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Thinkers

Jamal al-Din al-Afghani

Islamic · Middle East · 1838 to 1897

Political thinker and journalist who urged Muslim peoples to unite, to take up science and reason, and to resist foreign rule.

What it is

Jamal al-Din al-Afghani (about 1838 to 1897) was a Muslim political activist and journalist who travelled through Egypt, India, Europe, Iran and the Ottoman lands. He argued that Muslim peoples should stand together against European domination and that reason and science belonged to the heart of their own tradition.

His life is hard to pin down. He used several names, he moved from country to country, and even the country he came from is argued over.

The main ideas

  • Unity against foreign power. He called for Muslim peoples to unite in resisting European control, and especially British power.
  • Reason and science. He held that rational thought lies at the core of Islam, and he urged Muslim societies to take up science and the institutions that could make them strong.
  • Reform through the press and the classroom. He gathered followers in Cairo, among them the later reformer Muhammad Abduh, and with Abduh he published a newspaper in Paris, al-Urwa al-Wuthqa, "The Indissoluble Link".
  • A name that hid a past. He took the name Afghani and claimed an Afghan birth. Many scholars think he was a Persian Shia born at Asadabad near Hamadan, and that he took the name to win trust among Sunnis.

What it looks like in practice

Imagine a student in Cairo in the 1870s who has been taught that learning from Europe means giving up their own faith. Afghani would tell them that the two are not opposed, that reason is part of their own heritage, and that a weak society cannot resist a strong one. This is an illustration of his line of argument, not a passage from his writing.

Books and moments

  • Istanbul, 1871. His views angered the religious authorities there, and he left for Egypt.
  • Cairo. A few years of teaching and speaking followed, ending in his deportation in August 1879.
  • Paris and the newspaper. With Abduh he published al-Urwa al-Wuthqa, a paper that called for unity among Muslim peoples against European power.
  • Iran and the Shah. Both main accounts say he took part in the plot that led to the killing of Nasir al-Din Shah in 1896, a man he had come to oppose.
  • Istanbul, 1897. He died there on 9 March, and his remains now lie in Kabul.

Questions and criticism

  • What did he believe? The depth of his faith has been doubted, and his creed is described as disputed. It is fair to ask how far his defence of Islam was a matter of faith and how far a matter of politics.
  • Where was he from? His own account and the account of many scholars do not agree. The question matters because it shapes how his choice of name and audience is read.
  • Means and ends. Because he took part in a plot against a ruler, it is fair to ask how his call for reason sits with that act.

Close neighbours

The pages on Muhammad Iqbal and on Rumi show other Muslim thinkers, and the page on Frantz Fanon shows another writer who joined thought to resistance against foreign rule.

Written by epchē in our own words, and checked against independent sources on 29 October 2026. The sources are listed below.

Who they connect to

Influenced

  • Muhammad Iqbal · Iqbal admired his call to renew Muslim thought and unite Muslim peoples. (scholars disagree about this link)

Other Islamic thinkers

Sources we used

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