Afghani in Paris: a note

Abstract

In her recently published work, Djamal-ed-Din Assad Abadi dit Afghani, Mrs Homa Pakdaman has printed a large number of documents which she had succeeded in tracking down and locating. Among these documents figure two reports copied from Afghani's file now in the Archives historiques of the Prefecture de Police in Paris (pp. 339-42). One of the reports, dated March 28, 1884, that is more than two years after Afghani's arrival in Paris, is remarkable for the misinformation regarding Aghani's past and current activities with which it is filled, while the other dated April 28, 1885 gives details of Afghani's relations with his mistress Kathi. In the body of her work (chapter III, passim), Mrs. Pakdaman also quotes from other reports to be found in Afghani's police file. The file as it exists today (no. E a/l 16) bears no indication of the reason for which it was opened, and it is obviously incomplete and fragmentary. One of the reports it contains, briefly referred to by Mrs Pakdaman (op. cit., pp. 92 and 98), has seemed interesting enough to warrant reproduction. It is printed in an appendix below. The report, dated September 5, 1884 and signed Hovve, is obviously written by someone personally acquainted with both Afghani and 'Abduh. It describes Afghani as having a 'figure energique' and a countenance which breathes fanaticism. 'Abduh, too, according to the writer, seems 'un veritablefanatique, sombre, soupfonneux'. Both, the writer proceeds to add, have 'des physionomies peu rassurantes, presque feroces, et il est certain qu'ils ne seraient pas tres difficiles sur le choix des moyens a' employer contre les Anglais'. As is well known, Afghani appeared in Russia some two years after finally leaving Paris. He was employed there, together with Dalip Singh, in anti-British propaganda. It is therefore interesting to note that, as this report shows, a Russian secret agent was attempting, as early as 1884, to establish relations with him and secure his services. The report also helps to shed some light on the financing of al-'Urwa alwuthqa. Since it was anti-British, and since Afghani was connected with Khalil Ghanim who edited the newspaper al-Bafir in the French interest, it was legitimate to wonder whether al-'Urwa was not, in fact, financed by the French Government. This report declares that Afghani must have attempted to interest the French Government in his anti-British enterprise, but 'if such advances have been made, they do not seem to have been favourably received'. 'In any case', the report goes on, 'Djemal Ed-Din says that the French Government does not know how to do what has to be done in order to compel the English to leave Egypt, a setback which would probably be the signal for a revolution in India. He complains of its lack of boldness, when a little energy is all that is required, and when it rests with the French Government that England's Eastern Empire should crumble rapidly.' These seem the authentic accents of Afghani, the grandiose and ever-disappointed projector, and they do seem to indicate that the French Government refused to finance his activities. It seems safe to say that one reason-perhaps the decisive one-why al-' Urwa stopped publication eight months after its first appearance was lack of money. Mrs Pakdaman has drawn attention (op. cit., pp. 104-5) to a letter written by 'Abduh to Afghani from Tunis in December 1884 which shows that the former had been sent there on a begging mission which proved unsuccessful. She has