Arabian Ethnicity and Arab Nationalism the Case of Abd Al-Rahman Azzam - Ralph Coury

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"Arabian Ethnicity" and Arab Nationalism: The Case of Abd al-Rahman AzzamAuthor(s): Ralph CourySource: Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt , Vol. 25 (1988), pp. 61-70Published by: American Research Center in Egypt

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"Arabian Ethnicity" and Arab Nationalism:

The Case of Abd al Rahman Azzam

Ralph Coury

The importance of the role played by Abd al-

Rahman Azzam in the Arab nationalist move-

ment, as a Wafdist and then as an independent,

and finally as the first Secretary General of the

Arab League, has long been recognized. In

respect to Egypt, in particular, Azzam has been

regarded, by both Westerners and Arabs, as one of

the first Egyptians to promote Arab nationalism.

There is, in fact, a scholarly tradition which has

maintained that Ali Mahir and Azzam, the

former working under the latter' s influence and

both working as the instruments and coadjutors

of King Faruq, were the first to propagate and

implement pan-Arabism as a policy for Egypt in

the mid- to late thirties.1 As I have argued

elsewhere, the singularity and zeal of the activist

Arabist policy attributed to Azzam and Mahir

have been much exaggerated, as has the unique

importance of Azzam 's conversion to Arab na-

tionalism (Heyworth-Dunne is being absurd

when he implies that Egypt "discovered" Arab-

ism, through Azzam and his family).2 Neverthe-

less, Azzam was undoubtedly one of Arabism's

earliest and most articulate Egyptian converts. As

Muhammad Ali Tahir, the Palestinian editor of

al-Shura, was to write "When Azzam established

contact [in the mid-20' s] with the struggling

Arab elements who had come to Egypt . . . and

when he understood their cause, he became rare

for his generation."3

What accounts for this "rarity"? How are we

to explain the fact that, from the early twenties,

Azzam' s assumption of an Arab identity, and of

the existence of an Arab people and nation, had

become second nature and at a time in which

other Egyptians who wished to invoke extra-

Egyptian affinities were more likely to speak of

bonds based upon Islam, Eastern-ness, or the

shared sufferings of the colonized?4

The answer that scholars and others have

given has focused upon Azzam' s childhood and

the allegedly Arab atmosphere in which he was

born and raised.

The theme of a special home life that might

account for special Arab traits later in Azzam 's

career was sounded as early as 1923 when Henry

Anthony, a British official residing in Egypt,

submitted an intelligence report on Azzam' s early

life and schooling:

"The Azzam family, though settled in Egypt

for some generations, come of good old Arab

stock, and have always clung tenaciously to Arab

traditions and ideals of life. Abdul Rahman

was thus brought up in an atmosphere very

different from that of the ordinary Egyptian or

Turco-Egyptian family ... In estimating Abdul-

Rahman's character, his early up-bringing and

his Arab blood must never be forgotten."5

1 See, for example, Elie Kedourie, Pan Arabism and

British Policy," in The Chatham House Version and Other

Middle Eastern Studies (London, 1970); James Heyworth-

Dunne, Religious and Political Trends in Modern Egypt

(Washington, D.C., 1950); Nadav Safran, Egypt in Search of

Political Community (Cambridge, Mass., 1961); and Richard

Mitchell, The Society of the Muslim Brothers (London,

1969 .

2 For a full discussion see Ralph M. Coury, "Who 'In-

vented' Egyptian Arab Nationalism?" Parts 1 Sc 2, Inter-

national Journal of Middle East Studies 14 (1982), no. 3 & 4,

and 259-479.

3 Muhammad Ali Tahir, Mutaqal Hukstib (Cairo, 1950)

574.

4 See, for example, Azzam's article on Umar Mukhtar in

which Azzam speaks, in contrast to other Egyptian com-

mentators of the time, of Mukhtar as one who shares a

common identity with all who speak Arabic (al-Ahram,

September 18, 1931).

5 F.O. 371/8988 E5538/3338/16; Allenby, Cairo, to the

F.O., May 17, 1923.

61



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62 JARCE XXV 1988

In later years, as Azzam's reputation as an

Egyptian Arab nationalist grew, the significance

of his "peninsular" origins loomed large in

explanations of his activities or in attempts to

analyze the elements - psychological or other-

wise-which contributed to the formation of his

personality and particular political style. Thus,

in 1928, in seeking to account for his being

selected by the Wafd to accompany his fellow

Wafdist Hamid al-Basil on a mission of recon-

ciliation to Saudi Arabia, the Foreign Office

referred to his being of "bedouin stock," a fact

which presumably made him more acceptable to

the "bedouin" Ibn Saud.6 And Sir Miles Lamp-

son, the British Ambassador, wrote in 1938:

"His possession of the bedouin qualities,

courage (moral no less than physical), indiffer-

ence to discomfort, an acute sense of honour -

together with a sense of humour and a high

measure of sportsmanship and idealism, make

him popular with all Englishmen ... He is, in

the best sense of the word, an adventurer, and his

personality stands out in a land of felaheen."7

The notion that Azzam and his family were dif-

ferent from the peasantry or from notable Egyp-

tian families of peasant origin, and that this

difference was of major importance to Azzam's

early concern for Islamic and Arab unity, be-

came proverbial in the writing devoted to him

following his appointment as Secretary General

of the Arab League in 1945. According to

Heyworth-Dunne:

"The striking feature of this family is that it

has kept its Arab habits and customs right up to

the present day, and its extraordinary assabiyah

(family solidarity), for the Azzams do not inter-

marry with Egyptians. The remarkable differ-

ences between an Egyptian and an Azzam can be

seen right away."8

It was Heyworth-Dunne, of course, who, in his

Religious and Political Trends in Modern Egypt,

first placed emphasis on the role of Azzam as

prime mover in the development of Egyptian

Arab nationalism.

