Syed Fâzil Pasha: A Legacy Across Continents

If we take a 400 metre walk from the bustling Sultan Ahmed tram station – the gateway to the two great historical and widely-visited tourist attractions, Aya Sophia and the Blue Mosque – we encounter a small but serene mausoleum complex on the left– Sultan Mahmud Han Turbesi. Unless visitors pass this royal cemetery to get to the cafe on the other side, it is a calm and quiet neighbourhood corner. Nestled in this tranquil corner of the mausoleum lies a grave with a headstone inscribed with the name Fâzil Pasha (1318), a testament to transoceanic Sufi sagas and the magnificent history of the Ottomans. 

Why is this ordinary-looking grave even noteworthy in an area already replete with so much history? The story that answers this question begins in Malabār, my homeland, a coastal region in south India’s Kerala state. 

In the year 1824 AD, Fâzil Pasha was born in the remote yet historically significant  village of Mamburam in Malabār. He was the only son of the great Sūfi scholar who made substantial contributions to the shaping and nurturing of south Indian Islam– Syed ‘Alawy al Mauladdawīla of Mamburam. As an integral part of the everyday lives of the people of Malabār, he was fondly referred to as Mambuaram Thangal.¹ He was also respectfully titled Qutub al-Zamān – Pole Saint of the Time.²  Mamburam Thangal was also a shaykh (spiritual mentor) to many of the ‘Ulemā and Sūfis of the time. Following the footsteps of his Bā ‘alawy³ forefathers, he built masjids, invited people to Islam, fought colonisers, wrote many scholarly treatises and poems, and propagated the tariqa (Sufi order) on the coast. He lived a fruitful life, and his teachings still endure in the hearts of south Indian Muslims.

Educated by his Sūfi father in the foundational Islamic sciences and the ways of the Qadiriyya tariqa, Fâzil Pasha embarked on a quest for knowledge in Yemen and Mecca. It has been said that he set out to these lands at the age of 20 after his father’s death. He had also gained ilm (knowledge) and tarbiyah (spiritual nurturing) from several local and global ulama including Parappanangadi Avukkoya Musliyar (d.1292 AH),⁴ Shaykh Abdullah Bin Omer (d.1265 AH),⁵ and Shaykh Abdellah bin Husain Bin Tahir (d.1282 AH)⁶ of Yemen. Life in Mecca offered more than knowledge to Syed Fazl Pasha; he married one of Shaykh Shafi’i al Habashi’s daughters and started a family there.⁷ He also had the good fortune to be a disciple of Shaykh Ahmed Zaini Dahlān, one of the great Sunni scholars of the late modern period who wrote over a hundred books, including his magnum opus Al Fitnat al Wahhābiyya– the book that traced the historical and political routes of the Wahhābi movement. 

In 1848, Fâzil Pasha returned to Malabār to continue the legacy of his Sufi father. The people of Malabār accepted and revered him in the same way they did Mamburam Thangal. Fâzil Pasha soon attained the religious, spiritual, and political leadership of not only the Muslims, but a vast populace that included Hindus and others. He disputed the caste practices and advised working-class people (Kudiyāns) to pay no respect to the landlords (Janmis)⁸ and not to eat their leftovers.⁹ Fâzil Pasha showed no hesitation in inviting them into his own home for a meal. His work and teachings led to the conversion of many Hindus to Islam, and he soon earned the ire of British officials and Janmis. Concurrently, he spearheaded religious and spiritual endeavours such as constructing masjids, establishing Sufi hadras (religious gatherings), disseminating ideals of the Qādiriyya tarīqa, and writing books in various Islamic sciences.

Just as his father’s presence in Malabār had “stirred the problem”,¹⁰ so too did Fâzil Pasha‘s – as was observed by British officials. Anti-colonial resistance seemed often to begin with a visit or ziyarat to Mamburam Thanga‘s grave, and his son did not shy away from speaking out against the cruelties inflicted on the local populace by colonial officers.

