Mamdouh Bitar, Ruba Mansour
Is it self-evident and logical to call Syria Arab? Who are the Arabs? Are the Syrian people only Arabs? Why do we attribute Syria to a people who inhabited it like others, and why do we attribute it to a particular historical era and not another? Some Arabs from the Arabian Peninsula began settling in Syria even before the advent of Islam. Some Arab tribes migrated from the Arabian Peninsula to Syria (the Levant and Iraq) escaping hardship and searching for pasture and grass. These tribes practiced herding and lived a nomadic life. Among them were the tribes of Taghlib, Ghassan, Bakr, and the Lakhmids, among others. At that time, Syria was under Roman occupation, and Iraq was under Persian influence. Greek was the official language of the Levant, just as Persian was the language of Iraq. After Aramaic had been the language of the world, there was a cultural intermingling between the Arameans, Greeks, Romans, Persians, and Arabs on Syrian soil. Then came the Islamic conquests of the Levant and Iraq. The entire region was subjected to the rule of the emerging Islamic Caliphate during that period. At that time, the Arabs of the Arabian Peninsula were a minority in Syria, not exceeding 6% of the total natural population of Syria at the beginning of the Umayyad rule. The process of Arabization of the state and its offices began, and Arabic became the language of the people. Islam, after its conversion to Islam, became the religion of the country. This situation continued until the beginning of the period of weakness of the Abbasid state, which was characterized by the entry of ethnic elements from Persia and Turkey into the body of society, influencing civilization and being influenced by others. Over the ages, all these peoples acquired a slight Syrian flavor, while the Syrians acquired a Bedouin Arab-Ottoman flavor. Interactions continued between all the peoples who inhabited Syria, including Arabs, Kurds, Armenians, Syriacs, Assyrians, Turkmen, and Circassians. What united them, despite their ethnic and cultural differences, was the Syrian land. The country has not developed over the past fourteen centuries, unlike the periods before the Arab-Islamic Bedouin conquests. Anyone looking at Syria, rich in antiquities, will find no trace of Arab-Islamic influence…the country has become completely desertified. In the modern era, with the spread of national consciousness in our region, the idea of Arab nationalism spread. This was a utopian idea whose initial goal was to unify the Fertile Crescent and the Hejaz into a single state after the expulsion of the Ottoman occupation. However, this dream was not destined for success for many reasons, most of which were due to the emptiness of Arab-Islamic nationalist thought, which destroyed the states established after World War I, which had many of the elements of success. From this brief historical narrative, we see that the Arabs were a group like any other, who inhabited Syria at one time and interacted with other peoples on its land. The people of Syria today do not belong to a single ethnicity, but rather to a mixture of ethnicities, peoples, and nationalities. However, their basic, permanent characteristic has been their Syrian identity, whether they were originally Arabs, Kurds, Syriacs, Assyrians, Armenians, Turkmen, Circassians, or others. Theoretically, the will to coexist was the factor that should have united humanity. Instead, groups attempted to exercise dominance over others in various ways, including Arabization and religious discrimination, which manifested itself in various forms, including personal status laws, the concept of a state religion, and others. Syria used to have a large population and few Syrian citizens. Due to Arab and Islamic alienation and the rejection of true belonging to it, Syria has become a homeland or a place of residence for them. Consequently, the manifestations of Syrian nationalism have degenerated into lies and pretense. There is no nationalism without belonging. For those who are strangers to Syria, belonging is their primary and most important belonging. Arab nationalists belong to the virtual Arab state, and Islamists belong to the virtual Islamic state. Belonging to Syria has practically become secondary, and is now on its way to becoming primary, especially after the abject failure of Arab-Islamic nationalist thought in nurturing the states that were established after World War I. These Arab-Islamists reek of national fornication, schizophrenia and even treason. They can claim whatever affiliation they want, let it be to the devil, and no one can hold them accountable. However, the paradox lies in their consideration of cohabitation in Syria as first-class Syrian citizenship. In other words, first-class citizenship coupled with second-class and higher affiliation to others. Their treason lies in camouflaging their national fornication and fifth columnism with the noise of false patriotism. The honest citizen does not destroy and demolish his country, and does not insist on leading this country after it has been proven that he is incapable of leading. They are not ashamed of the destruction they have caused, and of the failure of the state, which they were supposed to make successful…