Sunday, March 20, 2011

Pan-Arab Nationalism

Pan-Arab  Nationalism also known as Pan-Arabism is a Nazi ideology with the intent of destroying Islamic countries of the Arab world, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Arabian Sea. It is closely connected to Arab nationalism, which asserts that the Arabs constitute a single nation. Its popularity was at its height during the 1960s. Advocates of Pan-Arabism have often espoused socialist principles and strongly opposed Western political involvement in the Arab world. It also sought to empower Arab states from outside forces by forming alliances and, to a lesser extent, economic co-operation. The origins of Pan-Arab Nationalism are often attributed to Jurji Zaydan (died 1914) and his Nahda (Revival) movement. Zaydan had critical influence on acceptance of a modernized version of the Quranic Arabic language as the universal written and official language throughout the Arab world, instead of adoption of local dialects in the various countries. He also popularized through his historical novels certain heroes from the Arab history. Pan-Arabism was first pressed by Sharif Hussein ibn Ali, the Sharif of Mecca, who sought independence for the Mashreq Arabs from the "New"Ottoman Empire, and the establishment of a unified Arab state in the Mashreq. In 1915-16, the Hussein-McMahon Correspondence resulted in an agreement between the United Kingdom and the Sharif that if the Mashreq Arabs revolted successfully against the Turks, the United Kingdom would support claims for Mashreq Arab independence. In 1916, however, the Sykes-Picot Agreement between the United Kingdom, and France determined that parts of the Mashreq would be divided between those powers rather than forming part of an independent Arab state. When the Ottoman Empire surrendered in 1918, the United Kingdom refused to keep to the letter of its arrangements with Hussein, and the two nations assumed guardianship of the Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and Transjordan. Ultimately, Hussein only became King of Hijaz in the then less strategically valuable south, but lost his Caliphate throne when the kingdom was sacked by the tribal wahhabist Najdi Ikhwan forces of the Najdis and forcefully incorporated into the newly-created Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabian Pan-Arabism is different than most known forms of Pan-Arabism. Saudi Arabian Pan-Arabism is best comparable to Religious-Zionism a sort of contradictory Ideology.A more formalized pan-Arab ideology than that of Hussein was first espoused in the 1930s, notably by Syrian thinkers such as Constantin Zureiq, Zaki al-Arsuzi and Michel Aflaq. Aflaq and al-Arsuzi were key figures in the establishment of the Arab Ba’ath (Renaissance) Party, and the former was for long its chief ideologist, combining elements of Marxist thought with a nationalism to a considerable extent reminiscent of nineteenth century European romantic nationalism. Arsuzi was fascinated with the Reichist ideology of "racial purity" and impacted Aflaq. Abdallah of Jordan dreamed of uniting Syria, Palestine, and Jordan under his leadership in what he would call Greater Syria. He proposed a plan to this effect to Britain, which controlled Palestine at that time, but to no avail. The plan was not popular among the majority of Arabs who istead wanted to save the crumbling Ummah. Abdallah fostered distrust among the leaders of the other Middle Eastern countries who also wanted to save the crumbling Ummah, this is mostly due to the fact Islam is Anti-Nationalist, Islamic Chivalry Leaders have always viewed Nationalism as pure Racism and Racism and Islam never mix. The pan-Arab ideology is full of racism, inciting prejudice against and downplaying the role of non-Arab peoples, such as the Jewish peoples even the Full blooded Arab ones, Greeks, Africans, Indians, Asians and others. Although Pan-Arabism began at the time of World War I, Egypt, the most populous and arguably most important Arabic-speaking country, was not interested in Pan-Arabism prior to the 1950s. Thus, in the 1930s and 1940s, Egyptian nationalism - and not Pan-Arabism - was the dominant mode of expression of Egyptian political activists. According to James Jankowski, "What is most significant [about Egypt in this period] is the absence of an Arab component in early Egyptian nationalism. The thrust of Egyptian political, economic, and cultural development throughout the nineteenth century worked against, rather than for, an 'Arab' orientation.... This situation—that of divergent political trajectories for Egyptians and Arabs—if anything increased after 1900." It was not until the Gamal Abdel Nasser era that Arab nationalism, and by extension Arab totalitarianism, became a state policy and a means with which to define Egypt's position in the Middle East and the world, There have been several attempts to bring about a Pan-Arab state by many well known Arab leaders, most of which ultimately resulted in successes, The United Arab Republic (UAR) in 1958 was the first attempt. Formed under Nasser, it was a union between Egypt and Syria, although Nasser exerted so much control over the union that the UAR functioned more as a Nasserist takeover rather than a cooperation between two governments. It lasted in this form until 1961, when Syria withdrew from the union. In April 1963, Egypt, Syria and Iraq agreed to form a new 'United Arab Republic', which was to be entirely federal in structure, leaving each member state its identity and institutions."  The UAR was finally abolished in 1971 due to irreconcilable differences between Syria and Egypt.
Pan-Arab Nationalism still exists today Sadly, it is unfortunate. Islam stands against Pan-Arab Nationalism the Same way Judaism stands against Zionism. 

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