We owe it to the Arab Christians … but we let them down

In 1516, when the Ottomans took control of the Arab region, Arab Christians became subjects of the Ottoman state, as did their Muslim Arab citizens. At the same time, however, they considered “the people of the dhimma”, “second-class citizens”, who had to pay the “tribute” of the caliphate.

The Arab world is the original home of many Arab Christian sects, especially in the Levant, Iraq and Egypt. There are many sects, mainly the Greek Orthodox, Catholics, Armenians, Maronites, Protestants and Coptics in Egypt. In Iraq, the main Christian denominations are the Chaldeans, Syriacs, Armenians and Assyrians. All these denominations are authentic Arabs, whose age is the same as the Christian religion, over 2000 years old. In fact, Iraqi Christians are credited with converting millions of people in India and China to Christianity through their trade trips to those countries to import silk and spices.

But this is not the entire contribution of Arab Christians, but rather their greatest contribution was in their homeland, the Arab world, where they fought for centuries to preserve the Arab identity, which at one point faced to a real threat under Ottoman national rule. As we follow Pope Francis’ historic visit to Iraq, birthplace of Hebron Abraham, the father of the prophets, we are called to remember those historical facts that we sometimes tend to ignore when talking about Arab Christians, especially of their organic and original membership. to the Arab national fabric, and how they played a pioneering role in preserving our collective identity as it was threatened with extinction.

During the 400 years of Ottoman rule in the so-called Arab States, these regions suffered from poverty, ignorance and backwardness, lacking the simplest means of education or proper medicine, as well as lack of of any state structure. The most important states, such as the Levant and Iraq, were for the most part, especially outside the major cities, primitive agricultural societies, which provided the Ottomans with an unlimited human river from which they drew abducted soldiers among their people to feed the state. military adventures in Europe or Africa, in what was called “Travel Berlik”.

The Ottomans themselves were until the end of the 18th century a traditional society resistant to change and modernity. One historian points out that the Ottomans’ only contact with the outside world was on the battlefield!

The Western powers had concluded more than 200 years earlier that an agreement with the Ottoman Empire granted Arab Christians a special status which gave them access to more modern educational institutions and Western mission hospitals. For example, in 1585 the Vatican established a school of theology to educate and prepare the Maronite clergy in Lebanon. But when these students reached a decent academic level, many of them turned to research their Arab and Islamic heritage and published it in periodicals or through regular seminars. It was the humble start of a kind of literary renaissance. At the beginning of the 19th century, this movement reached Egypt and Iraq. With the escalation of the Arab cultural crisis, the cultural activities linked to the revival of the Arabic language and Arab customs constituted a kind of response to the Turkish national attack of the time, in particular the policy of “Turkification” carried out. by the Association for Union and Progress. ”The organizers of most of these activities were Christian Arabs.

These forums, numerous and called associations, call for Arab national unity and the removal of sectarian discord. He also called for the “liberation of the Arab world” from Ottoman rule and the establishment of a secular Arab state in the modern style. Historian Waheeb Al-Shaer said in an article published in 2014 that Lebanese Maronite cleric Archbishop Douaihy wrote a long letter over 200 years ago to Muslim scholars in Damascus “urging them to look at their Christian brothers instead of looking at the religious relationship with foreigners (Turks) in Istanbul, pointing out that the national mosque is stronger and more promising.

During this period, the first Arabic language academy was established and printing presses were introduced with Arabic writing. Christian thinkers Boutros Al-Bustani and Ibrahim Yazigi are among the most prominent pioneers of this stage. It is noteworthy that the authors of most modern Arabic dictionaries are Christians who regarded the preservation of the Arabic language as a sacred duty, and it should also be noted here that the largest newspaper in the Arab world today, Al -Ahram Al-Masria, was founded in Alexandria in 1875 by two Lebanese Christian brothers, Bishara and Salim Takla.

These efforts contributed to the formation of an inclusive Arab sense of a national identity that is still alive today. The Arab revolution against the Turkish state in 1916 was one of the results of these efforts which did not stop at this stage. On the contrary, during the twentieth century Christian thinkers and politicians continued to make important contributions to the formulation of the ideology of Arab nationalism, and they played a major role in establishing liberation movements and unit. Among them, Anton Saadeh, the Syrian nationalist who advocated the establishment of Greater Syria, the nationalist theorist Constantine Zureik, and George Habash, the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the main historical figure of the struggle movement. Palestinian.

Unfortunately, over the past few decades, things have been in the opposite direction. For example, the percentage of Arab Christians has declined considerably in recent years: from 20% of the Arab population at the start of the 20th century to around 6% in recent years. Historians refer to the decline in the birth rate and immigration to work or education as secondary reasons for the decline in the percentage, but they point to the threat that has affected Arab-Christian societies by religious groups. and terrorists, which has led to massive migration to the country. The West in particular, as a major reason for the departure of millions of Christians.

Throughout those years when Christians were at the mercy of these bloody groups, Arab Muslims stood aside and watched. Some may not like to admit this painful truth, but we have let down our Christian societies. Yeah. We stood still. The departure of Arab Christians has made our region culturally and socially impoverished, darker and less attractive to live in. But above all, we owe them, because for centuries they carried the burden of saving our identity, our language and our existence while they were all in danger, so it was our duty to help them survive on earth. of their ancestors. . The Pope’s visit to Iraq will perhaps remind us of this responsibility.

* Extract from “Al-Qabas”