Syrian Nationalism

Sa´adeh has been called “the philosopher of nationalism par excellence”  and as “the last of modern Syrian philosophers who tried to bring regard back to classical Syrian philosophy at the outset of the twentieth century when great philosophical doctrines were receding in anticipation of another atomic age.” He was concerned with important philosophical questions and concepts like other philosophers before him. Throughout his career, he engaged himself in philosophical debates and analysis in many branches of philosophy

This paper works to analyze the national narratives of two political parties in the Middle East: The Arab Socialist Baath Party, and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party. The founders and leaders of these two parties, Michel Aflaq and Antoun Saadeh, both espoused different perspectives on the nature of what the 'nation' was, and what direction the Middle East was to take following independence from the Ottoman and European powers. Using Ernest Gellner as a theoretical framework, this paper aims to dissect their philosophies and understand the nature of the national narratives put forth by these philosophers,  and see whether they hold up under a critical analysis.

According to Giorgio Agamben, a “state of exception” is established by the sovereign's decision to suspend the law, and the archetypical state of exception is the Nazi concentration camp. At the same time, Agamben notes that boundaries have become blurred since then, such that even spaces like refugee camps can be thought of as states of exception because they are both inside and outside the law. This article draws on the notion of the state of exception in order to examine the Syrian refugee camp cum shrine town of Sayyida Zaynab as well as to analyze questions of religious authority, ritual practice, and pious devotion to Sayyida Zaynab. Though Sayyida Zaynab and many of her Twelver Shiʿi devotees resemble Agamben's figure of homo sacer, who marked the origin of the state of exception, they also defy Agamben's theory that humans necessarily become animal-like, leading nothing more than “bare lives” (or zoē) in states of exception.

Sa’adeh supported his arguments against Lebanese nationalism from within the literature of well-known Lebanese writers, clerics and even ardent advocates of Lebanese separation. He quoted some Maronite writers, like Jubran Khalil Jubran and Suleiman al-Bustani who both identified themselves as “Syrians”.

During the onslaught of the Islamic caliphate on Kobanî, Syria, media outlets across the globe broadcast pictures of brave and often unveiled Kurdish women fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), a quintessentially male force of destruction. The images of women fighting Islamist male aggressors aroused outrage, admiration, and pity among observers. But had all Kurdish fighters been male or had women fought for ISIS, viewers might have reacted differently. To examine some of the most widely disseminated gendered pictures and videos of the Syrian uprising in the media, this article draws on Mohja Kahf’s three categories, which typify how Muslim women, Arab women, or both are perceived by the Anglophone reading and viewing public: the first is victims; the second, escapees; and the third, pawns of patriarchy and male power. While this typology helps in examining gendered images of the Syrian uprising, it also obscures the socioeconomic realities on the ground.

المدرحية هي فلسفة إجتماعية جديدة تتناول الإنسان، بحقيقته الإجتماعية، والقيم الإنسانية وقضايا الوجود الإنساني وتطوره. وينبثق عن هذه الفلسفة الشاملة "نظرات جديدة في الإجتماع بأشكاله النفسية والإقتصادية والسياسية جميعها" ، ويعتبرها سعاده "فلسفة كاملة في الإجتماع والتاريخ"  و"نظرة جديدة إلى الحياة والكون والفن" تُشَكِّلُ فتحاً فلسفياً جديداً "ومركز انطلاق نحو سمو إنساني جديد."

Obgleich die Syrische Soziale Nationalistische Partei (SSNP)  es nie zu einer großen Zahl an Mitgliedern brachte und in ihrer Geschichte mehr Scheitern als Erfolg vorweisen kann,  hatte sie gemeinsam mit ihrem Gründer Antun Sa‘ada "the leading spokesman of Syrian Nationalism“ , „a tremendous impact on the politics and the shaping of the Middle East, to the point that, decades after their genesis, they still play a major role in the current events of the region“ . Als einzige arabischsprachige nationalistische Gruppierung mit einer holistischen politischen Theorie,  dem Sozialen Nationalismus oder Sozialnationalismus (al-qūamīā al-iǧtimāʿīā), prägte die SSNP eine ganze Generation von Politiker:innen und Intellektuellen, unter ihnen die libanesischen Politiker Ghassan Tuwayni  und Elie Salem, der Pan-Arabist Fayez Sayegh, der palästinensische Nationalist Hisham Shirabi, der syrische Diktator Shishakli und der Dichter Adonis.  Weitere ehemalige Mitglieder kopierten die politische Organisation der SSNP bei der Gründung eigener Parteien.  Dennoch erhält die SSNP bisher nur sehr geringe Aufmerksamkeit in wissenschaftlichen Diskurs und wird oftmals nur in historiographischen Studien zu Ideologien und Parteien in der arabischen Welt thematisiert.  Die vorliegende Arbeit thematisiert die Ideologie Sa'adas und der SSNP und ihre Verbindung zum europäischen Faschismus. Ihr Ziel ist es, aufzuzeigen, dass die sie durchaus Charakteristika einer faschistischen Ideologie aufweist, jedoch nicht ohne Einschränkungen als faschistisch bezeichnet werden oder auf eine Stufe mit bzw. als geistesgeschichtliche Fortsetzung der Nationalsozialismus und des italienischen Faschismus angesehen werden kann. Methodisch wird eine systematische Analyse Sa’adas Sozialnationalismus auf Charakteristika faschistischer Ideologien durchgeführt.

