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Arab culture refers to the culture in Arab countries of West Asia and North Africa, from Morocco to the Persian Gulf. Language, literature, gastronomy, art, architecture, music, spirituality, philosophy, mysticism (etc.) are all part of the cultural heritage of the pan-Arab world.
The Arabic language is the largest member of the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family (classification: South Central Semitic) and is closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic. It is spoken throughout the Arab and Islamic world. Arabic has been a literary language since at least the 6th century and is the liturgical language of Islam, in addition to widespread use as a vernacular language. Arabic is spoken in a variety of dialects. Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), the language of the media and of educated Arabs, is different from the everyday spoken Arabic.
It is sometimes difficult to translate Islamic concepts, and concepts specific to Arab culture at the beginning, without using the original Arabic terminology. The Qur'an is written in Arabic, and Muslims traditionally deem it impossible to translate in a way that adequately expresses its exact meaning; until recently,[when?] some schools of thought maintained that it should not be translated at all.[1] A list of Islamic terms in Arabic covers those terms which are too specific to translate in one phrase. While Arabic is strongly associated with Islam (and is the language of salah), it is also spoken by Arab Christians, Oriental Mizrahi Jews, and smaller sects such as Iraqi Mandaeans.
Most of the world's Muslims do not speak Arabic, but only know some fixed phrases of the language, such as those used in Islamic prayer. However, learning Arabic is an essential part of the curriculum for anyone attempting to become an Islamic religious scholar.
Before the coming of Islam most Arabs followed a religion featuring the worship of a number of deities, including Hubal, Wadd, Al-Lat, Manat, and Uzza, while some tribes had converted to Christianity or Judaism, and a few individuals, the hanifs, had apparently rejected polytheism in favor of monotheism. The most prominent Arab Christian kingdoms were the Ghassanid and Lakhmid kingdoms. With the expansion of Islam, the majority of Arabs rapidly entered into Islam and became Muslims, and the pre-Islamic polytheistic traditions disappeared.
At present, most Arabs are Muslims by religion. Sunni Islam dominates in most areas, overwhelmingly so in North Africa; Shia Islam is prevalent in Bahrain, southern Iraq and adjacent parts of Saudi Arabia, southern Lebanon, parts of Syria, and northern Yemen. Ibadi are primarily in Oman[2][3] and are also present in Algeria and Libya.[4] There are some religious minorities like the Druze, Ismaaili Shia and other offshoots of Islam.
Reliable estimates of the number of Arab Christians, which in any case depends on the definition of "Arab" used, vary. According to Fargues 1998, "Today Christians only make up 9.2% of the population of the Near East". In Lebanon they now number about 39% of the population,[5] in Syria they make up about 10 to 15%, in the Palestinian territories the figure is 3.8%, and in Israel Arab Christians constitute 2.1% (or roughly 10% of the Israeli Arab population). In Egypt, they constitute 5.9% of the population, and in Iraq they presumably comprise 2.9% of the populace. Most North and South American and Australian Arabs (about two-thirds) are Arab Christians, particularly from Syria, Palestine, and Lebanon.
Jews from Arab countries—mainly Mizrahi Jews and Yemenite Jews—are today usually not categorised as Arab. Sociologist Philip Mendes asserts that before the anti-Jewish actions of the 1930s and 1940s, overall Iraqi Jews "viewed themselves as Arabs of the Jewish faith, rather than as a separate race or nationality".[6] Prior to the emergence of the term Mizrahi, the term "Arab Jews" (Yehudim ‘Áravim, יהודים ערבים) was sometimes used to describe Jews of the Arab world; the term is rarely used today. The few remaining Jews in the Arab countries reside mostly in Morocco and Tunisia. Between the late 1940s and early 1960s, following the creation of the state of Israel, most of these Jews left their countries of birth and are now mostly concentrated in Israel. Some also immigrated to France (where they form the largest Jewish community, outnumbering European Jews) (see Jewish exodus from Arab lands).
Islam (Arabic: 
الإسلام; al-islām (help·info)) is a monotheistic religion based upon the Qur'an, which Muslims believe was sent by God through Muhammad, as well as teachings of Muhammad recorded in the Hadith. Followers of Islam, known as Muslims (Arabic: مسلم), believe Muhammad to have been God's (Arabic: Allāh) final prophet.
With a total of approximately 1.2–1.3 billion adherents,[8][9] Islam is the second-largest religion in the world, and is considered to be one of the fastest-growing religions. Like both Judaism and Christianity, Islam is considered to be an Abrahamic religion.[10]
Islam began in Arabia in the 7th century. Under the leadership of Muhammad and his successors, Islam rapidly spread by religious conversion and military conquest.[11] Today there are followers of Islam throughout the world, particularly in the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia.
Arabic literature is the writing produced, both prose and poetry, by speakers of the Arabic language. It does not include works written using the Arabic alphabet but not in the Arabic language such as Persian and Urdu literature. The Arabic word used for literature is adab which is derived from a word meaning "to invite someone for a meal" and implies politeness, culture and enrichment. Arabic literature emerged in the 6th century, with only fragments of the written language appearing before then. The Qur'an, from the 7th century, had the greatest and longest-lasting lasting effect on Arabic culture and literature. Al-Khansa, a female contemporary of Muhammad, was an acclaimed Arab poet.
The Mu'allaqat (Arabic: المعلقات, [al-muʕallaqaːt]) is the name given to a series of seven Arabic poems or qasida that originated before the time of Islam. Each poem in the set has a different author, and is considered to be their best work. Mu'allaqat means "The Suspended Odes" or "The Hanging Poems," and comes from the poems being hung on the wall in the Kaaba at Mecca.
The seven authors, who span a period of around 100 years, are Imru' al-Qais, Tarafa, Zuhayr, Labīd, 'Antara Ibn Shaddad, 'Amr ibn Kulthum, and Harith ibn Hilliza. All of the Mu’allaqats contain stories from the authors’ lives and tribe politics. This is because poetry was used in pre-Islamic time to advertise the strength of a tribe’s king, wealth and people.
One Thousand and One Nights (Persian: هزار و یک شب) is a medieval folk tale collection which tells the story of Scheherazade (in Persian: Šahrzād شهرزاد), a Sassanid queen who must relate a series of stories to her malevolent husband, King Shahryar (Šahryār), to delay her execution. The stories are told over a period of one thousand and one nights, and every night she ends the story with a suspenseful situation, forcing the King to keep her alive for another day. The individual stories were created over several centuries, by many people from a number of different lands.
The nucleus of the collection is formed by a Pahlavi Sassanid Persian book called Hazār Afsānah[9] (Thousand Myths, in Persian: هزار افسانه), a collection of ancient Indian and Persian folk tales.
During the reign of the Abbasid Caliph Harun al-Rashid in the 8th century, Baghdad had become an important cosmopolitan city. Merchants from Persia, China, India, Africa, and Europe were all found in Baghdad. During this time, many of the stories that were originally folk stories are thought to have been collected orally over many years and later compiled into a single book. The compiler and ninth-century translator into Arabic is reputedly the storyteller Abu Abd-Allah Muhammad el-Gahshigar. The frame story of Shahrzad seems to have been added in the 14th century.
The Qur'an was the first major work of Arabic literature and the most influential.
The Qur'an had a significant influence on the Arabic language. The language used in the Qur'an is called classical Arabic; modern Arabic has diverged from it slightly. Not only is the Qur'an the first work of any significant length written in the language, it also has a far more complicated structure than earlier literary works with its 114 suras (chapters) which contain 6,236 ayat (verses). It contains injunctions, narratives, homilies, parables, direct addresses stated to be from God, instructions and even comments on how it is itself to be received and understood. It also contains layers of metaphor and is clear, a feature it mentions itself in sura 16:103.
Although it contains elements of both prose and poetry, and therefore is closest to saj' or rhymed prose, the Qur'an is regarded as entirely apart from these classifications. The text is believed to be divine revelation and is seen as being eternal or 'uncreated'. This leads to the doctrine of i'jaz or inimitability of the Qur'an which implies that nobody can copy the work's style, nor should anybody try.[citation needed]
There was a marked lack of significant poets until the 8th century. One notable exception was Hassan ibn Thabit who wrote poems in praise of Muhammad and was known as the "prophet's poet". The Qur'an is important to Arabic; it is the source of many ideas, allusions and quotes, and its moral message is repeated in many works.
Aside from the Qur'an, there is the hadith or tradition of what Muhammad is supposed to have said and done. The entire body of these acts and words are called sunnah (way), and the ones regarded as sahih or genuine are collected into hadith. Some of the most significant collections of hadith include those by Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj and Muhammad ibn Isma'il al-Bukhari.
