I was reading an article, "Napoleon In the Age of Absolutism" by Hans Kohn, and while discussing Napoleon's charge in Egypt and the bringing of scientists and enlightenment ideals, this passage came up:
The French hoped that through modernization Egypt would become the cradle of the regeneration of Islam and that civilization, science, and industry would return to the country that had once been their center.
Why would the French hope for a resurgence of Islam in the nation? I understand at the time they were very anti-Catholic, still in the midst of the Revolution, but I thought those sentiments extended to all religions?
So, can anyone help explain the reasoning Kohn is bringing up here?
Though it is true that religious extremism and conservatism had fallen into great disfavor in France, they were still very much a Catholic people, and Napoleon as First Consul would take great pains to restore the balance between Church and France, going so far as to meet personally with the Pope on multiple occasions.
When it came to Egypt, Napoleon was there for a multitude of reasons, but the primary ones were these: 1)Conquer Egypt en route to India, his primary objective, in an effort to gain the upper hand in the ongoing war against Britain. 2)Bring the principals of the Revolution to Egypt in order to bring freedom, stability and most importantly, allies, to the fold.
Egypt, technically ruled by the Ottomans, had recently become a cultural interest to French people in 1777 when de Tott reported to the Foreign Ministry that Egypt was ripe for colonization, and Napoleon, ever one to spread the Revolution, fully took to the idea.
On his journey to Egypt, he read the Koran, and found that it was not only 'sublime,' but held nothing that disagreed with his belief that all men shared a common bond and ultimately worshiped the same God. Though he did enjoy the Koran, ultimately his desire to appear so thoroughly Muslim (even calling himself and the French expedition Mulsim) was to gain the support of the religious leaders and any others he could to protect his hold on Egypt so he could move on to India, also while securing an alliance with Persia.
To these religious leaders, the muftis, he told them that he admired Mahomet, he ordered gun-salutes and fireworks on the prophet's birthday. He promised to build a mosque half-a-league across where his whole army could worship. In exchange for his dedication to Islam he asked that they swear an oath of loyalty to the French government.
So as you can see, though Napoleon ultimately liked the Koran and Islam as a religion, it was mostly out of cultural curiousity and, even more so, to secure dominion over Egypt in order to prosecute the war into India.