Prophecies (Not Just Religious)

In Europe, the aftermath of the industrial and commercial revolution had different effects in the mid-term. On the one hand, we must point out the division of labor and the creation of new industries that produced novel goods to be sold in faraway places, transforming, thus, traditional economies and helping countries like England to be wealthier and also to improve the living conditions of its dwellers. Meanwhile, people moved to the cities and, consequently, societies become more and more organized around the urban. However, there were several social clashes both at the epicenter of the changes and the periphery, many times led by, and based on, prophetical movements: Islamic Revitalization, Taiping Rebellion or Socialism. I'm going to write about this sort of interactions this time.

Islamic Upheavals

To start with, I must stressed those revolts that happened in the Islamic world during this period, in which wahhabism became the most powerful religious device to deal with the european threat (as wahhabists said). Its main leader was a man called Muhammad Ibn abd al-Wahhab who claimed that every problem arabian people had was a consequence of the foreign commercial activities in the area, so ‘he demanded a return to the pure Islam of Muhammad and the early caliphs’ (pag 602). In fact, he strongly believed that Islam was at that time in a degraded state (in particular because of the polytheistic beliefs) and defended the absolute oneness of Allah (his followers were the muwahhidins: Unitarians). As a result, wahhabists spread all over the arabian peninsula and sacked important places like Mecca and Medina. It’s true that they found resistance within the Ottoman Empire, from where egyptians sent troops to defeat them (what they did), but wahabbism mantained great power and influence in the zone. Additionally, it was also important the role that played Abd al-Qadir, Shaykh Muhammad ibn Abi al-Qasim and his daughter, Zaynab, in order to protect Algeria’s political and religious autonomy from french rulers.

Click above to see picture details - Map of the Sokoto Caliphate (Source: http://hlovejoy.wordpress.com/)

In West Africa, another similar movement led by Usman dan Fodio (a Fulani muslim cleric) took place in what is today northern Nigeria. Its aim was to recover the ancient credences, so ‘It attacked false belief and heathenism and urged followers to wage holy war (jihad) against unbelievers’ (p. 605). Although its principal enemies, the old Hausa rulers (ancient city-states), were known as not enough believers, ‘muslim revolts [also] erupted from Senegal to Nigeria, responding in part to increased trade with the outside world and the circulation of religious ideas from across the Sahara Desert’. Hausa rulers were finally overthrown and Usman dan Fodio created a new Confederation of Islamic Emirates better known as Sokoto Caliphate. As in the case of Algeria, here we have an important contribution from women (respecting the Sharia) in the person of Nana Asma’u, dan Fodio's daughter. Otherwise, it’s also important to highligth the transformations occurred in the south of Africa, like the Mfecane movement (forced migrations).

Taiping Rebellion

During the first half of the nineteenth century, China was suffering the impact of natural disasters, economic problems and social unrest. Because of that, the Qing Dinasty was in trouble, so the First Opium War worsened the situation: China was forced to open its lands to the global trade, harming, in consequence, its traditional economy. It was in this context that the figure of Hong Xiuquan (born in Guangzhou) appeared. He became a political prophet after having problems with the Chinese system of examinations to entry in the army and, after that, his aim was to create a Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (of Christian inspiration) in response to the social injustices. In that movement ‘policies were strict: they prohibited the consumption of alcohol, the smoking of opium, or any indulgence in sensual pleasure. Men and women were segregated for administrative and residential purposes ...’ (p. 610). Although the rebels had captured cities like Nanjin, Manchus and Han elites, supported by european forces that didn´t like that perversion of Christianity, managed to defeat the rebels (Hong Xiuquan died there).

Socialism

In 1848, at the same time that Revolutions spread all over Europe, was published The Communist Manifesto written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, in which they 'predicted that [under Capitalism] there would be overproduction and underconsumption, which would lead to lower profits for capitalists and, consequently, to lower wages or unemployment for workers - which would ultimately spark a proletarian revolution' (p. 618). 'They were also confident that the clashes between industrial wage workers - or proletarians - and capitalists would end in a colossal transformation of human society and would usher in a new world of true liberty, equality, and fraternity. This revolution would result in a “dictatorship of the proletariat” and the end of private property' (p. 618). However, they were wrong in some of their predictions when talked about only two social classes: Capitalists and Proletarians. In fact, in 1848 and later those who did the revolution were, above all, artisans and other traders denouncing the privilegies of the aristocracy.

To sum up, I would like to finish the article with this sentence from Worlds Together, Worlds Apart: 'like their counterparts in the Islamic world and Africa, the Taiping rebels promised to restore lost harmony. Despite all the differences of cultural and historical background, what Abd al-Wahhab, dan Fodio, Shaka, and Hong had in common was the perception that the present world was unjust' (p. 610).

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