The other important genre of work in Qur'anic study is the tafsir or commentaries on the Qur'an. Arab writings relating to religion also include many sermons and devotional pieces as well as the sayings of Ali which were collected in the 10th century as Nahj al-Balaghah or The Road to Eloquence.
Prior to the Islamic Era, poetry was regarded as the main means of communication on the Arabian Peninsula.[citation needed] It related the achievements of tribes and defeats of enemies and also served as a tool for propaganda. After the arrival of Islam other forms of communication replaced poetry as the primary form of communication. Imams (preachers) played a role in disseminating information and relating news from the authorities to the people. The suq or marketplace gossip and interpersonal relationships played an important role in the spreading of news, and this form of communication among Arabs continues today. Before the introduction of the printing press Muslims obtained most of their news from the Imams at the Mosque, friends or in the marketplace. Colonial powers and Christian Missionaries in Lebanon were responsible for the introduction of the printing press. It was not until the 19th century that the first newspapers began to appear, mainly in Egypt and Lebanon, which had the most newspapers per capita.
During French rule in Egypt in the time of Napoleon Bonaparte the first newspaper was published, in French. There is debate over when the first Arabic language newspaper was published; according to Arab scholar Abu Bakr, Al Tanbeeh (1800) published in Egypt and Junral Al Iraq (1816) in Iraq according to other researchers. In the mid-19th century the Turkish Empire dominated the first newspapers. In the Northern African countries of Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria the French colonial power built a press link between mainland countries. The first newspapers were limited to official content and included accounts of relations with other countries and civil trials. In the following decades Arab media blossomed due to journalists mainly from Syria and Lebanon, who were intellectuals and published their newspapers without the intention of making a profit. Because of the restrictions by most governments, these intellectuals were forced to flee their respective countries but had gained a following and because of their popularity in this field of work other intellectuals began to take interest in the field. The first émigré Arab newspaper, Mar’at al Ahwal, was published in Turkey in 1855 by Rizqallah Hassoun Al Halabi. It was criticized by the Ottoman Empire and shut down after only one year. Intellectuals in the Arab World soon realized the power of the press. Some countries' newspapers were government-run and had political agendas in mind. Independent newspapers began to spring up which expressed opinions and were a place for the public to out their views on the state. Illiteracy rates in the Arab world played a role in the formation of media, and due to the low reader rates newspapers were forced to get political parties to subsidize their publications, giving them input to editorial policy.
Freedoms that have branched through the introduction of the Internet in Middle East are creating a stir politically, culturally, and socially. There is an increasing divide between the generations. The Arab World is in conflict internally. The internet has brought economic prosperity and development, but Bloggers have been incarcerated all around in the Middle East for their opinions and views on their regimes, the same consequence which was once given to those who publicly expressed themselves without anonymity. But the power of the internet has provided also a public shield for these bloggers since they have the ability to engage public sympathy on such a large scale.This is creating a dilemma that shakes the foundation of Arab culture, government, religious interpretation, economic prosperity, and personal integrity.
Arabic language can be categorized into three categories, Classical Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), and Colloquial language. Classical Arabic, the language of Islam and of the Qur'an is solely used for religious purposes, yet it is kept alive through daily prayers and study of the Qur'an. Modern Standard Arabic, influenced by foreign languages as well as colloquial languages, is a contemporary version the classical language used by the media, and serves as a universal language for the Arab world. Each country or region in the Arab world has varying colloquial languages which are used for everyday speech, yet its presence in the media world is discouraged.
Each country of the Arab world has its own unique dialect, or colloquial language. Although these vernaculars are the everyday spoken languages of the Arab people, they are not recognized as individual languages but rather dialects, proving communication between two different dialects impossible. Thus, vernaculars are seen as a threat to MSA and the classical language, as they differ in grammatical structure in addition to their contradictory nature towards the unifying effect MSA has on the Arab world. To protect the classical language from the vernacular, newspapers are required to have editors to review articles, ensuring a unified Arab character is established, something which can be destroyed by use of a vernacular. Vernaculars are however present in certain forms of media including satires, dramas, music videos and other local programs. The influence of colloquial Arabic on MSA can be seen through newspaper headlines. MSA takes on the sentence structure of verb-subject-object, while colloquial language retains the structure of subject-verb-object. The implementation of colloquial sentence structure is seen quite often in headlines, yet not in the articles themselves. Colloquial language also has a presence in soft news, including tabloids, satirical comments and cartoons. Politicians have also been known to incorporate colloquial phrases into their speeches in order to appear more appealing to the public. Despite their daily use, Colloquial Arabic languages are seen as a force of corruption on the purity of the classical language as well as MSA.
Prior to the establishment of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), the Semitic language of classical Arabic was the only accepted language of the Islamic culture. Classical Arabic was used in the Qur'an and for other religious purposes, and was accessible only to religious and formally educated men. Due to varying vernaculars amongst the different areas of the Islamic empire, there was a need for a standardization of the language. Prior to MSA, during the 19th century, the language of the media was stylized and resembled literary language of the time, proving to be ineffective in relaying information. Currently MSA is used by Arab media, including newspapers, books and some television stations, in addition to all formal writing. Although MSA is taught in schools throughout the Arab world, it is not a spoken language intended for everyday use; rendering the language as a diglossia, a linguistic term referring to a language containing two distinct versions pertaining to informal and formal occasions.
There are approximately 300 million Arabs in the world, with 290 million in the Arab world. The overwhelming majority of Arabs are Muslims. However, at least 5 percent of Arabs are non-Muslims. Since 1948, many Jewish Arabs emigrated to Israel, and many Christian and Jewish Arabs emigrated to the West. Arab Muslims constitute less than 25 percent of all Muslims in the world. In fact, nearly as many Muslims live in Indonesia (202 million), Pakistan (140 million) and Bangladesh (135 million) than in the entire world. Today, Sunni Islam dominates in most areas, overwhelmingly so in North Africa. Shia Islam is dominant in southern Iraq, Bahrain and Lebanon. Christians make up 5.5% of the population of the Near East.
The Arab world is sometimes divided into separate regions including Nile Valley (consisting of Egypt and Sudan), Al-Maghrib Al-Arabi (consisting of Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and Mauritania), Fertile Crescent (consisting of Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Jordan and Iraq) and the Arabic Gulf (consisting of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman and the UAE) and finally Al-Janoub Al-Arabi (consisting of Yemen and sometimes Oman) thought each of these regions have a distinct and unique culture, yet the difference between each others does not pass for a major cultural difference.
The Arab Culture is divided into three main parts, the Urban Culture (Al-Hadar), the Rural Culture (Al-Reef), and the Nomad Culture (Al-Badow). Typically, countries like Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, and Morocco are considered Rural Cultures, while Arab states of the Arabic Gulf, Libya, Mauritania and Jordan are considered Badow (Bedouins), while finally the Lebanon, Palestine, Tunisia, Algeria are considered Urban, yet most of the Arab Major Cities are recognized with Urban Cultures, like Cairo, Rabat, Baghdad, Alexandria, Damascus, Marrakech, etc.
One example of something that is very divisive to communication in the Arab World is the prevalence of dialects. Dialects of the Arabic language in the Middle East not only vary by region; they can even vary by country or even from city to city or village to village. In general, the dialects are more similar to other dialects in their regions than they are with dialects of people from other parts of the Arab world. The dialects not only change pronunciations but dialects can have different words or phrases for the same meaning depending on the region. For example, the phrase "how are you?" in Arabic translates to "ezayyik" in Egypt, "ishloonak" in Iraq and "keef haalak" in places like Bilad Ash-Sham and parts of the Arabian Peninsula.
Topography is another aspect of life that contributes to lifestyle differences between people of these regions.
The area north of the Arabian Peninsula (Bilad Ash-Sham and Iraq) has a very vast topography but is known most famously for having the richest soil in the world especially in Iraq. This area is historically known as the Fertile Crescent. Because of its location between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and on the Mediterranean the farmland is very fertile and for most oh history inhabitants of this area have been known for their farming and agriculture. This has affected the lifestyle of the people in many ways. The people of Bilad Ash-Sham and Iraq have a special relationship with the land and the environment. They hold such high reverence for their land that some have said they protect their land as they protect their children. Land in the Middle East is very valuable and it is one of the most important family possessions so it is passed down from generation to generation. Farmers living in this area lead simple, relaxed lives and have great pride in their land.
North Africa’s location on the Mediterranean has allowed for trade with other Mediterranean countries. There are several port cities that connect Africa to Europe that are located in the North African region. The lives of individuals in these countries are more business oriented because of the more developed nature of these trade cities on the coast. This region is also abundant in rich farmland especially in Egypt near the Nile. The region is also known for its wealth of gold and oil and other natural resources. All of these things as well as ivory from the tusks of elephant are items that come from North Africa and are commonly traded along the Mediterranean.
