Arab Nation, Arab Nationalism [1st ed.] 978-0-312-22985-6;978-1-349-62765-3

Table of contents :
Front Matter ....Pages i-x
The Pilgrimage as a Means of Regional Integration in the Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Ottoman Empire (Suraiya Faroqhi)....Pages 1-17
The Future of Arab Jerusalem (Rashid Khalidi)....Pages 19-40
The Quality of Arab Nationalism (C. Ernest Dawn)....Pages 41-61
Nationalism and the Arabs (Aziz Al-Azmeh)....Pages 63-78
The Voyage In: Third World Intellectuals and Metropolitan Cultures (Edward Said)....Pages 79-101
Melodramas of Nationhood (Lila Abu-Lughod)....Pages 103-128
Perennial Themes in Modern Arabic Literature (M. M. Badawi)....Pages 129-153
Two Centuries of Arab Economic Relations with the West: 1798–1997 (Galal Amin)....Pages 155-175
Lessons from the Gulf War (Anthony Parsons)....Pages 177-190
The Palestine Issue: an Observer’s Reminiscences over the Past Twenty Years (Eric Rouleau)....Pages 191-204

Citation preview

St Antony's Series General Editor: Eugene Rogan (1997- ), Fellow of St Antony's College, Oxford

Recent titles include: Craig Brandist and Galin Tihanov (editors) MATERIALIZING BAKHTIN Mark Brzezinski THE STRUGGLE FOR CONSTITUTIONALISM IN POLAND Reinhard Drifte JAPAN'S QUEST FOR A PERMANENT SECURITY COUNCIL SEAT A Matter of Pride or justice? Simon Duke THE ELUSIVE QUEST FOR EUROPEAN SECURITY Marta Dyczok THE GRAND ALLIANCE AND UKRAINIAN REFUGEES Ken Endo THE PRESIDENCY OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION UNDER JACQUES DELORS M. K. Flynn IDEOLOGY, MOBILIZATION AND THE NATION The Rise of Irish, Basque and Carlist Nationalist Movements in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries Anthony Forster BRITAIN AND THE MAASTRICHT NEGOTIATIONS Ricardo Ffrench-Davis REFORMING THE REFORMS IN LATIN AMERICA Macroeconomics, Trade, Finance Fernando Guirao SPAIN AND THE RECONSTRUCTION OF WESTERN EUROPE, 1945-57 Anthony Kirk-Greene BRITAIN'S IMPERIAL ADMINISTRATORS, 1858-1966 Bernardo Kosacoff CORPORATE STRATEGIES UNDER STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT IN ARGENTINA Responses by Industrial Firms to a New Set of Uncertainties Huck-ju Kwon THE WELFARE STATE IN KOREA

Cécile Laborde PLURALIST THOUGHT AND THE STATE IN BRITAIN AND FRANCE, 1900-25 Eiichi Motono CONFLICT AND COOPERATION IN SINO-BRITISH BUSINESS, 1860-1911 The Impact of the Pro-British Commercial Network in Shanghai

C. S. Nicholls THE HISTORY OF ST ANTONY'S COLLEGE, OXFORD, 1950-2000 Laila Parsons THE DRUZE BETWEEN PALESTINE AND ISRAEL, 194 7-49 Shane O'Rourke WARRIORS AND PEASANTS The Don Cossacks in Late Imperial Russia Karina Sonnenberg-Stern EMANCIPATION AND POVERTY The Ashkenazi Jews of Amsterdam, 1796-1850 Miguel Szekely THE ECONOMICS OF POVERTY AND WEAUH ACCUMULATION IN MEXICO Ray Takeyh THE ORIGINS OF THE EISENHOWER DOCTRINE The US, Britain and Nasser's Egypt, 1953-57 Suke Wolton LORD HAILEY, THE COLONIAL OFFICE AND THE POLITICS OF RACE IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR The Loss of White Prestige

St Antony's Series Series Standing Order ISBN 978-0-333-71109-5 (outside North America only)