Does this theme of a special Arab atmosphere

within the Azzam home account for Azzam's

sense of Arab identity and his later championing

of Arab unity? It does not seem to, nor does it

appear to reflect, accurately, the realities of

Azzam's early life or the psychological context in

which he was raised. The Azzams did have a

tradition of being descended from tribes which

came from the Arabian Peninsula, but this

tradition, and the customs or characteristics

which might be expected to accompany it, did

not play a central role in their family life. The

Azzam family did not possess a genealogical tree

linking them to specific Arab tribes or sub -tribes

in the East. Their exact place of origin remained

unknown, and a number of tribes and regions

have been variously suggested.9 As Azzam himself

has commented, "Some say we are Yemenites,

others that we came from Palestine or North

Arabia, still others that we are Juhaynah."10 In

the case of the Saudis, the family of Azzam's

mother Nabihah, the tribal connection was more

concrete, in that the family knew it was descended

from the Juhaynah, and more particularly, the

Tamim.11 But even this specificity did not be-

token a living, organic link, either with the

bedouin or their ways. There was no living

memory of contact with any of the Tamim.

The fact is that the Azzams did not see

themselves as set apart from other Egyptians

because of their "ethnic" or "racial" origin. As

Azzam remembers:

"If you went to our village [Shubak al-Gharbi

in Giza] and asked if they had an Arab origin

they would say yes, but this did not imply that

they identified with the bedouin. We were not

brought up with a strong consciousness of

bedouin descent. We were Arabs because we were

6 See F.O. 406/61469457 no. 72; Lord Lloyd, High Com-

missioner, to the F.O., Cairo, May 19, 1928 and F.O.

371/16854/1657 E955/347/65; Sir Percy Lorraine, High Com-

missioner, Cairo, to Sir Lancelant Oliphant, F.O., January

20, 1933.

7 F.O. 371/19091J 725/725/16; Lampson, Cairo, to the

F.O., February 15, 1935. On Egyptian "personalities."

8 James Heyworth-Dunne, "Egypt Discovers Arabism: The

Role of the Azzams," Jewish Observer & Middle East Review

14 (March 26, 1965), 20.

9 See Nimat Ahmad Fuad, Abd al-Wahhab Azzam, al-

Risalah 21, no. 1, 019 (July 1963) 15-16 and Arif al-Arif,

Tarikh Bir al-Saba wa Qabailiha (Jerusalem, 1934) 94-112.

10 Interview with Abd al-Rahman Azzam, Beirut, May 1,

1970.

11 Ibid.



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ARABIAN ETHNCITY AND ARAB NATIONALISM63

'sons' or 'children of the Arabs' in contrast to the

Turks, but the term 'Arab' as such was used for

the bedouin and we would not apply it to one

another. 12

It is relevant to point out that the Azzams, if

viewed in the light of several studies that have

attempted to delineate the various stages of

bedouin sedentarization in Egypt, can be said to

have been totally assimilated to sedentary or

village life. They did not, for example, take to the

tents during summer. Nor did their food, cloth-

ing, or speech retain traces (as in the case of

families such as the Basils or the Lamlums who

had settled more recently) of bedouin influence.13

It is true that the Azzams did not usually marry

outside their family, but this was not because

they did not wish to mix with those Egyptians

who did not have Arab blood. Rather, it was

because they, as is true of others in the Middle

East, preferred marriages between first cousins or

other close relatives.

Lack of what has been termed an organic link

with bedouin life does not mean that there was

no contact between the Saudis or Azzams and

various tribes. As a young boy Azzam used to visit

Makkawi al-Saudi, an uncle of his mother who

lived in Fayyum not far from the desert. A kind of

paterfamilias of his village whose benediction

and advice were sought during local elections or

in disputes and transactions in respect to buying

and selling land, Makkawi maintained amiable

relations with a number of bedouin tribes and

took pride in his knowledge of their genealogy

and history. Exposure to Makkawi, and to the

world of the desert with which he was familiar

(Azzam remembers making several visits to bed-

ouin with his uncle), undoubtedly influenced

Abd al-Rahman in later life and made his first

important dealings with bedouin (in Libya) all

the more felicitous. But such exposure was not

designed to replenish or sustain an Arab (here

meaning non-peasant or non-Egyptian) atmo-

sphere whose maintenance was deemed impor-

tant. The Azzams did not, for example, as was

true of some town people in Iraq, send their

children to spend a certain period with the

bedouin in order to build up physical stamina or

acquire eloquence.