The Arabian Peninsula is most well known for its abundance of oil. This is the major connection of the Arab world to the western world. 75% of Saudi Arabia's economy is based on oil revenues. This is the main source of international trade in the Middle East. That along with the tourism to the city of Mecca for the Muslim pilgrimage has given the region the affluence to provide free health care and education for its citizens. This is the only region of the Middle East with the economic resources to provide such a service to citizens.
The Middle East is the home of the three Abrahamic religions: Islam, Judaism and Christianity. There are also important religions like Baha’i, Druze, Gnosticism, Yarsan, Shabak religion and Zoroastrianism that are practiced among minority populations throughout the Middle East. There are many religious centers for all of these religions in various parts of the Middle East. Though across most of the Middle East the majority of the population practices Islam in whatever form, about 10% of the population of the Middle East list their religion as Christians and an estimated 15 million Jews live in the Middle East.
The Arab World holds the same principles with their news generation as does the Western world, slight variations do exist between the two. Arab news values strictly revolve around political news putting the human interest stories to the side; the reverse is true for the American news values. The other value Arab media embraces as important is their global perspective with regard to presentation and production. The global orientation of Arab media integrated with the need to educate their populations, establishes social responsibility as one of the cornerstones of its media values.[12]
Nationalist notion of cultural and political unity among Arab countries. Its origins lie in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when increased literacy led to a cultural and literary renaissance among Arabs of the Middle East. This contributed to political agitation and led to the independence of most Arab states from the Ottoman Empire (1918) and from the European powers (by the mid-20th century).[13]
Pan-Arabism is a movement that calls for unification among the peoples and countries of the Arab World, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Arabian Sea. It is closely connected to Arab nationalism, which asserts that the Arabs constitute a single nation. The idea was at its height during the 1960s. In theory, and depending on the ruler, Pan-Arabism has tended to be sometimes near secular (in theory) and often based on socialist principles, and has strongly opposed Western political involvement in the Middle East. It also sought to empower Arab states from outside forces by forming alliances and, to a lesser extent, economic cooperation.[14]
Pan-Arabism was first pressed by Sharif Hussein ibn Ali, the Sharif of Mecca, who sought independence from the Ottoman Empire and the establishment of a unified state of Arabia. In 1915-16, the Hussein-McMahon Correspondence resulted in an agreement between the United Kingdom and the Sharif that if the Arabs successfully revolted against the Ottomans, the United Kingdom would support claims for Arab independence. In 1916, however, the Sykes-Picot Agreement between the United Kingdom and France determined that parts of the Arab Mashreq would be divided between those powers rather than forming part of an independent Arab state. When the Ottoman Empire surrendered in 1918, the United Kingdom refused to keep to the letter of its arrangements with Hussein[citation needed], and the two nations assumed guardianship of several newly created states, including Jordan and Lebanon. Ultimately, Hussein became king only of Hijaz (later incorporated into Saudi Arabia) in the then less strategically valuable south.
Additionally, the Balfour Declaration of 1917 as reason to administer Palestine and the subsequent creation of the British Mandate upset the pan-Arabists' designs for a geographically contiguous pan-Arab state from the Arab Maghreb and Egypt to the Mashreq. A more formalized pan-Arab ideology than that of Hussein was first espoused in the 1930s, notably by Syrian thinkers such as Constantin Zureiq, Zaki al-Arsuzi and Michel Aflaq. Aflaq and al-Arsuzi were key figures in the establishment of the Arab Ba’ath (Renaissance) Party, and the former was for long its chief ideologist, combining elements of Marxist thought with a nationalism to a considerable extent reminiscent of 19th century European romantic nationalism. It's been said that al-Arsuzi was fascinated with the Nazi ideology of "racial purity" and impacted Aflaq.[15][16][17]
Abdallah of Jordan dreamed of uniting Syria, Palestine, and Jordan under his leadership in what he would call Greater Syria. He proposed a plan to this effect to Britain, which controlled Palestine at that time, but to no avail. The plan was not popular among the majority of Arabs and fostered distrust among the leaders of the other Middle Eastern countries against Abdallah. This distrust of Abdallah's expansionist aspirations was one of the principal reasons for the founding of the Arab League in 1945.[citation needed] Once Abdallah was assassinated by a Palestinian nationalist in 1951, the vision of Greater Syria was dropped from the Jordanian agenda.[14]
Pan-Arabism has been at times in contrast with pan-Islamism as being more secular. Tariq Aziz, an Aramaic-speaking Chaldean Christian and the once deputy prime minister of Iraq under Saddam Hussein.[clarification needed] However in exchange for his status he had to Arabize his name from Mikhail Yuhanna to the Arabic Tareq Aziz. Iraqi statesman Abd al-Rahman al-Bazzaz (1913–72) argued that Arab national Islam were in perfect harmony because Islam is the national religion of the Arabs, Al-Bazzaz maintained that the dualism (spiritual vs. temporal) of Western Christendom is unknown to true Islam. For al-Bazzaz, Arabism and Islam are inextricably intertwined because the Arabs have been the backbone of Islam.[18] often these ideologies would work in harmony,[19] Pan-Arab Nationalism in the Egyptian context has a strong Islamic flavor and thus acted as a bridge to pan-Islamism of the Muslim Brotherhood, thereby excluding minorities such as the Copts.[20]
In an essay originally written in 1978 called "Pan-Arabism" (published in "From Babel to Dragomans") Bernard Lewis wrote (pp 198–201) that Pan-Arabism was conceived by 'Abd al-Rahman al-Kawakibi (c.1849-1902), who wished for an Arab Caliphate to supersede that of the Turkish Ottomans. Another early ideologue of Pan-Arabism was an anti-Semitic Syrian, Negib Azoury (d. 1916), Lewis claims that Muhammad Rashid Rida (1865–1935) (considered a promoter of pan-Arabism[21]) would be less obsessed with Arab resurgence and focused on an Islamic renaissance. All three were Syrian-born, but lived and wrote in Egypt.[19]
Michel Aflaq embedded Islam within Arabism,[22] in the mind of the Christian (who reportedly later converted to Islam)[23] Michael Aflaq, Islam and Arab nationalism were inseparable[24] He stated in the 1940s that Arab Nationalism was vital to the survival of Islam in the region and the duty of Arab Nationalists was to defend Islam in the name of the Arab nation.[25][26] He is well noted for his fascination and inspiration for the Islamic faith when he stated his belief that Islam provides Arabs with "the most brilliant picture of their language and literature, and the grandest part of their national history."[23] In Ba'athism he and Sati al-Husri, composed a Qur'anic super narrative of Arabism, soil and Islam.[27] The Muslim Brotherhood's Hasan al-Banna incorporated & associated Pan-Arabism with his radical Islamic ideology in view of Arabism’s growing appeal in Egypt at the time.[28]
Along with Islamism Pan-Arabism who both prioritize loyalty to the Arab or Islamic community.[29] with exclusion of others,[30] including Christians & Jews,[31][32] are seen to be greatly responsible for the persecution of Iraqi Christians[33] and contributed to driving non-Arab minorities out of Iraq for which the Christian community put blame directly on Arab nationalists, Pan-Arabists, and Radical Islamists.[34] Saddam Hussein's Anfal campaign caused the destruction of Many Assyrian Churches were destroyed in the North of Iraq and caused the displacement of many Christians. An Assyrian priest interviewed by HRW/Middle East said that he had assembled a list of 250 Christians who disappeared during Anfal and its immediate aftermath. (Iraq's Crime of Genocide, 1995, Human rights watch, pp. 209)[35]
The pan-Arab ideology has been accused of racism, inciting prejudice against and downplaying the role of non-Arab peoples, such as the Berbers,[36] Turks (persecution, mass murder), Jews, Persians (as well as going to war against the Persians in Iran),[37] Maronite,[38][39][40] amongst others, (prompting such editorials like "Arabism equals racism"[41])[42] An Egyptian writer Masri Feki wrote that it is the ideology of Pan-Arabism that prevents lasting peace in the Middle East:
