page_title: Hayreddin Pasha
section_title: In Tunisia under Ahmad Bey
hierarchical_section_title: Hayreddin Pasha / In Tunisia under Ahmad Bey
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Portrait équestre du général de brigade Kheireddine Portrait équestre du général de brigade Kheireddine Pacha en train de superviser un exercice de cavalerie sur les hauteurs de La Manouba Huile sur toile, 275 x 219 cm Tunis, Institut national du patrimoine, collection Qsar es-Saïd, inv. 46-07-28-09
context_page_description: Hayreddin Pasha was an Ottoman-Tunisian politician who was born to a Circassian family. First serving as Beylerbeyi of Ottoman Tunisia, he later achieved the high post of Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire. He was a political reformer during a period of growing European ascendancy. was a pragmatic activist who reacted against poor conditions in Muslim states, and looked to Europe for solutions. He applied the Islamic concept of "maṣlaḥah", to economic issues. He emphasized the central role of justice and security in economic development. He was a major advocate of "tanẓīmāt" for Tunisia's political and economic systems.
context_section_description: Circa 1840 Hayreddin became situated at the Bardo Palace, in the court of Ahmad Bey (r.1837–1855), as a mamluk bi-l-saraya [inner palace retainer]. He resumed his high-level studies, mainly at the Bardo Military Academy (al-maktab al-Harbi) a nearby institution newly established by the bey. A key part of his education now was learning to converse in Arabic, also acquaintance with French. At the Husaynid court his abilities were soon recognized, and he was favored with the attention and trust of Ahmad Bey. He rose quickly in the elite cavalry, the nucleus of the bey's new army. Moreover, during the 1840s and 1850s he was sent by the Bey on several key diplomatic missions, e.g., to the Ottoman Porte at Istanbul, which was then pursuing its Tanzimat reforms, and to European capitals, including Paris. His political career thus began auspiciously under this famously modernizing ruler.
  In 1846 he accompanied the bey, as part of small staff which included the influential advisor Bin Diyaf, during a two-month state visit to France, after which he was made brigadier general. This trip was of special cultural and political significance in that the orthodox bey traveled for an extended stay to a non-Islamic country in order to acquire familiarity with its modern methods of operation and governance. The trip "expanded the cultural space deemed acceptable for Muslim rulers." The French took care to show France to advantage; the small Tunisian party was well received by top government officials and leading private citizens. "Having traveled beyond the land of Islam, Ahmad Bey was blessed upon his return to Tunis by the grand mufti."
  In 1853 Hayreddin was elevated to the highest military grade, commander of the cavalry; he also then became an aide-de-camp of the bey. Yet shortly thereafter he was sent to Paris to arrange a loan for the bey's regime, but where instead he spend four years attempting to reclaim large sums embezzled by the notable Mahmud bin 'Ayyad, former head of the newly created national bank of Tunis, who with foresight had already secured French citizenship. During his years occupied with negotiations in Paris, Hayreddin also managed to browse libraries and bookshops, to improve his French, asking many questions, and to study European society, industry, and finance.
  Because of the dire financial situation caused in part by the embezzlement of bin 'Ayyad, the bey's loan did not appear prudent to Hayreddin, according to Prof. Abun-Nasr. Nonetheless, the bey had stifled most political opposition to his financial schemes by long cultivation of the urban ulama and the rural tribal leaders. Due to Hayreddin's passive resistance, however, the loan was still being negotiated when Ahmed Bey died in 1855.
caption: Portrait of Brigadier General Khair al-Din on horseback
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