"Arabian Ethnicity" and Arab Nationalism: The Case of Abd al-Rahman Azzam

Author(s): Ralph Coury

Source: Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, Vol. 25 (1988), pp. 61-70
Published 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-

when he understood their cause, he became rare

Rahman Azzam in the Arab nationalist move-

respect to Egypt, in particular, Azzam has been

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

regarded, by both Westerners and Arabs, as one of

become "second nature" and at a time in which

the first Egyptians to promote Arab nationalism.

There is, in fact, a scholarly tradition which has

other Egyptians who wished to invoke extraEgyptian affinities were more likely to speak of
bonds based upon Islam, Eastern-ness, or the

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

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

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,

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

submitted an intelligence report on Azzam' s early

when he implies that Egypt "discovered" Arabism, through Azzam and his family).2 Nevertheless, Azzam was undoubtedly one of Arabism's
earliest and most articulate Egyptian converts. As

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

Muhammad Ali Tahir, the Palestinian editor of

al-Shura, was to write "When Azzam established

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 AbdulRahman's character, his early up-bringing and
his Arab blood must never be forgotten."5

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

Arab elements who had come to Egypt . . . and
1 See, for example, Elie Kedourie, "Pan Arabism and
British Policy," in The Chatham House Version and Other
Middle Eastern Studies (London, 1970); James HeyworthDunne, 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,

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-

1969).

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

2 For a full discussion see Ralph M. Coury, "Who 'Invented' Egyptian Arab Nationalism?" Parts 1 Sc 2, Inter-

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

September 18, 1931).

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

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

and 259-479.

F.O., May 17, 1923.

61

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62

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In later years, as Azzam's reputation as an

Egyptian Arab nationalist grew, the significance

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

Religious and Political Trends in Modern Egypt,

explanations of his activities or in attempts to

analyze the elements - psychological or other-

Arab nationalism.

personality and particular political style. Thus,

within the Azzam home account for Azzam's

of his "peninsular" origins loomed large in

wise-which contributed to the formation of his

first placed emphasis on the role of Azzam as

prime mover in the development of Egyptian
Does this theme of a special Arab atmosphere

in 1928, in seeking to account for his being

selected by the Wafd to accompany his fellow

sense of Arab identity and his later championing

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

ciliation to Saudi Arabia, the Foreign Office

Azzam's early life or the psychological context in

Wafdist Hamid al-Basil on a mission of recon-

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

which presumably made him more acceptable to
the "bedouin" Ibn Saud.6 And Sir Miles Lampson, the British Ambassador, wrote in 1938:

"His possession of the bedouin qualities,

courage (moral no less than physical), indifference 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

appear to reflect, accurately, the realities of

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,

The notion that Azzam and his family were dif-

others that we came from Palestine or North

ferent from the peasantry or from notable Egyp-

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

tian families of peasant origin, and that this

difference was of major importance to Azzam's
early concern for Islamic and Arab unity, became 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 intermarry with Egyptians. The remarkable differences between an Egyptian and an Azzam can be
seen right away."8

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

6 See F.O. 406/61469457 no. 72; Lord Lloyd, High Commissioner, to the F.O., Cairo, May 19, 1928 and F.O.

brought up with a strong consciousness of

bedouin descent. We were Arabs because we were

371/16854/1657 E955/347/65; Sir Percy Lorraine, High Commissioner, Cairo, to Sir Lancelant Oliphant, F.O., January
9 See Nimat Ahmad Fuad, "Abd al-Wahhab Azzam," al-

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.

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 ETHNICITY" AND ARAB NATIONALISM 63

'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

designed to replenish or sustain an Arab (here

meaning non-peasant or non-Egyptian) atmosphere whose maintenance was deemed important. 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

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

differentiate them from ordinary Egyptian fami-

tents during summer. Nor did their food, cloth-

lies, was the fact that they were fallahin dhawati

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

(literally, "notable peasants") whose position

families such as the Basils or the Lamlums who

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

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 bedouin 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

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
14 For these organizations see Robert L. Tignor, Modernization and British Colonial Rule in Egypt, 1882-1914 (Princeton, 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

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,

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 alRahman Azzam, Egyptian National Archives, archive number
1542, series 2177, ayn 196, depository 42, pensioners' deposi-

"The Nomadic and the Semi -Nomadic Tribal Populations of

the Egyptians' Western Desert and the Syrian Desert," Bulletin of the Faculty of Arts, Alexandria University 18 (1963)

tory, August 1953, p. 1).

15 Interview with Zaynab Azzam, July 21, 1970.

71-133.

1970.

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

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other Egyptians who had no tradition of Peninsular 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 territorial patriotism, the tradition of Islamic nationalism 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 provide a background for the ideological shift we
wish to consider.

Azzam arrived in Libya from Egypt in December, 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
17 The African Times ir Orient Review, London, July,
1912, p. 3.

