A MOST:P.M HISTORY.* A HISTORY of the Saracens written by
a Moslem is a decidedly interesting phenomenon. It does not in the least follow that it will be better than others written by Christians, but it is certainly worth while to study what a Mahommedan has to say upon the history of his own people, and in the present case there are several points in the writer's favour. Syeci Ameer Ali has many notable qualificatiens for the task he set before him. To the race, religion, and education of the born Eastern he joins much of the training and culture of the West. A London barrister and an Indian Judge, versed in the languages of Asia and of Europe, master of an English' style which many Britons might envy, and extensively, if not * A Short History of the Saracens: being a Concise Account of the Eise,and Decline of the ,seracente Power, and of the Economic, Social, Una Intellectual Development of the Arab Nation,from the Earliest Times to the Destruction of Bagdad and the Expulsion of the blogr a from Spain. By Amcor A.II, Syed,
C.I.E., Judge or the High Court of Judicature at Fort William, In Iltengal. With 3IaPe. Illustrations, and Genealogical Tables. London : ILawnfilan and Co. (is. id. net.]
very critically, conversant with European as well as Oriental history and literature, the Syed appears to be marked out for the work he has just completed. His habit of mind is philo- sophical, and in his books on the life and teaching of Mahommed he has endeavoured to rationalise Islam and disencumber it of the superstitions and puerilities which the learned and the vulgar have combined to wrap about the original doctrine. In ethics in his views on social questions, he has shown himself as enlightened as the best of us. Nevertheless he claims to be a true Moslem ; with his eyes open he follow;Mahommed in preference to Christ ; his Bible is the Koran, however he may interpret it ; and he displays a partisan spirit, somewhat alien to his character, whenever he touches upon the sins and iniquities of Christians. We may therefore take it that we have here the views of a real Moslem, albeit an exceptionally enlightened one, and this it is that makes the appearance of this history so interesting.
It is undoubtedly a remarkable performance for an Oriental. We do not recollect ever seeing a work from any modern Eastern writer so well arranged, so lucid, terse, and correctly expressed. Without any intention of being offensively patron- ising, we may say it might have been written by an English- man. And that, indeed, is our disappointment. There are no marks of the Moslem in it, beyond occasional gibes at Christian doings ; except for a few passages, it might have been compiled by one of those gentlemen who people the reading-room of the British Museum, with no tincture of Islam about him. A com- pilation it is, from first to last, and a compilation mainly from European sources, or translations of Arabic historians. The subtle odour of the East is not here. Any history of the Saracens must of course be more or less of a compilation ; but it is one thing to compile it from a direct study of the old Arab chroniclers, and quite another to patch it together from the works of European scholars, however good. Nor does Syed Ameer All seem quite able to discriminate between good and bad authorities ; his critical faculty is undeveloped, and he has evidently had no training in the science of historical criticism and the proper use of documents. He will quote a popular sketch, like Sedillot's or Osborn's, side by side with a first-hand Arabic authority, as of equal weight. He cites Michaud, and even Mill, for the Crusading period, but we never hear of Kugler or Riihricht, much less Abu-Shama or Imad-ecl-din. He calls that dreary work the Siydset Ndma a proof of the genius of Niza,m-el-Mulk, the famous Veen.; his list of authorities includes Van Lennep's Bible Lands, and omits the immortal Tabari. He has the bad habit of para- phrasing or condensing his authors, here and there quoting a sentence, not always accurate, with the words "as a well-known writer says," Sm., which always strikes us as a little unfair ; and as a rule he gives no references to book or page.
Accepting the work, then, as an uncritical compilation from a number of European and some Eastern authorities, the respective weight of which the compiler is not in a position to judge, we have to consider how far it attains its object of providing a concise, convenient, and interesting text-book of Saracenic history. In our opinion, it has succeeded much better than could be expected from its method. Whether people will find it interesting or not will depend a good deal upon how much they know already of the subject, and how far they are liable to shy at uncouth Arabic names, with which (not always correctly spelt) these pages are decidedly over- stocked. No one, however, can fail to be delighted with the two chapters on Mahommedan civilisation, government, litera- ture, science, dress, and manners under the two dynasties of Caliphs at Damascus and Baghdad ; or with the flowing narra- tive of the great epoch of the rule of the Moors in Spain. One reason for the excellence of these chapters is that Baron von Kremer had completely worked out the subject of Arab civili- sation under the Caliphs in his fascinating Culturgeschichte des Orients; while Dozy and Mr. Lane-Poole had left veiy little to a successor in describing the history of the Moors in Spain. In the same way we have interesting accounts of the Saracens in the South of France and in Sicily, because Reinaud and .Amari had almost exhausted the materials. This is one of the drawbacks of compilation: when the compiler has a first-rate authority he goes on swimmingly, but when he has no standard work and is obliged to pick out his facts from translations of Arab histories (or sometimes the originals) or from second-rate European writers, the result is scrappy and _ inco-ordinate, and the narrative degenerates into jerky annals. Syed Ameer Ali is an admirable disciple, but no master. When he has a good leader to follow he can present a clear and comprehensive coup d'oeil of an epoch ; but when he is left to his own resources he seems to possess no real historical grasp, and his picture becomes confused and out of the true perspective.