Although since March 2011, when the uprising started, the events in Syria overwhelm the reports of international media, references to Christians are rather sporadic – especially until the summer of 2012 –, as the analysts’ interest is absorbed by the Sunni-Alawite relations. Despite this limited reference, there is a consensus concerning the Christian attitude towards the rebellion: Christians are rather hesitant, if not entirely unwilling, to join. This article will turn its attention towards the rather overlooked Christian minority in Syria and will attempt to interpret their reluctance by looking at Syria, as imagined  by nationalists in the late 19th and 20th centuries, where Arabs or Syrians were to be united in one state, while maintaining their different religions. These ideologies came to direct conflict with the rival ideology of Islamism supported mainly by fundamentalist Sunni intellectuals. It will then present the perspective of a re-imagined Syria, where religion can potentially set a boundary line within society separating the overwhelming Sunni majority from the Christian minority, and thus turning a part of nowadays Syrian citizens to ‘den-izens’. Finally, it is necessary to define and analyse the term ‘den-izen’, and present relative examples from the major area in an attempt to explain a potential future that seems to emanate from the current conflict.

, the Maronites owe their name to the patron saint of their sect, Marun, who died about 410 A.D. Originally, they held to the Monothelite doctrine and they spoke Syriac which was a literary form of Aramaic. They continued to use their national language for more than three centuries after the Arab conquest of Syria. However, by the fifteenth century, their language was already Arabized.  Nowadays, their clergy still use Syriac liturgies in the mass. Around the end of the seventh century, they escaped with their Patriarch, Yuhanna al-Sarumi, who was called Yuhanna Marun after their fifth-century saint, from the valley of the Orontes in the Syrian interior where “they had always been on poor terms with the Byzantine church and its Syrian followers, the Melchites”.  They took refuge in Mt Lebanon.

The first political event involving the SSNP and the French authorities took place on November 16, 1935. On that date, the theretofore secret existence of the SSNP and the identity of its leadership were discovered by the French authorities.

The issues of fire, paradise, punishments and rewards are in the core of religion. Without these issues, Antun Sa´adeh argues, religion cannot be distinguished from sublime philosophical doctrines advocated by great philosophers in history or add anything to them.

Literature is not independent from the process of national revival; rather, it is very linked to it. It is an expression of a national revival. As Sa´adeh conceptualized, literature “seeks the foremost fundamental reality of a better life in a world of beauty and higher values.”

A brief introduction on Nushu’ al-Umam of Antun Sa'adeh. This work is a scientific study on the general aspects of nation and nationalism. It deals with their meaning and place in the course of human development and offers new definitions and criteria.

Islam in its Two Messages includes a series of articles written by Sa´adeh while living in Brazil. They were first published in his weekly paper al-Zawba´ah between 1941 and 1942, in response to a lecture given by Rashid Salim al-Khouri (1887 – 1984), better known as al-Sha´ir al-Qarawi ‘the Country Poet’.

Many analyses of the civil war in Syria see the religious divisions as one of the main aspects that explain its outbreak in 2011. According to this perspective, the conflict results from the dominance of subnational identities over national identity. This argument is now widely contested by civil war literature. This article endorses this contestation and seeks to evaluate the hypothesis that the incompatibility between social identities would weaken social cohesion in Syria. A questionnaire was distributed to Syrian volunteers in Brazil, addressing the importance and prominence of national and religious identities. The argument presented here is that a) there is not necessarily an incompatibility between religious identity and national identity; b) national identity is well established and widespread among Syrians; and c) despite not being the immediate cause of the conflict, the salience of religious identities makes them an important factor, among others, in social mobilization.

the Qur’an acknowledges the genuineness of Jesus. Throughout the book, Jesus is positively valued as an important prophet and identified as “Isa ibn Miryam”. In fact, he is cited, some thirty-five times in all, as being an important prophet and as an example, like the other prophets. In the New Testament, it is noteworthy to mention, Jesus is also acknowledged as a prophet. The four gospels portray him as such and narrate stories about how the crowd expressed the belief in him as a prophet.

