The second great fissure in Islam, after that of the Sunnis and Shia, and to which our discussion of the Berbers in Part I is obviously relevant, is that between Arab Muslims and the 80% of the world’s Muslims who are not Arabs. It bears repeating (see the first paragraph of Part I), that because […]
Hugh Fitzgerald: The Berbers and Islam as a Vehicle for Arab Supremacism (Part I)
In Algeria, before the Arab invasion and conquest in the seventh century, the population was almost entirely Berber, and along with those who followed traditional Berber religious practices, a considerable Christian population (St. Augustine, he of Hippo, was a Berber) flourished. When the Arabs swept in, subjugating the Berbers, they brought with them an Islam […]
Islam as a Vehicle for Arab Supremacism
Long ago, Bernard Lewis wrote about the “multiple identities” of the peoples of the Middle East. By that he meant that one could be Muslim, but not necessarily Arab — as Berbers and Kurds were also Muslim. One could be Arab, but not necessarily Muslim, or identify by language and culture with Arabdom, as some […]