For the good of the Nation

Abstract

This article analyzes Rifaʿa al-Tahtawi’s (d. 1873) idea of Egyptiannationhood (al-ummah al-miṣriyyah) and key attendant concepts,such as civilization (tamaddun), progress (taqaddum),homeland (waṭan), and citizen (waṭanī). I revisit the intellectualorigins of his thought to move our understanding of his intellectualproduction beyond simply the influence of the European Enlightenment.Instead, I locate al-Tahtawi’s work as part of a conversationinternal to the debates of the Islamic tradition, which stretchesacross centuries and was never meant to finish.Consequently, I contextualize his conceptualization of nationhoodas an attempt to re-imagine a role for the Muslim community inIslamic political life – from which it had long been excluded –and ground Muslim political theory and practice within a normativeIslamic framework. Furthermore, I contend that al-Tahtawi’scontributions to both the conversations of his immediate contextand those of his tradition were underpinned by a shift in his generation’shorizon of expectations, namely, the shared assumptionsthrough which they received the conversations of their tradition.Underpinning this shift was the redefinition of time as progress,specifically the progress of the nation. If we conceptualize the Islamic tradition as a framework for inquiry rather than as a set ofdoctrines, then we should recognize that al-Tahtawi and his peers’new concern for the futurity of the nation represented a key additionto this framework.