Records found in British Indian archives document several attempts by the colonial British authorities to exile or arrest Fâzil Pasha, but his wide popularity prevented the government from doing so. Fâzil Pasha’s influence prompted greater fear and anxiety in British officials than even his father, due to his stronger connections with the Muslim world and its leaders outside India. Britain made several unsuccessful attempts to persuade Fâzil Pasha to leave Malabār and settle in Arabia to ease the civil unrest they were facing. By now, thousands of anti-colonial freedom fighters had been killed in the protests, and after thorough consideration, Fâzil Pasha decided to heed the calls of the authorities and leave for Arabia. This exile in 1852 was a turning point in Fâzil Pasha’s life, marking his transition from a regional leader to one with global impact.

In Arabia, his influence continued to burgeon. After spending some months in Mecca, he travelled to Egypt where he was welcomed by Hidive Abbās Pasha, the Ottoman official in command of the region at the time. He stayed in Cairo for some time and published Uddat al umarāi wal hukkām (Equipping the Leaders and Rulers) before departing for Istanbul, despite Hidive’s insistence for him to stay in Egypt.  

In Istanbul, Fâzil Pasha met Sultan Abdul Mecid (d.1861), with whom he discussed the existing challenges and threats faced by the Muslim world.¹¹ After returning to Mecca, several years later, Fâzil Pasha visited Istanbul again, during the reign of Sultan Abdul Aziz Han (d.1876), informing the new sultan of developments in the Hejaz. The renowned author and Ottoman governor of Lebanon, Emir Shakib Arslan, also mentioned his meeting with Fâzil Pasha in his magnum opus Hadiru al ‘alam al Islami. 

In 1876, in the era of Sultan Murad Effendi, the Ottoman government assigned Fâzil Pasha as the governor of the Dhofar region in Oman, where many Ba ‘alawi ancestors were buried. Fâzil Pasha was distressed by some of the un-Islamic practices he saw there, and raised his concerns to the Ottoman sultan. He focused on restoring Islamic tradition in the region, and the implementation of Zakat. He also prohibited sihr (black magic) and detained those who practiced it.

Fâzil Pasha also worked hard to improve Dhofar’s economy by importing and exporting goods throughout the Indian Ocean. He even attempted to negotiate trade with the British in colonial India;¹² though unsuccessful in this, his endeavours managed to improve the economic situation in the region.

It is noteworthy that the revival of Dhofar, a land that had once flourished with the presence of the Bā ‘Alawis, was entrusted to another from among their lineage, though from a different land, centuries later.

After years of successful rule, Fâzil Pasha was finally forced to leave Dhofar due to political conflict. In 1880, he returned once again to Istanbul, where he was warmly welcomed by Sultan Abdul Hamid II. The sultan appointed him to his cabinet, and Syed Fâzil officially became a pasha, entrusted the duties of the finance department and becoming the first Indian assigned as a pasha in the Ottoman caliphate.¹³ Sultan Abdul Hamid made good use of Fâzil Pasha’s knowledge of southern Arabia, and the Pasha helped him accomplish a great deal, playing a vital role in the Sultan’s master project, the Hamidiye Hejaz Railway. Fâzil Pasha and his wife were among its first passengers¹⁴. 

Five of  Fâzil Pasha’s nineteen works were published during his time in Istanbul.¹⁵ Ottoman historian Tufan Buzpinar states that a copy of all of his works were preserved at the Yildiz Palace and later moved to Istanbul University.  

Fâzil Pasha continued in his role as pasha until his death in 1900. His death was marked as a huge loss by Turkish newspapers¹⁶ and his funeral was attended by many high-ranking Ottoman officials and ministers with Sultan Abdul Hamid Han. The names of these dignitaries have been listed in many works, including Misbāh-ul Fuād by Kānjirāla Kunjirāyin Kutty, one of Malabār’s most famous poets and scholars. 

