Arab Nationalism

I

Introduction

Arab Nationalism, term used to describe both doctrines and movements emphasizing the cultural identity and the political independence, solidarity, association, or unity of Arab peoples and sovereign states.

II

Origins

A sentiment of Arab tribal solidarity (asabiyya), underlined by claims of Arab tribal descent and the continuance of classical Arabic exemplified in the Koran, preserved, from the rise of Islam, a vague sense of Arab identity among Arabs. However, this phenomenon had no political manifestations (the 18th-century Wahhabi movement in Arabia was a religio-tribal movement, and the term “Arab” was used mainly to describe inhabitants of Arabia and nomads) until the late 19th century, when the revival of Arabic literature was followed in the Syrian provinces of the Ottoman Empire by discussion of Arab cultural identity and demands for greater autonomy for Syria. This movement, however, was confined almost exclusively to certain Christian Arabs, and had little support. After the Young Turk revolution of 1908 in Turkey, these demands were taken up by some Syrian Muslim Arabs and various public or secret societies (the Beirut Reform Society, founded 1912; the Ottoman Administrative Decentralization Party, founded 1912; Al Qahtaniyya, founded 1909; Al Fatat, founded 1909; and Al Ahd, founded c. 1912) were formed to advance demands ranging from autonomy to independence for the Ottoman Arab provinces. Similar minor groups were formed in Iraq. The size, strength, and influence of these societies has been the subject of much dispute, but the evidence suggests that the nationalists were only a small minority of Ottoman Arabs in 1914. Early expressions of Arab nationalist ideas are also found in this period in the writings of Abd al-Rahman al-Kawakabi who proposed an Arab caliphate; Muhammad Rashid Rida, who emphasized the Arab contribution to Islam; and Najib Azuri, who claimed that an Arab nationalist movement aiming at independence from the Ottomans was already in being.

III

World War I and the Arab Revolt

World War I saw the defeat and subsequent break-up of the Ottoman Empire, and the creation of a number of separate states in the Arab provinces. A major role was played by Britain, which supported the Arab Revolt of 1916, launched in Al Ḩijāz by the Hashemite Sharif of Mecca, Abdullah ibn Husein. Much controversy surrounds these events. According to one view, the Arab movement was tiny and the Arab contribution of minor importance, consisting chiefly of war against the Ottomans in Al Ḩijāz and the operations of the northern Arab army under Faisal (later Faisal I of Iraq), son of Husein, who was assisted by Thomas Edward Lawrence, against the flank of the Ottoman forces in Syria; by far the major part in the defeat of the Ottomans was performed by British Empire forces. However, it has been argued that Husein represented a powerful Arab movement within the Ottoman Empire (that was discovered and crushed by the Ottomans) and was promised a reward in the form of an independent Arab state or states; according to this view Britain and France broke their agreement and created five separate states (Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Transjordan, and Iraq), and ruled them via mandates from the League of Nations.

IV

Arab Independence and the Growth of Nationalism

Between 1932 and 1946 four of the new Arab states gained their independence: Iraq in 1932, Syria in 1943-1946, Lebanon in 1946, and Transjordan in 1946 as Jordan; Palestine, partitioned in 1948, was divided mainly between Israel and Jordan. During the years of the struggle for independence, Arab nationalist doctrines and ambitions developed rapidly. The removal of the Ottoman option made independence the obvious alternative to European rule; in addition, there was increased interest in closer cooperation among Arab peoples and between Arab states; pan-Arab ideas were represented in the Istiqlal Party in Palestine (1932), the League of National Action in Syria (1933), and the Syrian Socialist Nationalist Party. Popular Muslim and Arab sympathy for the Palestinian Arabs was another factor, and Arab states attempted to mediate in the Palestine dispute from 1936 onward. Arab nationalist thought was developed especially in Iraq, notably by Sati’ al-Husri, who based his arguments on language and history, and nationalist ideas were taught in schools. Arab nationalism gained a new impetus during World War II. The Iraqi politician Nuri al-Said developed schemes for the union of the Fertile Crescent region around the rivers Tigris and Euphrates; Britain found it convenient for strategic reasons to express general sympathy for the movement from February 1942, and the Arab states, now including Saudi Arabia and Egypt, which had hitherto stood aloof, came together to form the Arab League in 1945.