Nationalizing a Universal Text: The Quran in Arafat's Rhetoric

Abstract

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes Basheer M Nafi, The Rise and Decline of the Arab Islamic Reform Movement (London: Crescent Publications for ICIT, 1998), pp.68–76. On the inimical relations between the two, see Basheer Nafi's analysis of the third Arab Nationalist–Islamic Conference (ANIC) held in January 2000. He writes: ‘Since the end of World War II, recurrent episodes of political conflict and intense currents of ideological polarization separated the Arab nationalists from their Islamist counterparts and created what appeared to be an unbridgeable gap between their respective positions. The ANIC was envisioned to put an end to the decades of inter-Arab political polarization and develop a common agenda for the most influential political and intellectual forces, the Arab nationalists and the Arab Islamists.’ ‘The Arab Nationalists and the Arab Islamists: Shadows of the Past, Glimpses of the Future’, Middle East Affairs Journal, Vol.6, Nos.1–2 (2000), p.110. A detailed report on the conference confirms these tensions. See ‘Al-Bayan al-Khitami lil-Dawra al-Thalitha lil-Mu'tamar al-Qawmi al-Islami’, Al-Mustaqbal al-‘Arabi, No.253 (March 2000), p.174. For a point of view placing the blame for the (unnatural) division between Islam and nationalism on the Islamists, see ‘Abd al-Illah Belqaziz, ‘Al-‘Uruba wal-Islam: Wasl Ta'rihi Lam Yunqata‘ Ila Fi Fasl Idiyuluji’, Al-Mustaqbal al-‘Arabi, No.254 (April 2000), p.124. On the harsh relationship between Islam and Palestinian nationalism, see Mahmud Zahhar, ‘Hamas Waiting for Secular Nationalism to Self-Destruct’, Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol.24, No.3 (1995), p.79. Ghada Hashem Talhami, ‘Syria, Arab Nationalism and the Military’, Middle East Policy, Vol.8, No.4 (2001), p.113. Yehoshua Porath, The Emergence of the Palestinian Arab National Movement 1918–1929, (London, Frank Cass, 1974), p.81. Ibid. p.3. Basheer M. Nafi, The Rise and Decline of the Arab Islamic Reform Movement, pp.109, 120. For a detailed analysis of Husayni's use of Islamic symbols and messages to promote his causes, see Hillel Frisch. ‘The Evaluation of Palestinian Nationalist Islamic Doctrine: Territorializing a Universal Religion’, Canadian Review in Nationalism, Vol.21, Nos.1–2 (1994), pp.45–51. Robert Malley and Hussein Agha, ‘Camp David: The Tragedy of Errors’, Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol.33, No.2 (2001), p.165. Ghassan al-Khatib. ‘One Way to Make Things Worse’, www.bitterlemons.org (2002). Hillel Frisch and Shmuel Sandler, ‘Religion, State and International System in the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict’, International Political Science Review, Vol.25, No.1 (2004), pp.77–96. Hans Kohn, Nationalism: Its Meaning and History (New York: Van Nostrand 1965), pp.15–16. Abraham Geiger, Judaism and Islam (New York: Ktav, 1975), p.75. The chapters and verses cited in Genesis are merely the first two of several lists of genealogy that appear in the Bible. See S.D. Goitein, ‘Banu Isra'il’, Encyclopaedia of Islam. Vol.1. (Leiden, Brill 1960), p.1021. All quotes from the Quran are taken from Arthur J. Arberry, The Quran Interpreted. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991). Mustafa Sabri, the last Shaykh al-Islam of the Ottoman Empire commented that ‘Abraham divided the inheritance between the two sons: to Ishmael, the Arabian peninsula and within it Mecca, and Syria Al-Quds [Jerusalem] to Ishak…After Muhammad's appearance, God gave them [the people of Israel…the last chance to repent. They did not take the opportunity they would therefore be dislodged permanently from protecting the Jerusalem (Bayt al-Maqdis) and the inheritance of Israel will be joined to the inheritance of Ishmael. Quoted in Isaaac Hasson, Abu Bakr Muhammad Ahmad al-Wasiti: Fada'il Bayt al-Maqdis, (Jerusalem: Magnes 1979), fn.29. The well-known fundamentalist Sayyid Qutb claimed that the night journey from Mecca to al-Aqsa Mosque was a clear indication that all the holy sites which preceded him fell to his inheritance. See ibid. Daniel Pipes, ‘Declaring Independence: Israel and the PLO.’ Middle East Quarterly, Vol.3, No.2 (1989), p.250. That Christians are part of the Palestinian people is a recurrent theme in Arafat's speeches. His remarks in his speech in Ramallah a town with a large Christian population is a typical example: I salute and welcome my brothers, my kin and the dignitaries of the Christian and Islamic faiths and I tell the Christian sons of my people may you have a good year and may the homeland prosper. Yes to Islamic and Christian national unity.’ (In Arabic it rhymes and serves as a chant – na'am, wahda wataniyya, islamiyya wa-masihiyya)Twice he repeated the slogan. For one striking example, see his Nakba speech, 15 May 1998. Muhammad ibn Ahmad Jalal al-Din al-Mahalli (d. 864/1459) and ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (d. 911/1505), Tafsir al-Jalalayn, written in 870/1465, (Beirut: Dar al-Marafeh, n.d.) (on 23:51). Tafsir al-Jalalayn, (on 28:14). Tafsir al-Jalalayn, (on 17:6). J. Knappert, ‘Al-Mi‘radj’, Encyclopedia of Islam. (Vol.VII. ) (Leiden: Brill, 1993), p.1164. Hillel Frisch. ‘The Evaluation of Palestinian Nationalist Islamic Doctrine: Territorializing a Universal Religion’, pp.46–9. Tafsir al-Jalalayn, (on 2:246–253). Tafsir al-Jalalayn, (on 70:5–6). Tafsir al-Jalalayn, (on 65:64). Tafsir al-Jalalayn, (on 47:1–3). Tafsir al-Jalalayn, (on 21:71).