Arabization - Wikipedia
How Arab Colonialism Conquered the Middle East
How did the indigenous peoples of the Middle East outside of the Arabian Peninsula become “Arabs?” A perspective on colonialism.
ProgressME MagazineBy Medea Jaff
Photo Credit: WikiCommons
With the refugee crisis escalating by the day, we are witnessing a massive influx of refugees into Europe, risking their lives journeying across heavy seas in flimsy rubber boats.
European countries have taken in more than they can handle, yet none of the rich Arabian Gulf countries have taken in a single refugee, even though they are situated close to the areas under attack. Interestingly, Saudi Arabia has offered to finance the building of 200 mosques in Germany for the refugees. Why mosques? Why not housing to ease the burden on Germany and other European countries? Why not take in three million refugee families which can be accommodated immediately in the already existing camp in Saudi Arabia? Three million fire-proof tents with air-conditioning are sitting there empty. To tackle these questions we would have to look into a brief history of the region.
When referring to the Middle East, people automatically assume that one is referring to ‘Arabs’ and ‘Muslims’. So how did the entire region become Arab-Muslim when in fact it is a region composed of a diverse mix of ethnicities and religions?
Originally Arabs were a minority in the Middle East; they existed predominantly in the Arabian Peninsula. How did they expand? What happened to the other nations around them? Did they vanish?
The answers to the last couple of questions are, no they did not vanish, they are still living on their ancestral land to this day, yet have had very little international recognition or none at all. Arabs have managed to convince millions in the region that they share the same identity.
This didn’t happen overnight, it took many generations until the original identities of these peoples were wiped from their psyche. This campaign started with the Arab-Islamic conquests of neighbouring nations, through these invasions nations were made to submit to the new religion, Islam, as well as submitting to a whole new identity, the identity of the invader. Languages were banned, new generations opened their eyes to one language, Arabic, albeit Arabic dialects which carry much of the regional languages to this day. In fact, it’s almost impossible for an ‘Arab’ from Iraq to understand an ‘Arab’ from Morocco, and vice versa. After all, why would a Moroccan understand Babylonian or Sumerian words? And why would an Iraqi understand the Afro-Asiatic Tamazight/Berber language?
The ultimate aim of the Islamic invasions was to amass great wealth under the pretence of spreading Islam. The proof of this is how in the year 644 AD the Islamic leader Umar Bin Al-Khat’tab gave orders not to advance across the River Indus into Sindh after he learned that the region was poor and relatively barren, rendering it of next to no use to the Caliphate.
While some nations managed to ethnically survive to this day, the majority of the nations under Islamic-Arabian control gradually came to be known as Arabs too. This was the first phase of the identity crisis from which the new Arabs suffered, but this was only the beginning.
Another term we’ve heard is ‘The Golden Age of Islam’, where thinkers and scientists flourished in Baghdad, the capital city of the Abbassid Dynasty (mid 8th century — mid 13th century). In this era the caliphs (rulers) offered the essential funds for research and the appropriate environment for growth. Like modern-day research, the opportunities are found where the funding is; therefore thinkers and scientists flooded into Baghdad from around the region, where they were welcomed to carry out their work. Many of these men were not Arabs, but adopted Arabic names as a form of respect for the caliph who has welcomed them, and to be able to integrate into their new environment. Sibawayh, who is known as the ‘Father of Arabic Grammar’ was himself not an Arab, but of Kurdish-Persian ethnicity from eastern Kurdistan (modern-day Iran).
Many of the much revered scientists and thinkers of the time were either atheist or agnostic, and were either persecuted or killed for apostasy in the name of religion. Amongst these men were Ibn Al-Haitham, Al-Jaahidh, Al-Kindi, Ibn-Sina, Al-Farabi, and Ibn Rushd. One of whom was burned alive along with his home, while several were put under house arrest for the rest of their lives.
The persecution of these men was triggered by the famous Imam Al-Ghazali, who announced that Mathematics is the work of the devil. That was the beginning of the end of the ironically named Golden Age of “Islam.”
Fast-forward to the 20th century, the region witnessed further Arabisation; this was not carried out by the Arabs themselves, but surprisingly enough by the post-WWI colonial powers. The western powers endorsed the Arab identity in the region, making it harder for other indigenous nations to have an independent voice. Highlighting this era was the establishment of the Arab states; new states with new borders, and one official language, Arabic. The colonial powers also chose an Arabian tribe, the Hashemites, to be appointed as royalty in these new states. This is when the Saudi family came to rule Arabia, and their cousins ruling Jordan, Iraq, and other parts of the region. These royals were chosen based on one criterion only, their allegiance to the colonial powers. A relationship, which to this day has given this family a carte blanche, not only in Saudi Arabia but in world affairs.
In this phase, many of the indigenous nations of the Middle East were put under the rule of Arabs, even though they live on their ancestral land, speak their own language, and enjoy their distinct culture and ancient heritage. The Treaty of Sèvres (1920) saw the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire after WWI, it was in this treaty that the region was divided into states without consideration for the ethnic groups. As a result many nations suffered, namely Kurds, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Amazighs, and others. Kurdistan which has a population of around 50 million was partitioned into 4 parts, each given away, land, stock, and barrel, to a neighbouring nation, making the new states of ‘Iraq, Syria, Iran, and Turkey’.
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never did nothing to anybody.
