The Decline of Arab Nationalism and the Islamic Revival
The Decline of Arab Nationalism and the Islamic Revival
By Jake Harris / Arab America Contributing Writer
The early 20th century saw increased western intervention in the middle east, and the rise of secular Arab nationalism. A cornerstone of this Arab Nationalism was the idea of Pan-Arabism. Put simply, it is the belief that the entire Arab world which has a shared culture, language, and religion should unify into a single nation. This nationalism was based more on a shared Arab identity than a shared religious identity. Arab nationalism can be traced back to resistance to Ottoman rule. Arab nationalism of the first half of the 20th century evolved into an Islamic Revival movement in the second half.
The Arab Revolt
On June 10th 1916, the Emir of Mecca Hussein Bin Ali led a revolt against the Ottoman Empire with British help. Both the British and the Arabs had separate incentives. The British wanted to weaken a member of the Central Powers to help the war effort, while the Arab nationalists wanted to exacerbate their goal of independence. The revolt was a victory by the Arabs and the British forces
British minister Henry McMahon had initially made clear that Britain would support a Pan-Arab state in return for the help of defeating the Ottomans. Britain contradicted this promise by posthumously signing the Sykes-Picot Agreement. This agreement effectively split the former Ottoman territory between Britain and France. Also signed by the British was the Balfour Declaration declaring support for a Jewish state in Palestine. Western intervention in the Middle East became more widespread from the power vacuum left by the Ottoman Empire. It was a feeling of going from one occupation to another.
Arab Nationalism
The interwar period had from time to time revolts against colonial rule and foreign interference. The peak of the Arab nationalist movement occurred in the 1950’s when Egypt was under the rule of Gamel Abdel Nasser. His 1956 nationalization of the Suez Canal was seen in the Arab World as a bold defiance to western powers. In 1958, The United Arab Republic combined the states of Egypt and Syria with Nasser as the head. The state was short lived with the union only lasting until 1971.
The 1967 Six-Day War between Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Iraq, and Israel was a huge turning point in the Arab World when it comes to shifting ideologies. The defeat of the Arab coalition led by Nasser marked an end to the era of secular Arab nationalism and marked the beginning of a movement of religious fundamentalism. The defeat in the war led to a reckoning on if secular movements like ethnic nationalism and Arab socialism were a failure altogether.
Rise of Islamic Fundamentalism
The 1973 Oil Crisis was a significant event in the empowerment of Arab nations. An embargo was placed by OPEC on exports to countries that had supported Israel in the Six-Days War. The embargo gave nations like Saudi Arabia significant leverage to promote their conservative form of Islam known as Wahhabism. A prominent Saudi official in the 1990’s described domestic policy aims as Modernization without westernization. This doctrine still accurately sums up Saudi Arabian politics today.
The 1979 Iranian Revolution affected the entire region when it came to the role of religion in government. The Shah was overthrown by a theocratic Islamic Republic led by Ayatollah Khomeini. Khomeini was a cleric and a statesman who opposed the Shah’s perceived capitulation to the west. Iran had also become a very secular society in comparison to the Iran of today. Today Iran is governed by a combination of democratically elected representatives and a council of religious leaders headed by the Supreme Leader, a religious leader and political leader who holds a lifetime term in power.
Islamism is a very wide and broad term. Put simply it means the idea that government and law should abide by Islamic values using faith as a guide. Islamism exists on a broad spectrum. Different groups and movements have different aims as to how they want to achieve this ideal religious society. Extremist groups such as ISIS advocate for violent revolution while other Islamic political entities are more moderate in their approach. The initial Islamist movements blamed weakness of faith as a reason for the defeat.
The Islamic movements of the 1970’s didn’t intend to end modernism nor to go backwards technologically. Instead they sought to preserve religious culture in a modern world. Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE are accurate examples of nations that have emphasized religious law as supreme without compromising the nations ability to become economic and technological powers in the modern world.
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