Arabs/History

From Warbirth Wiki

< Arabs

Faction Overview Strategic Overview History

"WHO IS AN ARAB?"

WHO IS AN ARAB? W. Montgomery Watt and Pierre Cachia

Over a hundred million people in the world call themselves Arabs. That is to say the least, a potential force in world politics, quite apart from the question of oil. Yet many observers are inclined to doubt whether there is any reality underlying the common use of the term Arab. And it is indeed not easy to define what is meant by an Arab.

The Arabs are not a distinct ethnic group, since there are both white Arabs and black arabs. Some of the black Sudanese Arabs claim descent ln the male line from Arabs of Mohammed's time, and may well be correct in their claim. Nor is language a sufficient criterion of Arabness since there are many Arabic-speaking jews who are not normally called Arabs. The figure of a hundred million come from the populations of the states in the Arab League. For membership ln the Arab League the primary criterion appears to be language: but, despite the presence of Lebanon, which is half Christian, this tends to be coupled with the acceptance of Arab-Islamic culture.

Modern Arab intellectuals are well aware of the difficulty in defining an Arab. As long ago as December, 1938, a conference of Arab students in Europe, held in Brussels, declared that "all who are Arab in their language, culture and loyalty (or "national feeling") are Arabs." Some of the same intellectuals, however, have spoken of the present disunity of the Arabs as the result of European imperialism during the last century or more. It does not take much knowledge of history to demonstrate that is a complete misconception.

The only time Arabs have been politically united was from about A. D. 634 to 750. Before Mohammed they were divided into feuding tribes, and not all the tribes entered into alliance with him. The so-called wars of the Apostasy that followed his death ended in unity under the second caliph, and this unity continued until about 750, with the Arabs as a ruling elite in an empire stretching from Spain to the Punjab and Central Asia. Soon after 750, however, the Arabs of Spain formed an independent government and in the following centuries other dynasties gained varying degrees of autonomy. lt often happened that two rulers, both nominally owing their appointment to the politically powerless caliph (or emperor), would fight bitterly to extend their territories at the other's expense. Where there was an opportunity, the local Muslim princelings were ready to ally themselves with a Christian princeling against Muslim rival: this happened both in Spain and in the Crusading period in Syria. So much for the myth of political unity.

At the same time, there was always an impressive cultural unity. Even before Mohammed there was some common cultural awareness among the Arabs. The very word Arab has the connotation of "people who speak clearly." and is contrasted with ajam, or "people who speak indistinctly." Though ajam came to be used specially of Persians, the contrast is similar to that between Greeks and "barbarians." Arabic literature was vigorously cultivated in Spain under Muslim rule. Most rulers and courtiers could write tolerable arabic verse, and a few achieved true elegance. One or two scholars knew by heart vast amounts of the poetry of the leading authors of Syria and Baghdad and the poetical standards of the heartlands still guided taste in Andalusia. At different times several local poets were dubbed "the Mutanabbi of the West." In much the same way, one called a man "the Milton of America."

Outstanding works from Baghdad quickly made their way to Spain and were studied and commented on. Indeed, in various ways the Arabs of Spain were more Arab than those of the heartlands, perhaps because of their relative isolation in a somewhat alien environment. While one may emphasize the distinctive Iberian character of the Arab literature of Spain, the Arabic language used in Spain remains very close to the classical models. Thus Arab culture has been a potent unifying force even in the face of great political disunity.

The beginning of the twentieth century saw many of the Arab countries nominally parts of the Ottoman Empire: that is, they were under non Arab Muslim rule. This was officially the case with Egypt, although de facto Egypt was being ruled by Britain, as was also the "Anglo-Egyptian Sudan." Algeria was ruled by the French, who also had some say in Morocco and Tunisia. World War I freed the Arabs from the Ottoman Empire, but brought many of them varying degrees of European tutelage. Only in the early 1950's did most of the Arabs become completely independent. Through this whole period, however, there has been no significant progress toward Political union. As long as the Arabs were under foreign occupation it was easy for them to claim that only imperialism divided them, that their separate "national struggles" were in fact common cause and that union would be easily achieved once the foreigners were ousted. Some twenty years of independence have given the lie to this hope.

The League of Arab States was founded in 1945 by Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria. Transjordan and Yemen. It has since grown to include Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, the Sudan, and various smaller states like Kuwait. Its aim, however, has never been unity but only cooperation, and even this limited goal has sometimes proved very difficult in the political field. The chief successes of the League have probably been in cultural matters, such as the formation of a library including microfilms of rare manuscripts.