The Qur’an mentions twenty-five messengers sent by God at different times of history to teach mankind and deliver His Divine message. Among them, “Muhammad stands as the Last Messenger and the crowning glory of the foundation of prophethood.”  Noah and Abraham, Ishmael and Moses, Jesus and Muhammad, and other great messengers were all mortals, human beings, endowed with Divine revelations.

In Islam in its Two Messages, Sa´adeh aimed to explain the essence of religion and to promote the unity of Christianity and Mohammedanism. Thus, he studied the phenomenon of religion and its purposes in life. He compared Christianity and Mohammedanism and regarded the two as " messages from one religion bearing no difference between them on the ultimate objectives of religion ". As he put it: " there is no contradiction between Christianity and Mohammedanism on the reality of religion or on the pure religious objectives ". Both religions lead to the same knowledge, that is, the knowledge of the one true God. Hence, according to Sa´adeh, " there should not be any collision or conflict between the two religions (or messages); rather there should be affection and unification ". In this context, Rabee'h Debs has commented: As founder of an intellectual school (the school of Social Nationalism), Sa´adeh conducted a comparative study between Christianity and Islam, and concluded that both religions are one in essence, in spite of a 'few " differences, and that religions serve unity when they limit themselves to spiritual affairs and foster disunity when they cross the bounds of politics.

إنَّ المدرحيةَ لا تعنى بالماورائيّاتِ ولا تقدِّمُ نظرياتٍ مجرّدةً وتصوّراتٍ خياليّةً أو افتراضيّةً بلْ هي فلسفةٌ وجوديّةٌ صراعيّةٌ عمليّةٌ تصّبُ اهتمامَهَا على الوجودِ وقضاياهُ وتسعى لتحقيقِ الحياةِ الحرّةِ الجميلةِ، حياةِ العزِّ والخيرِ والشرفِ والانتصارِ.

ِSa´adeh draws upon ideas of totemism and elaborates that the Jews, who were in a primitive and particularistic state, adopted the idea of God, which was an old Syrian idea, and perceived Him in a primal way rendering Him something like a “totem” or a living idol, invisible and specific to the Israelite Tribe.

Khalil Saadeh spent five years in Argentina (1915 - 1920) before moving to Sao Paulo, Brazil. During his stay in Buenos Aires he developed an enmity against Emín Arslán. The differences between both of them look scarcely relevant to the current day eye.

الغزو الثقافي هي إستراتيجية فعّالة اعتمدها العدو لأنها تؤّمن له السيطرة والهيمنة الإقتصادية والسياسية بأساليب غير عسكرية. وغاية الغزو الثقافي والفكري هي إحتلال العقول وإحداث الهزيمة في نفوسنا وبالتالي إحداث تغييرات فكرية وذهنية تجعل من شعبنا مستسلماً للإرادتين الدولية والصهيونية وراضخاً لمشيئتهما. ان الغزو الثقافي هو أخطر من الغزو العسكري لأن من يحتل العقول يقضي على الحقائق ويقضي على أي امل في توليد إرادة التحرير في حين ان الإحتلال العسكري قد يؤدي إلى إستيقاظ الشعور القومي والإندفاع لمقاومة الإحتلال.

Following the footsteps of many philosophers before him, Sa´adeh, in his refutation of Al-Qarawi, discusses the relation between faith and revelation on the one hand and reason on the other. He believesthat by reason, religion, as a social phenomenon, can be studied and interpreted objectively irrespective of stipulation of faith.

And how do they make thee a judge and they have the Torah wherein is Allāh's judgment? Yet they turn away after that! And these are not believers. (5: 43 Al-Mā'idah (The Food)2 Surely We have revealed the Torah, having guidance and light. By it did the prophets who submitted themselves (to Allāh) judge for the Jews, and the rabbis and the doctors of law, because they were required to guard the Book of Allāh, and they were witnesses thereof. (5: 44 Al-Mā'idah (The Food)3 And let the People of the Gospel judge by that which Allāh has revealed in it. And whoever judges not by what Allāh has revealed, those are the transgressors. (5: 47 Al-Mā'idah (The Food)4 It is clear in the Qur'an that the Jews and the Christians were believers in God and categorized as 'People of the Book'. The Qur'an urges the Christians and the Jews to practice their religion (5:68, 45, 47) and appeals to what are common between them: Say: O People of the Book, come to an equitable word between us and you, that we shall serve none but Allāh and that we shall not associate aught with Him, and that some of us shall not take others for lords besides Allāh. But if they turn away, then say: Bear witness, we are Muslims. ((3: 63 Al 'Imrān (The Family of Amran)5

Sa´adeh did not pay much attention to issues related to the origin of the universe and the metaphysical world. He preferred to deal with important issues pertaining to the existence of humanity in general and to the life of his nation in particular. In his opinion, man should aim for a beautiful and sublime existence.

