The Oriental and the Orientalist: Al Afghani and the Construction of Pan-Islamism

Scholarship on Jamal ad-Din Al Afghani focuses on the apparent contradiction in his writings between those addressed to a European audience and those addressed to an Islamic audience. This paper resolves that contradiction by placing Al Afghani within the discourse of orientalism and pan-Islamism. My conclusions illuminate the gendered and constructed nature of Al Afghani's pan-Islamic state and how he imagined his state within the contextual history of Islamic rationalism. This paper highlights the creative way in which he draws from multiple discourses, appropriates ideas, and transforms them within the context of his political ideology.