6 Sayyid ʿUthman and the Egyptian Reformist Movement (1905–1912)

Abstract

This chapter deals with the influence of the Egyptian modernist movement in the Netherlands East Indies and Sayyid ʿUthman's reaction to it. Sayyid ʿUthman published extensively on the issue and some of his writings were also scrutinized by Rashid Rida in al-Manar. The period dealt with in the chapter starts around 1905, when Sayyid ʿUthman began writing against the Egyptian modernists, and ends with the year 1912, when one can see Sayyid ʿUthman actively opposing a modern school in Palembang. In the nineteenth century, new ideas about the position of Islam in politics and in society began to develop in the Muslim world, in response to the modernity that arrived along with European colonial expansion. At the centre of this intellectual response was the Cairene reformist movement, which rose to prominence at the end of the nineteenth century.Keywords: Egyptian Reformist movement; Islam; Muslim world; Netherlands East Indies; Palembang; Rashid Rida; Sayyid ʿUthman's reaction