ABSTRACT
The mode of reasoning employed by Namq Kemal was adopted by many other reformers in the Near East and was brought to a high level of sophistication by the followers of the Egyptian social reformer, Muhammad Abduh. Muhammad the Blind, who, despite his name, could see perfectly well through one eye, ruled his Kurdish tribesmen with great severity and won recognition as a pasha from the Ottomans. In particular, the encroaching bedouin flouted their commands and the Wahhabis of Arabia interrupted the passage of the annual pilgrim caravans from Damascus, responsibility for which was one of the principal concerns of the pashas of Damascus. The new order applied to Syria soon after the destruction of the Janissaries; in particular, in 1831 a new personal tax levied on Muslims which led to a revolt in Damascus and the murder of the Ottoman governor and several Ottoman officials.