In following the common precedent and closing his history with the fall of Baghdad in 1258—though he extends it in the West to the expulsion of the Moors in 1610—the Syed appears to us to be illogical. If by Saracens he means strictly Arabs he ought not to have described in detail the campaigns of Saladin, who was a Kurd and whose armies were composed of Turks. But if he includes the history of Turkish power, whether under the Seljuks or Saladin, on what prin- ciple does he stop short of the rule of the Mamluks in Egypt, who, if they were Turks, were not the less Moslems and Saracens in the truest sense, and whose rule was marked by extraordinary developments in pure Arab literature and art I It is idle to urge that the Caliphate ended in 1258, for it was revived at Cairo in the same 'Abbasid line ; and though the Cairo Caliphs were certainly faineants, they were not more so than many of their predecessors at Baghdad under the domination of a Turkish bodyguard or mire du palais. The Egyptian part, indeed, is the weakest in the book,—except perhaps the brief paragraphs on the Tmnsoxine kingdom. There is hardly a word about the splendid rule of the Tulunids at Fostat, and the still more magnificent dynasty of the Fatimids receives very scant notice. Of the later develop- ments of Mahommedan power under the Mamluks of Egypt, the Mongols and Safavids of Persia, the Moguls of India, and the Sultans of Turkey, there is not a syllable. Probably the considerations of space compelled some such limitation, but it must be regarded as arbitrary, and a complete Mahommedan history would certainly include Akbar, Shah 'Abbas, and Sultan Soleyman.
Having had our grumble, let us point out some of the merits of the book. Within its limits it certainly gives a clear, concise, and, on the whole, accurate summary of a long and complicated history spread over a wide expanse of the earth. It is the result of very arduous labour and much exact verification, and it summarises the results of a large number of trustworthy authorities which are not within the reach or the leisure of most students. It is arranged with every care to help the reader. Headings, marginal references, and dates facilitate reference, and Arabic titles are translated in foot- notes. Moreover, Syed Ameer Ali is in sympathy with his subject ; he has an eye for human interests and the great deeds and thoughts which are the common property of man- kind, and he eagerly seizes on everything that can range his Arabs among the heroes and reformers and discoverers of the world. When he once gets clear of little facts and dates, he writes with insight and enthusiasm. One of his favourite subjects is the position of women under the Caliphate. On this matter he is, as is well known, absolutely modern. He has always repudiated the idea that polygamy, the subjection of women, and the paralysing harem system have anything to do with Islam. When he says that Mahommed "indirectly for- bade polygamy, but made it conformable to all stages of society," we must observe that the forbidding was excessively " indirect " and unobtrusive, and we do not understand the "but." A discreet footnote is the only place where the Prophet's own numerous wives arc mentioned, and there it is stated, perfectly correctly, that these alliances were partly due to political or charitable' ireasons ; though such motives scarcely cover the cases of Zeyneb, or 'Aisha, or the Egyptian and Jewish concubines. But setting aside the peccadilloes of the Prophet, who was a law unto himself, Ameer Ali is un- doubtedly right in urging, as A. von Kremer did before him, that the harem and eunuch system did not come in till the time of Welid IL, nearly a century after Mahommed. He adduces, from the same authority, numerous examples of the freedom and intellectual activity of women under the Omayyad and 'Abbasid Caliphs, even despite the increasing tendency to seclusion which seems to have been adopted under Byzantine influence. Unveiled women, even girls, received men guests without shyness, and were treated with all the old Arab chivalry ; fathers took their surnames from their accomplished daughters (as Abu-Leyla); ladies; held
salons where learned men and doctors of the law, as well as poets and litterateura resorted ; women even rode to battle, in full armour. There were poetesses, calligraphers, musicians, even theologians, among the women, who held their own with the rougher sex, and Queen Zobeida herself, the wife of Harun-er-Rashid, wrote exquisite verses to her critical husband. Of Harun himself, unquestionably the most impressive figure in the Caliphate, Ameer Ali takes a much more favourable view than the late Professor Palmer, and we may close our notice of this interesting and painstaking work by quoting, without altogether endorsing, the Syed's " appre- ciation " of the great Caliph :— " Weigh him as carefully as you like in the scale of historical criticism, Harlan ar-Rashid will always take rank with the greatest sovereigns and rulers of the world. It is a mistake to compare the present with the past, the humanities and culture of the nineteenth century and its accumulated legacy of civilisation, the gift of ages of growth and development, with the harshness and vigour of a thousand years ago. The defects in Rashid's character, his occa- sional outbursts of suspicion or temper, were the natural outcome of despotism. That he should, with the unbounded power he possessed, be so self-restrained, so devoted to the advancement of public prosperity, so careful of the interests of his subjects, is a credit to his genius. He never allowed himself the smallest respite in the discharge of his duties : he repeatedly travelled over his empire from the east to the west to remedy evils, to redress wrongs, and to acquaint himself personally with the condition of his people. Nine times he himself led the caravan of pilgrims to the Holy Cities, and thus brought the nations under his sway to recognise and appreciate his personality, and to value the advantages of Islamic solidarity. His court was the most brilliant of the time ; to it came the learned and wise from every part of the world, who were always enter- tained with munificent liberality. Unstinted patronage was ex- tended to art and science, and every branch of mental study. He was the first to elevate music into a noble profession, establishing degrees and honours as in science and literature. The perfect immunity from danger with which traders, merchants, scholars, and pilgrims journeyed through the vast empire testified to the excel- lence and vigour of his administration. The mosques, colleges, and schools, the hospitals, dispensaries, caravanserais, roads, bridges, and canals with which he covered the countries under his sway, speak of his lively interest in the welfare of his people."
The Syed is a thoroughgoing advocate. The "golden prime" was a fact, and so, he would have us believe, was the benevolence of "the good Harun al Raschid."
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