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Syrian Christians, the Rags-to-Riches Story, and Free Enterprise

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2009

Donald M. Reid
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In the late nineteenth century, when American boys were devouring the success stories of Horatio Alger and cultivating the prescribed virtues of thrift and industry in hopes of jumping from rags to riches overnight, boys on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean were dreaming similar dreams. The Christian boy of the Levant was particularly drawn to such success stories. His decision for a business career was not entirely of his own choosing, for as members of a Christian minority in a Muslim land his ancestors had long been excluded from the most prestigious official careers of the Ottoman Empire–the bureaucracy, the military, and the Muslim religious profession. Since these choice callings were reserved for Muslims, the dhimmî subjects of the Sultan had no choice but to concentrate their energies on banking and trading, shopkeeping and shipping. Making the best of the situation, the indigenous Christian of the Ottoman Empire threw himself into these business careers and sometimes amassed such a fortune that he came to occupy unofficial positions of considerable influence. Often his position as agent and protégé of a European shipping house gave him a decided advantage over Muslim merchants. Increasing the toehold given to it by the Capitulations agreements, Europe made its power increasingly felt in the Middle East during the nineteenth century, and the protégé of a European power could no longer be treated arbitrarily by Ottoman authorities.

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Articles
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International Journal of Middle East Studies , Volume 1 , Issue 4 , October 1970 , pp. 358 - 367
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1970

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References

page 358 note 1 On the dhimmîs in the Ottoman Empire before 1800 see Gibb, H. A. R. andBowen, H., Islamic Society and the West (London, 1950–1957), vol. 1, part 2, pp. 209–61.Google ScholarAvedis, K. Sanjian, The Armenian Communities in Syria under Ottoman Dominion (Cambridge, Mass.,1965), is a study of one millet.Google ScholarNorman, Itzkowitz, ‘Mehmed Raghib Pasha: the Making of an Ottoman Grand Vizier’ (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Princeton University, 1959), pp. 15–17, examines Ottoman attitudes toward careers.Google Scholar

page 358 note 2 ‘Syria’ here refers to geographical Syria, including the present-day countries of Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. We are presently concerned with the Arabic-speaking Christians of Syria and not with such other Christian Ottoman subjects as Greeks, Copts, and Armenians. The Maronites, ‘Eastern’ or ‘Greek’ Orthodox, and Greek Catholics all have substantial Arabic–speaking communities in Syria.

page 359 note 1 See Roderic, Davison, Reform in the Ottoman Empire, 1856–1876 (Princeton,1963), pp. 114–35, on the changes in the millet system during the nineteenth century.Google ScholarElie, Kedourie, ‘Religion and Politics: The Diaries of Khalil Sakkakini’, St Anthony's Papers, vol. 4 (1959), pp. 77–94, discusses the acute tensions between the Greek traditional leadership and the Arab lay elements in the Orthodox Church.Google Scholar

page 359 note 2 For a brief summary of Spencer's ideas and a discussion of his popularity in the United States, see Richard, Hofstadter, Social Darwinism in American Thought (Boston,1955), pp. 31–50et passim.Google Scholar

page 360 note 1 Demolins' popularity in the Middle East is treated in Albert, Hourani, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, 1798–1939 (London,1962), p. 181,Google Scholar and Ramsaur, E. E., The Young Turks (Beirut,1965), esp. pp. 81–9.Google Scholar Prince Sabaheddin, of the Ottoman royal family but leader of an exiled opposition party before 1908, took Demolins as his prophet. What support Sabaheddin could muster came in part from the non–Muslim minorities who stood to gain from decentralization and free enterprise. See Bernard, Lewis, The Emergence of Modern Turkey (London,1962), pp. 197–200. Thus laissez faire ideas had the same attraction for Christians in the Turkish-speaking part of the Empire as in the Arabic–speaking areas.Google Scholar

page 360 note 2 For Sarrûf, seeYûsuf, As'adDâghir, Masâdir al–Dirasât al–Adabîya (Beirut, 1955), vol. 2, pp. 540–8,Google Scholar and Ilyâs, Zakhûrâ, Mir'ât al–'Asr (Cairo, 1897).Google ScholarL.Tibawi, A., ‘The Genesis and Early History of the Syrian Protestant College. II’, The Middle East Journal, vol. 21 (1967), pp. 202–12, has some interesting insights on the controversies which caused Sarrûf and Nimr to leave the College. Al–Muqtataf and al–HilâlGoogle Scholar are discussed briefly in Hourani, , Arabic Thought, pp. 246–7.Google Scholar

