Islamic modernism and Reshid Rıza in the formation of Arab nationalist ideas in Egypt

Discussions on where and how Arab nationalism started seems to have not reached a conclusion yet. Also, we can say that the effects of the discourses of Islamic modernists on the formation of nationalist ideas among Muslim Arabs at the end of the 19th century were not studied much. In addition, studies on Islamic modernists mostly focus on their theological views and reforms in the field of Islamic law (fiqh), and their relations with political and nationalist ideas have not been emphasized much. For this reason, this study focuses on the environment in Egypt as of the 19th century and its relationship with the formation of Islamic modernists' ideas in order to analyze the link. However, the issue of how the ideas of Islamic modernists influenced the formation of ethnic consciousness and nationalist ideas among Muslim Arabs in the early 20th century will also be placed in this context. At this point, in our study, the discourses of Reşid Rıza, a strong defender of Islamic modernism, on Islamic reform, Islamic unity, colonialism, Ottoman rule, caliphate, Arabs and nationalism were examined. In order to examine the role played by the environment in Egypt and the general conjuncture of the period in the formation of Reşid Rıza's ideas, the method of cultural analysis was preferred in our study and firstly, the modernization of Egypt, which started with the period of Kavalalı Mehmet Ali Pasha, to the British administration in Egypt until the World War I was discussed and then, Islamic modernism and the ideas of Reşid Rıza were discussed.