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Real lasting peace will come the day Israel's neighbors recognize that the Jewish people are on this land de jure, they are not just there de facto. Pan-Arabism is in ruins because it did not take into account the diversity of the region, the specificities of its various identities and the communitarian preoccupations of its minorities. Like pan-Arabism, pan-Islamism is an exclusivist ideology."[43] |
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Others, such as Iraqi Jewish writer Rachel Shabi, have emphasized the conflict between pan-Arab nationalism and Zionism, seen by Arab leaders as a European imposition on the Middle East at the time that large parts of the Arab-speaking world were struggling to overcome British and French rule.[44]
Abdul Ghafor al-Ani, who headed Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Party in southern Iraq, shouted at the trial of Chemical Ali who led the Anfal attack on the Kurds: "I welcome death if it is for Iraq, for pan-Arabism and for the Ba'ath",[45] or "Welcome to death for the sake of Arabism and Islam" - as the death sentence was read.[46] The genocide in Darfur: it has been linked back to Libya's Muammar Gaddafi's meddling in the region his support for the militantly racist pan-Arab organisation in Darfur known as Tajammu al-Arabi (Arab Union), which stressed the province's solely 'Arab' nature.[47] he began to meddle in the affairs of his African neighbors in an attempt to establish Pan-Arabist hegemony in the region. His weapons were racist and supremacist ideologies.[48] It has been described as a deliberate genocide carried out in Darfur by the Pan-Arabist regime of Khartoum".[49][50]
Modern Pan-Arabism is also known to have had Nazi and Fascist roots. During the 1930s, Pan-Arabists developed proto-fascist organizations such as the "Al-Muthanna Club" and the "Al-Futuwwa movement," the pan-Arabist Futuwwa Youth was a model of the Hitler Youth,[51] it was part of Pan-Arab radicalism which was expressed in diverse forms in 1930s Iraq, it was sponsored by the government and officially instituted in Iraqi schools,[52][53][54][55] Sami Shawkat, a firm believer in pan-Arabism and totalitarianism, was an admirer of Nazi ideologies In one of his addresses, "The Profession of Death," he called on Iraqi youth to adopt the way of life of Nazi Fascists. In another speech he branded the Jews as the enemy from within, who should be treated accordingly. In another, he praised Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini for eradicating their internal enemies (the Jews). (Syrian and Palestinian teachers often supported Shawkat in his preaching).[56] There was a wide Nazi propaganda in Pan-Arabist ideology.[57] Beginning at 1933, Muhi al-Din Nasuli, the leader of the Islamist and Pan-Arabist group "Najjada" (Helpers) in Syria and Lebanon, promoted many of Hitler's speeches and printed excerpts from Hitler's Mein Kampf in his group's newspaper. Hitler and Mussolini were viewed by Pan-Arabists in both Syria and Lebanon as models of strong state builders. The ambivalent relation of such Pan-Arabist concepts to ethnocentric and racial nationalism became visible in Nasuli's newspaper slogan "Arabism Above All", which featured on his newspaper's masthead, which also printed glowing accounts of German youth's support of Hitler,[58][59][60][61] Key among some Gestapo men was Fritz Grobba, often called "the German Lawrence" because he promised a Pan-Arab state stretching from Casablanca to Tehran,[62] Adolf Hitler's collaborator and close Arab confidant, the Islamic leader and Mufti al-Husayni, was promoted as a Pan-Arabist leader by the Nazis who both found sympathy in each other's ideologies.[63][64] In June 1940 he had offered his services to the Reich government, he went to Berlin via Tehran, where he explained to the German ambassador, Ettel, his plan to bring all Arabs under the banner of Pan-Arabism over to the side of the Axis.[65]
On March 1951, France condemned Arab depotism, A French foreign ministry spokesman declared on 14.3.1951 that exponents of Arabism were trying to impose its "totalitarianism, that "Arabism may be summed up as racism, despotism and imperialism, a policy of domination incompatible with the French character."[66]
A writer on the Durban conference regarding racism suggests: "Arabism is racism" would have been an interesting debating topic. The OIC countries were very clever in how they deflected the slavery issue that could so easily have been turned on them with a vengeance.[67]
Even some Muslim activists affirm that Arabism is racism, pure and simple.[68] In the 1960s, some Muslims were "Partners in the Campaign Against Pan-Arabism and Racism"[69] From a Muslim scholar: 'the Ba'th party, which sowed a Pan-Arabist ideology, was responsible for the genocide of Kurdish people in Iraq as well as the genocide of Shiite Arabs in Iraq. Pan-Arabism does not recognize minorities living in the Arab world. Everybody in this "world" is an Arab.'[70]
Although Pan-Arabism began at the time of World War I, Egypt, the most populous and arguably most important Arabic-speaking country, was not interested in Pan-Arabism prior to the 1950s. Thus, in the 1930s and 1940s, Egyptian nationalism - and not Pan-Arabism - was the dominant mode of expression of Egyptian political activists:
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What is most significant [about Egypt in this period] is the absence of an Arab component in early Egyptian nationalism. The thrust of Egyptian political, economic, and cultural development throughout the nineteenth century worked against, rather than for, an "Arab" orientation.... This situation—that of divergent political trajectories for Egyptians and Arabs—if anything increased after 1900.[71] |
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Azoury's league rejected the incorporation of Egypt into the Arab empire because "the Egyptians do not belong to the Arab race,"[72] In 1931, following a visit to Egypt, Syrian Arab nationalist Sati' al-Husri remarked that "[Egyptians] did not possess an Arab nationalist sentiment; did not accept that Egypt was a part of the Arab lands, and would not acknowledge that the Egyptian people were part of the Arab nation."[73] The later 1930s would become a formative period for Arab nationalism in Egypt, in large part due to efforts by Syrian/Palestinian/Lebanese intellectuals.[74] Nevertheless, a year after the establishment of the League of Arab States in 1945, to be headquartered in Cairo, Oxford University historian H. S. Deighton was still writing:
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The Egyptians are not Arabs, and both they and the Arabs are aware of this fact. They are Arabic-speaking, and they are Muslim —indeed religion plays a greater part in their lives than it does in those either of the Syrians or the Iraqi. But the Egyptian, during the first thirty years of the [twentieth] century, was not aware of any particular bond with the Arab East... Egypt sees in the Arab cause a worthy object of real and active sympathy and, at the same time, a great and proper opportunity for the exercise of leadership, as well as for the enjoyment of its fruits. But she is still Egyptian first and Arab only in consequence, and her main interests are still domestic.[75] |
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It was not until the Gamal Abdel Nasser era more than a decade later that Arab nationalism, and by extension Arab socialism, became a state policy and a means with which to define Egypt's position in the Middle East and the world,[76] usually articulated vis-à-vis Zionism in the neighboring Jewish state of Israel.
There have been several attempts to bring about a Pan-Arab state by many well known Arab leaders, all of which ultimately resulted in failure. The United Arab Republic (UAR) in 1958 was the first attempt. Formed under Nasser, it was a union between Egypt and Syria, although Nasser exerted so much control over the union that the UAR functioned more as a Nasserist takeover rather than a cooperation between two governments. It lasted in this form until 1961 when Syria's withdrew from the union. In April 1963, Egypt, Syria and Iraq agreed to form a new 'United Arab Republic', which was to be entirely federal in structure, leaving each member state its identity and institutions."[14] The UAR was finally abolished in 1971 due to irreconcilable differences between Syria and Egypt.[77]
Two later attempts were conducted by Libya's Muammar al-Gaddafi; these were the Federation of Arab Republics and the Arab Islamic Republic. Both failed before beginning. The unity of seven Arab emirates that form the United Arab Emirates stands today as the only example of successful unification between Arab neighbors. The current Syrian government is, and the former government of Iraq was, led by the Ba’ath Party, which espouses pan-Arabism.