Fâzil Pasha’s journey unfolds like a tapestry woven across continents. He was an anti-colonial freedom fighter and social reformer, as well as a seeker and provider of sacred knowledge for 19th-century scholars and students of Mecca. Earning many different titles throughout his life, he was also recognised as an emir who restored Dhofar to its historical legacy. Additionally, he held the esteemed position as a minister for Sultan Abdul Hamid II, earning a title by which he is remembered to this very day.

Fâzil Pasha was laid to rest at the Sultan Mahmud mausoleum compound, after an incredible life journey that took him from the shores of Malabār all the way to Istanbul’s imperial chambers. His tombstone serves as a source of reflection and contemplation for people around the world, but especially for Malabāris such as myself.

Edited by Leila Khansa

Footnotes

1. Thangal is a term of respect used for the Syeds, individuals with prophetic lineage, in Malayalam language. ↩︎
2. There is a belief among traditional Muslims that Allah will choose one of His Awliyā (saints) as a leader for the saints of the era. This revered figure is known as the Qutb. ↩︎
3. Ba Alawiyyah is a Sufi Tariqa founded by Shaykh Faqih al Muqaddam(d.1255) in early 13th century in Tarim, Yemen. Shaykh al Muqaddam was a student of Shaykh Abu Madyan Ghawth al Tunisi(d.1198) who was a direct disciple of the famous Sufi Shaykh Abdel Qader al Jilani(d.1166) Hence, the Ba Alawiyyah tariqa is also regarded as a sub-branch of Qadiriyya tariqa. ↩︎
4.  Avukkoya Musliyar aka Abu Bakr Koya Musliyar is a Malabari scholar who travelled across Muslim lands and made connections with many of the ulema of the time including, Ibrahim al Bajuri, Abdul Hamid al Sharwani, Rahmatullah Qiranwi, and others. It was his habit to write poems on scholars he met and some of them are preserved in Malabar. He also authored a number of books in Arabic. ↩︎
5.  Shaykh Abdullah was a famous Yemeni scholar who also served as the mufti of Yemen. He visited Kerala in the era of Mamburam Thangal. While there, he taught Imam Ibn al Hajr al Haytami’s (d.1566) Tuhfat al Muhtaj bi Sharh al Minhaj to Keralite scholars including Fâzil Pasha. ↩︎
6. Shaykh bin Husain bin Tahir was a Yemeni scholar who wrote extensively on both fiqh and tasawuf. ↩︎
7. Shaykh al Habashi was a scholar who lived in Mecca where he taught classical Islamic texts. ↩︎
8.  Janmi is the term referred to the landlords who belonged to elite castes such as Brahimns and Nairs. They owned the land as a birth right where people from backward castes had to work for little or no wage. Workers from lower castes were called ‘Kudiyan.’ ↩︎
9. In the caste system, the Kudiyans could only eat the left overs of the upper castes. ↩︎
10. A term used in British archives in reference to Fâzil  Pasha and his father Mamburam Thangal. ↩︎
11. Maluavi, Ahmed & Abdulkareem CK, Mahathaya Mappila Sahitya Parambaryam. Calicut: Azad Bookstall, 1978. ↩︎
12. Alawy, Seema, Muslim Cosmopolitanism in the Age of Empire. Harvard: Harvard University Press, 2015. ↩︎
13. Jackob, Wilson Chacko, ”Of Angels and Men: Syed Fazl and Two Moments of Sovereignty”, The Arab Studies Journal 20/1, 2012. ↩︎
14. Musafir, “Hejaz railwaykku pachakkodi kaattiya Mamburam Thangal”. ↩︎
15. Buzpinar, Tufan, “Abdul Hamid II and Syed Fadl Pasha of Hadarmaut: An Arab Dignitary’s Ambitions 1876-1900”. The Journal of Ottoman Studies, 1993. ↩︎
16. Maluavi, Ahmed & Abdulkareem CK, 1978. ↩︎