Reimagining Arab Political Identity: Justice, Women's Rights and the Arab State

205 Pages·2021·6.48 MB·English

by  Salam Hawa

Reimagining Arab Political Identity
This book discusses the idea that Arab cultural and political identity has
been suppressed by centuries of dominance by imperial outsiders and by
religious and nationalist ideologies, with the result that present-day Arab
societies are characterised by a crisis of identity where fundamentalism or
chaos seem to be the only available choices. Tracing developments from
pre-Islamic times through to the present, the book examines the evolution of
Arab political identity through a multilayered lens, including memory and
forgetting, social and cultural norms, local laws, poetry, dance, attitudes
to women, foreigners and animals, ancient historical narratives, and more.
It argues that Arab societies have much to gain by recovering the “happy
memory” of Arab culture as it was before being distorted.
Salam Hawa is an Affiliate of the Arab Canadian Studies Research Group
at the University of Ottawa.
Durham Modern Middle East and Islamic World Series
Series Editor: Anoushiravan Ehteshami, University of Durham
46 Russia’s Middle East Policy
From Lenin to Putin
By Alexey Vasiliev
47 Iran’s Foreign Policy in the South Caucasus
Relations with Azerbaijan and Armenia
By Marzieh Kouhi-Esfahani
48 How China's Rise is Changing the Middle East
By Anoushiravan Ehteshami and Niv Horesh
49 Iran's Regional Relations
A History from Antiquity to the Islamic Republic
Seyed Mohammad Houshisadat
50 Limited Statehood and Informal Governance in the Middle East and
Africa
Edited by Ruth Hanau Santini, Abel Polese and Rob Kevlihan
51 Constituting the Political Economy of the Kurds
Social Embeddedness, Hegemony, and Identity
Omer Tekdemir
52 Reimagining Arab Political Identity
Justice, Women’s Rights, and the Arab State
Salam Hawa
For a full list of available titles please visit: https://www.routledge.com/
Durham-Modern-Middle-East-and-Islamic-World-Series/book-series/
SE0526
Reimagining Arab Political
Identity
Justice, Women’s Rights, and
the Arab State
Salam Hawa
First published 2022
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2022 Salam Hawa
The right of Salam Hawa to be identified as author of this work has
been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-1-138-35469-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-07911-0 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-42462-5 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9780429424625
Typeset in Times New Roman
by codeMantra
To Arab Youth: the future beckons!

Contents
Preface ix
1 Introduction 1
2 History, language, identity of pre-Islamic Arabia 20
3 Founding of Arab collective memory 45
4 Archiving Arab collective memory 67
5 Arab identity in transition 95
6 Islamic identity as obligated memory 125
7 Renegotiating the social contract 162
Index 189

Preface
In the last two millennia there has never been a people who have identified
with a language as had the Arabs. From pre-Islamic times to the present,
Arab speakers tended to oscillate between immeasurable passion for and
deep mistrust of their mother tongue. Arab intellectuals’ divergent attitude
to the Arabic language depends on their personal journey. For instance, in
Edward Said’s work Arabic was a source of identity, pride, rebellion, and
resistance; it affirmed his sense of cultural belonging and maternal love, but
also highlighted his sense of alienation and exile. For others, such as Leila
Ahmed, classical Arabic was an instrument of male dominance, misogyny,
and sociopolitical oppression. From her perspective, the language divided
society along religious, class, and gender lines, determining her sense of be-
longing to and appreciation of Arab culture and heritage. The same can be
said of each Jewish, Muslim, or Christian Arab, whose relation to this very
deep and rich source of culture differs in accordance with their gender and
community. In today’s Arab society, memories of this civilisation’s glorious
past tend to jostle with those reminding them of the bitterness of defeat. In
this volume, I trace the truth hidden in the layers of centuries that tell the
story of a society, the history of which was rewritten multiple times. It raises
questions that generations of Arabs have steadfastly refused to ask, and in-
vestigates the origin of the malaise that led to the explosive events of the
Arab Spring. Although questions regarding the legitimacy of the modern
Arab state have recently multiplied, they are repeatedly analysed through a
very limited and limiting lens. Concerned to view Arab society in terms of
binary oppositions, such questions overlook the complexity of the historical
evolution which brought this grand civilisation to its knees. For there has
never been a revolution in a population’s history that arose spontaneously –
like Athena emerged full-grown from Zeus’ forehead – and it is not enough
to claim this politician or that is to blame. Rather, a movement of this mag-
nitude could only come about over time, and it is time itself that needs to be
identified and narrated.
In the ancient past, the Arabs always relied on their poets to express the
depth of their faith, sadness, and longing. This volume examines the so-
ciopolitical elements that inspired pre-Islamic jahili poets, who perfected