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 alSuwaylihi, Abd al-Nabi Bilkhayr, Sulayman alBaruni, 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 founding of a Tripolitanian Republic. This proclamation 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 Tripolitanian 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 government 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 numerous 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

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"ARABIAN ETHNICITY" AND ARAB NATIONALISM 65

departure in January, 1923, as part of the entourage that accompanied Sayyid Idris into exile in
Egypt.18

It is within the context of such developments

provisions of the Fundamental Law which guaranteed freedom of the press, Italian censorship was
vigorous (long, blank columns often character-

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

that Azzam adopted the vocabulary of Arab

read two or three times before being taken to

nationalism with which he was to be so closely

associated in Egypt. One of the principal vehicles

which the authorities might find offensive.21

for the promotion of this Arab nationalism

print in order to alter or eliminate passages

Of all his activities in Tripolitania Azzam

was al-Liwa al-Tarabulsi, the newspaper which

seems to have taken most eagerly and naturally to

served as the mouthpiece for the National Reform

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-

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

consulate commented upon seeing its first edition, an important looking newspaper that began
publication on Oct. 9, 1919, and continued until
1923. 19 Bearing the subtitle a 'political, literary,

became one of its most prolific political writers,

social and economic newspaper,' "it made no

and an influence whose ideas are reflected through-

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-

enced al-Qizani that such a hope was quickly

realized. Once al-Liwa was founded, Azzam

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

production it relied upon young members of the

party drawn from the schools. The paper estab-

the paper, particularly in the writings of alQizani and Azzam, is Arab nationalism. Again
and again, Arabism is invoked to stimulate
patriotism for a Tripolitanian Arab nation,

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

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

limited geographically but at the same time part

of a larger Arab nation or community of nations.

tions and small contributions from the munici-

pality of Tripoli. In its daily operations and

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

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

subscribers who were advised to inform al-

Guide them and preserve them with your

Liwa 's offices if editions were not received twenty-

solicitude for they are your bondsmen who will

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

four hours after their publication. In spite of the

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.

1919 began:

Oh God, the Arabs are for you so do not

humble them. They are your faithful servants.

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

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

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

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66

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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

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-

Muslims and defending the rights of Arabs

tive government, Azzam replied on March 3,

wherever they may be.22

1920:

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 meaning: 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 parliament in the past, but they proceeded to argue that

democratic ideals are enjoined by the Islamic

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 modern 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 appreciated it before us."25

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

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

October 9, 1919.

March 4, 1920.

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

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

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

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

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"ARABIAN ETHNICITY" AND ARAB NATIONALISM 67

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 struggle against imperialism and underdevelopment
would be long. But it had already begun and the

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 incorrectly, 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

Tripolitanian Arabs were not alone. Articles

about Morocco, Syria, Egypt, and other Arab

brothers.

countries endeavoured to give substance to the

concept of a wider Arab world also struggling to

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

gain its freedom and the fruits of modern

civilization.27 Egypt, in particular, in its national

struggle and cultural and educational achievements, was admired as a model. Virtually the
whole edition of Nov. 9, 1919, for example, was

In respect to the Tripolitanians and their

hoped to meet upon his settling in Tripoli. In

this respect the Arab Muslim bourgeoisie of

devoted to news of Zaghlul and his imprison-

Tripolitania did not have the advantages of their

ment: "We have published a great deal about the

important movement which is taking place in
Egypt [the editorial of that edition admitted]. If

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

extent of limiting its treatment of other matters,

accomplishments of a distinct Egyptian entity or

nation which had a separate and defined history

we concern our newspaper with this, to the

it is because we are not heedless that we are Arabs

both before and after the Islamic era. Yet the

and neighbors of Egypt. We cannot but be moved

Tripolitanian, insofar as he wished to be associated with great deeds and great polities, could
not turn to as specifically a defined Tripolitania
or Libya, even though Tripolitania had characteristics that set it off from Cyrenaica, and even
though there were martyrs and national heroes

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

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.

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

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68

JARCE

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(1988)

pride was Tripolitania's pride and whose achievements showed what Arabs had done and what

Or again, in an article entitled "Defending

Myself and the Facts," published on June 5, 1922,
in answer to the Italian Minister of Colonies:

they could do.29

One should add, in respect to Azzam's particular psychological needs at this time, that as
his role in Tripolitanian national counsels grew,
he often felt himself obliged to prove his credentials in a land which was not his. In particu-

"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

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

who refuses to communicate with the nationalists

repeated Italian charges that he was a foreigner

to whom all of Libya's continuing disturbances

because I am a foreigner."31
To be sure, this conversion to Arab nationalism

and this new emphasis upon an Arab identity

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 Tripolitanians 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

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, remarked 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

Tripolitania. In contrast to the Syrians and Egyptians, urban

mosque, when the Prince [the Ottoman Prince Uthman

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

Fuad] and his men left, in which I explained to them that the
Arabs had had their renaissance without any help from either

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

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

Tripolitanian intellectuals may not have been pioneers or

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

an Arab renaissance which helped to create a sense of Arab

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

for example, al-Misrati on the Tripolitanian newspaper alTarqa, 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 alNafs" ("Defending the Truth and Myself"), al-Liwa alTarabulsi, 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, unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Princeton University, 1984, pp. 96-110.
33 Ibid., pp. 178-79.

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"ARABIAN ETHNICITY" AND ARAB NATIONALISM 69

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-

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

tradiction but a change of emphasis according to

military and physical qualities, and a code of

circumstances. ' ' 36

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

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 ethnicity 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

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 indeed 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 geopolitical, economic, cultural, and emotional factors.
Nevertheless, Azzam did not neglect to point out
that ancient Arabian tribes had settled and inter-

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

mingled with the inhabitants all along the Nile

Valley; and it is only natural that he would in

Professor Arthur Goldschmidt of Pennsylvania State Uni-

this and other contexts speak of his own family

34 Muhammad Farid, Mudhakkirat, 280. From the version

versity for a copy of this passage.

35 Abd al-Rahman Azzam, Mudhakkirat, 97.

36 Interview with Abd al-Rahman Azzam, Beirut, May 20,

1970.

37 Interview with Abd al-Rahman Azzam, Beirut, May 21,

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

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(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 unthinkingly 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

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 Discovers Arabism: the Role of the Azzams," published 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, unrepresentative 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

such themes.42

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

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 eccentric, continues to work its harm.44

University of Massachusetts
at Amherst

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).

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