What was decisive for the Azzams, what did

differentiate them from ordinary Egyptian fami-

lies, was the fact that they were fallahin dhawati

(literally, "notable peasants") whose position

was determined by the possession of land, wealth,

and the political power that followed as a

consequence (Azzam's father, Hassan Bey, owned

about 170 feddan and served, variously, as a

member of the Provincial Council of Giza, the

Legislative Council, and the General Assembly).14

Such realities played far more important a role

than Arab identity in the consciousness of the

young Azzam and his brothers and sisters. Thus,

in response to a question as to whether the

Azzams and Saudis possessed a strong feeling of

Arabness, Zaynab Azzam, Abd al-Rahman's

sister, answered that it was the feeling of fallah

misri that was dominant. According to Zaynab,

Shaykh Makkawi "mixed much with the tribes";

but, at the same time, his brother Husayn Khalaf

al-Saudi used to look down on the nomads. 15

And Azzam himself was to say in an interview of

the same year (1970), "In Egypt traditions are

traditions of the village. Importance is in wealth,

land and numbers. The bedouin were often

looked upon as thieves and poor people." 16

The fact that Azzam did not have any special

sense of Arab identity that set him apart from

12 Ibid.

13 See Mohamed Awad, The Assimilation of Nomads in

Egypt," Geographical Review 44, no. 2 (April, 1954) 242-52;

Mohamed Awad, Settlement of Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic

Tribal Groups in the Middle East," International Labor

Review 77, no. 1 (January 1959) 25-56; A. M. Abou-Zeid,

"The Nomadic and the Semi -Nomadic Tribal Populations of

the Egyptians' Western Desert and the Syrian Desert," Bulle-

tin of the Faculty of Arts, Alexandria University 18 (1963)

71-133.

14 For these organizations see Robert L. Tignor, Moderni-

zation and British Colonial Rule in Egypt, 1882-1914 (Prince-

ton, 1966) 54-55; Abd al-Rahman al-Rafii, Mustafa Kamil

(Cairo, 1962) 370-74. Information about the holdings of

Azzam's father comes from Abd al-Rahman's dossier at the

Egyptian national archives and interviews with him and

members of his family. See Dusiya Abd al-Rahman Azzam,

Mahfuzah raqm 1542, musalsal 2177, ayn 196, makhzan 42,

muashat Khazanah, August, 1953, p. 1 (Dossier of Abd al-

Rahman Azzam, Egyptian National Archives, archive number

1542, series 2177, ayn 196, depository 42, pensioners' deposi-

tory, August 1953, p. 1).

15 Interview with Zaynab Azzam, July 21, 1970.


1970.



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64 JARCE XXV 1988

other Egyptians who had no tradition of Penin-

sular origin is plain; and it is equally plain that,

whatever sense of Arab identity he did possess,

such identity had little relevance to his political

ideology and practice during the early years of

his political career. Arab identity would mean

little until 1918 and his participation in the

Libyan resistance against the Italians after the

collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Up to that

point, whether as a secondary student at the

Saidiyya School in Cairo, or as a medical student

in England and later in Cairo, or as a participant

in the joint Ottoman-Libyan struggle against the

British and Italians during World War I, Azzam's

political activity and ideas were informed by a

combination of Egyptian liberal and secular terri-

torial patriotism, the tradition of Islamic nation-

alism and modernism stemming from al- Afghani

and Abduh, and a kind of proto Afro-Asian

Third Worldism that sought - in the words of an

English newspaper for which he wrote in 1914 -

to "voice the aspirations of the black, brown and

yellow races . . . within and without the [British]

Empire. . . ."17

Azzam's first appeals to Arab nationalism

occurred, as I have already indicated, after the fall

of the Ottomans and, more particularly, during

the period he spent in Libya from November,

1918, until January, 1923. A detailed treatment of

Azzam's involvement in Libya's resistance to the

Italians lies outside the scope of this article. A

brief summary is nevertheless necessary to pro-

vide a background for the ideological shift we

wish to consider.

Azzam arrived in Libya from Egypt in Decem-

ber, 1915, in order to join Nuri Bey (the brother

of Enver Pasha) and a group of Ottoman officers

who were leading a Sanusi army in fighting

against the British. After Sayyid Idris made his

peace with the British through the Treaty of

Akramah in 1917, Nuri and his by then trusted

assistant Azzam transferred the center of their

interest to Tripolitania, where they sought to

build up a centralized authority. When efforts to

have Tripolitania' s leaders unite under Sayyid

Ahmad al-Sharif failed, the Ottoman Prince

Uthman Fuad was brought from Istanbul to act

as the Sultan's representative in Tripolitania.

Continuous rivalry between Tripolitanian chiefs,

however, defeated all efforts at achieving unity.

When Turkey surrendered in November, 1918,

and Uthman Fuad left, Azzam and a number

of the stronger chiefs, including Ahmad al-

Suwaylihi, Abd al-Nabi Bilkhayr, Sulayman al-

Baruni, and Mukhtar Kubar, sought, once again,

to create a united Tripolitanian front. The result

was the meeting of leaders at al-Qasabat on

November 18, 1918, which proclaimed the found-

ing of a Tripolitanian Republic. This proclama-

tion of the Republic, which was viewed as a

coalition of chiefs rather than as a true state,

seems to have been a tactical measure aimed at

gaining political concessions from the Italians.

This is indicated by the fact that the Tripoli-

tanian chiefs sent to meet the Italian commander

in Tripoli made him understand that they were

prepared to drop their demands for independence

if they were given internal autonomy and Italian

nationality with all the rights pertaining to it.