There have been numerous more specific proposals for union, but these have now been forgotten or have turned sour. Egypt has been involved in a number of such projects: the unity of the Nile Valley (with the Sudan), the United Arab Republic (with Syria, which function for a short time and then was dissolved), federation with Yemen, and a union with Libya. Then there have been projects of a Greater Syria and a union of the Fertile Crescent (Syria an Iraq). None of these has worked in practice. While some Arabs have pushed idealistic proposals for unity, others seem determined to press their quarrels, both old and new. There was deep-rooted dynastic rivalry between the family ruling Saudi Arabia and the Hashemite family of Jordan and Iraq. Morocco and Algeria have yet to agree on the border between them (an important factor in Hassan's attempted nonviolent march into the Spanish Sahara in November, 1975). Iraq, in its greed for oil, threatened Kuwait. During the civil war in the Yemen, Egypt backed the republicans and Saudi Arabia the monarchists. And of course, Gamai Abdai Nasser of Egypt quarreled with Qasim of Iraq over who should be the leader of the Arabs.

Along with all this, however, strong cultural affinities have persisted throughout the Arab world. A literary movement in one country quickly spreads to the others. Around 1930, for example, similar "romantic" features were to be seen in the poetry of Syrian exiles in America, of the Egyptian "Apollo" group, and of the Tunisian ash-Shabbi, the last having been born in an oasis of the interior. Similarly, the "free verse" movement, which appeared in Iraq in 1949, has spread as far as Morocco. Nor is the sense of cultural affinity restricted to intellectuals. The Algerian man in the street clearly has a stronger feeling of Kinship with the Asian fellow-Arab of Iraq than with the non- Arab fellow-African of Mali.

This long story of Political disunity and cultural affinity is not the end of the matter. There are other forces at work beneath the surface, and we may today be witnessing a shift of emphasis that could, over time, prove crucial. The crucial Question is that of religion. For many centuries the basis of cultural affinity has been primarily religious. The religion of Islam provided the historical impetus creating the vast society to which the Arabs belonged. Intellectual disciplines associated with religion were the flywheel that maintained a steady, even movement. Within the community of Muslims, however, there was the still stronger bond of the Arabic Language. Arabic had a special status as the language of revelation. Arabic linguistic and literary standards remained remarkably homogeneous in the various regions of the Arab world and even in other Islamic provinces. This is the way it has been for centuries.

At the Juncture of Three Worlds: The Kingdoms of Spice and Copper[edit | edit source]

"Like the northern half of the Middle East comprising of the Levant and the Fertile Crescent, the Arabian lands were colonised by various human tribes as early as 2000BCE, concentrated mainly around the relatively fertile hills of Yemen. By the onset of the 4th century BCE, the coastline of Yemen was increasingly becoming urbanised with a population made prosperous through trade. This was the period of crisis in which the Persian and Greek polities were faltering if not falling apart and rising back again, resulting in a power vacuum which the Sabaean peoples could and did fill in. Sabaean society was soon developed around city-states ruled by monarchies around which the tribes rallied. with four regional powers: the Sabaeans (who soon lent their name to the rest of their subjects and vassals), the Minaeans, the Himyarites and the Adramites."

"Sabaea's location between Africa and India and its access to the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean meant that it occupied a location most favourable to entrepôt trading. this civilization was exceptionally wealthy. According to the Qur'an Saba's queen, known in the west as the Queen of Sheba, ruled from "a magnificent throne" and also visited King Solomon in Jerusalem, arriving, says the First Book of Kings, "with a very great train with camels that bare spices, and very much gold, and precious stones..."

"Even so, there was one commodity for which Sabaea became most famous for: frankincense and myrrh — for which the ancient world had a nearly insatiable appetite. They were used by the ancient Egyptians in embalming, were burned as offerings to the pagan gods of East and West, were valued as medicines from first-century Rome to 11th-century Persia, and perfumed the state occasions of royal and imperial courts throughout the known world well into the early Middle Ages. Yet they grew, almost exclusively, in Southern Arabia — whose inhabitants told fabulous tales about the dangers and difficulties of collecting them in order to deter competitors — and were a vital factor in the prosperity that earned the area the name Arabia Felix — Happy Arabia."

"Sabaean society appears to have been very much based around the tribe, with a king or chief (known as a muqarrib, later rebadged as malik) holding absolute power over the lives and deaths of his people. This power was not just backed up by brute force — the Sabaeans were also masters of water management and had learnt to master the building of dykes and reservoirs to tap rainfall from the mountains. The most famous centerpiece of these systems was the Ma'rib Dam. Built as early as the 7th century BCE by tthe Sabaean king Sumhu' Alay Yanuf, the dam spanned an 1,800-foot gap cut through the Balaq Hills and distributed precious water to cultivated areas by a system of branching canals."

