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al-Husri

Tags: iraq

al-Husri directed education in Iraq, promoted pan Arabism, butted heads with the Columbia teacher’s college

Simon - Imposition of Nationalism on Non-Nation State says:

  • Husri cited german “volk” type of primordialism, extolled the idea of pre-Islamic Arabs
  • Decided that history of Arab nation was the history of the Arabs, not of Islam
  • Bypassing of religious unity via langauge, similar to Anderson - Imagined Communities
    • Arabism could then transcend religion and be accepted by Sunni, Shia, Christian, and Jew
      • Notably no Kurds
  • left in 1936 due to disagreements with teacher’s college, but Muhammad Fadil al-Jamali and Sami Shawkat continued his work
  • History was used as a tool

Cited in Makdisi - The Ecumenical Frame, Pursely - Familiar Futures,