Namik Kemal in many ways was the voice of the Young Ottoman movement towards reform. He was not involved in as much of the on the ground political reform, but he was the figure who came to be known and loved by the public. His writing took many forms, but regardless of that, it always in the middle of controversy, and the principles that He introduced to Ottoman thought would change history. Despite the Western influence on him, Islam was the underlying basis for his entire philosophy. Religion, because of the innate right it granted to every man, was a safeguard against the abuse of authority. This particular religious ideology is demonstrated in one of his particularly early articles in the Hurriyet, named "And Seek Their Counsel in the Matter," published in July …show more content…
He talks extensively about the freedom accorded to each man as a result of him being created by God. From this freedom ensues the natural right to exercise one's own power. Subsequently, the communal right to exercise power is the right of the umma (the Islamic community.) This is power is then voluntarily transferred to a monarch, or leader, whose sole authority rests in his delegation by the people, as demonstrated by their allegiance (Kurzman, 144.). This philosophy is key to understanding Kemal's larger agenda of a constitutional government, and there are a few points to examine here. First, is the way that he has borrowed a historically western philosophy and brought it alongside Muslim texts. Ideas of God-given freedoms, natural rights, and the government's authority resting in the people, rings a tune similar to those of Immanuel Kant and John Locke. These westerner philosophers played a huge role in the political evolution of Europe as well as America. John Locke was one of the first champions of "natural" or innate rights, as early as