You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a standing order. Please contact your bookseller or, in case of difficulty, write to us at the address below with your name and address, the title of the series and the ISBN quoted above. Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS, England

Arab Nation, Arab Nationalism Edited by Derek Hopwood

Fellow of St Antony's College Oxford

Palgrave

macmillan

First published in Great Britain 2000 by

MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. lSBN-13: 978-0-333-74665-3 (hardcover) ISBN-13: 978-0-333-80439-1 (paperback)

First published in the United States of America 2000 by

ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC., Scholarly and Reference Division. 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 ISBN 978-1-349-62767-7 DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-62765-3

ISBN 978-1-349-62765-3 (eBook)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Arab Nation, Arab nationalism / edited by Derek Hopwood. p. cm. (St. Antony's series) Includes bibliographical references and index. I. Nationalism-Arab countries. Derek. II. Series.

2. Civilization-Arab countries.

I. Hopwood,

DS63.6. A686 1999 909'.097427-dc21 99-048278 Selection, editorial matter and Introduction © Derek Hopwood 2000 Chapters 1-9 © Macmillan Press Ltd 2000 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2000 978-0-312-22985-6 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road. London W1P 0LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.

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Contents The Contributors

Vll

Introduction

1

IX

The Pilgrimage as a Means of Regional Integration in the Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Ottoman Empire Suraiya Faroqhi, 1993

1

2

The Future of Arab Jerusalem Rashid Khalidi, 1992

19

3

The Quality of Arab Nationalism C. Ernest Dawn, 1995

41

4

Nationalism and the Arabs Aziz Al-Azmeh, 1994

63

5

The Voyage In: Third World Intellectuals and Metropolitan Cultures Edward Said, 1989

6

Melodramas of Nationhood Lila Abu-Lughod, 1996

7

Perennial Themes in Modern Arabic Literature M. M. Badawi, 1992

129

8

Two Centuries of Arab Economic Relations with the West: 1798-1997 Galal A min, 1997

155

9

Lessons from the Gulf War Anthony Parsons, 1991

10

The Palestine Issue: an Observer's Reminiscences over the Past Twenty Years Eric Rouleau, 1988

v

79 103

177 191

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The Contributors Suraiya Faroqhi Rashid Khalidi

C. Ernest Dawn

Aziz Al-Azmeh

Edward Said

Lila Abu-Lughod M. M. Badawi Galal Amin The late Sir Anthony Parsons Eric Rouleau Derek Hopwood

Professor of Ottoman Studies, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich; author of Pilgrims and Sultans Professor of Middle Eastern History, University of Chicago; author of Palestinian Identity: the Construction of Modern National Consciousness Professor Emeritus, Department of History, University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign; author of Frorn Ottornanisrn to Arabisrn former Professor of Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, member of the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin; author of Islarns and Modernities University Professor, Columbia University, where he teaches English and comparative literature; author of Representations of the Intellectual Professor of Social Anthropology, New York University; author of Writing Women's Worlds: Bedouin Stories former Lecturer in Modern Arabic Literature, Oxford University; author of A Short History of Modern Arabic Literature Professor of Economics, American University of Cairo; author of Egypt's Economic Predicament sometime British Ambassador to Iran and the United Nations; author of They Say the Lion: Britain's Legacy to the Arabs Middle East correspondent of Le Monde, former French Ambassador to 1unisia Reader in Middle East Studies, Oxford University; author of Habib Bourguiba: the Tragedy of Longevity; editor of Studies in Arab History Vll

