The concepts of allegiance, loyalty, and identity are the primary pillars upon which governments rest. As forms of governments changed, along with the principles on which these governments are based, the allegiance of people have also changed.
During the time of the Ancient Roman Republic, the allegiance of the citizenry was to the Republic itself, and their loyalty to the Roman Senate. During the reign of Caesar, the loyalty and allegiance of the people was to Caesar. In the times of the European monarchies, subjects were obliged and compelled to pledge their allegiance and announce their loyalties to the thrones in their respective countries. In the United States, allegiance is pledged to the flag of the USA and the republic. In modern constitutional monarchies such as Canada and the United Kingdom, public servants pledge their allegiance to their respective monarchs.
Prior to Islam, the Arabs were usually loyal to their clans. Wars were fought under the command of the tribe’s patriarch. The patriarch was also the supreme judge and lawgiver of the tribe.
Islam cleansed the Arab world of these divisions. Loyalty was based on faith alone. Ethnicity, lineage, and geographic location were not factors that affected one’s affiliation to the state.
Over time, however, power struggles began to break the unity that formed the Islamic state. Despite these struggles, however, faith remained the basis upon which the identity of the state was based. As the Islamic state spread, Arabic spread with it, being the official language.
The allegiance and loyalty of the people, then, were to God, the Faith, and whoever was made responsible for carrying on the duties of safeguarding the Faith and the state. Faith was the ruling factor regarding citizenship and civil duties and rights. It was the Faith that called for tolerance and kindness towards those of other faiths who lived under Muslim rule.
With European colonialism and imperial expansions in Muslim lands, the Western concept of nationhood was introduced. By the time Napoleon arrived in Egypt, the population of the Muslim world was composed of Arabs, Turks, South Asians, Southeast Asians, Southeast Europeans, Africans, and North African Berbers. Islam was the only common aspect among them.
Power, greed, and ethnic pride tore down at the unified fabric of the Islamic state that lasted for over 12 centuries. Modern Muslim nations emerged on the ashes of unity.
As the modern nations in the Middle East emerged, the issue of identity emerged with them. Citizenship was no longer based on a people’s faith. The dreams of a Pan-Arab state were proven to be impossible, so ethnicity and language were insufficient as bases for citizenship. An odd mix of ethnicity, lineage, and geographical borders has been considered to be the current bases for the identity of these nations.
Quite interestingly, many current modern Arab states have multiple ethnicities living within their borders, and, in some cases, the same state may have various languages spoken, yet only one official language taught. Due to the various intermarriages between various ethnicities during the existence of an Islamic state, the idea of a pure Arab ethnicity is non-existent.
The only true common heritage shared by all Arab states is the same heritage shared by all Muslim nations. The faith that held us together before for over a millennium may do what language, ethnicity, and borders failed to accomplish for over a century. Unity can only be achieved on a true and substantial common factor.
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