Lost History – Napoleon’s last wish to make it to Mecca
In his dying days on St Helena, Napoleon Bonaparte is claimed to have commented on his preference for Islam over other faiths and how he would have conducted his own kind of pilgrimage to Mecca had time and circumstance permitted.
It might sound strange at first, an Enlightenment-era, self-made, European emperor admiring the message and mentality of the Prophet Mohammed, but Bonaparte felt great reverence and respect for the world-building figurehead of the Islamic faith.
The Enlightenment challenged numerous social orthodoxies and undermined the legitimacy of various institutions. The tenets of social tolerance and diversity advocated by arch-enlightenment thinkers obliged policy-makers to oversee a period of integration, where adherents of opposing beliefs received equal political and legal rights and were perceived as morally comparable.
The radical destruction of intellectual dogma opened the vast prospects of pragmatism up to a classically educated generation. Aspiring thinkers were encouraged to empathise with alternate views of the world and sought to benefit from unorthodox insights and attitudes. Therefore, there were no intellectual or spiritual obstacles to Napoleon’s natural affection for this particular doctrine.
In the annals of Islam, Bonaparte discovered a story of revolution, where a political and military commander unified the divided tribes of the Arabian peninsula and proliferated a global power that persisted for centuries.
The Enlightenment also emphasised the influence of individual figures, like Julius Caesar and Ghengis Khan, over seminal events. In the minds of enlightenment philosophers and historians such as Rousseau and de Boulainvilliers, Mohammed belonged to a long succession of reforming conquerors, an illustrious genealogy of leaders which included Cyrus the Great and Alexander of Macedonia.
These ideals informed Napoleon’s outlook as a citizen and cultivated his conduct as a leader. An assiduous reader of Voltaire and Rousseau, Napoleon appreciated de Boulainvillier’s arguments in his groundbreaking defence of the Prophet, The Life of Mohammad.
De Boulainvillier refuted accusations that Mohammed was aided by Christain advisors, was insincere and an imposter. Unlike Rousseau, who echoed De Boulainvillier’s assertions, Voltaire maintained his suspicions that Mohammed was a desert sorcerer with few redeeming qualities beyond his formidable political manoeuvres.
Despite his enormous esteem for Voltaire, Napoleon rejected his prejudices towards the Prophet, and, like De Boulainvillier and Rousseau, believed him to be a paragon of remedial authority.
In May 1798, Napoleon led 55,000 men on a campaign in Egypt and Syria. It was an attempt to wrest control of the region from the British Empire. Preceding his arrival in Alexandria, Napoleon issued this fascinating proclamation:
“In the name of God the Beneficent, the Merciful. There is no other God than God, [and] He has neither son nor associate to His rule. On behalf of the French Republic founded on the basis of liberty and equality, the General Bonaparte, head of the French Army, proclaims to the people of Egypt that for too long the beys [i.e. Ottoman governors] who rule Egypt insult the French nation and heap abuse on its merchants; the hour of their chastisement has come. For too long, this rabble of slaves brought up in the Caucasus and in Georgia [i.e. the ruling-class Mamluks of Egypt] tyrannizes the finest region of the world; but God, Lord of the worlds, [the] All-Powerful, has proclaimed an end to their empire. Egyptians, some will say that I have come to destroy your religion. This is a lie, do not believe it! Tell them that I have come to restore your rights and to punish the usurpers; that I respect, more than do the Mamluks, God, His prophet Muhammad and the glorious Qur‘ān… Qādī, shaykh, shorbagi, tell the people that we are true Muslims. Are we not the one who has destroyed the Pope [during the Italian Campaign of 1796-97] who preached war against Muslims? Did we not destroy the Knights of Malta, because these fanatics believed that God wanted them to make war against the Muslims?”
The proclamation is certainly more a practical step towards pacifying a foreign territory than a sincere confession of admiration for the religion. Still, the occurrences that followed its publication reveal the extent of Napoleon’s veneration for Islam.
In the same year, a mob congregated at the Great Mosque in Cairo and instigated a revolt. Napoleon was careful not to punish the imams and sheikhs. The secular ringleaders were summarily executed, and the French general invited several diwans to offer their counsel for his governance. For these considerations and his consistent fairness, Napoleon became known locally as “Sheikh Kebir” or the Great Sultan. He was extremely flattered by the title and never forgot the honour that the people of Cairo afforded him.
In exile, the ex-emperor was able to ruminate over the highlights of his extraordinary life. Having studied the Koran and the story of Mohammed, he mentioned his admiration for Islam to his few companions in those final years.
In his writings on St Helena he stated that had he been able, he would have made a pilgrimage to Mecca in order to kneel before the tomb of the Prophet. Like Caesar visiting the tomb of Alexander, Napoleon did pay his respects to Frederick the Great when he passed through Potsdam.
It would have been a remarkable scene, a western head of state kneeling at the grave of Mohammed (if the strict keepers of the sacred site allowed). Such an aspiration discloses the degree of respect Napoleon had for Mohammed.
The Prophet’s political, spiritual and military legacy evidently informed Napoleon’s self-regard as an inspired world-builder and inculcated an affection for the faith of his eastern hero. It seems that Bonaparte was more intrigued by the individuality of Mohammed than the spiritual assertions of Islam, but throughout his extraordinary career, the emperor retained sincere and serious respect for the faith of the prophet.