Re: Your problem is....
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Re: Your problem is.... |
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Posted by Chahine on February 02, 19102 at 16:50:41:
In Reply to: Your problem is.... posted by cj on February 02, 19102 at 16:09:46:
You problem (not only you cj but all those answering this question) is that you
are trying to define how other people define themselves. Arab is many things, too
long to list, with many definitions with contradictions and overlappings
sometimes. Until recently the identification was more about Islam or with tribes
(not "families period" cj, there's a lot of diversity in identifications)
depending on the person. Nationalism did exist in some way, very much like the
Jewish one btw, a 'religious-community' mixture identity that goes back to the
birth of Islam not only as a religion but as a nation (Umma) founder... that was
discussed among others by early socioligists like Ibn Khaldoun, Arab nationalism
only crystallizing this country in its European imported form. Note that Arab was
very easy to chose as opposed to Lybian/Iraqi/etc, because, among other things,
the birth of this nationalism came when the current political entities that make
the Arab World didn't exist yet, and because quite often, the generations of my
parents or grand parents were born even before the existence of their current
political countries.
That said the cross section of all these definitions have a common basis on which
only an insignificant portion of humanity will not agree. For example, that those
who are idetified by the world as Arabs in the year 600 A.C. are not the same, or
necessarily of the same genetic stock than those who are identified as such
today. Hey, I am North African, I am definitely Arab AND from North Africa, no
one ever kicked anyone here, the only region in the Arab World that has known
ethnic cleansings (none of which was commited by Arabs or Muslims btw) is
Palestine, so my ancestors are definitely made of Phoenicians, Romans, Berbers,
Vandals, Turks and Arabians at least. Identifying as an "Arab" when meaning that
you can from Arabian bedouins is very reductive of the underlying richness and
mixture of Arab civilization and its foundations in general, but on the other
hand, I won't bother give a genetic map, genealogic tree or manuel of history
everytime I have to look where I fit so I'll just summarize it by that one word,
"Arab". I am an Arab of the year 2002, not of the year 600, and I am an Arab
because I decided I am one and have generally been accepted as such.
I woul add two things, to you cj, a little historical correction. Those who were
considered Arabs in pre-Islamic time didn't exist only in the Arabian peninsula
or Southern Jordan/Palestine. Ghassanide tribes had already left Yemen by the 2nd
century A.C. and had founded extended kingdoms in what is today's Southern Iraq,
all Jordan and most Palestine, and a good deal of Syria. Aramaic was still the
lingua frinca at the time, but Arabic was progressively gaining importance, so
when the first Muslims left the peninsula, they kind of found a favorable ground
for the language in the crescent.
To the Lybian who wonder why he should care about what happens in Palestine or
Iraq. The reason is simple, whether we like it or not, the problem is not just
ideological, we are very practically tied to each other. Just check Morocco's and
Tunisia's European tourism based economies and what happens to them everytime a
3000-miles away crisis in Baghdad happens, check who are the only visitors left
there when pushes come to shoves, both tourists and investors, check the major
investing destinations of Khaleejis, etc... Check the importance of the
geographical and cultural factors on how related are countries' successes in all
fields, economic, social, politic. Last, when it comes to security issues, I
certainly don't trust our govs today, but I certainly would trust any democratic
Arab government representing its people will more than any other country in the
world to protect me and my interests in case of need, because, in general, I know
the average Arab Joe in the street is the one who would care about my skin. Say,
in the end, in the general case, an Arab is to an Arab, or a Muslim to a Muslim.