The Italians responded by promulgating the

Fundamental Law of Tripolitania on June 1,

1919, granting the native population Italian

nationality and civil and political equality with

the Italians. The law also provided for an Italian

governor who would act on the advice of an

elected local parliament and a council of govern-

ment of ten members, eight of whom would be

chosen by the parliament. The Tripolitanians

accepted this arrangement and dissolved the

Republic in August. However, inasmuch as the

Italians did not want to implement the law, a

National Reform Party was formed in September

with the purpose of exerting pressure on the

Italians to put the law into effect. The prime

movers were Azzam and such urban leaders as

Khalid al-Qarganni and Uthman al-Gizani, the

editor of al-Liwa al-Tarabulsi. In spite of numer-

ous efforts, however, including, in 1922, a formal

invitation to Sayyid Idris to accept an Amirate

over a united Libya (another tactical maneuver)

no united front could be created, the Funda-

mental Law was never applied, and, by 1924,

opposition in Tripolitania had practically ended

and the Italians were militarily victorious over

all of their chief opponents. Azzam made his final

17 The African Times ir Orient Review, London, July,

1912, p. 3 .



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departure in January, 1923, as part of the entou-

rage that accompanied Sayyid Idris into exile in

Egypt.18

It is within the context of such developments

that Azzam adopted the vocabulary of Arab

nationalism with which he was to be so closely

associated in Egypt. One of the principal vehicles

for the promotion of this Arab nationalism

was al-Liwa al-Tarabulsi, the newspaper which

served as the mouthpiece for the National Reform

Party. Al-Liwa was, as a British official at the

consulate commented upon seeing its first edi-

tion, an important looking newspaper that began

publication on Oct. 9, 1919, and continued until

1923. 19 Bearing the subtitle a 'political, literary,

social and economic newspaper,' "it made no

secret of its support for the goals of the Reform

Party and was known as this party's 'official

mouthpiece.'"20 Although the paper had the

backing of a powerful and wealthy Tripolitanian

benefactor, al-Shaykh Muhammad Abd al-Salam

al-Misrati, it was largely financed by subscrip-

tions and small contributions from the munici-

pality of Tripoli. In its daily operations and

production it relied upon young members of the

party drawn from the schools. The paper estab-

lished its offices on Abi al-Khayl Street in the city

of Tripoli where it had the use of the press of the

old newspaper al-Tarqa. The type had to be set

by hand, inasmuch as there were no machines

like mono- or linotype available. Young party

members would join to correct the proofs and

plan the layout and to distribute the paper to

subscribers who were advised to inform al

Liwa 's offices if editions were not received twenty-

four hours after their publication. In spite of the

provisions of the Fundamental Law which guaran-

teed freedom of the press, Italian censorship was

vigorous (long, blank columns often character-

ized al-Liwa's editions) and articles had to be

read two or three times before being taken to

print in order to alter or eliminate passages

which the authorities might find offensive.21

Of all his activities in Tripolitania Azzam

seems to have taken most eagerly and naturally to

his work for al-Liwa. One of his first hopes upon

settling in Tripoli was to establish a newspaper,

and it was through his contacts with the experi-

enced al-Qizani that such a hope was quickly

realized. Once al-Liwa was founded, Azzam

became one of its most prolific political writers,

and an influence whose ideas are reflected through-

out the paper. Writers other than al-Qizani and

Azzam contributed to al-Liwa, but it was they

who lent the paper a unifying tone and spirit

through their articles and the determination of

editorial policy.

One of the most important unifying themes in

the paper, particularly in the writings of al-

Qizani and Azzam, is Arab nationalism. Again

and again, Arabism is invoked to stimulate

patriotism for a Tripolitanian Arab nation,

limited geographically but at the same time part

of a larger Arab nation or community of nations.

Thus the newspaper's first editorial on Oct. 9,

1919 began:

Oh God, the Arabs are for you so do not

humble them. They are your faithful servants.

Guide them and preserve them with your

solicitude for they are your bondsmen who will

not sin if your light is not taken from them. We

present to the world of journalism a new

creation by the name of al-Liwa al-Tarabulsi

... Its parents are noble . . . the Fundamental

Law for the Tripolitanian land (qatr) and its

seven principles with its provision for freedom.

As for its [the newspaper's] interest in internal

affairs, it is essential and natural. As for

foreign affairs, its interest is a necessity as

long as the world tends to general unity and

as long as the Tripolitanian land remains a

18 A general summary of these Libyan events can be found

in Muhammad Fuad Shukri, al-Sanusiyyah: Din wa Dawlah

(Cairo, 1948); Ahmad Tahir al-Zawi, Jihad al-Abtal fi

Tarabulus al-Gharb, 2nd edition (Beirut, 1970); Jalal Yahya,

al-Maghrib al-Kabir: al-Asur al-Hadithah, vol. 3 (Cairo,

1966); Jamil M. Abun-Nasr, A History of the Maghrib

(Cambridge, 1971), and Majid Khadduri, Modern Libya

(Baltimore, 1963).

19 F.O. 371/3805/144882; October 23, 1919. Consul General

Monahan, to the F.O.

20 See the unsigned editorial "Nataij al-Inqilab" ("The

Results of the Revolution"), al-Liwa al-Tarabulsi, October

20, 1919. See also Mustafa Ali al-Misrati, Sahafat Libya ft

Nusf Qarn (Beirut, 1960), 148, and al-Zawi, op. cit., 379.