However, Pan-Arabism was strongly hurt following the Arab defeat by Israel in the Six Day War and the inability of pan-Arabist governments to generate economic growth. Nasser overplayed his hand in trying to form a pan-Arab hegemony under himself. "By the mid-1970s," according to The Continuum Political Encyclopedia of the Middle East, "the idea of Arab unity became less and less apparent in Arab politics, though it remained a wishful goal among the masses."[14]
The Egyptians' attachment to Arabism was particularly questioned after the 1967 Six-Day War. Thousands of Egyptians had lost their lives and the country became disillusioned with Arab politics.[78] Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel in 1978 further fractured the Arabic-speaking countries. Nasser's successor Anwar Al Sadat, both through public policy and his peace initiative with Israel, revived an uncontested Egyptian orientation, unequivocally asserting that only Egypt and Egyptians were his responsibility. The terms "Arab", "Arabism" and "Arab unity" became conspicuously absent.[79]
By the late 1980s, Pan-Arabism began to be eclipsed by both nationalist and Islamist ideologies. In the 1990s, many voiced their opposition to Pan-Arabism. For instance, some Kuwaitis viewed Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990 as caused by an urge for Pan-Arabism.[80]
Today, Pan-Arabism is viewed by many[who?] as an outdated and failed ideology. This view emanates from the many disasters brought upon the Middle East by the ideology of Pan-Arabism. For instance, the Ba'th party, which sowed a Pan-Arabist ideology, was responsible for the genocide of Kurdish people and Shiites in Iraq. Pan-Arabism does not give equal rights to minorities living in the Arab world, since it only calls for the unification of Arabs as opposed to non-Arabs in Arab land.[81] The radical pan-Arabist ideology is also known to have shown deep hostility to Black people, Persians, Jews and other ethnic and religious minorities that opposed Arabization.[37][82][83][84] A Tunisian human rights activist M. Bechri[85] has described it as the following:
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The true nature of the twin fascism of Islamism and Pan-Arabism ... this particular case seems to be Pan-Arabism[86] |
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Some[who?] Egyptians continue to believe that Egypt and Egyptians are simply not Arab, emphasizing indigenous Egyptian heritage, culture and independent polity, while pointing to the failures of pan-Arab nationalist policies, and publicly voicing objection to the present official name of the country as Arab Republic of Egypt and reject forced 'Arabization', yet the majority of the public label themselves as Arab.[citation needed]
Some contemporary Egyptians who oppose Arab nationalism or the idea that Egyptians are Arabs include Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Zahi Hawass,[87] writer Osama Anwar Okasha, Egyptian-born Harvard University Professor Leila Ahmed, Member of Parliament Suzie Greiss,[88] in addition to different local groups and intellectuals.[89] This understanding is also expressed in other contexts,[90][91] such as Neil DeRosa's novel Joseph's Seed in his depiction of an Egyptian character "who declares that Egyptians are not Arabs and never will be."[92]
Egyptian critics of Arab nationalism contend that it has worked to erode and/or relegate native Egyptian identity by superimposing only one aspect of Egypt's culture. These views and sources for collective identification in the Egyptian state are captured[citation needed] in the words of a linguistic anthropologist who conducted fieldwork in Cairo:
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Historically, Egyptians have considered themselves as distinct from 'Arabs' and even at present rarely do they make that identification in casual contexts; il-'arab [the Arabs] as used by Egyptians refers mainly to the inhabitants of the Arab states of the Persian Gulf ... Egypt has been both a leader of pan-Arabism and a site of intense resentment towards that ideology. Egyptians had to be made, often forcefully, into "Arabs" [during the Nasser era] because they did not historically identify themselves as such. Egypt was self-consciously a nation not only before pan-Arabism but also before becoming a colony of the British Empire. Its territorial continuity since ancient times, its unique history as exemplified in its pharaonic past and later on its Coptic language and culture, had already made Egypt into a nation for centuries. Egyptians saw themselves, their history, culture and language as specifically Egyptian and not "Arab."[93] |
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Minorities in the Middle East are particularly sensitive to and dismissive of Pan-Arabism. Thus, for instance, the Libyan Berber community leader Belkacem Lounes stated in April 2007:
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'"There is no worse colonialism than that of the Pan-Arabist clan that wants to dominate our people.[94] |
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The Copts, indigenous Egyptians and the Middle East's largest religious minority, due to Egypt's adherence to the Arab League with its racist Pan-Arab policy. Being neither Moslems nor Arabs, the Copts felt themselves reduced to a position of an isolated minority group which is increasingly discriminated against. The Copts are considered foreigners in their own country by the government which fired them from every public civil office and forbade their return.[95][96] therefore, they're equally hostile to Pan-Arabism. For instance, Bishop Thomas, the Coptic bishop of Cusae and Meir gave the following speech at the Hudson Institute in 2008:
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If you come to a Coptic person and tell him that he’s an Arab, that’s offensive. We are not Arabs, we are Egyptians. I am very happy to be an Egyptian and I would not accept being "Arab" because ethnically I am not. |
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Similar comments were made by many Coptic figures, such as Bishop Picenti of Helwan and Massarah, as well as the Coptic writer Magdy Khalil (see Coptic identity).
Furthermore, Pan-Arabism is considered today to be the source and origin of political totalitarianism in the Middle East, suppressing democratic movements and development of open free thinking. For instance, in the Lebanese newspaper 'The Daily Star, (March 23, 2005):
- "Over the past 50 years, authoritarian leaders in the region have banded together in support for each other almost blindly, despite all evidence of despotism, totalitarianism and heavy handed oppression. Although the ideal of pan-Arab unity was never realized, it seems that what has been achieved is a union of corrupt regimes. Grossly misusing the language of Arab unity, they casually dismissed the mass murders that occurred under Saddam Hussein's rule, as well as genocide in Sudan, Syrian oppression of Lebanon, and countless other tragedies."[97]
Historically news in the Arab World was used to inform and guide political practitioners with their performance rather than being just a consumer product. The power of news as political tool was discovered in the early 19th century, with the purchase of shares from Le Temps a French newspaper by Ismail the grandson of Mohamed Ali. Doing so allowed Ismail to publicize his policies.[98] Arab Media coming to modernity flourished and with it its responsibilities to the political figures that have governed its role.
Media researchers stress that the moral and social responsibility of newspeople dictates that they should not agitate public opinion, but rather should keep the status quo. It is also important to preserve national unity by not stirring up ethnic or religious conflict.[99]
Saudi journalists stress the importance of enhancing Islam through the media. The developmental role was acknowledged by an overwhelming majority of Saudi journalists, while giving the readers what they want was not regarded as a priority.[100] This view is further endorsed in Kirat’s survey where 65 percent of Algerian journalists agreed that the task for the press is to “help achieve the goals and objectives of development plans.[101][99]”
Investigative journalism is frowned upon in the Arab World. Family reputation and personal reputation is a fundamental principle in Arab civilization; exposes of corruption and examples of weak moral fiber in governors and policy makers holds massive consequences especially in the presence of a limited freedom of speech. From a historical perspective, news in the Arab world was not a mass product; rather, its main aim was to provide instruction to the officials and governors, guiding them to improve their performance. However, by the middle of the nineteenth century, rulers seem to spot the powerful role of media.[102]
In most Arab countries, newspapers cannot be published without a government-issued license. Most Arab countries also have press laws, which impose boundaries on what can and cannot be said in print. “There is an old Arab saying, ‘Truth should be known, but not declared.’ Today, cover-ups remain a fact of life in the Middle East... the media continue to serve as ‘tools’ of political structures in which ‘control is the name of the game’.”[103] Censorship plays a significant role in journalism in the Arab World. Censorship comes in a variety of forms: Self-censorship, Government Censorship (governments struggle to control through technological advances in ex. the internet), Ideology/Religious Censorship, and Tribal/Family/Alliances Censorship.
Generally, Arab governments seek to conceal political discourse and activity. In addition to censorship, a number of administrative and legal devices are put it place to restrict freedom of expression in journalism. Newspapers in the Arab World can be divided into three categories: government owned, partisan owned, and independently owned. “Now, newspaper ownership has been consolidated in the hands of powerful chains and groups. Yet, profit is not the driving force behind the launching of newspapers; publishers may establish a newspaper to ensure a platform for their political opinions, although it is claimed that this doesn’t necessarily influence the news content”.[102] In the Arab world, as far as content is concerned, news is politics. Arab states are intimately involved in the economic well-being of many Arab news organizations so they apply pressure in several ways, most notably through ownership or advertising.[104]
Journalism in the Arab world comes with a range of dangers. Journalists throughout the Arab world can be imprisoned, tortured, and even killed in their line of work. Thus, self-censorship is extremely important for many Arab journalists. International Journalism Codes[105]
In most Arab countries, magazines cannot be published without a government-issued license. Magazines in the Arab World, like many of the magazines in the Western world, are geared towards women. However, the number of magazines in the Arab World is significantly smaller than that of the Western world. The Arab World is not as advertisement driven the way the western world is. Advertisers fuel the funding for most Western magazines to exist. Thus, a lesser emphasis on advertisement in the Arab World plays into the low number of magazines.
There are 90 private radio stations throughout the Middle East and North Africa. (list of private radio stations in the Arab World)
Arab radio broadcasting began in the 1920s, but only a few Arab countries had their own broadcasting stations before World War II. After 1945, most Arab states began to create their own radio broadcasting systems, although it was not until 1970, when Oman opened its radio transmissions, that every one of them had its own radio station.
Among Arab countries, Egypt has been a leader in radio broadcasting from the beginning. Broadcasting began in Egypt in the 1920s with private commercial radio. In 1947, however, the Egyptian government declared radio a government monopoly and began investing in its expansion.
By the 1970s, Egyptian radio had fourteen different broadcast services with a total air time of 1,200 hours per week. Egypt is ranked third in the world among radio broadcasters. The programs were all government controlled, and much of the motivation for the government's investment in radio was due to the aspirations of President Gamal Abdel Nasser to be the recognized leader of the Arab world.
Egypt's "Voice of the Arabs" station, which targeted other Arab countries with a constant stream of news and political features and commentaries, became the most widely heard station in the region. Only after the June 1967 war, when it was revealed that this station had misinformed the public about what was happening, did it lose some credibility; nevertheless it retained a large listenership.
