“On the Rise of States and Their Downfall”: Muhammad ’Abduh’s Discourse on Civilization in His Early Journalistic Works (1876-1882)

Oliver Scharbrodt

doi:10.21580/ws.33.1.26325

Authors

Oliver Scharbrodt Prof., (Scopus ID: 26667206900) Lund University, Sweden

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21580/ws.33.1.26325

Keywords:

Muhammad ‘Abduh, Civilization, tamaddun, reformism, political philosophy, early journalism, Islamic modernism

Abstract

This article examines Muhammad ‘Abduh’s early journalistic writings (1876–1882) on the rise and decline of states through the lens of tamaddun (civilization) and social progress. Drawing on essays in al-‘Urwah al-Wuthqā, it explores how ‘Abduh engaged Islamic rationalist thought, classical sources such as Ibn Khaldun and Ibn Miskawayh, and European models, notably François Guizot, to explain social evolution, governance, and moral development. Using a qualitative historical-philosophical approach, it combines close reading of primary sources with contemporary scholarship on Islamic reformism and constitutional thought. ‘Abduh reinterpreted the Ibn Khaldunian dichotomy between nomadic and urban societies within an evolutionary framework aligned with nineteenth-century notions of civilization and rational morality. Unlike earlier reformist readings, he emphasized society’s moral and intellectual preparation as a prerequisite for socio-political reform, privileging an educated elite’s guidance while cautiously acknowledging the limits of popular agency. His writings blend utilitarian, ethical, and proto-nationalist arguments, seeking to harmonize Islamic intellectual heritage with emerging European notions of social progress, legal rationality, and statecraft. The study contributes to scholarship on Islamic modernism by illuminating the formation of the modern public intellectual, and lays groundwork for comparative studies of Rashid Rida and contemporary debates on reform, governance, and civic participation in Muslim societies.

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