21 For these workings of the paper I have relied heavily on

al-Misrati, op. cit, 157-61.



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66 JARCE XXV 1988

branch of the Arab tree, influenced by all that

befalls it. As for its internal politics it is the

politics of the National Reform Party whose

purposes have already been mentioned. As for

its external politics it is seeking justice for the

Muslims and defending the rights of Arabs

wherever they may be.22

For the writers of al-Liwa, Tripolitania is a

nation in formation, struggling to appropriate

the knowledge and institutions of a free and

modern people, but inasmuch as it is a part of a

larger Arab community, Tripolitania is striving

to reappropriate characteristics it once possessed

and to fulfill potentialities that have never been

totally lost.

"The Tripolitanian nation (ummah)" a long

editorial of Oct. 20, 1919, began,

is a part of the Arab nation (ummah), which

has a great history and which has been en-

nobled with all excellencies. And, the inclina-

tions which a just history has preserved for the

Arab nation are manifest and deeply rooted in

the Tripolitanian nation in their fullest mean-

ing: freedom of thought, love of justice, self-

esteem, bravery, sincerity, support for the

right, holding to principles of perfection and

civilization. The Arabs conquered various areas

of the world. They served the sciences and the

arts and civilization so greatly that they have

filled the pages of the history of development

with a proud heritage whose glory pen cannot

describe. Thanks to the great Arab nations the

East was the teacher and guide of the West . . .

All of these unprecedented developments were

clear indications of the Arabs' inveteracy in

progress and government. At all times they

protected the honour of their nation and their

sovereignty.23

Azzam and his associates were willing to admit

that the Arabs did not possess houses of parlia-

ment in the past, but they proceeded to argue that

democratic ideals are enjoined by the Islamic

religion and are "natural" to the Arab race.

When an Italian friend of the Arabs published a

fatherly letter to Azzam and al-Liwa wondering

if there were not some truth to the assertion that

the Arabs had been unfamiliar with representa-

tive government, Azzam replied on March 3,

1920:

You mention that there is a group that levels

many charges against the Arabs, among which

is that they are not familiar with democratic

government. In truth, consultation (shura) is

the basis of our religion and democracy is the

light of our race. For it [the race] did not come

upon constitutional government through mo-

dern writing or it did not take it from books,

but it was something in existence from our

youth. Yes, the organization and foundations

upon which representative government is estab-

lished in Europe is unknown among us, but

the bedouin, because of his character, and in his

tribal meetings and customs, is a member of a

chamber of deputies by his very nature. He

does not at all accept the government of a

tyrannical individual unless he is helpless and

then he works covertly and with all his

strength to replace this rule with anarchy.24

There is much to learn from Europe but not

from an imperialism that falsely claims to be

providing the Arabs with values of liberty and a

civilization for which they have no need.

"The Italians [an editorial of July 22, 1920

warns] cannot return this nation to a colony like

the colonies of Ethiopia and the Sudan ... If the

experience of the previous eight years has not

shown them this, then they must simply be told

that we are not from the stock of those whom

they wish us to be like. We are of an Arab nation

with a history and a glory and we appreciate the

value of freedom as our ancestors have appreci-

ated it before us. 25

22 An unsigned and untitled editorial, al-Liwa al-Tarabulsi,

October 9, 1919.

23 An unsigned editorial, "Nataij al-Inqilab" ("The Results

of the Revolution"), al-Liwa al-Tarabulsi, October 20, 1919.

24 Abd al-Rahman Azzam Haqiqah la Budda Minha,

Mualimi al-Muhtaramu al-Nasih al-Muhami Martini ( A

Truth of Which There Is No Doubt, My Learned and Re-

spected Advisor the Lawyer Martini"), al-Liwa al-Tarabulsi,

March 4, 1920.

25 An unsigned editorial, "La Khawf Ala al-Bilad" ("No

Fear for the Country"), al-Liwa al-Tarabulsi, July 18, 1920.



8/11


In answer to the question of why the Arabs

were now underdeveloped and prey to stronger

nations, al-Liwa suggested that although the

Arabs had made political and moral mistakes, a

fatal turning point had been reached only with

the triumph of non-Arab elements in the Muslim

empire who taught the faithful to accept political

autocracy and stagnation. Progress could now be

found in a spiritual rebirth led by faithful men

of reform who understand the value of work,

unity, and self-reliance.26 To be sure, the strug-

gle against imperialism and underdevelopment

would be long. But it had already begun and the

Tripolitanian Arabs were not alone. Articles

about Morocco, Syria, Egypt, and other Arab

countries endeavoured to give substance to the

concept of a wider Arab world also struggling to

gain its freedom and the fruits of modern

civilization.27 Egypt, in particular, in its national

struggle and cultural and educational achieve-

ments, was admired as a model. Virtually the

whole edition of Nov. 9, 1919, for example, was

devoted to news of Zaghlul and his imprison-

ment: "We have published a great deal about the

important movement which is taking place in

Egypt [the editorial of that edition admitted]. If

we concern our newspaper with this, to the

extent of limiting its treatment of other matters,

it is because we are not heedless that we are Arabs

and neighbors of Egypt. We cannot but be moved

to sympathy for her."28

Many questions could be asked about the

nature of the Arabism that Azzam developed

during this period; but I would like to conclude

by concentrating on two questions that are

particularly relevant to my main theme: 1) Why

did Azzam become an Arab nationalist in 1918 or

1919 while in Tripolitania? and 2) Why did

observers in the 20' s and 30' s, as well as later

scholars, attribute such Arabism, quite incor-

rectly, to an Arabian ethnicity that set him apart

from others?