Sa´adeh assured his readers that he was impartial and not taking side with one religion against the other. He bluntly declared that his concern was not to defend Christianity or to prove its authenticity and soundness. “We are not preachers of religion”, he said . Indeed, Sa´adeh was a secular man who advocated complete separation between religion and the state.

الصدق القومي هو الإحساس النبيل النابع من القلوب المؤمنة، من إنسانية الإنسان المجتمع الجديد.. وهو السلوك الحسن المعبّر أجمل تعبير عن حقيقة المجتمع الأصيلة ومثله العليا وعن نفسيته الجميلة وتوقها للخير والتفوّق والإبداع. هو حب الإنسان والوطن وهو الوفاء للشعب والدفاع عن حقوقه ومصالحه. هو الفعل النبيل النابع من الإيمان الجديد، من الوجدان الاجتماعي الحي، النقي، والمشّع بأنواره على المجتمع القومي بأكمله. وهو مفهوم جديد للنزاهة والأمانة والصفاء والإخلاص للغايات السامية وللهدف القومي الأخير.

Religion did not start with Muhammad, but with Abraham as indicated by texts of the Qur’an. Ibrahim  is an important figure in the Muslim Muhammadenism revelation. He is mentioned in thirty-five chapters of the Qur’an, sometimes at length. He, or probably his son Ishmael, is the builder of a monotheist shrine, the Ka´aba, or “the Cube” (God’s House) in Mecca. This house is for hundreds of millions of Muslims the holiest building in the world, and its holiness derives from its connection with Abraham and his son, Ishmael.

Sa´adeh's dispute with al-Khouri is a genuine one, involving disagreement about whether his propositions are true or not. One of the reasons contributing to this dispute is the disagreement between them on the definition of terms and the meaning of the words by means of which they convey their respective positions. An example of their theoretical disagreement can be seen in their definitions of " Islam ". Al-Khouri's definition of Islam seems identical with the way in which the term is used within a language community. It restricts Islam to the message revealed to Muhammad. Sa´adeh's definition, on the other hand, is much broader. He assigns a meaning within the context of a historical and intellectual framework. His meaning seems identical with the way in which the term is conveyed in the Qur'an and used by many writers and academics. This disagreement on the meaning of " Islam " is elaborated in more details. Al-Khouri, after praising the Prophet Muhammad for being astute and of good judgment in all aspects of life, he makes the assertion that God has chosen Islam to be his special religion and that Islam has invalidated Christianity. Al-Khouri supports his assertion with a Qur'anic citation from AíImran surah (section 84): " And whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will not be accepted from him, and in the Hereafter he will be one of the losers. " 1 Obviously al-Khouri was wrong and seemed to have ignored many references in the Qur'an, which assert that a Muslim must accept the whole truth of Islam as revealed to any prophet before Muhammad. One such a reference can be found in AíImran surah itself in the previous section (83) to the one quoted by al-Khouri: Say: We believe in Allāh and that which is revealed to us, and that which was revealed to Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes, and that which was given to Moses and Jesus and to the prophets from their Lord; we make no distinction between any of them, and to Him we submit.2

Το παρόν επιστημονικό άρθρο αποτελεί τμήμα μιας ευρύτερης εργασίας που προωθεί το επιχείρημα ότι το μέλλον των Χριστιανών σε μια δυνητικά ισλαμιστική Συρία θα είναι αυτό του νη-πολίτη (den-izen), δηλαδή του πρώην πολίτη που έχασε τα δικαιώματά του de facto ή de jure χωρίς να έχει διαπράξει κάποιο έγκλημα. Το περιεχόμενο του όρου βασίζεται στις ιδέες του Ιταλού διανοητή Giorgio Agamben για τον homo sacer και την κατάσταση εξαίρεσης. Το θέση αυτή βασίζεται σε τρία επιχειρήματα που έχουν να κάνουν με την παλαιά και νέα σύγκρουση μεταξύ εθνικής και ισλαμιστικής ιδέας στη Συρία, τις εσωτερικές τάσεις του Ισλάμ και τα παραδείγματα όπου επικράτησε ο ισλαμισμός προσωρινά ή μόνιμα. Στο παρόν άρθρο αναλύεται μόνο το πρώτο επιχείρημα για τον ιστορικό και σύγχρονο ανταγωνισμό εθνικισμού και ισλαμισμού στη Συρία.

This short article illustrates how Antun Sa´adeh tried to awaken the conscience of his fellow migrants and to alert them to their duties. His aim was to keep the connection between his fellow-expatriates and their homeland and to remind them of their national duties towards their distressed families and countrymen.