Middle Eastern Politics and Historical Memory: Martyrdom, Revolution, and Forging National Identities

Description

How is the complex history of the ancient Near East and Islamic World brought to bear in contemporary political discourse? In this book, Medieval Near Eastern historian Jacob Lassner explores the resonance of ancient and medieval history in the political disputes that dominate the contemporary Middle East. From identification with ancient forbears as a method of legitimization and nation-building, to tracing the deep history of the concept of revolution in the Arab world, the author probes the historical foundations of modern conflicts in the region. A medievalist, the author takes the position that an appreciation of cultural history is essential to understanding the debate surrounding the Israel/Palestine conflict. In turn, the book identifies the misappropriation and misunderstanding of the past, deliberate or accidental, as key weapon in the ongoing conflict. Cover page Halftitle page Title page Copyright page Contents Dedicatory Preface Abbreviations Introduction A General View of the Essays As for the Individual Studies Technical Matters Part One Imagined History and Contemporaneous Political Behavior 1 Recovering and Invoking an Idealized Islamic Past: Problems and Approaches to Competing Narratives and Historical Memories Problems Historiographical Approaches to Historical Memories: Early Islam Establishing the Stratigraphy of the Text: Early Historical Writing Linguistic and Philological Criteria Doctrinal Thrust as a Chronological Marker The Modern Historian 2 Myths of Martyrdom and Rebellion: Recalling Muslim Self-Sacrifice and Tribal Virtues of Manliness and Honor Terminology Redefining Shahid and Istishhad: The Quest for Political Legitimacy in the Islamic Community Searching for the Origins of Sacrificing Life for Islamic Principles Al-Hasan b. ‘Ali13 Hujr b. ‘Adi17 Al-Husayn b. ‘Ali18 3 Martyrdom Versus Low-Profile Politics: Interpreting the Past for Alternative Paths toward Regime Change and Political Legitimacy Zayd b. ‘Ali and the Later Ja‘farid Challenge: Prelude to the Abbasid Revolution5 The Abbasid Revolution10 Rationalizing Seeming Passivity in Light of a Legitimizing Past In the Footsteps of the Prophet Alid Martyrdom in the Post-Revolutionary Age Martyrdom and the Contemporary Near East 4 Being on the “Right Side of History”: The Concept and Praxis of a Proper Islamic Revolution The Concept of Revolution in Islam Terminology4 Revolution as Return to the Past. The Ummah and Challenging Unwanted Authority Dunya versus Din: Religion and the Politics of the Temporal World Revolution and Violence Counter-Revolutionary Activity in the Post-Revolutionary Age: Historical Perspectives Why Revolutionaries Succeed and Fail and the Future of Revolution in the Arab World Part Two Identity Politics and Contemporary Political Behavior 5 Forging National Identities in the Modern Arab Nation State: Inventing Legacies of Near and Distant Pasts The Arab Nation State and the Universal Islamic Community The Idealized Ummah and Political Realities Past and Present Modern Iraq, the Background for the Quest of a Unifying National Identity16 Forging an Iraqi Identity and National Consensus: Legacies of an Invented Past Arab Nationalism and National Identity The Kurdish Problem34 Invoking the Ancient Near East in Search of an Iraqi National Identity 6 The Holy Land, Canaan, and Arabia: The Quest for Arab Polity: Inventing an Ancient Past in Response to Zionism Genealogy, Territory, and Self-Identification Invoking Ancient History to Unite the Arabs of Modern Palestine The Arabs of Palestine as Descendants of the Ancient Canaanites 7 The Uses and Misuses of Modern Biblical Scholarship: Academic Politics and National Identity: Egypt, Israel, and Palestine The Jewish Narrative of the Promised Land The Promised Land and the Claims of Modern Scholarship Archaeology, Biblical Revisionism, and the Unsettling of the United Monarchy The Danish School: Biblical Minimalists and Arab–Israel Politics Israeli Archaeology and the Erasure of Palestinian Memory The Resonance of Scholarly Politics and the Arabs of Palestine Notes Bibliography Index