Arab Nationalism is a Deception
Contemporary Arabs did not stop at the falsehood of Arab nationalism. Their fanaticism led them into an ignorance that caused them to distort the words of the Quran, proclaiming slogans such as “God is Great, and honor is for the Arabs” - a phrase that could be seen on numerous banners throughout the streets of Khartoum during the Arab Summit Conference.
What Allah has said is more deserving to be said, and it is obligatory for every believer and every Muslim to say nothing but what Allah has decreed. Allah Almighty said regarding the believing Arabs, whose faith was incomplete, and the disbelievers: “Those who take disbelievers as allies instead of the believers - do they seek honor through them? But indeed, all honor belongs to Allah” (4:139).
And He said about the hypocritical Arabs: “They say, ‘If we return to Medina, the more honorable will surely expel therefrom the more humble.’ But honor belongs to Allah, and to His Messenger, and to the believers, but the hypocrites do not know” (63:8).
Never did Allah say that honor belongs to the Arabs. On the contrary, He said what utterly refutes the claims of racial superiority: “O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes so that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted” (49:13).
And on the tongue of His Prophet, He said: “All people are from Adam, and Adam is from dust. The most honorable among you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you.” He also said: “There is no superiority of an Arab over a non-Arab except through piety.”
The Prophet included Salman Al-Farsi - a Persian non-Arab - among his household, saying: “Salman is one of us, the people of the household.” This was because of Salman’s strong faith, which made him a spiritual member of the Prophet’s family. And about Bilal, a black Abyssinian slave who used to call to prayer before the Prophet and had difficulty pronouncing the letter “sh” in the shahada, it was said: “Bilal’s ‘seen’ (S) is, to Allah, a ‘sheen’ (Sh).”
So where do all those teachings stand in relation to the claims of Arab nationalism?
Do you want the truth? Then listen! The Arabs have never suffered a greater loss - neither in their religion nor in their worldly affairs - than the one they have endured due to the deception of the claim of Arab nationalism.
Regarding the history of this falsehood, Dr. Philip Hitti, in his book History of Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine, Volume 2, page 352, says under the title “Nationalism and the Struggle for Independence”:
“This Arab nationalist awakening began as a purely intellectual movement focused on studying the Arabic language, history, and literature. Its pioneers were mostly Syrian intellectuals, particularly Lebanese Christians who had been educated at the American University in Beirut. They were the ones who began to modernize Classical Arabic to make it a suitable medium for expressing modern thought. However, the nationalist idea, and its emphasis on civil affairs and material values, veered in the opposite direction of the highest ideals and most cherished traditions of Islam, which, in principle, recognizes no bond other than that of religion. The adoption of this new form of nationalism by Arabic-speaking peoples, along with the 1916 revolt of Hussein, the Sharif of Mecca, against the Ottoman Turks, shattered what remained of the hope for a comprehensive Islamic unity, replacing it with a pan-Arab unity based on language and secular culture, rather than pure religious belief.”
This is what Dr. Philip Hitti said about Arab nationalism, and it was in the early twentieth century.
Today, with the rise of materialist and atheistic ideologies, Arab nationalism has become worse than a mere racial ideology. It now views Islam as a dangerous competitor and has begun to wage war against it, as is the case in Syria under the rule of the Ba'ath Party. In Egypt, they claimed to have developed an economic philosophy, which they called Arab Socialism. However, upon closer analysis, it proves to be nothing more than Marxist communism. It is as though Arab nationalism, under the leadership of Gamal Abdel Nasser, sought to sell communism to the Arabs under an alias - one that would not arouse their suspicions or awaken their sense of the danger threatening them.
For this reason, the Communist Party in Egypt dissolved itself. And for this reason, Gamal Abdel Nasser became esteemed by the Soviet Union, China, Yugoslavia, and the communist parties throughout the Arab world, especially the Sudanese Communist Party. This “honor” had a clear purpose behind it. However, no matter how widespread the current fraud may be, it cannot obscure the established scientific truth: the Arabs did not enter history in the seventh century CE as Arabs. They entered it after they became Muslims.
And they will not enter history in the twentieth century as Arabs. They will only enter it if they return to their Lord and their religion - and become Muslims once again.