On the Arabian Peninsula, radio was slower to develop. In Saudi Arabia, radio broadcasts started in the Jidda-Mecca area in 1948, but they did not start in the central or eastern provinces until the 1960s. Neighboring Bahrain had radio by 1955, but Qatar, Abu Dhabi, and Oman did not start indigenous radio broadcasting until nearly a quarter century later.
When the United State took control of Baghdad in 2003 they establish a new home for Iraqi radio programming: an American C-130 aircraft known as Commando Solo, the source of five hours of daily television programming and American radio broadcasts transmitted across the country on five different frequencies.
They also established Radio Sawa in 2002, a 24-hour, seven day a week Arabic-language radio station that seeks to counter-balance the local radio in many Arab countries that is considered by the U.S. government as not suitable for American interests. Creators of the network the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors, a government funded international broadcasting agency that consists of a bi-partisan board of directors nominated by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. The Secretary of State also serves on the BBG.
The station states that it is "dedicated to broadcasting accurate, timely and relevant news about the Middle East, the world and the United States" and is "committed to the highest standards of journalism, free marketplace of ideas, respect for the intelligence and culture of its audience, and a style that is upbeat, modern and forward-looking." However, questions of journalistic independence from the United States is a large issue with Radio Sawa and other American controlled radio networks. Radio Sawa blends news with music and other lighter programming in order to attract a younger audience.
Almost all television channels in the Arab world were government owned and strictly controlled prior to the 1990s. In the 1990s the spread of satellite television began changing television in Arab countries. Often noted as a pioneer, al-Jazeera represents a shift towards a more professional approach to news and current affairs.[106] Financed by the Qatar government and established in 1996, al-Jazeera was the first Arabic channel to deliver extensive live news coverage, going so far as to send reporters to “unthinkable” places like Israel. Breaking the mold in more ways than one, al-Jazeera’s discussion programs raised subjects that had long been prohibited. However, in 2008, Egypt and Saudi Arabia called for a meeting to approve a charter to regulate satellite broadcasting. The Arab League Satellite Broadcasting Charter (2008) lays out principles for regulating satellite broadcasting in the Arab world.
PDF of The Arab Satellite Broadcasting Charter in English
PDF of The Arab Satellite Broadcasting Charter in Arabic
Other Satellite Channels:
Al-Arabiya: established in 2003; based in Dubai; offshoot of MBC
Al-Hurra (“The Free One”): established in 2004 by the United States; counter perceives “biases” in Arab news media
Al-Manar: Owned by Hizbullah; Lebanese-based; highly controversial
“Across the Middle East, new television stations, radio stations and websites are sprouting like incongruous electronic mushrooms in what was once a media desert. Meanwhile newspapers are aggressively probing the red lines that have long contained them”.[107] Technology is playing a significant role in the changing Arab media. Pintak furthers, “Now, there are 263 free-to-air (FTA) satellite television stations in the region, according to Arab Advisors Group. That’s double the figure as of just two years ago”.[107] Freedom of speech and money have little to do with why satellite television is sprouting up everywhere. Instead, “A desire for political influence is probably the biggest factor driving channel growth. But ego is a close second”.[107] The influence of the West is very apparent in Arab Media especially in television. Arab soap operas and the emerging popularity of reality TV are evidence of this notion.
“In the wake of controversy triggered by Super Star and Star Academy, some observers have hailed reality television as a harbinger of democracy in the Arab world.”[108] Star Academy in Lebanon is strikingly similar to American Idol mixed with the Real World. Star Academy began in 2003 in the Arab world. “Reality television entered Arab public discourse in the last five years at a time of significant turmoil in the region: escalating violence in Iraq, contested elections in Egypt, the struggle for women’s political rights in Kuwait, political assassinations in Lebanon, and the protracted Arab-Israeli Conflict. This geo-political crisis environment that currently frames Arab politics and Arab-Western relations is the backdrop to the controversy surrounding the social and political impact of Arab reality television, which assumes religious, cultural or moral manifestations.”[109]
“Most Arab countries did not produce films before nation independence. In Sudan, Libya, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, production is even now confined to short films or television. Bahrain witnessed the production of its first and only full-length feature film in 1989... In Jordan national production has barely exceeded half a dozen feature films. Algeria and Iraq have produced approximately 100 films each, Morocco around seventy, Tunisia around 1130, and Syria some 150. Lebanon, owing to an increased production during the 1950s and 1960s, has made some 180 feature films. Only Egypt has far exceeded these countries, with a production of more than 2,500 feature films (all meant for cinema, not television).[110] " As with most aspects of Arab Media, censorship plays a large art of creating and distributing films. “In most Arab countries, film projects must first pass a state committee, which grants or denies permission to shoot. Once this permission is obtained, another official license, a so-called visa, is necessary in order to exploit the film commercially. This is normally approved by a committee of the Ministry of Information or a special censorship authority”.[110] The most significant taboo topics under state supervision are consistent with those of other forms of media: religion, sex, and politics.
The Internet in the Arab world is powerful source of expression and information as it is in other places in the world. While some believe that it is the harbinger of freedom in media to the Middle East, others think that it is a new medium for censorship. Both are true. The Internet has created a new arena for discussion and the dissemination of information for the Arab world just as it has in the rest of the world. The youth in particular are accessing and utilizing the tools. People are encouraged and enabled to join in political discussion and critique in a manner that was not previously possible. Those same people are also discouraged and blocked from those debates as the differing regimes try to restrict access based on religious and state objections to certain material.
This was posted on a website operated by the Muslim Brotherhood.
The internet in the Arab world has a snowball effect; now that the snowball is rolling, it can no longer be stopped. Getting bigger and stronger, it is bound to crush down all obstacles. In addition, to the stress caused by the Arab bloggers, a new forum was opened for Arab activists; Facebook. Arab activists have been using Facebook in the utmost creative way to support the democracy movement in the region, a region that has one of the highest rates of repression in the world. Unlike other regions where oppressive countries (like China, Iran and Burma) represent the exception, oppression can be found everywhere in the Arab world. The number of Arab internet users interested in political affairs does not exceed a few thousands, mainly represented by internet activists and bloggers, out of 58 million internet users in the Arab world. As few as they are, they have succeeded in shedding some light on the corruption and repression of the Arab governments and dictatorships.[111]
The Internet is newer in the Arab world than it is in Europe or Americas, but it is spreading quickly as it becomes more accessible to growing numbers of the population. The public Internet use began in the US in the 1980s. Internet access began in the early 1990s in the Arab world with Tunisia being first in 1991 according to Dr. Deborah L. Wheeler. The years of the introduction of the Internet the various Arab countries are reported differently. Wheeler reports that Kuwait joined in 1992 and in 1993 Turkey, Iraq and the UAE came online. In 1994 Jordan joined the Internet and Saudi Arabia and Syria followed in the late 1990s. In reality the Arab world is not so far behind the rest of the globe with the introduction of the Internet. The US White House did not have www.whitehouse.gov until 1993. Financial considerations and the lack of widespread availability of services are factors in the slower growth in the Arab world, but taking into consideration the popularity of internet cafes, the numbers online are much larger than the subscription numbers would reveal.[112]
The people most commonly utilizing the Internet in the Arab world are the youth. The café users in particular tend to be under 30, single and have a variety of levels of education and language proficiency. Despite reports that use of the internet was curtailed by lack of English skills, Dr. Wheeler found that people were able to search with Arabic. Searching for jobs, the unemployed frequently fill cafes in Egypt and Jordan. They are men and women equally. Most of them chat and they have email. In a survey conducted by Dr. Deborah Wheeler, she found them to almost all to have been taught to use the Internet by a friend or family member. They all felt their lives to have been significantly changed by the use of the Internet. The use of the Internet in the Arab world is very political in the nature of the posts and of the sites read and visited. The Internet has brought a medium to Arabs that allows for a freedom of expression not allowed or accepted before. For those who can get online, there are blogs to read and write and access to worldwide outlets of information once unobtainable. With this access, regimes have attempted to curtail what people are able to read, but the Internet is a medium not as easily manipulated as telling a newspaper what it can or cannot publish. The Internet can be reached via proxy server, mirror, and other means. Those who are thwarted with one method will find 12 more methods around the blocked site. As journalists suffer and are imprisoned in traditional media, the Internet is no different with bloggers regularly being imprisoned for expressing their views for the world to read. The difference is that there is a worldwide audience witnessing this crackdown and watching as laws are created and recreated to attempt to control the vastness of the Internet.[113]
Jihadists are using the Internet to reach a greater audience. Just as a simple citizen can now have a worldwide voice, so can a movement. Regardless of your view of any movement, they are using the Internet to speak and be heard. Groups are using the Internet to share video, photos, programs and any kind of information imaginable. Standard media may not report what the Muslim Brotherhood would say on their site. However, for the interested, the Internet is a tool that is utilized with great skill by those who wish to be heard. A file uploaded to 100 sites and placed in multiple forums will reach millions instantly. Information on the Internet can be thwarted, slowed, even redirected, but it cannot be stopped if someone wants it out there on the Internet.
