[BLANK_AUDIO] Turning to Arab nationalism, one may ask, what were the intellectual origins of Arab nationalism? Arab nationalism had two intellectual sources: one Christian and one Muslim. The Christian source was that of Christian scholars and writers in the new missionary schools, producing new scholarship on Arabic language and culture. And it was this new scholarship on Arabic language and culture coming out of the new missionary school that made a major contribution to the evolution of the idea of the Arabs as a nation. The speakers of the Arabic language as a nation. The other source was Islamic reform. And, as we will recall, Islamic reform spoke a great deal about the revival of Arab Islam. Returning the Arabs to the centrality of Islam, the primacy of the Arabs in Islamic civilization. And this, of course, contributed to the sense of a particular Arab nationalist sentiment. But for many years, with the emergence of Arab nationalism, the Arab nationalists did not demand secession from the empire. Even as Arab nationalists, they continued to recognize the legitimacy of the Ottoman Empire, the legitimacy of the Muslim empire. And their demands cen, centered on decentralization and not secession. Now looking at the, the Christian intellectual roots of Arab nationalism. First, one must recognize that during the 19th century and in particular, the second half of it, Syria during the Tanzimat was a country of increased order and a much more intense and in better connection with Europe. One of the results of these changes was there was a very significant increase in the school system, especially of church and missionary schools. By 1914, in Syria, there was some 500 French schools. There were American Protestant schools too, one of which became the American University of Beirut, established in 1866 and still in existence today. American and French missionary schools in Lebanon brought many Arabs, mainly Christians, into close contact with the West. Ottoman government schools did the same. But the Arab literary revival, through the printing press, journalism, periodicals, dictionaries, grammar books, and new literature, was very much a cultural revival in which Christians were preeminent. And the dissemination of new ideas in this cultural revival focused very much on the idea of nationalism, and Arab nationalism it was. Just to mention a few of the Christians who were involved in this cultural revival. Nasif al-Yaziji, Butrus al-Bustani. Faris Shidyaq, he of these Christians was one who converted to Islam. Ya'aqub Sarruf, Faris Nimr, Jurji Zaydan. And it is important to mention Faris Shidyaq as one who converted to Islam, he is not the only Christian ideologue of Arab nationalism who did that. Maybe a recognition by the Christians of the very close association in the end between Arab nationalism and Islam. But these Christians in Lebanon and Syria were different from other Christians in the empire in that they spoke Arabic just like their Muslim neighbors, very different to the Christians of the Balkans. These were Orthodox Christians who, as opposed to the Maronites Catholics, were not a compact minority. Catholic Maronites were very heavily concentrated in one area in Mount Lebanon. The Orthodox Christians were spread all over the Ottoman Empire. And they had an interest in a common ground for political organization with Arab Muslims and neighbors. Spread out as they were, they could not possibly secede. There was also tension in the Orthodox church between the Greek clergy, the senior ranks, and the Arabic speaking clergy in the lower ranks. This tension within the church between Greeks and Arabs also contributed to this sense of Arab distinction, Arab differences. The Arab difference, Arab nationalism, and Arab particular identity. There was a tendency amongst the Christians to see the land of Syria as an Arab-speaking geographical and political entity. Some spoke of Syria. Some went beyond Syria in terms of a larger state of Arabs, which would include Iraq and Arabia. Najib Azuri was one such Christian who spoke of a much larger Arab state. He was a Syrian Catholic Christian operating out of Paris. So the question, of course, arises in regard to a person like Azuri. Who did he really speak for? And apparently, not too many. For some Christians, a more liberal empire would've been good enough. For others, Arab nationalism and its essential link with Islam could be dangerous for Christians, pushing them into an inferior status. And as for the Muslim public, the great majority of them were not attracted by Arab nationalists. Certainly not that despised by Christians. The Muslim Arabs in Syria adopted the battle cry, Arabic shall not be Christianized as a way of rejecting this form of Arab nationalism coming from Christian intellectuals. So one must ask now, what were the effects of Islamic reform on the emergence of Arab nationalism? And Muslims were indeed affected, far more by the arguments of Islamic reformers about the primacy of the Arabs and Islam, and blaming the Turks for Muslim decline that they were influenced by Christian intellectuals. For Islamic reformers like Rashid Rida, about whom we have already learned, the revival of Arabic studies as a forerunner to the revival of Islam, was absolutely essential, because Arabic was the language of Islam. From this, it was a very easy step to glorifying the Arabs, and to speaking of the essentiality of the Arab nationals. But in the end, Arab nationalism only really captured the popular, the popular imagination after the disappearance of the Ottoman Empire. And only after a special emphasis on the role of Islam in Arabism and the intimate connection between Arabism and Islam, did Arab nationalism become really popular amongst Muslims. After all, Islam was at the very heart of the cultural heritage of the Arabs. And if one was to ask, what was the greatest contribution of the Arabs to human civilization, unquestionably Arabs would argue that it was the religion of Islam. Before World War 1, Arab nationalists, for the most part, did not go beyond calls for greater autonomy and the recognition of Arabic as an official language. There were secret societies that promoted Arab nationalism, but they had very little weight before 1914. There was an Arab nationalist conference in Paris in 1913, but all they did was to demand autonomy in the Arab provinces, not secession. They also demanded the recognition of Arabic as a language of government, and they demanded the appointment of more Arab officials. Was this about nationalism or just self interest of the Arab educated class looking for good jobs in the government? It's hard to say. It was only amongst the Maronite Catholics, that compact minority of Christians in Mount Lebanon, who had very clear ideas about a politically independent entity protected by France. But that was not in the name of Arab nationalism, but in the name of the state of Lebanon. In the provinces of Iraq, there was much less interest in Arab nationalism, much less than in Syria, for example. There had been less substantial economic development and change in Iraq than there had been in Syria during the 19th century. There was a very large Shi'ite population in Iraq, and they saw Arabism not as a nationalism in which they shared. For them, Arabism was a form of Sunni Muslim revivalism, and in that they had no interest. The Christian catalyst that existed in Syria did not exist in Iraq. There were very few Christians in Iraq, not intellectually prominent as those in Syria. It was a very important and large Jewish minority in Iraq. But they were not very politicized and generally speaking were very loyal Ottoman subjects. The Jews, after all, had no connections with Christian powers and could not possibly imagine secession. After 1908 and the revival of the Ottoman parliament, there were much more intensive contact between Arab representatives in the empire. The parliament enabled them to come in contact with each other, and this added to the appeal of Arab nationalism. But again, one must emphasize, the great majority of Muslims remained loyal subjects of the Ottoman Empire until the very end.