In respect to the first question, i.e., why Azzam

became an Arab nationalist in Tripolitania, I

believe that the answer lies in his quest for a new

source of strength, both for the Tripolitanians

and himself, as the Ottoman ship sank once and

for all and as he lived side by side with Arab

troops, and particularly bedouin troops (the

quintessential Arabs) whom he regarded as

brothers.

In respect to the Tripolitanians and their

nationalist struggle, we can say that the end of

the war, which witnessed the end of Ottoman

support, brought them face to face with special

needs. There was a need for pride and for unity

based on national ideals, needs which Azzam

hoped to meet upon his settling in Tripoli. In

this respect the Arab Muslim bourgeoisie of

Tripolitania did not have the advantages of their

Egyptian neighbors. A modern Egyptian could

take pride in the classical Arab empire as being

his own but he could also take pride in the

accomplishments of a distinct Egyptian entity or

nation which had a separate and defined history

both before and after the Islamic era. Yet the

Tripolitanian, insofar as he wished to be associ-

ated with great deeds and great polities, could

not turn to as specifically a defined Tripolitania

or Libya, even though Tripolitania had charac-

teristics that set it off from Cyrenaica, and even

though there were martyrs and national heroes

who had fought against the Italians and the

Turks. There had never been a Tripolitanian

nation in the sense of an Egyptian nation, nor

had the Tripolitanians been pioneers or leaders

of the modern Arab renaissance, as was true of

the Syrians and Egyptians. What, then, was more

natural than that Azzam and his associates, both

in the National Reform Party and its newspaper,

should seek inspiration and their illustrative

lessons in civics not only from the history of

Tripolitania' s recent anti-Italian struggle but

also from the grander and specifically Arab

accomplishments of the ancient Ummayyads or

the modern Egyptians. All were Arabs, whose

26 See the unsigned editorial, "Dawah Ila al-Islah" ("A

Call to Reform"), al-Liwa al-Tarabulsi, August 12, 1920; and

an unsigned article, "Duaim al-Najah Thalathah: al-Amil,

al-Ittihad, al-Thabatah" ("The Pillars of Success Are Three:

Work, Unity, & Stability"), al-Liwa al-Tarabulsi, October 16,

1919.

27 One article about Syria, for example, bore the title

"Where Is Dr. Wilson to Accompany the Syrians to the

Funeral of Their Country, Divided Into Spheres of Foreign

Interest?" It was quoted in a report of the British Consul

General Monahan to the F.O. 371/3805/144883, October 23,

1919.

28 Quoted in al-Misrati, op. cit., 163.



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pride was Tripolitania's pride and whose achieve-

ments showed what Arabs had done and what

they could do.29

One should add, in respect to Azzams par-

ticular psychological needs at this time, that as

his role in Tripolitanian national counsels grew,

he often felt himself obliged to prove his cre-

dentials in a land which was not his. In particu-

lar, he appears to have felt the need to answer the

repeated Italian charges that he was a foreigner

to whom all of Libya's continuing disturbances

might be attributed.

"The Tribunal he writes in April, 1921,

says that I alone call for nationalism in

Tripolitania and I am not Tripolitanian. Is it

not enough for the Tribuna that the Tripoli-

tanians fought to defend their country by all

means for four years before I ever reached their

land? And I am now among them a 'stranger,' a

'foreigner' as they say. Who was the one who

fought between 1911 and 1912 and who was the

one who revolted between 1915 and 1919?

Many people died in every part of the country

before I reached it and many innocent people

were killed. Why? ... If you want to say that I

am a stranger to make me shut up I want you

to know that I am not a foreigner to people

who are of the same religion and who are Arabs

like me.30

Or again, in an article entitled "Defending

Myself and the Facts," published on June 5, 1922,

in answer to the Italian Minister of Colonies:

"My brothers the Arab leaders, whose confidence

I have, know I am an independent person and

that I have always been an Arab and Muslim,

during the war and after, and I can show very

good relations with these tribes to Mr. Geraldini

who refuses to communicate with the nationalists

because I am a foreigner."31

To be sure, this conversion to Arab nationalism

and this new emphasis upon an Arab identity

were not created ex nihilo to meet a new Libyan

situation. When Azzam was a boy, he and his

family were conscious and proud of Arabian

descent and it was customary for them to identify

themselves as children of the Arabs in distinction

to the Turks or other non-Arabic speakers. This

Arab identity seems to have been reinforced in

Albania where Azzam felt that he was given

special respect as a speaker of the Prophet's

language and one of his race, and it seems to have

been further reinforced during his first trip to

Istanbul, where he took pride in meeting both

Egyptian and non- Egyptian Arabs serving in the

Ottoman Army.32 Later, a decline in his sym-

pathy for the Turks was the product of an

unpleasant encounter with an arrogant Jamal

Pasha in 1917 and a growing conviction that the

Turks had abandoned their pan-Islamism.33 Thus

Muhammad Farid, writing in May, 1918, re-

marked that Azzam was "extremely angry at the

29 An example of the way Azzam sought to associate the

renaissance of Tripolitania with the renaissance of the Arabs

of the East is clearly seen in the speech he gave at the formal

announcement of the Tripolitanian Republic in Mislatah on

November 16, 1918. I gave a speech, he recalls, at the

mosque, when the Prince [the Ottoman Prince Uthman

Fuad] and his men left, in which I explained to them that the

Arabs had had their renaissance without any help from either

the Ottoman State or any other state. Abd al-Rahman

Azzam, Mudhakkirat (unpublished manuscript), pp. 125-26.

