From the Arab Press
During the Syrian popular uprising against the Assad regime, rarely have the names of the ruling party or any of its founders been mentioned. Aside from the debate about the Baath Party having first been hijacked by the army and second by the Assad family, the vision offered by one of its major founders is of little use during the Arab Spring. Amro Abd al-Aziz Munir, an Egyptian academic, recently wrote an article in Al Hayat newspaper (Sept 24th, 2011) in which he discussed “The Mechanisms of Approaching Islam and Turath in the Thought of Michel Aflaq.” It is no secret that Michel Aflaq, one of the founders of the Baath Party, over-estimated the role that Islam would play in the past, present, and future concerning the rise of Arab nationalism or in the Nahda (Renaissance) of the Arab nation. It is also no secret that he, a Christian, converted to Islam shortly before his death in Iraq.
That the Arabs succeeded in developing their Nahda in the past is because they viewed Islam from a progressive perspective. In doing so, they borrowed its revolutionary spirit and used it to rebel against the status quo of the time, according to Aflaq as cited by Munir. For Aflaq, Islam is a major force in Arab nationalism, and he claims that Islam is not a religion but rather a political ideology. He adds that there is no Arab who is not Muslim, especially if he transcends his parochial interests and sympathizes with Arabism. Islam is thus not a religious ideology but a cultural authority. It is a tradition that belongs not only to Muslims but to all Arabs.
But Munir probes an area that does not lend clarity to his views on Aflaq, especially when it comes to form and spirit. One is left unsure as to whether Aflaq is satisfied to merely “photocopy” the past, or if he is just seeking inspiration from its revolutionary spirit. Some of the quotations are not clearly attributed , thus adding to the confusion. Introducing Al Jabberi, with hisviews on Aflaq and Arab nationalism, secularism and the relationship with Western culture, into the debate on Turath is commendable, but received insufficient attention in the article. Munir helpfully concludes by identifying the common ground between nationalists or pan-Arabists and Islamists.
--Compiled, edited and translated from the Arabic by Elie Chalala
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