HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE EAST IN 18TH CENTURY
The history of the middle east began with the earliest human settlement and proceeded through various major pre-and post-Islamic empires based on nation-states of the Middle East today. Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti was born in 1753 and died in 1825 in Cairo. He was a renowned member of the Islamic religion class (ulama) and also witnessed French occupation in Egypt and the Bonaparte invasion. He offers a significant source of Egyptian history during the 18th century. The book of travels, on the other hand, plays a vital role in helping create a good understanding of the Ottoman Empire during the 18th (eighteenth century). The book of travel help avails the history of the Middle East in 18 century in a more vivid manner. It is considered as amongst the most significant travel books throughout history. Evliya Celeb illustrates how he began travelling throughout the world. The essay offers a detailed discussion of the middle east on 18th century based on the al-Jabarti and Evliya Celebi as the primary source.
One of the most amusing and enlightening parts of the Evliya Celebi’s story is his visit to the St. Stephen church in Vienna. The decoration and architecture are scrutinized with his routine scrupulousness; he offered an account of the church organ and castrati singers. This inscribes the religious, historical background of the middle east during the 18th century. The description of the church helped indicate the nature and the appearances of the religious gathering where the community members used to gather for the religious functions (Van Bruinessen & Boeschoten, 2003). Also, he offered a broad historical summary of the Jerusalem, Dome of the rock as well as Aqsa Mosque. He stated that, after visiting the Holy Sepulchre church, he noticed that “even now 5000 or 10,000 hell doomed infidels met at the church each year for their Red Egg festival (Easter).” This is a good indication that residents of the area still held strong religious beliefs, and most of them followed such believes to the letter. Additionally, Evliya Celebi, through his book, indicated the social beliefs and culture held by the Egyptians. For instance, during the 18th century, Egyptians put more emphasis on issues such as female circumcision, snake charmers and fellahin wedding rituals. Egyptians relied on the trade as a source of income during the 18th century; the book of travels mentions that Egyptians engaged in various forms of trade.
Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti offered a detailed summary of the religious and historical background of Egypt during the 18th century. Napoleon’s message was meant at inspiring the Egyptians towards acting against Mamluks. The napoleon message helps indicate religious backgrounds of Egypt during the 18th century. Their religious backgrounds were composed of both Christians and Muslims. Also, the mention of the terms such as great commerce and great cities indicated that Egyptians relied heavily on the trade to make a living (Ayalon, 1960). Moreover, Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti helped in postulating the religious conflict that existed in Egypt during the 18th century. Muslims were in constant conflict with the Christians during the era. For instance, Egyptian Muslims were never convinced that a Christian could be able to lead them; also, Muslims did not trust Napoleon since they that he was not a true Muslim.
In conclusion, both Evliya Celebi and al-Jabarti played a significant role in unearthing the social economic and the various events that existed in Egypt during the 18th century. Evliya Celebi offered a vivid description of the features of the religious centres in Egypt. Also, through his book, he helped indicate the strong faith that was held by Egyptians, they visited the Holy Sepulchre church after every year for the Easter. Abd al-jabarti, on the other hand, helped indicate the religious conflicts that existed between the Christians and the and the Muslims. Also, most of the Egyptians relied on commerce as a form of source of income.
References
Ayalon, D. (1960). Studies in Al Jabarti I1. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 3(2), 148-174.
Van Bruinessen, M. M., & Boeschoten, H. (2003). Evliya Çelebi Diyarbekir’de.