Sati' Al-Husri - Ideological Views

Ideological Views

Al-Husri's approach to Arab nationalism was influenced by nineteenth-century European thinkers, especially German romantic nationalists. Historian Maher Charif describes him as having a "cultural-sentimental" approach to nationalism. He viewed the nation as a living entity, and like other thinkers of his school insisted on its long-standing historic existence, even if its members were unconscious of that or refused to be considered an Arab. For al-Husri, the basic constituent elements of a nation were a shared language and a shared history. He rejected the idea that other factors, such as state action, religion, or economic factors, could play a part in bringing about nationalist sentiment; this was solely an emotional phenomenon arising from unity of language and culture.

Al-Husri saw localist tendencies as the main obstacle to the realisation of nationalist goals, but pointed to the German and Italian experiences as indications that they would eventually be overcome. Communist internationalism was also a threat, but by the mid-1920s, with the Caliphate abolished, al-Husri was confident that the challenge posed by pan-Islamism was vanquished.

Charif states that al-Husri "established a barrier between civilisation on the one hand, and culture on the other hand, taking the view that the first, which comprises the sciences, technology and modes of production, is intrinsically 'universal', while the latter, which comprises customs and language, is as such 'national'." The Arab nation should, therefore, adopt all that the west had to offer in the first sphere, but jealously preserve its own culture. This distinction was influential among later nationalist theorists.

Al-Husri paid particular attention to questions of language, a difficult issue in the Arab world due to widespread diglossia. He considered that a language reform was necessary given the situation whereby most Arabs were unable to use Classical Arabic, the universal Arab written language, yet could not communicate successfully with each other in the greatly differing spoken dialects of the Arab world. His proposal was that, at least as a temporary measure pending improved education, a somewhat simplified form of Classical Arabic should be developed which would be to some degree closer to the spoken dialects, yet retain its position as a universal language common to all Arabs.