Egyptian Westernization combined European coercion with elite infatuation

Evidence

A question that is in some dispute, however, is why the reformers looked to Europe rather than build on preexisting shari¯‘a traditions. The Egyptian jurist Tariq al-Bishri contends that what he calls the mimicry of the West was the outcome of a combination of circumstances, chief among them European coercion and the Egyptian elites’ infatuation with European ways. — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 1009

Categorization

• QUESTION: Bishri’s framing — coercion plus elite infatuation — invites comparison with other cases of colonial legal transplant (Ottoman Tanzimat, Japanese Meiji). Was coercion or emulation the heavier weight? The causal weighting is unresolved here.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular:…, 1009