page 360 note 3 On Nimr see Zakhûrâ, , Mir'ât, pp. 529–38.Google Scholar There was a third founder, Shâhîn Makkâryûs (1853–1910), who had also attended the Syrian Protestant College and who married Nimr's sister. Makkâryûs was prominent in freemasonic and journalistic activities, but he soon faded into the background as far as al-Muqtataf is concerned. He did move to Cairo with Nimr and Sarrûf, but there split off to found his own magazine, al–Latâ'if, which lasted until his death in 1910. On the man seeZakhûrâ, , Mir'ât, pp. 417–24;Google Scholar on the magazine see Filîb, dî Tarâzî, Ta'rîkh al–Sihâfa al–'Arabîya (Beirut, 1913–1933), vol. 3, pp. 76–7.Google Scholar

page 361 note 1 Zaydân is treated in Dâghir, , Masâdir, vol. 2, pp. 442–8;Google Scholar and Zakhûrâ, , Mir'ât, pp. 457–62.Google Scholar

page 362 note 1 Kamal, S. Salibi, The Modern History of Lebanon (London, 1965), p. 148.Google Scholar Zaydân and the poet Khalîl Mutrân, were the only Syrian Christian authors to have books on a list of favorites selected by a group of prominent Egyptians in 1952. See Kermit, Schoonover, ‘A Survey of the Best Modern Arabic Books’, The Muslim World, vol. 62 (1952), pp. 48–9.Google Scholar

page 362 note 2 Ya'qûb, Sarrûf, trans., Sirr al–Najâh (Beirut, 1880).Google Scholar See also his 'Kitâb, Sirr al–Najâh wa Mashâhîr al–‘Arab’, al-Muqtaaf, vol. 10 (1886), pp. 461–5Google Scholar and Tibawi, , The Middle East Journal, vol. 21 (1967), p. 202.Google Scholar Zaydân's reaction is mentioned in Anwar, al-Jundî, Jurjî Zaydân: Munshi' al–Hilâl (Cairo, n.d.), p. 20.Google Scholar On Smiles see Thomas, Mackay, ed., The Autobiography of Samuel Smiles, LL.D. (London, 1905)Google ScholarandAsa, Briggs, Victorian People: A Reassessment of Persons and Themes, 1851–1867 (New York,1963), pp. 116–38.Google Scholar There is also an apologetic biography by his granddaughter, Samuel Smiles and His Surroundings (London, 1956).Google Scholar

page 362 note 3 Samuel, Smiles, Self-Help; With Illustrations of Character, Conduct, and Perseverance (2nd ed., New York, 1884), p. vii.Google Scholar

page 363 note 1 For a discussion of Alger see Whole, R. Richard, ‘The “Rags to Riches Story”: An Episode of Secular Idealism’, in Reinhard, Bendix and Seymour, Martin Lipset, eds., Class, Status and Power: Social Stratification in Comparative Perspective (2nd ed., New York, 1965), pp. 501–6.Google Scholar

page 363 note 2 The biography is found in Jurjî, Zaydân, Mashâhîr al–Sharq fî al–Qarn al–Tâsi''Ashr (2nd ed., Cairo, 1922), vol. 2, pp. 302–9.Google Scholar The Sîdânâwîs' store in Cairo, now nationalized, still bears their name. Other examples of the success–story approach by Syrian Christian biographers are found in Ilyâs, Zakhûrâ, al–Sûrîyûn fî Misr (Cairo, 1927),Google Scholar and Elie, Safa, L'émigration libanaise (Beirut, 1960).Google Scholar

page 363 note 3 Sarrûf's comments are in ‘Rijâl al–A'mâl wa al–Amwâl’, al–Muqtataf, vol. 27 (1902), pp. 1–3.Google ScholarGibb, H. A. R., ‘Islamic Biographical Literature’, in Bernard, Lewis and Holt, P. M., eds., Historians of the Middle East (London, 1962), pp. 54–8, discusses the concerns of traditional Islamic biographical literature.Google Scholar

