The Hijaz by Dahlan Malik;

Author:Dahlan, Malik;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press, Incorporated
Published: 2018-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

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THE IDEOLOGICAL DRIVERS OF SUBMERGED STATEHOOD IN THE AFTERLIFE OF THE HIJAZ

Negative and Positive Islamic Space

After the First World War, the state of Hijaz and its positive space of Islamic governance in the region was replaced by the negative space: the Sykes–Picot Middle East order, accompanied by nationalist, anti-colonial, and religious movements. As we have seen, two types of governments emerged. On the one hand, the Middle East saw the proliferation of dynastic monarchies, which were often imposed in the interests of the British, the French, or the Americans. These included Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Pahlavi Iran. On the other hand, a number of pan-Arabist military regimes swept into power after the colonial powers left their territory. These states included Egypt, Syria, and Iraq.1 A seismic shift in the international order occurred yet again in the early 1990s with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Coincidentally, the end of the Cold War was the final nail in the coffin of pan-Arabist movements worldwide; it was replaced with a wave of ‘political Islam’.2 We have established that there are several reasons for this. Firstly, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, socialist regimes in Syria and Egypt lost their most significant financial and political patron.3 Secondly, the Afghan Mujahideen’s successful campaign against the Soviet Union—supported by the United States—served as a catalyst for jihad against oppressive regimes in the rest of the Islamic world. Their newly created networks, financial resources, and arms served only to embolden their efforts.4 Thirdly, the 1991 Gulf War and the subsequent stationing of American troops on the Arabian Peninsula provided the necessary rhetorical justification for continued anti-Western rhetoric, coupled with religious symbolism:5 namely, the image of a foreign army in the ‘cradle of Islam’.

The modern trend in interpreting this phenomenon ends with ‘terrorism’, which became the hallmark of the narrative in security and intelligence circles after 9/11. While al-Qaida was a creature of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan as well as the post-1991 Gulf War era, DA’ISH emerged primarily in response to the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.6 It publicly proclaimed a Caliphate and the end of Sykes–Picot on 29 June 2014, after seizing parts of Iraq and Syria.7 This declaration came approximately a century after the fall of the Ottoman Caliphate and the subsequent efforts to revive it, as well as the eventual dissection of its territories by the British and the French.

Along with the 2003 Iraq invasion and many other issues, the Arab Spring popular uprisings in late 2010 would significantly shape the future of the Middle East. It has been generally characterized as the culmination of widespread, if not universal, outrage against despotism and corruption. However, the rise of Islamists (revivalists and others) as a result of the failure to institutionalize democratic, participatory regimes in many of these countries highlights the difficulties faced by attempts at political, social, and economic reformation of the Islamic sphere. The appearance of DA’ISH may be analysed from different political angles, and, while it seemingly revives traditional,

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