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Introduction The George Antonius lectures were established in 1978 through a generous donation in honour of the late George Antonius, the historian of Arab nationalism. They have been delivered annually since the date of their foundation. The field they cover is that of Arab society, culture and history, usually in the more modern period. The first eleven lectures (excluding that of 1980) were published in 1990 under the title Studies in Arab History: the Antonius Lectures, 1978-1987, by Macmillan in association with St Antony's College and the World of Islam Festival Trust, edited by myself. We now offer to the reader a further ten under the title Arab Nation, Arab Nationalism. I am grateful to their authors for submitting them so promptly for publication. Some have been rewritten while others remain more or less in the form in which they were delivered. This applies in particular to the personal memoirs of Eric Rouleau and the late Sir Anthony Parsons whose value lies in the immediacy of their subject-matter. The other lectures consider various aspects of Arab society. Suraiya Faroqhi shows how the pilgrimage to Mecca under the Ottomans helped to integrate the Hijaz into their empire. Rashid Khalidi underlines the importance of Jerusalem to the Palestinians, the Arabs and the Muslim world in general. He comes to the conclusion that its future must lie with all the peoples attached to it and not just one. Ernest Dawn reaches to the heart of Antonius' interests in his survey of the quality of Arab nationalism. He emphasizes that The Arab Awakening is the starting-point of virtually all Western scholarly studies of the subject. Aziz Al-Azmeh follows this and goes further in his study of nationalism and the Arabs and its relevance to the contemporary world. Edward Said widens his view to encompass not only Antonius but other Third World intellectuals and their relationship with the cultures of their erstwhile colonial masters. Two lectures deal more generally with culture. Lila AbuLughod unusually takes Egyptian television soap opera as her subject and uses various examples to show how it can help in understanding the cultural transformations of the IX

X

Introduction

contemporary Arab world. Mustaf~1 Badawi moves specifically to modern Arabic literature to discuss some of its perennial themes. These he finds mostly to be opposed pairs: East-West, freedom-authority, society and the individual. Galal Amin provides the only economics paper in a wideranging survey of two centuries of Arab economic relations with the West. He comes to the challenging conclusion that more economic development means more Westernization, a central role for Israel and a gradual loss of the Arab identity. The concluding two papers are by a diplomat and a journalist and they bring a different, more personal approach to the study of Arab problems. In his lecture Anthony Parsons looked at the post Gulf War Middle East and came to the sobering conclusion that the 'mess' there was as great as, if not greater than, before. If no progress was made terrorism, instability, conflict and aggression would rebuild. Eric Rouleau, as a French Middle East correspondent, surveyed his experiences of reporting on the Palestinian problem. His conclusions, written in 1988, are of course out of date but are nevertheless valuable in showing that what he thought at the time - 'internal pressures plus international pressures might change the picture of what we see today' - is now, despite some obvious changes, seen to have been too optimistic. My final word is of thanks to Soraya Antonius, daughter of George, for her faithful attendance at the lectures and in particular for her most generous financial help in subsidizing the publication of this volume. DEREK HOPWOOD OXFORD

1 The Pilgrimage as a Means of Regional Integration in the Sixteenth- and Seventeenth -Century Ottoman Empire Suraiya Faroqhi The Ottoman Sultans were at a disadvantage vis a vis many other Near Eastern rulers where legitimation was concerned. They could not claim descendance from Chingiz Khan, still an important means of legitimation in the Turco-Mongol world of the fifteenth century. Even worse, the second Mongol conqueror Timur had all but annihilated the first empire built by Bayezid I Y1ldmm, captured its ruler and reduced Y1ldmm's heirs to the status of warring princelings on a remote frontier of Islam. Nor could they claim descent from the Prophet Muhammad, as the medieval Fatimids, and in later times the Sharifid dynasty of Morocco or the Safavid ruler Shah Ismail had done. Or possibly 'could' is the wrong word here, since genealogies can be manipulated and ancestors can be discovered. The Ottoman Sultans elected not to use this manner of legitimation, but we know nothing about their motives. Instead they chose other means. One way of gaining legitimacy was to take on the heritage of other Muslim and non-Muslim rulers with claims to world domination, particularly the Byzantine rulers of the early Middle Ages, but also of King Solomon, whose name predestined him to serve as an imperial model for Siileyman the Magnificent. But equally important was the emphasis on practical service to the Muslim community. This service might be the enlargement of the Dariilislam almost to the gates of Vienna, but also the Sultan's 'service to the two Holy Places', a quality referred to with some frequency in official titles. This service implied military protection of Mecca and Medina

