From: hermi@function.mps.ohio-state.edu (Lotfi Hermi)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.arabic
Subject: A R A B unity
Date: 16 Nov 1992 15:54:56 -0500
Organization: Department of Mathematics, The Ohio State University
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: function.mps.ohio-state.edu

Here are two pieces one can feed in the ongoing discussion
about ARAB unity and its elements.  These are Ibn Khaldun's 
argument as one can find them in The Muqadima, translated in 
the '50's by F. Rosenthal.  ]

The word Royal authority used in this thesis is rule in general
and not the aspect of royalty in itself...


God inherits the earth and whomever is upon it. He is
the best heir. (143)[ Quran 21.89 (89)]

[26] Arabs can obtain royal authority only by making
use of some religious coloring, such as prophecy,
or sainthood, or some great religious event in
general.

The (144) reason for this is that because of their savagery,
the Arabs are the least willing of nations to subordinate
themselves to each other, as they are rude, proud, ambitious,
and eager to be the leader. Their individual aspirations
rarely coincide. But when there is religion (among them)
through prophecy or sainthood, then they have some re-
straining influence in themselves. The qualities of haughti-
ness and jealousy leave them. It is, then, easy for them to
subordinate themselves and to unite (as a social organiza-
tion). This is achieved by the common religion they now
have. It causes rudeness and pride to disappear and exercises
a restraining influence on their mutual envy and jealousy.
When there is a prophet or saint among them, who calls
upon them to fulfill the commands of God and rids them of
blameworthy qualities and causes them to adopt praise-
worthy ones, and who has them concentrate all their strength
in order to make the truth prevail, they become fully united
(as a social organization) and obtain superiority and royal
authority. Besides, no people are as quick (as the Arabs) to
accept ( religious) truth and right guidance, because their
natures have been preserved free from distorted habits and
uncontaminated by base character qualities. The only (diffi-
culty) lies in the quality of savagery, which, however, is
easily taken care of and which is ready to admit good (quali-
ties), as it has remained in its first natural state and remote
from the ugly customs and bad habits that leave their impress
upon the soul. ''Every infant is born in the natural state,"
as is stated in the tradition that was quoted above.(145) 
[ Sahih al-Bukhari]


[27 ] The Arabs are of all nations the one most remote
from royal leadership.

The (146) reason for this is that the Arabs are more rooted
in desert life and penetrate deeper into the desert than any
other nation. They have less need of the products and grain
of the hills, because they are used to a tough and hard life.
Therefore, they can dispense with other people. It is difficult
for them to subordinate themselves to each other, because
they are used to (no control) and because they are in a state
of savagery. Their leader needs them mostly for the group
spirit that is necessary for purposes of defense. He is, there-
fore, forced to rule them kindly and to avoid antagonizing
them. Otherwise, he would have trouble with the group
spirit, and (such trouble) would be his undoing and theirs.
Royal leadership and government, on the other hand, require
the leader to exercise a restraining influence by force. If not,
his leadership would not last.

Furthermore, as we have stated before, (147) it is the nature
of (the Arabs) not only to appropriate the possessions of
other people but, beyond that, to refrain from exercising any
(power of) arbitration among them and to fail to keep them
from (fighting) each other. When they have taken possession
of a nation, they make it the goal of their rule to profit (from
their position) by taking away the property of the members
of that nation. Beyond that, they do not care to exercise any
( power of) arbitration among them. They often punish crimes
by fines on property, in their desire to increase the tax reve-
nues and to obtain some (pecuniary) advantage. That is no
deterrent (to crime). (Rather,) it is often an incentive (to
crime), in view of the fact that incentives to commit misdeeds
(may be very strong) and that, in the opinion of (the crimi-
nal), payment of a fine is insignificant, weighed against get-
ting what he wants. Thus, misdeeds increase, and civilization
is ruined. A nation dominated by the Arabs is in a state no
different from anarchy, where everybody is set against the
others. Such a civilization cannot last and goes quickly to 
ruins, as would be the case in a state of anarchy, as we have
mentioned before.

For all these (reasons), the Arabs are by nature remote
from royal leadership. They attain it (only) once their nature
has undergone a complete transformation under the influence
of some religious coloring that wipes out all such (qualities)
and causes the Arabs to have a restraining influence on
themselves and to keep people apart from each other, as we
have mentioned. (148)

This is illustrated by the Arab dynasty in Islam. Religion
cemented their leadership with the religious law and its
ordinances, which, explicitly and implicitly, are concerned
with what is good for civilization. The caliphs followed one
after another. As a result, the royal authority and govern-
ment of the Arabs became great and strong. When Rustum
saw the Muslims assemble for prayer, he said: " 'Umar eats
my liver. He teaches the dogs how to behave." (149)

Later on, the Arabs were cut off from the dynasty for
generations. They neglected the religion. Thus, they forgot
political leadership and returned to their desert. They were
ignorant of the connection of their group feeling with the
people of the ruling dynasty, because subservience and lawful
(government) had (now) become strange to them. They be-
came once again as savage as they had been before. The
epithet "royal" was no longer applicable to them, except in
so far as it (continued to) apply to the caliphs who were
(Arabs) by race. When the caliphate disappeared and was
wiped out, governmental power passed altogether out of their
hands. Non-Arabs took over the power in their stead. They
remained as Bedouins in the desert, ignorant of royal au-
thority and political leadership. Most Arabs do not even
know that they possessed royal authority in the past, or that
no nation had ever exercised such ( sweeping) royal authority
as had their race. The dynasties of 'Ad and Thamud, the
Amalekites, the Himyar, and the Tubba's testify to that
statement, and then, there was the Mudar dynasty in Islam,
the Umayyads and the 'Abbasids. But when the Arabs forgot
the religion, they no longer had any connection with political
leadership, and they returned to their desert origins. At
times, they achieve superiority over weak dynasties, as is
the case in the contemporary Maghrib. But their domination
leads only to the ruin of the civilization they conquer, as we
have stated before.
God is the best heir.(150)


God " exercises forceful domination over His servants." (153)
[Quran 6.18(18), 61 (61)]






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