This post is part of the Series: Islam
The Muslim world was not a backward place. A place that needed reform just as any society needs, yes. But that is far from being backwards, and European colonialism did not help the Middle East progress forward, and in a several ways weakened and oppressed the region. By the early twentieth century, almost all of the Muslim world was controlled by European countries. This was a disastrous time for these people (Sonn 101). France controlled North Africa and Syria; England controlled Egypt, Palestine, Iraq, and India; the Dutch controlled Indonesia; and the Dutch and then England controlled Malaysia. (Sonn 101-102). Colonialism has had enormous effects on the Muslim world that are still felt today.
The Ottoman Empire had been a remarkable force for centuries (Sonn 102). Suleiman the Magnificent “gave French subjects the right to travel and trade in Ottoman lands” (Sonn 102). This gave European powers a way in into the empire. Travel and trade rights, eventually allowed Europeans to “amass greater wealth than was possible for local Muslims to obtain” (Sonn 102). Suleiman the Magnificent let European powers in and gave them great power that they abused, which he did not foresee. As sea trade became big for European powers, issues of piracy arose. Stopping piracy was the reason France used to attack Algeria in 1830 but then France stayed and settlers went there to farm (Sonn 104). Algeria did not regain independence until after a brutal war ending in 1962 “which an estimated one-tenth of population lost their live and another one-fifth to one-third were displaced” (Sonn 104). In 1801 the French had to vacate Egypt because of Ottoman campaigns and they took with them the Rosetta Stone and other Egyptian artifacts (Sonn 106). So not only did they occupy and militarily bombard these areas, but they also took the countries history from their lands. An example of the difference between the rule under the European powers versus Ottoman is Mehmed Ali. He was put in charge of Egypt after the French left and he tried to reorganize the country in ways that would allow Egypt to regain its pride of place among the World’s nations” (Sonn 106). He was the one who modernized the education system there and modernized Egypt’s military so they could defend themselves (Sonn 106). He focused on building up the country instead of using it for power and opportunity as colonization did.
There are a plethora of examples of European powers just using the countries. Companies like The British East India Company were only able to be in these places like India because of military power and force that stands behind them. In India they rebelled against the British who caused widespread suffering through “exploitation; expropriation of land; exorbitant taxes on Indians while British traders, who were exempt from tax duties, grew rich; disruption of tradition life; and imposition of foreign institutions and cultural norms” (Sonn 109). The British did not leave until 1957 where they partitioned it into India and the Islam state of Pakistan. Pakistan was in two sections “separated by language and culture and more than 1,000 miles of India” (Sonn 109). European powers used the Muslims world as a “Monopoly board to play out their colonial competition” (Sonn 110). When one power gained a region, another power moved in next door to try keep on equal footing. The European powers bargained over countries, using them as pawns to get power and advantage over each other with no regard for the right and welfare of the people belonging to these countries (Sonn 111). The modern state of Iraq was created by the Europeans to purposefully be weak by having three different groups put together because of the oil all the powers wanted access to. The powers even used people within these countries to get them to help them overthrow the governments in charge. The British used the Arabs who they knew were not happy under Turkish rule. The British wanted to keep the Turks from helping Germany and offered the Arab’s independence (Sonn 112). The Arabs gave their assistance, having to go against an establish Islamic law that prohibited collaboration with non-Muslims against Muslim rulers, and in return instead of independence, the territories were distributed amongst European powers (Sonn 112). The British on top of this were brutal when suppressing rebels. They punished with aerial bombardments and the burning of villages and also, in the 1920s suppressed rebels with the threat of poisonous gas (Sonn 113). Colonization repeatedly used violent tactics to keep people in line.
The effects of colonialism, economically, socially, and politically, have “influenced the developments in the Muslim world since the end of the nineteenth century” (Sonn 117). The colonized people during this time where frustrated as they wanted to be truly independent. The colonization produced resentment and a sense of betrayal from the West and by their own rulers who were corrupted by the West (Sonn 117). Colonization left many in poverty causing a rapid urbanization, “but work was often unavailable, leading to growing unemployment and underemployment” (Sonn 117). This also put intense strain on the traditional family ideals for these people. Men who were unable to do their traditional role of providing experienced shame and despair (Sonn 117). While women given more to handle because of their husbands leaving them behind “began to question their traditionally subservient roles” (Sonn 117). Leadership issues were also caused by colonialism. When countries did receive independence “military governments often took the place of civilian leadership, a result of the fact that force was required to evict colonial powers” (Sonn 117). The military governments, however, were often no better or popular than the European powers’ colonial governments (Sonn 117). A final effect colonization had was because of the criticism and critiques of the West on Islam, many reformers in Islam were seen as “Westernizers” (Sonn 129). These colonized people were severally mistreated by the West and even though reformers had internal criticisms that had good intentions, to many they saw the critiques as betrayal to Islam (Sonn 131). These effects of colonization created the desire to “reclaim tradition” and to revive “the strength of Islamic societies” through the need of self-resilience, within the Islamic society itself (Sonn 131).
Cited:
Sonn, Tamara. Islam: History, Religion, and Politics. Wiley-Blackwell, 2016.