The efforts by the various regimes to control the information are all falling apart gradually. The methods utilized are those same methods that protect American children in schools. Like previously stated the methods are easily manipulated such that access to what is blocked can be seen. Those fighting crime online have devised methods of tracking and catching criminals. Unfortunately those same tools are being used to arrest bloggers and those who would just wish to be heard. The Internet is a vast and seemingly endless source of information. Arabs are using it more than perhaps the world is aware and it is changing the media.
A video claiming to be from the Osama bin Laden taking responsibility for the attempted bombing of Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Christmas Day was aired by Al Jazeera on Sunday, January 24, 2010. The voice reported to be Osama bin Laden states: "The message delivered to you through the plane of the heroic warrior Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was a proof of the preceding messages sent by the heroes of September 11," he said. Through Al-Jazeera, terrorists like Osama bin Laden gain legitimacy to speak on a public platform, heard all around the Al Jazeera Network which spans globally, linking to other networks that stream these videos, even on YouTube. Stereotypes that Osama bin Laden portrays in his videos makes an emphasis on the stereotypes that have been generalized in the Western public.
“The establishment of stereotypes encourages people to react and behave in a manner that is both judgmental and biased. Despite the fact that these individuals [Arabs and Mulsims] are from different countries, with diverse cultures, beliefs and a variety of religions, they are characterized by one term, "Arabs." The Western media has often projected individuals of Arab descent in a negative manner. Currently, Arabs are seen as terrorists and murderers due to how the media presents them. Newspapers use key words such as extremists, terrorists and fanatics to describe Arabs [or Muslims]...”[114]
In The Clash of Civilizations, Huntington[115] explains that the greatest threats of terrorist violence are emerging from cultures in which dogmatic religious ideas are held strongly and pervasively throughout the members of the culture. Although much of popular media focuses on Islamist violence, Huntington[115] contends that terrorism is just as likely to be spawned in a variety of other societies where emotional religiosity and beliefs rooted in literal interpretations of scriptural texts are prevalent characteristics. Although Huntington argues that “global politics is both multipolar and multicivilizational”,[115] he notes that Western countries, especially the United States, have traditionally insisted on casting any political foes, whether perceived or actual, into a binary and oppositional relationship that negates the complexities of both countries and their constituent cultures.
Despite the mountain of evidence suggesting that polarized relationships are almost always ineffective, creating greater animosity and violent fervor than existed before, it is clear that the United States continues to deny the kind of argument Huntington has laid out in The Clash of Civilizations.[115] In fact, after the terrorist attacks of September 2001, the United States has only increased and intensified its efforts to cast societies perceived to be threatening into the role of antagonist. It is far more efficient, and effective within the popular imagination, to avoid a nuanced consideration of multiple cultures in conflict for numerous and complex reasons. Instead, the United States turns every concern into a polarized, oppositional paradigm; the Middle East just happens to be the latest in a long, historical string of the “Other” cast as antagonist. Huntington views this defensive posture as a dangerous policy and practice. He suggests that the “universalist pretensions” of the United States do indeed seem to be provoking the rest of the world’s disdain and, increasingly, its wrath, particularly in fundamentalist communities, which are “obsessed with the inferiority of their power” and are seeking recognition and retribution through terrorist activity.[115] Because they lack legitimate agency, authority, and credibility, these groups often demonstrate their power through violent attacks.
Esposito[116] adds depth to Huntington’s argument by specifically examining how the West in general, and the United States in particular, misunderstands Muslims, a group often characterized as religiously dogmatic. Esposito challenges the popularly held perception that Muslims are one-dimensional, noting that there is as much diversity within Muslim communities as there is between them.[116] In fact, Esposito argues, much as Huntington does, that our reductive and overly facile characterizations of other cultures prevents us from truly understanding them, only increasing their marginalization, frustration, and propensity to act out and display aggression against the West. One concrete example Esposito offers is the way in which the United States has come to define jihad, which actually means “struggle.” Jihad has been defined by the West as a holy war, and has overtones of hostile, anti-Western aggression. While jihad has, in fact, been appropriated in this manner by a certain segment of Islamist fundamentalists—and a segment that is not negligible in size—the simplistic approach to understanding other cultures only fosters their desire to gain power and assert their identity in the world.[116]
Islamist terrorism is a revolutionary force that has changed world politics dramatically. Cognizant that the West will never invest them with legitimacy, Islamist terrorists have taken matters into their own hands and have determined to assert their power. Huntington and Esposito argue that this outcome should not be surprising. While terrorists must take responsibility for their own acts, Western countries must recognize how they foster the marginalization that prompts terrorism.
Edward Said, meanwhile, posits a more abstract social explanation, contending that “the difficulty of perception” has both complicated an easy understanding of the motivations for terrorism as well as served to instigate more frequent and more intense terrorist acts.[117] Said exposes the irrationality of the three assumptions, noting that the East “has always been endowed with greater size and with a greater [if unrealized] potential for power”,[117] that Islam is hardly a late-coming religious phenomenon, and that the East will insist upon its right to participate in world affairs, if not through legitimate means, then through the instruments of violence and terrorism. S.O.
Social loyalty is of great importance in Arab culture. Family is one of the most important aspects of the Arab society. While self reliance, individuality, and responsibility are taught by American parents to their children, family loyalty is the greatest lesson taught in Arab families. “Unlike the extreme individualism we see in North America (every person for him or herself, individual rights, families living on their own away from relatives, and so on), Arab society emphasizes the importance of the group. Arab culture teaches that the needs of the group are more important than the needs of one person.”[118] In the Bedouin tribes of Saudi Arabia, “intense feelings of loyalty and dependence are fostered and preserved”[119] by the family.[120] Margaret Nydell, in her book Understanding Arabs: A Guide for Modern Times, writes “family loyalty and obligations take precedence over loyalty to friends or demands of a job.”[121] She goes on to state that “members of a family are expected to support each other in disputes with outsiders. Regardless of personal antipathy among relatives, they must defend each other’s honor, counter criticism, and display group cohesion...”[121] Of all members of the family, however, the most revered member is the mother.
Arabic music is the music of Arabic-speaking people or countries, especially those centered around the Arabian Peninsula. The world of Arab music has long been dominated by Cairo, a cultural center, though musical innovation and regional styles abound from Morocco to Saudi Arabia. Beirut has, in recent years, also become a major center of Arabic music. Classical Arab music is extremely popular across the population, especially a small number of superstars known throughout the Arab world. Regional styles of popular music include Iraqian el Maqaam, Algerian raï, Moroccan gnawa, Kuwaiti sawt, Egyptian el gil and Turkish Arabesk music.
"The common style that developed is usually called 'Islamic' or 'Arab', though in fact it transcends religious, ethnic, geographical, and linguistic boundaries" and it is suggested that it be called the Near East (from Morocco to India) style (van der Merwe 1989, p. 9).
Habib Hassan Touma (1996, p.xix-xx) lists "five components" which "characterize the music of the Arabs:
- The Arab tone system (a musical tuning system) with specific interval structures, invented by al-Farabi in the 10th century (p. 170).
- Rhythmic-temporal structures that produce a rich variety of rhythmic patterns, awzan, used to accompany the metered vocal and instrumental genres and give them form.
- Musical instruments that are found throughout the Arabian world and that represent a standardized tone system, are played with standardized performance techniques, and exhibit similar details in construction and design.
- Specific social contexts for the making of music, whereby musical genres can be classified as urban (music of the city inhabitants), rural (music of the country inhabitants), or Bedouin (music of the desert inhabitants)....
- A musical mentality that is responsible for the aesthetic homogeneity of the tonal-spatial and rhythmic-temporal structures in Arabian music, whether composed or improvised, instrumental or vocal, secular or sacred. The Arab's musical mentality is defined by:
- The maqām phenomenon....
- The predominance of vocal music...
- The predilection for small instrumental ensembles...
- The mosaiclike stringing together of musical form elements, that is, the arrangement in a sequence of small and smallest melodic elements, and their repetition, combination, and permutation within the framework of the tonal-spatial model.
- The absence of polyphony, polyrhythm, and motivic development. Arabian music is, however, very familiar with the ostinato, as well as with a more instinctive heterophonic way of making music.
- The alternation between a free rhythmic-temporal and fixed tonal-spatial organization on the one hand and a fixed rhythmic-temporal and free tonal-spatial structure on the other. This alternation...results in exciting contrasts."