2

Suraiya Faroqhi

against Portuguese, and more indirectly against Iranian attack, but also material support of the inhabitants of Mecca and Medina. For by the fifteenth century, Egyptian grain had become crucial to the survival of the Hijazis, and even a brief interruption of the supply lines across the Red Sea led to shortages and panics. As a 'Servant of the two Holy Places' the Sultan also possessed the right, as well as the privilege, of reconstructing the Great Mosques of Mecca and Medina (only the Kaaba itself was to remain untouched as long as the building did not actually collapse). He could also establish subsidiary foundations such as pilgrimage hostels and medreses, or attempt to remodel the streets and markets of the two Holy Cities. This remains true even though in Mecca and Medina limitations placed on sultanic initiative by traditions really or allegedly going back to the time of the Prophet or the early Caliphs were more stringent than elsewhere. The Ottoman Sultan not only exercised this privilege of building in the Holy Cities, but also allowed the female members of his family and certain of his favoured servitors to share in this activity. Moreover while no Ottoman Sultan ever performed the pilgrimage, and the number of viziers and other high-level dignitaries who were also hajjis was always limited, princesses appeared in the Holy Cities as pilgrims more often than has been assumed. Their visits symbolized the concern of the dynasty with the welfare of pilgrims and Hijazis. Throughout the Empire's existence, Mecca and Medina were located on its remote margins. Stileyman the Lawgiver and his immediate successors probably did not intend this to remain so; several times, Ottoman fleets were sent out to establish bases in the Indian Ocean region, particularly on the western coast of India. This was not merely a military and naval matter, but there was a religious aspect as well; in the sixteenth century a number of mosques in India were receiving grants-in-aid from the Ottoman treasury. Later on, Sultan Murad III responded to requests from the rulers of Atjeh for arms and men. But toward the end of the sixteenth century, the Ottoman Sultans gave up Indian Ocean politics. The decision to do so certainly was not stated in so many words but resulted from a series of ad hoc responses to late-sixteenth century Anatolian crises, in addition to warfare with Iranians

Pilgrimage in the Ottoman Empire

3

and Habsburgs. As a result, the Ottoman Empire was left with a remote province, which however was crucially important to the legitimacy of the Sultan. This situation implied that the Ottoman administration had few armed forces to spare that could be used in maintaining its power over the Holy Cities. This is evident from the history of the conquest of Yemen. In the 1570s, the later Grand Vizier Sinan Pasha conquered the country in an effort to establish a kind of protective bastion against possible attacks on the Hijaz. But Ottoman control in many parts of the interior remained more or less symbolic, and in the 1630s the remaining Ottoman garrisons were forced to leave the country. Moreover the behaviour of the troops recently evacuated from the Yemen showed that in a near-absence of the state apparatus, military contingents left to their own devices could cause major political problems. For the dismissed soldiers established themselves in Mecca, where they made so much trouble for the pilgrims that troops had to be sent from Egypt to dislodge them. The Ottomans therefore had to maintain themselves without a major military force permanently established in the Hijaz. In the Holy Cities of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, there was not even a governor, properly speaking. In Medina, this role was often filled by the !j_eyhiilharem who had at his disposal a group of eunuchs; these might be politically important because of their connections to the Ottoman Palace, but did not have any military significance. In the region of Mecca, the Ottoman authorities had established themselves in Jiddah, and the official known as the emin of the port collected the 50 per cent share of customs duties which the Sultan had reserved for himself, the other half being conceded to the Sharif of Mecca. In the seventeenth century the administrator ofJiddah, by that time elevated to the dignity of beglerbeg, was the superior of the governors in charge of the rather important Ottoman possessions in East Africa, known as the vilayet of Habe~ (Ethiopia). But his military force in the Hijaz remained minor. When Ottoman administrators believed that a show of military force was required, for instance against a recalcitrant Sharif, they relied on contingents sent to the Hijaz with the pilgrimage caravan. The traveller Evliya