al-Mir'a
- Author died
- 1255 AH
- Editions
- Manshurat ANEP - al-Mu'assasah al-Wataniyyah lil-Funun al-Matba'iyyah - Wahdat al-Rughayah
al-Mir'a (The Mirror, full title: A Historical and Statistical Overview of the Regency of Algiers) is an 1833 political and historical treatise written by the Algerian scholar and statesman Hamdan Khoja (d. 1255 AH / 1840 CE) to document the initial years of the French conquest of Algeria and denounce colonial abuses .
Background and Composition
Khoja drafted the book in Paris in 1833 after the French government announced the formation of an official inquiry committee (the Commission d'Afrique) to evaluate the situation in Algeria . Having represented Algerian grievances through the Comité des Maures (Committee of Algerians), Khoja intended to present French authorities and public opinion with documentary and statistical information from a native perspective before the commission departed . His stated aim was to advocate for the withdrawal of French troops, the end of land settlement, the restitution of confiscated religious endowments (awqaf), and the establishment of an autonomous Algerian administration linked to France by commercial treaties .
The manuscript was largely ready by July 1833 and was published in Paris in October 1833 after being translated from Arabic into French by the Libyan scholar Hassuna Dghies under the title Le Miroir . Copies and formal memoranda were subsequently delivered to members of the African Commission and the French monarch .
Structure and Content
The work consists of an introduction, two major divisions, and an appendix of political documents:
- Introduction: Discusses the injustices visited upon the Algerian populace, provides comparative observations on governance and liberty in Europe and the Islamic world, and addresses universal ethics and the nature of civilizational decline .
- Book One (13 chapters): Profiles the geography, demography, and social makeup of the regency, focusing on rural populations (Bedouins and Berbers) and the plains of Mitidja, as well as western regional inhabitants and urban society in Algiers . It outlines the administrative, judicial, and military structure of Ottoman rule under the Deys, analyzes taxation and land ownership policies, and evaluates the decline of the regime up to Dey Hussein . Drawing on his past role as an official in the state revenue service, Khoja estimated Algeria's pre-conquest population at ten million .
- Book Two (12 chapters): Chronicles the military expedition and landing at Sidi Fredj in 1830, the takeover of Algiers, and the initial three years of occupation . It details military campaigns against Blida and Médéa, the resistance of provincial leaders such as Mustafa Boumezrag (Bey of Titteri), the seizure of Mecca and Medina endowment funds, the demolition and requisition of mosques, and instances of plunder, including a report that human bones from Muslim cemeteries were collected and shipped alongside animal bones to refineries in Marseille .
- Appendix: Contains petitions, transcripts, and correspondence prepared by local notables and the Comité des Maures documenting the early legal and political ramifications of the occupation .
Although Khoja announced an intended second volume to treat subsequent French administrative regimes, only this initial volume was published .
Reception and Aftermath
Upon its appearance, al-Mir'a triggered strong colonial backlash. The author was subjected to lawsuits in France on allegations of defamation, and his legal petitions to the French Conseil d'État were rejected . When summoned before the fourteenth session of the African Commission, Khoja was challenged by the commission's president, who contended that several allegations in the book lacked substantiating proof . General Bertrand Clauzel, a chief target of the book's criticisms, maintained deep hostility toward the author, eventually expelling Khoja's son Hasan from Algeria in September 1836 on charges of plotting against French authority . Khoja went into exile in Istanbul .
Because the original Arabic draft was lost, subsequent modern Arabic publications of al-Mir'a were translated back from the 1833 French edition, notably by scholars Muhammad al-Arabi al-Zubayri and Muhammad bin Abd al-Karim . It is regarded as the earliest comprehensive Algerian historical and political text composed in opposition to French colonial rule .
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