"Despite the consolidation of Himyarite hegemony, their days were numbered. By the 3rd century CE, the Roman Empire was in crisis. The fall of Rome did not bode well for the Sabaeans, and as the empire's finances and power began to dry up, so did opportunities for continued trade which was the lifeline for the Himyarites. The adoption of Christianity also caused greater commercial carnage as demand for Sabaean frankincense was also discouraged — it would take almost 1,000 years for demand for frankincense to spike up again in Christian Europe."


Dohag's Progeny: The Arabs and Islam[edit | edit source]

For centuries, the Arabs had been the victims of more powerful and better organised neighbours. Although they had once known some sense of greatness and pride from being the founders of ancient kingdoms such as Dilmun, Nabataea, Palmyra and Himyar, by the 5th and 6th centuries, these kingdoms were now little more than fables passed by word of mouth by elders seated around Bedouin camp fires. Now, the Arabs were seen as little more than expendable pawns in the great games played by the great empires of the day — Rome and Persia. Owing to the fractious nature of their society, Arabs were oft looked at askance by Christian Romans and the Zoroastrian Sasanians. Yet, all this was soon to change.

Islam first emerged during the late sixth century CE in the Arabian peninsula, and began to provide an impetus toward the gradual unification of the many Arab tribes into a single cohesive whole — the Rashidun caliphate. By then, Persia and Rome alike had been involved in countless wars for over a few centuries, which combined with the effects of climate change and pandemics (as well as the predation of barbarians such as the Huns) sapped all semblance of stability throughout the Levant. War exhaustion and political instability had eroded the ability of the Sasanian court to effectively impose its will. The growth of Muslims thus overlapped with an important political, societal, economic and martial weakness in Persia so once the first warriors of the Rashidun caliphate arrived, the Sasanian empire simply disintegrated in the face the Muslim invaders following a string of defeats culminating in the Battle of Nahavand in 642 CE.

The location of the great Muslim states in Iberia and Arabia made them ideal areas for the creation of a rich and vibrant culture which would resonate well through Islam and Christianity alike. Throughout the Middle Ages, the kingdoms that flourished in those parts of the world were positioned at highly strategic junctures which merited the homeland of the Arab race to be called the "Middle East": while Baghdad controlled the trade routes into Europe from India, which bore opulent spices and silks to the markets of Venice and Constantinople, the Arab kingdoms in North Africa and Spain like the ancient Carthaginians of yore controlled trade routes from Africa which brought gold, ivory and slaves into Europe.

It was thus at these junctures of trade in the Old World which lent Islamic culture its richly filligreed yet checkered past. Beginning in the 7th Century, Islam would immediately make its mark felt upon the world. Weakened by centuries of protracted war, the Byzantine Roman and Sassanid Persian empires both fell prey to the new emergent power in the Arab peninsula. Motivated by Islam and led by the Caliphs and skilled military commanders such as Khalid ibn al-Walid, the predominantly Arab Muslims reduced Byzantine lands by more than half and overran Iran until halted in Anatolia by the still capable Byzantines with the help of the Bulgars. Nevertheless, Muslim conquerors swept through Byzantine North Africa, ending eight centuries of Roman rule. At its greatest extent, the new Arab Empire was the first empire to control the entire Middle East, as well 75% of the Mediterranean region, the only other empire besides the Roman Empire to control most of the Mediterranean Sea.

The First Islamic Empires[edit | edit source]

After the death of the Prophet in 632, the first Islamic nation, centred around Mecca and Medina, faced potential extinction at the hands of the Christian Byzantines and the Zoroastrian Persian Empire. The first Caliph, Abu Bakar as-Sidiq "the Rightful", a personal friend of the Prophet, chose instead to invade both empires as pre-emptive measures once negotiations with all sides broke down. Syria and Iran fell to the invaders. Successive caliphs would then extend the sway of Islam further to Roman Palestine and Africa, creating the largest land empire unseen for centuries.

Unfortunately, despite these great feats, the Islamic empire faced great political instability. There were uprisings in southern Arabia, and differences in doctrine and political interests. Although Abu Bakar was lucky to end his reign dying peacefully, his other successors were not so lucky — all of them died at the hands of assasins. The death of the caliph Uthman ibn Affan in 656 resulted in the Battle of Karbala, an earthquake which split the ummah and whose tremors are still felt to this day. One side opined that the post of caliph was to be held only by those who were descendants of the Prophet, and backed Ali ibn Ali Talib as caliph, while another party supported the Prophet's former secretary, Muawiyah ibn Abu Sufyan. Outmatched and outnumbered, Ali was killed at Karbala, and Muawiyah eventually became Muawiyah I, the first ruler of the Umayyad dynasty.

