The Arabs: Between Yesterday and Today
How similar today is to yesterday! Is it not true that history repeats itself, albeit never in the exact same form? Were the Arabs not living on the margins of history in the seventh century CE? Was their small world not divided between an Eastern Bloc - the Persian Empire - and a Western Bloc - the Roman Empire? Was the civilization that connected the two blocs not one in essence, differing only in appearance, just as the current civilization connects the communist bloc and the capitalist bloc? Was the rivalry and hostility between the Eastern and Western blocs not as intense then as it is today? Were the Arabs not caught in the middle of the struggle between the two blocs back then, just as they are today?
Indeed, all of that was true.
However, back then, the Arabs did not align themselves with either of the two warring blocs. Instead, Allah safeguarded them through Islam. They adhered to it and, through it, recognized the shortcomings of both blocs. They established a third bloc - a middle way - that understood God’s words: “O you who have believed, if you support Allah, He will support you and plant firmly your feet” (47:7).
They turned toward their Lord, supporting Him within themselves by committing to truthfulness in both speech and action. Allah supported them, and through their middle bloc, they overcame both the Eastern and Western blocs. On their ruins, they established a new world and a new civilization.
Some might say that the Arabs' entry into history in the seventh century required Allah to send Muhammad. The answer is simple: Allah still exists, and Muhammad is present today. It is the Arabs who are absent, having forgotten Allah and so He caused them to forget themselves.
The Arabs of today have claimed that Islam divides them, while Arabism unites them. Islam - the religion of unity - divides them? Could there be a greater delusion?
Modern Arabs have clung to the call of Arab nationalism, a racial ideology at a time when the global conflict is based on ideological foundations. They deny that Arab nationalism is racist, and in their denial, they have fallen into an intellectual betrayal by usurping the legacy of Islam and attributing it to Arab nationalism. They say that nationalism is the unity of language, culture, and history.
Even those with the most basic knowledge know that the Arabs had no unified culture, no shared history, and not even a common language before Allah blessed them and made them Muslims.
