Arab Nationalism: Between Islam and the Nation State

384 Pages·1997·20.1 MB·English

by  Bassam Tibi

ARAB NATIONALISM
Also by Bassam Tibi
ARAB CIVILIZATION {co-author)
CONFLICT AND WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST, 1967-1991
DER WAHRE IMAM
DIE VERSCHWOERUNG: Das Trauma arabischer Politik
FUNDAMENTALISMS AND SOCIETY (co-author)
HUMAN RIGHTS IN AFRICA: Cross-Cultural Perspectives
(co-author)
IM SCHATTEN ALLAHS: Der Islam und die Menschenrechte
ISLAM AND THE CULTURAL ACCOMMODATION OF SOCIAL
CHANGE
ISLAMIC LAW REFORM AND HUMAN RIGHTS (co-author)
KRIEG DER ZIVILISATIONEN
MIDDLE EASTERN STUDIES: International Perspectives
(co-author)
MUSLIMS IN THE MARGIN (co-author)
THE CRISIS OF MODERN ISLAM
THE ETHICS OF WAR AND PEACE (co-author)
TRIBES AND STATE FORMATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST
(co-author)
Arab Nationalism
Between Islam and the Nation-State
Bassam Tibi
Center for International Affairs
Georgia Augusta University of Gottingen
Third Edition
©BassamTibi 1981, 1990, 1997
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First Edition 1981
Second Edition 1990
Third Edition 1997
Parts I to IV of this edition are based on the 1981
translation by Marion and Peter Sluglett.
Published by
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Contents
Preface to the Third Edition ix
A Note on Sources, Quotations and Transliteration xvi
Introduction to the Second Edition: Arab
Nationalism Revisited 1
PART I An Attempt to Distinguish Third World
from European Varieties of Nationalism 27
1 The Origins of Nation Formation and Nationalism
in Europe 29
2 Social Science Interpretations of Nationalism and
of Nation Formation in the 'Third World' 39
(a) Marxist Analyses of the Problem of the Subject
and Colonised Peoples 40
(b) Nationalism in the 'Third World' as an Anti-
Colonial 'Modernisation Ideology' 45
(c) Nationalism in the 'Third World' as a Result of
the Process of Acculturation 48
(d) Nation Formation in the Colonies in the Context
of Decolonisation Achieved by Armed Struggle 52
3 The Role of Nationalism and Nation Formation in
the Process of Emancipation of the Peoples of the
'Third World' 59
PART II The Emergence and Development of National-
ism in the Arab World Before the Second
World War 73
vi Contents
4 The Historical Background of Arab Nationalism 75
(a) The Middle East under the Ottomans: the Social
Structure and Legitimacy of Ottoman Rule 76
(b) Napoleon's Expedition to Egypt, 1798, and the
Seizure of Power by Muhammad 'Ali in 1805:
The Beginnings of Externally Generated Social
Change in the Middle East 79
(c) Rifa'a Rafi' al-Tahtawi and the first Generation
of European-educated Arab Intellectuals: the Be-
ginnings of National Thinking in the Arab World 84
(d) Two Forms of Islamic Revival: the Archaic-
Millenarian Wahhabi Movement and the Mod-
ernism of al-Afghani and 'Abduh 88
5 The Genesis of Arab Nationalism 95
(a) Syria under the Rule of Muhammad 'Ali: The
Emergence of Secularism, and the Contribution
of European and American Christian Missions
to the Arab National Literary Renaissance 96
(b) The Significance of the Tanzimat Period and of
the Emergence of a Stratum of Arab Nationa-
list Officers and Intellectuals: the Secret So-
cieties and the Politicisation of Nationalism
until the anti-Ottoman Revolt of 1916-18 106
(c) The Development of the Arab National Move-
ment after the First World War; the Role
of Sati' al-Husri as a Theoretician of Arab Na-
tionalism 116
PART HI Sati' al-Husri's Theory of Populist
Pan-Arab Nationalism and its Philosophical
Origins 123
6 The Origins of al-Husri's Definition of the Nation 125
(a) The German Sources: the German Romantics:
Herder, Fichte and Arndt 127
Contents vii
(b) The Arabic Sources: the Social and Historical
Philosophy of Ibn Khaldun 138
The Foundations of Sati' al-Husri's Political Theory 142
(a) The General Theoretical Framework 143
(b) al-Husri's Attack on the French Idea of the
Nation: his Critique of Renan 149
(c) al-Husri's Criticism of Marxism 154
PART IV al-Husri's Theory in Action: Populist
Pan-Arab Nationalism in Competition With
Other Political Currents in the Middle East 159
8 Pan-Arab Nationalism versus Pan-Islamism: The
Role of Islam in al-Husri's Writing 161
(a) Preliminary Remarks 161
(b) al-Husri's Interpretation of al-Afghani 164
(c) al-Husri's Discussion of al-Kawakibi's anti-Ot-
tomanism and 'Abd al-Raziq's Critique of the
Caliphate 170
9 Pan-Arab versus Local Nationalism I: al-Husri and
the Egyptian Nationalists 178
(a) Egyptian Nationalism: the History of its Devel-
opment and Transformation 178
(b) al-Husri's Discussions with the Liberal Egyp-
tian Nationalists 184
10 Pan-Arab versus Local Nationalism II: al-Husri's
Critique of Antun Sa'ada and his Syrian Social
Nationalist Party (SSNP) 191
PART V Between Arab Nationalism and Islam 199
11 Pan-Arab Nationalism as Westernised Ideology and
Politics of Arab States: Between Ba'thism and Nas-
serism until the Six-Day War 201
viii Contents
12 The Revival of Political Islam: Between Islam and
Arab Nationalism 218
Notes 234
Bibliography 313
Supplementary Bibliography 346
Index 355
Preface to the Third
Edition
Among my twelve books published in German, of which four are
available in English, this study on Arab nationalism has been
one of my most successful books. This new edition is different
from the earlier ones in that it includes a completely new Part
Five, 'Between Arab Nationalism and Islam'. The new part
consists of two new chapters in which I make an effort to explain
the reasons underlying the decay of Arab nationalism. This
process has been labelled by some authors as 'The End of
Pan-Arabism'. In the mid-1960s the leading Nasserist model of
development of a modern nation-state legitimised by Arab na-
tionalism was already in severe crisis. The ideology of Arab
nationalism was itself under fire, as I show in the new Chapter
11. In view of these facts the de-legitimation of Arab regimes
and of their political elites which ensued after the disastrous
Arab defeat in the Six-Day War of 1967 was not caused but
accelerated by the military defeat in that war. It was an eye-
opening event, both traumatic and pivotal, an essential compon-
ent in the political biographies of most Arabs of my generation.
I belong to the post-1967 generation of Arab writers who, then,
in numerous articles and books made an effort to replace the
myths of Arab nationalism by an Arab enlightenment. The book
published by Sadiq Jalal al-'Azm, al-Naqd al-dhati bad al-hazima
(Self-Criticism after the Defeat (1968)) and my articles in the
Beirut-based journals Mawaqif and Dirasat 'Arabiyya were
among the contributions to that effort. But we failed.
Already in the early 1970s the call for lal-hall al-Islami' (the
Islamic solution) came to the fore and rapidly gathered forces
against all secular options. The crisis of the nation-state, paral-
leled by the deepening process of de-legitimisation of all Arab
regimes legitimised by Arab nationalism, has supported the new
rhetoric of political Islam. In Chapter 12 in the new Part Five,
ix