result
of domestic upheaval-revolutions, even mere coups, quickly pro
duce their own "newspeak"--or it can follow upon the forceful,
perhaps overpowering, encounter with a different culture. It is the
latter with which this book is primarily concerned.
Since language reflects the values and experiences of its own
speakers, it is signally ill-equipped to convey alien notions with
anything like the nuance they have in their natural habitat. The
attempt nonetheless to make communication possible is part and
parcel of the history of any two cultures meeting-or clashing. To
explore the shifts of language is, then, not only just a fascinating
viii Preface
pursuit, but indispensable for the proper understanding of such
an encounter.
The Middle East had undergone profound transformation as
a result of its dramatic encounter with Europe. The society of the
region was exposed to a variety of novelties, and its traditional
language had to be refurbished if it were to serve the multitude of
new lexical needs. The present study seeks to examine the chang
ing Arabic language as a mirror of changing perceptions and
values of its speakers. I have chosen to focus on the vocabulary
of politics, the field in which the confluence of a rich tradition
and strange modem principles has produced perhaps the most
colorful aspect of the process. The time span is the nineteenth
century, the formative phase of this transformation.
One point seems important enough to be emphasized here at
the very outset. When conceptual and linguistic problems result
from contact between two substantially different societies, such
problems arise in both of them alike. Neither side is at first
properly prepared to comprehend, or accurately describe, ideas
and phenomena peculiar to the other. Regardless of a possible
asymmetry in their motivation to explore one another, neither of
them escapes the difficulties inherent in the attempt to under
stand the opposite side. This has been the case with the cultural
interaction between Arabs and the West during the last two cen
turies. And while I chose to deal here only with one party, it is
essential to bear in mind that its counterpart was equally unpre
pared intellectually for the challenge. This, of course, is a subject
for another study.
A number of technical points should be noted. Since the
study is based on an analysis of primary texts, bulky notes with
numerous references to the sources have been unavoidable. So as
not to burden them still further, I have tried to limit references to
the most illustrative examples, although normally there would
have been many more in each case. Sources in the notes are
usually mentioned in an abbreviated form; fuller details appear in
the bibliography. Month names are also abbreviated by their first
three letters (e.g., ·Jan = January), except for June and July,
which are given in full form. In each note the sources are ar
ranged chronologically. In bilingual sources with a separate page
numeration for each language, the reference is always to the
Arabic text.
The term "Arab," or "the Arabs," is employed with refer-
Preface ix
ence to all those whose mother tongue is Arabic, including Egyp
tians. This term, though somewhat problematic in a nineteenth
century context, has been preferred for convenience over more
accurate but cumbersome formulae. Finally, in a study dealing
with the limits of trans-cultural communication, it should be un
derstood that all English renditions of Arabic and Turkish words
are, at best, approximate.
Arabic is transliterated in accordance with the system most
commonly used in the field of Islamic studies. This does not
include quotations from, or references to, sources using other
systems; those have been quoted in their original form.
There is no standard system for transcribing Ottoman Turk
ish in Latin letters. That employed here conforms with rules com
monly used in the field, which combine modern Turkish spelling
with transliteration from Arabic.
It is a pleasure to acknowledge the help rendered me during
various stages of this study by colleagues and friends. First and
foremost, Professor Bernard Lewis, to whom I am indebted for
sharing with me his vast knowledge of Islamic culture and history
and for his unfailing encouragement. Each of our frequent ses
sions was as inspiring as it was delightful. I consider myself most
fortunate to have him as a mentor and friend.
Professors Uriel Dann, Michael Harsgor, Charles Issawi,
Herbert Kufner and Roy Mottahedeh read parts of the manu
script and offered many valuable comments; I am grateful to
them all. To Professors Itamar Even Zohar, Albert Hourani,
Joseph Sadan and Sasson Somekh I am obliged for fruitful discus
sion of my approach and for many important suggestions. I owe
much to Professor Itamar Rabinovich, for his constant support
and ever-valuable advice; to Professor Shimon Shamir who, as
director of the Israeli Academic Center in Cairo, made my re
search period there at once gainful and pleasant; and to Mr.
Daniel Dishon, for his important help in matters of style.
I wish to offer special thanks to the staff at the Dayan Center
of Tel Aviv University, in particular to Edna Liftman and Amira
Margalit, for their endless efforts on my behalf, which made my
work immensely more enjoyable than it could otherwise have
been; to Nancy Lane, Susan Meigs and Valerie Aubry from Ox
ford University Press, for their masterly handling of the complex
operation of turning the manuscript into a book; and to Penny
Preface
X
Bee be, my superb editor-one can hardly wish for a more sophis
ticated and keen reader.
The research for this study was facilitated by grants from the
Princeton Program in Near Eastern Studies, the Ben-Gurion
Fund, and the Kaplan Chair in the History of Egypt and Israel at
Tel Aviv University. I acknowledge their support with gratitude.
I am also grateful to Cambridge University Press for permission
to reproduce here a part of an article I published in volume 28 of
The Historical Journal.
My wife Yael and my son Yaron were the heroes behind the
scenes of this project. Without their patience and inducement I
would never have brought it to completion.
Tel Aviv A.A.
June 1986
Contents
List of Abbreviations xiii
Introduction 3
1. Religious Communities and Nation-States 16
2. Sultans, Kings, Emperors 29
3. Subjects and Citizens 43
4. The Sociopolitical Elite-Traditional Standards of
Seniority 54
5. The Sociopolitical Elite-Leadership by Popular
Election 69
6. Constitutions, Laws, Legislation 81
7. Government, Autocratic and Otherwise 97
8. Instruments of Modern Politics-Parliaments and
Parties 110
Conclusion 127
Notes 134
Sources 165
Index 189
List of Abbreviations
BSOAS Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies
El1, EI2 Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1st and 2nd editions
IJMES International Journal of Middle East Studies
JNES Journal of Near Eastern Studies
JRAS Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
MEA Middle Eastern Affairs
MES Middle Eastern Studies
MW Muslim World
REI Revue des Etudes Islamiques
RMM Revue du Monde Musulman
WI Die Welt des !slams