page 364 note 1 Smiles, , Self–Help, p. 119.Google Scholar

page 364 note 2 ‘Harbart Sbansir’, al–Hilâl, vol. 12 (1904), pp. 195–201;Google Scholar ‘Ra'y Sbansir fî al–Ta'lim’, and ‘Falsafah Sbansir’, al–Muqtataf, vol. 29 (1904), pp. 1–8, 281–6, 289–95, 383 ff.Google Scholar There is also at least one earlier item: ‘Ta'qîb 'alâ Sbansir’, al–Muqtataf, vol. 22 (1898), pp. 817–20.Google Scholar

page 365 note 1 ‘al–Ishtirâkîya’, al–Hilâl, vol. 9 (1900), pp. 20–1 and ‘Fasâd Madhab al–Ishtirâ–kîya’,Google Scholaral–Muqtataf, vol. 14 (1890), p. 361.Google Scholar

page 365 note 2 al-Hilâl, vol. 9 (1900), pp. 20–1.Google Scholar

page 365 note 3 ‘al–Ishtirâkîyûn wa al–Fawdawiyûn’, al–Muqtataf, vol. 18 (1894), p. 804.Google Scholar

page 365 note 4 al–Muqtataf, vol. 14 (1890), pp. 361–4.Google Scholar

page 365 note 5 ‘Mashâkil Dhawî al–A'mâl wa Ta'assub Ashâb al–Mâl’, al–Muqtataf, vol. 9 (1887), pp. 454–60.Google Scholar

page 365 note 6 ‘Hall Mashâkil al–'Ummâl wa Ashâb al–Mâl’, al–Muqtaaf, vol. 9 (1887), pp. 517–20.Google Scholar

page 365 note 7 ‘al–Musâwâ fî Rûsiyâ’, al–Muqtataf, vol. 61 (1922), pp. 9–12Google Scholar and Rijâl al–Mâl wa al–A'mâl ([Cairo], 1933).Google Scholar An exception is the article sympathetic to socialism by Shahiblî Shumayyil, ‘al–Ishtirâkîya al–Sahîha’, al–Muqtataf, vol. 62 (1913), pp. 9–16.Google Scholar

page 365 note 8 ‘Rûsiyâ a1–Bulshifîkîya’, al–Hilâl, vol. 28 (1920), pp. 776–81Google Scholar and Salâma, Mûsâ, ‘al–Harakat al–Ta'âwunîyah’, al–Hilâl, vol. 31 (1923), pp. 598–600. Mûsâ had an earlier article, ‘Ta'rîkh a1–Ishtirâkîya fî Ingilterâ’,Google Scholaral–Hilâl, vol. 18, pp. 776–81,Google Scholar and surprisingly even ‘al–Ijtimâ'îya wa al–Ishtirâkîya’, al–Hilâl, vol. 14 (1908), which seems to be by Jurjî Zaydân, is fairly sympathetic.Google Scholar

page 366 note 1 Salâma Mûsâ was heavily influenced by Sarrûf, Zaydân, and other Syrian Christian writers; he spent a lifetime campaigning for the acceptance by Egypt of socialism and other Western ideas. See his autobiography, The Education of Salâma Mûsâ (Shuman, L. O., trans.,Leiden, , 1961).Google Scholar

page 366 note 2 Smiles, , Autobiography, p. 229.Google Scholar The Persian translation did not come until 1933, long after Smiles' popularity in the West had faded: 'Dashtî, A., trans., I'timâd bi Nafs (Teheran, [1933]).Google Scholar

page 366 note 3 Hourani, , Arabic Thought, pp. 135, 143, 181.Google Scholar

page 366 note 4 See the discussions of Islamic authoritarianism and the role of the state in Islamic civilization in Sylvia, Haim, ed., Arab Nationalism: An Anthology (Berkeley, 1964), pp. 67–9;Google ScholarMalcolm, Kerr, ‘Arab Radical Notions of Democracy’, St Anthony's Papers, vol. 14 (1963), pp. 9–40;Google ScholarMalcolm, Kerr, ‘Notes on the Background of Arab Socialist Thought’, Journal of Contemporary History, vol. 3 (1968), p. 158;Google Scholar and Leon, Carl Brown, trans., The Surest Path (Cambridge, Mass., 1967), pp. 52–6.Google Scholar

page 367 note 1 Kerr, , St Anthony's Papers, vol. 14 (1963), pp. 9–40,Google Scholar and Journal of Contemporary History, vol. 3 (1968), p. 158.Google Scholar

page 367 note 2 The socialist ideas of these three will be treated in a subsequent study.