In the spring of 1970 Azzam gave the author a copy of

unpublished memoirs of his early life. An abbreviated version

was published as "Mudhakkirat Abd al-Rahman Azzam"

("The Memoirs of Abd al-Rahman Azzam") in al-Musawwar

from March 3 to July 7, 1970. A brief account of this speech is

given in al-Zawi, op. cit., 323.

30 Abd al-Rahman Azzam, Kitab Maftuh Raddan ala al-

Tribuna wa Nuova Italia" ("An Open Letter in Answer to

the Tribuna and Nuova Italia"), al-Liwa al-Tarabulsi, April

14, 1921.

Azzam might have added, more specifically, that he had not

introduced the idea of Arab identity or Arab nationalism to

Tripolitania. In contrast to the Syrians and Egyptians, urban

Tripolitanian intellectuals may not have been pioneers or

leaders of the modern Arab Nahda, but this does not mean

that they had not been affected by, or had not contributed to,

an Arab renaissance which helped to create a sense of Arab

identity which set them apart from the Turks. Such a sense of

Arabness did not have to wait until the fall of Ottomans. See,

for example, al-Misrati on the Tripolitanian newspaper al-

Tarqa, which supported the Ottoman Committee of Union

and Progress and called for equality between Arab and Turk:

al-Misrati, op. cit., 46-70.

31 Abd al-Rahman Azzam, Difa an al-Haqiqah wa al-

Nafs" ("Defending the Truth and Myself"), al-Liwa al-

Tarabulsi, January 5, 1922.

32 After his first year as a medical student in London,

Azzam made a trip to Albania and then Istanbul in the

summer of 1913. See Ralph M. Coury, Abd al-Rahman Azzam

and the Development of Egyptian Arab Nationalism, unpub-

lished Ph.D. thesis, Princeton University, 1984, pp. 96-110.

33 Ibid., pp. 178-79.



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Turks and their new pan-Turanistic policy and

says that no one remains in Istanbul who believes

in Pan-Islam except Enver Pasha."34 Although

Azzam never abandoned support of the Ottomans,

as their empire became increasingly weak in 1918

he was one of the first to think of a separate Arab

Tripolitanian movement.35 However, although

the process of his turning towards Arabism was

gradual and complex, and based upon elements

that antedated the Libyan experience or even

World War I, it cannot be attributed to Arabian

ethnicity. Azzam himself, with the hindsight of

sixty years, has attempted to provide us with a

description of this development:

I believe that I turned to Arabism because

there was nothing left, nothing strong. Islamism

would not work ... I found myself fighting for

an Arab cause. In my early teens and twenties

I fought for Egypt. Then during the wars

(Balkan and WWI) for Egypt and Islam. Then

for Egypt and Arabism. There was no con-

tradiction but a change of emphasis according to

circumstances. ' ' 36

And in another discussion:

When I was a boy I was an Egyptian

Muslim. Being an Egyptian and Muslim didn't

change. But from 1919 on, with Syria and Iraq

gone [i.e., lost to the Ottomans] I started talking

of Arabism. Living with the bedouin, etc.,

worked gradually to make me a supporter for

something Arabic. The Tripolitanian Republic

decisively marked the shift to Arabism."37

I would now like to conclude with a brief

consideration of the second question that I have

posed, i.e., why did observers of the 20's and

30' s, as well as later scholars, attribute Azzam' s

Arabism, quite incorrectly, to an Arabian eth-

nicity that set him apart from others? I would

offer three explanations:

1) British emphasis upon Azzam' s strengths

as specifically bedouin qualities reflect a certain

British traditional idealization and romanticiza-

tion of bedouin life. Such British admiration

can be viewed as but one expression of the more

general, Western phenomenon of the idea of the

Noble Savage. But there are factors which are

perhaps specific to the British context. In a cri-

tique of Toynbee's ideas Hourani asks, "Would

it be fanciful to see in the idea of Rout and

Rally an echo of the Winchester playing fields,

with the school team going down valiantly

against overwhelming odds, in the fading light

of a winter's afternoon, but snatching from

defeat the crown of an unyielding heroism?"38

It does not seem fanciful at all, nor does it

seem fanciful to speculate that British colonial

officials saw the British empire itself as manned

and directed by a school team, an aristocracy of

warriors and administrators who ruled the world

by virtue of their own heroism and ability. It

may be postulated that the British saw qualities

in the bedouin- not the least of which were

military and physical qualities, and a code of

primitive, gentlemanly honor- which they saw

themselves as exemplifying. The bedouin, too,

had emerged to conquer and organize an empire

against enormous odds. Were they not natural

allies? The Oriental Secretary David Kelly's

letter to Eden in 1936, in which he speaks of

Azzam' s desire for a military alliance and lauds

him for possessing "the restless, independent

nature of the true Arab with a mind that works,

unlike the Egyptian's, on military lines," is in-

deed a reflection of just such a presupposition.39

2) Azzam himself continually emphasized and

reminded the British and others of his Arabian

descent. As an Arab nationalist Azzam did not

argue that Egyptians were Arabs merely or

primarily because of blood ties to other Arabs.

