Shades of nationalism in the contemporary arab world: the Islamic facet

INTRODUCTION The modern idea of Al-quawmiyya al-arrbiya, generally rendered in English as 'Arab Nationalism ' is not equivalent to the Arabic al-qawmiya, the latter derived from qawm, is a newcomer to the Arab political terminology.' Before the twentieth century, the word qawm had no political connotation, but as used during present time it has come to denote all the Arab speaking people, disregarding, in principle, the geographical and political boundaries which separate the Arab states. Thus, the term al-qawmiyya al-arrbiya stands, today, not only for 'Arab Nationalism ' but also for the Arab unity. Although there has been a language obstacle in understanding Arab Nationalism by non-Arabs, still attempts have been made by several western and non-Arab scholars to understand the phenomenon of Arab Nationalism. The study of Arab Nationalism by them has helped a lot for the better understanding of Arab world. Arab Nationalism as an ideology and a factor in West As ian politics is a twentieth century phenomenon and comprehensive doctrine of Arab Nationalism emerged after World War I. However, it is not to say that its appearance in twentieth century is mere fortuitous event. On the contrary,