Arab nationalism

Introduction

The fundamental tenet of Arab nationalism is the population of Arabs, which covers from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean. This is one community united by shared ethnicity, tradition, history, personality, geography, and geopolitics. The abolition of the Arab regimes thought to be based on Western power and the termination of Western intervention in the Arab world are two of Arab nationalism's key focuses. It gained prominence when the Ottoman Empire was abolished and defeated at the beginning of the 20th century. It lost influence when the Arab troops lost the Six-Day War.

History

Arab conservatives think that the Arab predates the development of nationalism as a historical phenomenon. Islam and Arabic both served as the foundation of the country. The Arab country, Arab patriotism, and pan-Arab unity are the three foundational principles of the Arab nationalist movement. Arab patriots believed that Islam doesn't exist always in a “sorry state,” and they ascribed the Arabs' military victories and creative glories to the introduction of the faith, maintaining that the modernization of Europe had Islamic roots. Several Arabs from Lebanon and Syria combined Arabism and provincial patriotism and succeeded against Ottomanism. At the start of the 20th century, many Muslim Arab groups developed an Arab patriotic “self-view,” which became the basis for the Arab nationalist agenda. The Muslim scholar from Egypt, Muhammad Abduh's Islamic modernity and tradition, had a significant impact on this latest iteration of Arab nationalism. They abandoned true Islam, but Europe started to adopt its modernist values.

Rise of modern Arab nationalism

Al-Fatat, a minor Arab nationalist organisation was started in Paris in 1911 by Muslim scholars and politicians from the whole Levant to claim “Raising the level of the Arab nation to the level of modern nations”. The Arab Congress was held in Paris by Al-Fatat to discuss needed reforms for disgruntled Arabs. Damascus was the centre point of the Arab nationalist party. Jerusalem, Baghdad, and Beirut continued to be important centres of support.

Al-Fatat organised the Arab Independence Party. When Arab nations were ruled by France and Britain during the British Mandate period and the war, Arab nationalism grew into a major anti-imperialist resistance movement against the rule of Europe.

Establishment of the Arab League

Eden's public promotion of closer Arab relations inspired Nuri al-Said of Iraq to put out his Arab unification scheme in 1943, which he called the “Fertile Crescent Union.” This strategy acknowledged the distinctions among the people who lived in the nations of the Fertile Crescent zone and the linguistic, artistic, and economic linkages between them. An “Arab League,” to which other Arab governments could aspire to belong, would be established by the Levantine state and Iraq to control issues relevant to warfare, foreign relations, trade, and the protection of minorities. Pasha's initiatives were more well-received than al-Said's Fertile Crescent idea. The representatives of Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Transjordan, and the Palestinian Arab people met in Alexandria, Egypt between September 25 and October 8, 1944. The Egyptian authorities organised the meeting, which resulted in a deal described as the “Alexandria Protocol.”

Peak under Egyptian Leadership

The growth of Arab nationalism was greatly assisted by Egypt's leader Gamal Abdel Nasser. The US gave Egypt funding because it wanted to support the developing Arab nationalism as a counterforce to communism. The Zionists' Jewish identity enhanced Islam as a central trait of Arab nationalism and added a religious dimension to the racist rhetoric. The Arabs' determination to band together in support of a pan-Arab nationalism concept was enhanced by their embarrassing setback in the Arab-Israeli War.

Islam was portrayed as a message of unity and a manifestation of the Arab peoples' secular creativity because it was running through the spread of Islam that the Arabs had attained their greatest achievements. Pan-Islamism was promoted by King Faisal of Saudi Arabia as a counterweight to the regional effects of communism and Arab nationalism. He proposed the organisation of the Muslim World League.

Decline and its Reason

The Arab nationalist movement has experienced an “irreversible” tumble towards “political exclusion” following Israel's victory over the Arab coalition in the 1967 war, and finally Arab nationalist commander Nasser renamed al-Ma'raka al-Masiriya. The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party is divided in 1966 into two rival groups, each with headquarters in Damascus and Baghdad.

Also, there are some other reasons for this decline. They are-

• The “Iraq first” program of the president of Iraq, Abd al-Karim Qasim.

• The removal of the number of issues that fuelled nationalism in the 1950s and the early 1960s, as colonialism and pro-Western sentiment declined in the Arab world.

• Arab nationalism was considered with distrust by minority groups like non-Arab Kurds or Shia Arabs in Iraq. They believed it was “a Sunni goal” to promote “Sunni hegemony”.

• Pluralism, the division of powers, independence of political communication, and other liberal values had established the ideology at that moment.

Conclusion

The elimination of those Arab dictators thought to be dependent on Western power and the termination of Western imperialism in the Arab world are two of Arab nationalism's main objectives. Some Arabs took inspiration from the nationalist parties of the Slavic minorities in the formerly Ottoman Balkan provinces, all of which had won independence in late 1912. The native Arab people were granted autonomy by the British. The majority of Arabs saw themselves to be loyal followers of the Ottoman Empire. So the concept of Arab nationalism had little influence on them.

FAQs

Q1. What connection exists between the Ottoman Empire and Arab nationalism?

Ans. The Arab nationalist organisations were swift to capitalise upon the beginnings of a widespread Arab uprising opposing Enver Pasha and the Young Turks to serve their purposes. The final ignition for overt uprising came with the Ottoman Empire's admission to World War I in 1914.

Q2. What was the contribution of Arab to society?

Ans. The phonetic alphabet is undoubtedly the Arabs' largest contribution to mankind's civilization. We have a debt of thanks to Arab ingenuity, insight, and tenacity in science in all spheres of our everyday lives.

Q3. Who was in the leadership of Arab nationalism?

Ans. A student organisation of the American University of Beirut was organised in the 1950s and was directed by George Habash. From here the Arab Nationalist Party started.