Syria’s Quest II

Caught doing something that he shouldn’t, any child—and perhaps most adults—would react by either innocently denying that he did what he did—that is, you are supposed to trust his word and disbelieve your own eyes—or immediately shifting the blame to someone else, typically another child. Two classic defense mechanisms as delineated by Anna Freud: denial and projection. In Arabic there is a saying roughly translated like this: “He hit me and cried; he preempted me and complained.” To watch a kid doing it is funny. To watch your own kid doing it, you would probably find it cute, even adorable. The sight of an adult behaving in such an immature manner could be appalling and contemptuous. How about the spectacle of legions of intellectuals, historians, and literati doing precisely that, year after year after year?

Syria’s history has unfortunately been written in this manner and with this mentality. Did I say SYRIA’S HISTORY? Pardon me. What I meant, of course, is the HISTORY OF THE ARAB HOMELAND (al-Waṭan al-ʿArabī). For you see, the Syrian social studies and school curricula in the second half of the twentieth century acknowledged no Syrian identity. Syria was but a region (quṭr) of the vast Arab Homeland, and its geography and history were not really much more important to Syrian students than, say, the geography and history of Egypt, Iraq, Palestine, etc. There was no Syrian nation, be that actual Syria (made in France) or the Greater Syria peddled by the SSNP. What existed was an ARAB NATION (al-ʾUmmā alʿarabīyyā) and an Arab homeland. Modern Syria was a product of European colonialism. The Arab Homeland, on the other hand, was the genuine item. At least that was the official narrative back in the 1960s and 1970s. Though largely discredited in the eyes of many since, it has not quite died out as of yet.

Let’s trace the myth back to its very beginning. Who are those Arabs collectively grouped in one nation? Where did they come from? How did they conquer a vast empire to edify their prodigious civilization? And how did this brilliant Arab nation and Arab homeland disintegrate?

One might be tempted to link Arabism and Islam together and therefore designate the career of Muhammad and the Arab Conquests in the 7th Century CE as the point of departure for the Arab’s Eternal Mission (the Baath’s slogan). That’s wrong, of course. The Arab Nation is much older than that. The Semites, after all, were Arabs, all of them: Amorites, Canaanites, Assyrians, Phoenicians, Egyptians, etc. Those were the good guys. The bad guys, that is, the guys who fought the “Semite Arabs” and invaded the “Arab Homeland,” were the Hebrews (the Hebrews were of course Semites since the term “Semitic” refers to a language family that also includes Arabic and Aramaic), Persians, Romans, etc. The “Semite Arabs” built brilliant civilizations: they spearheaded the Agrarian Revolution, created the world’s first alphabet, pioneered the pottery wheel, etc. The invaders, on the other hand, left chaos and mayhem. Sargon of Akkad, Ashurbanipal of Nineveh, and Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon were great conquerors. Not so with Cambyses of Persia or Pompey of Rome, evil invaders and usurpers.

So the tale is something like this: in the beginning, the Semite Arabs led the Ancient World with their prowess and innovation until others, outsiders, overwhelmed the Arab Homeland and subjugated the Arab Nation. The Greeks were succeeded by the Romans and then the Byzantines in the West, whereas Persia loomed large in the East, starting with the Achaemenid Cyrus all the way to the Sassanid Khosrau.

But the Arab Nation staged a brilliant comeback in the 7th century CE as benevolent warriors thundered out of Arabia to deliver their Semitic brethren throughout the Near East from Byzantine and Persian yoke and reestablish justice and prosperity wherever they went. In no time a vast empire was created stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to Turkestan in the east and from Asia Minor in the north to the Indian Ocean and the African Sahara in the south. Mankind could not be happier under Arab’s enlightened rule, as the caliphs judiciously promoted science, commerce, agriculture, justice, order, etc. 

This utopia lasted about 200 years, from the mid-7th century to the mid-9th century CE, when the Abbasid Empire fell victim to conspiracies orchestrated first by a cabal of back-stabbing Persians and secondly by ungrateful, barbarous Turkish soldiers. Naturally the Arabs tried to fight back, as, for example, when Hārūn ar-Rašīd massacred the fire-worshipping Barmakids, but in no time the Hydra grew more heads, and Arab dominance virtually ended when Ṭāhir brought al-ʾAmīn’s head to his caliph and master, al-Maʾmūn. Muʿtaṣim tried to counterbalance the Persians’ menace by importing soldiery from Tukistan. It worked for him, but a generation later, al-Mutawakkil was killed by his Turkish Praetorians. The death of al-Mutawakkil sealed the fate of Arabs’ glorious history for hundreds of years to come. Myriads of foes unleashed their murderous hosts on the Arab Homeland. To the Turks were added the Mongols, the Crusaders, the Mamelukes, and many more. The Middle Ages ended with an under siege Arab Nation.

The European Renaissance, followed by the great geographical discoveries and the Rise of the West (a classic book by William McNeill), announced the beginning of the end for the Islamic civilization, of which the Arabs were no longer the leaders and torchbearers. Of course Arabs were not to blame. Centuries of “occupation” by Crusaders, Mongols, Mamelukes, and Ottomans suffocated the Arab genius and impoverished the Arab homelands. Arabs were ruled by greedy, reactionary, and unscrupulous despots. They were overtaxed and oppressed. Towards the end of Ottoman rule, there were even malevolent attempts to stamp out Arab identity and “Turkify” the Arab Nation.

 Arabs sought Europe’s help against the Ottomans. The British promised Arab independence in exchange for Arab collaboration in the Great War against Turkey. Arabs fulfilled their part of the bargain only to be betrayed to the British. The Ottoman occupation gave way to European colonization. The British and the French divided the Arab homelands among themselves and looted Arabs’ natural resources. Next came Zionism and neocolonialism, a.k.a. imperialism. Arabs' age-old struggle against occupation and injustice goes on. It is an almost four thousand-year story.

Pseudo history, romantic naïveté, and outright self-deception aside, this is not an effort on my part to exonerate “them.” Syria, the “Arab Homeland” or whatever else one might want to call it, was indeed invaded by countless adventurers, and the affair was more often than not quite bloody. I just have a few reservations to make:

1. There are no heroes or villains in the saga. Arabs also invaded other lands as well as each other. Their wars, contrary to the official narrative, were often just as bloody as that of their rivals. The epithet as-Saffāḥ was coined for a reason, to give but one example.
 2. To engage in a blame game is an exercise in futility. Of course others have their interests, and they more than likely would attempt to achieve them at your expense. You have to assume that they are rivals and plan accordingly. Their intentions are not important, good or bad. The important part is their capacity to harm and their deeds; consequently, what counts is your own capacity to dissuade would-be aggressors. Let them concoct all the conspiracies they want; if you’re strong, it won’t matter.
3. Projection is the bane of modern Arab thinking and politics. It is little but an excuse to sit idle and blame everyone else for your shortcomings. It is a recipe for inaction. It is time to discard this useless attitude and adopt a new one. How about "Perhaps I did something wrong; let me see what I can do to correct my mistake”?

I would like to conclude with this anecdote. Not too long ago I watched an altercation on al-Jazīrā TV between a Syrian “progressive” and another guest. The exchange was moderated by Fayṣal al-Qāsim. What was interesting about it was that, according to the Syrian guest, “our” backwardness was mostly due to the nefarious effects of the barbarous Arab invasions! Great! Not only do we have Persians, Romans, Ottomans, Europeans, Zionists, and imperialism to blame, but we also now have Arabs, the new villain of the day. Everyone is after us. The thing is, who is “us”?

Syria’s search for an identity goes on.