Abstract
In the nineteenth century the Muslim world had to face invasions from the non-Muslim world. In four areas dynamic leaders arose to lead attempts to fight off these invasions. They were all inspired by a desire to renew Islamic society. (i) In Daghestan Shamil opposed the Russians; (ii) in Algeria it was ‘Abd al-Qadir; (iii) in Sudan the Mahdi; and (iv) in Somalia the Mullah Muhammad ‘Abdallah. In different ways all four leaders failed.
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- 1.
Much information about Shamil and his policies can be found in A. Zelkina, In Quest for God and Freedom. Sufi responses to the Russian advances in the North Caucasus (London, 2000).
- 2.
Especially the famous djigitovka (trick riding) so admired by the Russians who witnessed it.
- 3.
The second had been murdered by the renegade Hadji Murad. The murder was the subject of a famous novel by Tolstoy.
- 4.
C.H. Churchill , The Life Abdel-Kader (London, 1867).
- 5.
Ibid., p. 12.
- 6.
Churchill , p. 29.
- 7.
Is it possible that as early as this ‘Abd al-Qadir thought in terms of Arab nationalism?
- 8.
Ibid., p. 208.
- 9.
Churchill , pp. 280, 294.
- 10.
Ibid., p. 267.
- 11.
M.S. Lovell, A Rage to Live (London, 1999), p. 513.
- 12.
The nickname given by British soldiers in the Sudan to Hadendoa tribal warriors because of their elaborate hairstyle. According to Rudyard Kipling the British admired their bravery.
- 13.
Lytton Strachey , Eminent Victorians (London, 1986), p. 210. He adds that even Gordon had an uneasy respect for him.
- 14.
Strachey , op.cit., p. 255.
- 15.
Quoted by Ziadeh, Sanusiyah, pp. 54–56.
- 16.
London, 1896.
- 17.
Slatin , Fire and Sword, p. 173.
- 18.
Ibid.
- 19.
Ibid., p. 139.
- 20.
Slatin , p. 231.
- 21.
Strangely, the paper dignified him with capital letters.
- 22.
Most Islamic regimes have imposed at some time the severest penalties for infringement of the shari’a , mutilation, beheading, whipping, stoning to death.
- 23.
D. Hopwood, Sexual Encounters in the Middle East (Reading, 2004) p. 209.
- 24.
Educated at Oxford and seen playing tennis on the college courts in long white flannels.
- 25.
Admitted to the Arab League in 1974 although the official languages are stated to be Somali and Arabic.
- 26.
In the 1940s I used to note a London Midland and Scottish steam engine named ‘British Somaliland’ speeding down a local railway line. It sounded exotic but I had no idea where it was—perhaps near the ‘Straits Settlements’—another named locomotive?
- 27.
L. James, The Rise and Fall of the British Empire (London, 1995), p. 332.
- 28.
D. Jardine, The Mad Mullah of Somaliland (London, 1923), p. 55.
- 29.
Ibid., p. 313.
- 30.
A phrase quite similar to that used to describe Methodists inspired by religious fervour.
- 31.
The leaves of an Arabian shrub chewed as a stimulant.
- 32.
The Persian/Turkish word for a sufi follower.
- 33.
The post–First World War tactic of using aircraft against tribesmen was also tried successfully in Iraq together, it is rumoured, with the use of gas.
- 34.
See Abdi Sheik-Abdi, Divine Madness (London, 1993) and S.S. Samater, Oral Poetry and Somali Nationalism (Cambridge, 1982).
- 35.
Jardine, p. 315.
- 36.
Samater, p. 147.
- 37.
Samater quoting J.S. Trimingham, op.cit., p. 187.
- 38.
Reported by Jardine, a hostile witness.
- 39.
Samater, p. 1.
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Hopwood, D. (2018). Leaders Against Colonialism. In: Islam's Renewal. St Antony's Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75202-0_6
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