This paper briefly examines the life of the Ottoman statesman Said Halim Pasha and focuses more extensively on his political ideas, stressing the Pasha’s criticisms of Europe and his attempts to propose an Islamic alternative system. Despite the great influence that European political thought had on Said Halim Pasha, he advocated the use of original ideas for political reforms; however, these ideas appeared when the Islamist movement debacle was already in the making. Although his importance was realized many years later in Turkey, Said Halim Pasha’s ideas are valuable but contain some incongruities with the contemporary understanding of democracy and human rights.