He tended to stress a combination of geopoliti-

cal, economic, cultural, and emotional factors.

Nevertheless, Azzam did not neglect to point out

that ancient Arabian tribes had settled and inter-

mingled with the inhabitants all along the Nile

Valley; and it is only natural that he would in

this and other contexts speak of his own family

34 Muhammad Farid, Mudhakkirat, 280. From the version

stored in the Dar al-Mahfuzat in Cairo. I am indebted to

Professor Arthur Goldschmidt of Pennsylvania State Uni-

versity for a copy of this passage.

35 Abd al-Rahman Azzam, Mudhakkirat, 97.


1970.


1970.

38 Albert Hourani, A Vision of History: Near Eastern and

Other Essays (Beirut, 1961).

39 F.O. 406. 75 no. 108E 5831/381/63; Kelly, Acting High

Commissioner, Ramleh, to F.O., September 4, 1936.



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70 JARCE XXV 1988

and others as examples of a general historical

phenomenon.40 Moreover, as he became more

involved in inter-Arab affairs in which he was

continually meeting non-Egyptian Arabs, it is

natural that he would choose to stress every tie

that would draw new acquaintances closer to

himself.41 The same desire to draw others closer

to himself surely was also at work vis-a-vis the

British. Azzam was certainly aware of the manner

in which various acts or ways of proceeding or

talking were found to be engaging or which

reverberated to his benefit, even when such acts

may have been originally undertaken unthink-

ingly or without calculation. He has the restless,

independent nature of the true Arab, Kelly wrote

to Eden. Perhaps he had, although what was

truly Arab about it is difficult to say. But we can

well imagine Azzam sensing that the British

wanted to believe that this was so, and their

belief was another reason for him to dwell upon

such themes.42

3) Azzam 's story, the story of the Egyptian

who turned to Arabism because of bedouin

origin, became ideal for later scholars whose

biases and ideological presuppositions would

lead them to stress the fortuitous, weak, and

impermanent character of Egypt's relationship

to the Arab world. Hence, the title and contents

of the Hey worth- Dunne article, "Egypt Dis-

covers Arabism: the Role of the Azzams," pub-

lished in the Jewish Observer and Middle East

Review. As if Egypt could come to Arabism only

through the efforts of unique and peculiar

Egyptians who were themselves of Arab origin

Scholarship which has placed emphasis upon

Arabism as a kind of short-lived, unrepresenta-

tive aberration, either in Egypt or elsewhere in

the Arab world, has had a long history in

Middle Eastern studies. It is in fact now enjoying

something of a revival as Fouad Ajami and

others rush to pronounce sweeping obituaries

on Arab nationalism and Arab secularism more

generally in the light of the Islamic revival.43

The assumption of an Eastern essence, like the

assumption of an Egyptian essence to which

Arabism remains especially marginal and eccen-

tric, continues to work its harm.44

University of Massachusetts

at Amherst

40 See, for example, Ahmad Shuqayri's account of a lecture

Azzam gave him on Egyptian-Arab ethnic links in response

to an article by Taha Husayn. Ahmad Shuqayri, Hiwar wa

Asrar Maa al-Muluk wa al-Ruasa (Beirut, n.d.) 48-50.

41 See the Palestinian journalist Muhammad Ali Tahir's

ironic remarks that Azzam would claim that he was of

Moroccan origin when he spoke to Moroccans, Jordanian

origin when he spoke to Jordanians, Palestinian origin when

he spoke to Syrians, etc. Tahir, op. cit., 526.

42 If Azzam sought at any time consciously to create an

"atmosphere," it was that of the wise shaykh, the "shaykh

al-waqur," that his father had been, or the "shaykh al-Arab"

whose qualities had been embodied in the person of his uncle

Makkawi al-Saudi. Hasan Yusuf, Chief of the Royal Cabinet

in the fifties, has told the author: "In the early fifties Azzam

bought a house at the end of Alexandria at Abu Qir . . . The

house used to belong to a tin factory. There you would find

him in an abayah Ibn Saud had given him, sitting among

huts and a camel and a goat." Interview with Hasan Yusuf,

Cairo, March 27, 1971.

43 See, for example, Fouad Ajami, The Arab Predicament

(Cambridge, 1981), and Fouad Ajami, "The Silence in Arab

Culture," The New Republic (April 6, 1987) 27-33.

44 A critique of this essentiahsm has been undertaken in

Review of Middle East Studies 1 (1975), 2 (1976), and 3 (1978);

Edward Said, Orientalism (New York, 1978); and Bryan S.

Turner, Marx & the End of Orientalism (London, 1978).

Arabian Ethnicity and Arab Nationalism the Case of Abd Al-Rahman Azzam - Ralph Coury

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Transcript of Arabian Ethnicity and Arab Nationalism the Case of Abd Al-Rahman Azzam - Ralph Coury