'Abd al-Rahman al-Kawakibi (Arabic: عبد الرحمن الكواكبي, romanized: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Kawākibī‎, c. 1854-c.1902) was a Syrian author, a liberal thinker, and Pan-Arab solidarity supporter.

Al-Kawakibi articulated his ideas in two influential books, The nature of tyranny and the struggle against slavery ( طبائع الإستبداد ومصارع الإستعباد) and Mother of All Villages (أم القرى).

These criticisms fell on deaf ears until Istanbul sent a representative to Aleppo to investigate, and immediately threw Kawakibi and his followers into prison for false complaints.

Another contemporary of Al-Kawakibi was the Islamic scholar and advocate for Arab independence,[1] Sayyid Rashid Rida who was based in Egypt at the same time.

Al-Kawakibi, in his earlier writings, was careful not to specifically criticize the Ottoman rulers, but rather critiqued despots and imperialists in general, though his implied target was clear.

In one of his most influential books Tabai al-Istibdad wa-Masari al-Isti’bad (The Nature of Despotism), he said that tyranny violated Islamic teachings and that tyrants were responsible for Muslim nations' weakness and struggle.

According to Line Khatib, a political scientist and Middle East expert, Abd al-Rahman al-Kawakibi’s contributions to liberal thought in the Arab world continue to resonate today.

The book stands as a liberal manifesto par excellence, delivering a scathing critique of Ottoman autocracy and repression while offering a systematic analysis and denunciation of despotism (*istibdad*).

[6] Political and social backwardness, he argued, are direct consequences of despotism, which fosters slavery (*isti‘bad*) and perpetuates ignorance.

He elaborates on the vicious cycle created by this triad: despotism stifles knowledge and encourages ignorance—particularly in the social sciences and philosophy, disciplines that empower individuals to understand their rights and recognize freedom as essential to life.

It is the source of injustice, humiliation, ignorance, poverty, unemployment, and ruin.” According to Elizabeth F. Thompson, a historian of social movements and liberal constitutionalism in the Middle East at American University in Washington D.C., Al-Kawakibi's thoughts on Islamic democracy influenced an entire generation of Arab reformers.

The truest expression of Islamic politics was democracy, Al-Kawakibi claimed, as long as it was based on the brotherhood and unity of Arabs regardless of religion and ethnicity.

[citation needed] Islamic socialism is the belief that the Quran permits redistribution of wealth, although that point is disputed by many Muslim scholars.

According to the contemporary Lebanese historian, social commentator, and writer, Jean Dayeh, Al-Kawakibi was a Muslim political pioneer due to his ideas championing the separation of state and religion.

[13][14] For their virulent attacks on 'Abdul Hamid II and the autocratic rule of the Ottomans, ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Kawakibi, alongside the Lebanon-born Islamic reformer Rashid Rida (d. 1935), remain influential cultural icons in pan-Arab circles.