Muslims in Spain...[edit | edit source]

While not considered greatly pious, the Umayyad dynasty was known to be fascinated with building projects...and building empires. Architectural wonders often followed in the wake of conquests by the Umayyads. In 711, a Muslim army under Jabal Tariq ibn Ziyad (whose name Gibraltar was derived from) crossed into Spain, and killed the king of the Visigoths, who until that time had been ruling Iberia since the day they first arrived there. Ibn Ziyad would return to Morocco eventually, but in the next year Musa ibn Nusair, invaded with a force of 20,000 men. They quickly swept through Spain, aided by the vast Roman road system, and were able to defeat the Visigoth defenders relatively easily due to the political disarray of the nobility. Muslim forces spread northward throughout the Iberian Peninsula and eventually crossed the Pyrenees into the domain of the Franks (in modern day France) to be turned back at Poitiers in 732 by Charles Martel.

...and in Italy[edit | edit source]

Further expansion occurred in 827 when an Arab armada landed at Mazara; Sicily, on 17 June, and began a rolling campaign culminating in the middle of the 10th century. The Aghlabid sultanate in Ifriqiyya, unable to tolerate Byzantine control of the seaways, and learning that Sicily was torn with internal strife, decided the moment was propitious for a full-scale attack. Unlike Spain, which fell like ripe fruit, the conquest of Sicily, after Mazara fell, took 75 years but immigration and settlement on the land began almost immediately. The Aghlabids were succeeded by the Fatimids, who in turn gave way to the Kalbids. The unique achievements of the period were not political, however, and are hardly mentioned in many works of historians. Under the Muslims, Sicily once more became a granary to the world, as it had been under the Romans, but the Arabs introduced many new exotic crops, such as oranges, and new irrigation techniques to grow them. These innovations, along with breaking up of the large estates and the redistribution of land, meant an end to the long years of economic and social depression of the Dark Ages, and would last even after Sicily was back in Christian hands.

The "Golden Age"[edit | edit source]

A "Golden Age" of Islam did exist, but this was only because of a variety of factors. Firstly, Muslims controlled important trade routes from Asia and Africa into Europe. Baghdad controlled the last Asian stop of the Silk Road, while Andalus on the other end of the great Arabophone empire dominated trade between Africa and Spain. Although it was true that such trade routes existed since time immemorial, it was only when some semblance of organised government, facilitated by the spread of Islam, existed, ensuring the security and predictability of civilised living that could make the great intellectual and architectural feats of the Arabs to take place before being exported into Europe and elsewhere.

Through their contacts with other nations on the peripheries of the Dar-el-Islam, Arab culture was enriched greatly. Learning new processes and ideas from diverse cultures, the Arabs would take advantage of this wealth of influences and develop them further to enrich their own world. From the Chinese, the Arabs learnt the art of manufacturing paper; contact with Egypt and Persia would result in the transmission of the mysteries of alchemy to the Arabs, which spurred the development of chemistry and the foundation of modern science. So while learning in Europe was confined to the cloisters of the monastery, the secular was well alive in the Arab world: the Greek philosophers, long forgotten and buried away in church libraries, continued to be discussed and their ideas kept alive in the Middle East, until the time was right for Europe to reclaim them again. That philosophers on far ends of the Islamic world could remain in long correspondence with one another is a good indication of the sophistication and stability that Muslim societies in the Middle Ages experienced.

The Abbasids: Twilight in the Desert[edit | edit source]

Despite this Golden Age, the Islamic Middle East remained a politically instable place. While European princes were absorbing rival tribes or factions and centralising power, the age-old institution of the qabila or tribe remained much ingrained in the politics of the Middle East. Thus, insurrections eventually doomed the Umayyad empire (although Umayyad rule of Spain would continue until the close of the 12th century), and soon a new leader, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, a relative of the Prophet, was appointed as caliph. Abbas' rule now covered the eastern half of the original Umayyad empire but his realm was to soon fall apart. Racked with internal unrest, racial tensions between Arab Muslims, non-Arab Muslims and non-Muslims, this empire broke apart into several ruling houses within the space of a few generations: the Idrisids and Aghlabids arose in Africa, while the Tulunids took Egypt; and the Buyids; Uqaylids; Samanids and Hamdanids took over and fought each other in Iran.

Meanwhile, ominous events were taking place in Asia. Ever since Muslim colonists began making inroads into the heart of the continent, they began to assimilate the fierce horse-riding tribes who haunted the steppes, eventually converting many of them to Islam and recruiting them as mercenaries and then civil servants, much as in the same way the Romans towards the end of their empire tried to employ the Goths in the same fashion. Called by the Arabs "mamluks" or "slaves", this caste of new converts to the Islamic faith were slave to their Arab masters only in name and would eventually eclipse them in power and prestige.

References[edit | edit source]