Much Arab music is characterized by an emphasis on melody and rhythm rather than harmony. Thus much Arabic music is homophonic in nature. Some genres of Arab music are polyphonic—as the instrument Kanoun is based upon the idea of playing two-note chords—but quintessentially, Arabic music is melodic.
It would be incorrect though to call it modal, for the Arabic system is more complex than that of the Greek modes. The basis of the Arabic music is the maqam (pl. maqamat), which looks like the mode, but is not quite the same. The maqam has a "tonal" note on which the piece must end (unless modulation occurs).
The
Riq is widely used in the Arabic Music
The maqam consists of at least two jins, or scale segments. "Jins" in Arabic comes from the ancient Greek word "genus," meaning type. In practice, a jins (pl. ajnas) is either a trichord, a tetrachord, or a pentachord. The trichord is three notes, the tetrachord four, and the pentachord five. The maqam usually covers only one octave (two jins), but sometimes it covers more than one octave. Like the melodic minor scale and Indian ragas, some maqamat have different ajnas, and thus notes, while descending or ascending. Because of the continuous innovation of jins and because most music scholars don't agree on the existing number anyway, it's hard to give an accurate number of the jins. Nonetheless, in practice most musicians would agree on the 8 most frequently used ajnas: Rast, Bayat, Sikah, Hijaz, Saba, Kurd, Nahawand, and Ajam—and a few of the most commonly used variants of those: Nakriz, Athar Kurd, Sikah Beladi, Saba Zamzama. Mukhalif is a rare jins used exclusively in Iraq, and it does not occur in combination with other ajnas.
The main difference between the western chromatic scale and the Arabic scales is the existence of many in-between notes, which are sometimes referred to as quarter tones for the sake of practicality. However, while in some treatments of theory the quarter tone scale or all twenty four tones should exist, according to Yūsuf Shawqī (1969) in practice there are many fewer tones (Touma 1996, p. 170).
In fact, the situation is much more complicated than that. In 1932, at International Convention on Arabic music held in Cairo, Egypt (attended by such Western luminaries as Béla Bartók and Henry George Farmer), experiments were done which determined conclusively that the notes in actual use differ substantially from an even-tempered 24-tone scale, and furthermore that the intonation of many of those notes differ slightly from region to region (Egypt, Turkey, Syria, Iraq). The commission's recommendation is as follows: "The tempered scale and the natural scale should be rejected. In Egypt, the Egyptian scale is to be kept with the values, which were measured with all possible precision. The Turkish, Syrian, and Iraqi scales should remain what they are..." (translated in Maalouf 2002, p. 220). Both in modern practice, and based on the evidence from recorded music over the course of the last century, there are several differently tuned "E"s in between the E-flat and E-natural of the Western Chromatic scale, depending on the maqam or jins in use, and depending on the region.
Musicians and teachers refer to these in-between notes as "quarter-tones" ("half-flat" or "half-sharp") for ease of nomenclature, put perform and teach the exact values of intonation in each jins or maqam by ear. It should also be added, in reference to Touma's comment above, that these "quarter-tones" are not used everywhere in the maqamat: in practice, Arabic music does not modulate to 12 different tonic areas like the Well-Tempered Klavier, and so the most commonly used "quarter tones" are on E (between E-flat and E-natural), A, B, D, F (between F-natural and F-sharp) and C.
The prototypical Arab ensemble in Egypt and Syria is known as the takht, which includes, (or included at different time periods) instruments such as the 'oud, qanún, rabab, nay, violin (which was introduced in the 1840s or 50s), riq and dumbek. In Iraq, the traditional ensemble, known as the chalghi, includes only two melodic instruments—the jowza (similar to the rabab but with four strings) and santur--with riq and dumbek.
Main article:
Pan Arab GamesThe Pan Arab Games are a regional multi-sport event held between nations from the Arab World. The first Games were held in 1953 in Alexandria, Egypt. Intended to be held every four years since, political turmoil as well as financial difficulties has made the event an unstable one. Women were first allowed to compete in 1985. By the 11th Pan Arab Games, the number of countries participating reached all 22 members of the Arab League, with roughly over 8,000 Arab athletes participating, it was considered the largest in the Games History, with the Doha Games in 2011 expected to exceed that number.
Women around the world have struggled in the professional world of sports since it has been something that has been dominated by men. When looking at the Arab world currently there is an emergence of Arab women playing sports, something that for the most part is not much discussed but is of great importance. Muslim Arab women are taking part in playing on futsal, football (soccer), softball, basketball, and various other teams. Some women are participating in boxing, archery, running, swimming, tennis and other individual sports. More Muslim women are playing sports that sportswear is being developed in order for a woman to still be able to participate in sports like swimming without limiting their participation in what they can be a part of due to the way they choose to dress. Although women have received great support from family members in playing sports, there is still much criticism towards female athletes in the Arab world. Many conservative men have criticized that sports and women do not go together and that a woman would not be able to wear her headscarf or wear shorts while playing sports. Some people do not see Islam and women playing sports as being compatible. Fortunately despite the various criticisms Arab women around the Arab world face, it has not stopped the popularity of women’s participation in sports. Football is one of the sports that has exploded in popularity with women in the Arab world. With the coming of the Women’s World Cup in 2011, there is a Women’s Football Cup Arabia occurring in Bahrain which is bringing together women’s teams from all over the Arab world to play in competition.[122] There are teams in Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Libya and Jordan and events like this show that, as said by Dr. Sahar al Hawary who is a member of FIFA’s Women’s Committee from Egypt, “women's football can be promoted at the highest level and watched in the Arab world...women's football can be promoted at the highest level and watched in the Arab world”.[123] Arab women are also challenging and becoming a part of sports that even outside of the Arab world are considered not for women. There are Arab women who are participating in boxing, even reaching international competition levels.[124] Arab women are not limiting themselves and although they receive criticism from some of society, their families and communities have been very supportive while still considering themselves conservative and faithful to Islam.[125] These women and their families are challenging the very narrow view that society at times has of the capabilities of women and have inspired women all around the Arab world to not limit themselves. Despite this occurring in the Arab world, what these Arab female athletes are doing is an inspiration to women all over the globe.
Main article:
Arab cuisineOriginally, the Arabs of the Arabian Peninsula relied heavily on a diet of dates, wheat, barley, rice and meat, with little variety, with a heavy emphasis on yoghurt products, such as leben (لبن) (yoghurt without butterfat). Arabian cuisine today is the result of a combination of richly diverse cuisines, spanning the Arab world from Iraq to Morocco and incorporating Lebanese, Egyptian, and others. It has also been influenced to a degree by the cuisines of India, Turkey, Berber, and others. In an average Arab household in the Arabic Gulf area, a visitor might expect a dinner consisting of a very large platter, shared commonly, with a vast mountain of rice, incorporating lamb or chicken, or both, as separate dishes, with various stewed vegetables, heavily spiced, sometimes with a tomato sauce. Most likely, there would be several other items on the side, less hearty. Tea would certainly accompany the meal, as it is almost constantly consumed. Coffee would be included as well.
Arab dress for men ranges from the traditional flowing robes to blue jeans, T-shirts and western business suits. The robes allow for maximum circulation of air around the body to help keep it cool, and the head dress provides protection from the sun. At times, Arabs mix the traditional garb with Western clothes.[126]
Headdress The male headdress is also known as Keffiyeh. Headdress pattern might be an indicator of which tribe, clan, or family the wearer comes from. However, this is not always the case. While in one village, a tribe or clan might have a unique headdress, in the next town over an unrelated tribe or clan might wear the same headdress.
- Checkered headdresses relate to type and government and participation in the Hajj, or a pilgrimage to Mecca.
- Red and white checkered headdress – Generally of Jordanian origin. Wearer has made Hajj and comes from a country with a Monarch.
- Black and white checkered headdress – The pattern is historically of Palestinian origin.
- Black and grey represent Presidential rule and completion of the Hajj.
- Shi’a- black turbans associated with Shi’a clergy who are somehow connected to the Prophet Muhammed or Ali Ibn Abi Talib the cousin of the Prophet who was the 4th Khalif of Islam, and whom they claim was the leader of the Shi’a sect.
- Those who wear white turbans are associated with the lower echelons of the Shi’a hierarchy.
Adherence to traditional dress varies across Arab societies. Saudi Arabia is more traditional, while Egypt is less so. Traditional Arab dress features the full length body cover (abaya, jilbāb, or chador) and veil (hijab). Women are required to wear abayas in only Saudi Arabia. In most countries, like Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Jordan, Syria and Egypt, the veil is not mandatory. It is clear that religiously speaking the mention of the bur'qa doesn't exist for Muslims women and today represents more a politic position than a religious interpretation... About the veil, nowadays, some religious think that hijab is not obligatory while others think that it is.
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