The First Arab-Islamic Conference

Abstract

This conference has been in preparation for almost thirty months. The reason for this rather long (by Middle Eastern standards) gestation period was the unprecedented nature of the conference, difficulties of selecting participants and finding a safe and available location. Since the early 1950s, Arab nationalist and Islamic relations have been passing through very turbulent periods. The secularization of Arabism and the rise of Arab nationalists to power in many Arab coun· tries led to frequent and bloody confrontations between the two sides over power and legitimacy of the state. However, during the last two decades, Arab regimes have become somewhat less ideological and more tyrannical; coercive means rather than persuasion has been widely deployed to preserve the status quo. As a result, many Arab nationalist intellectuals, activists, and public leaders have dissociated themselves from the ruling elites and moved to. establish independent Arab nationalist formulae, research centers, and groupings. Parallel to this turn was the spectacular rise of Islamic political forces in almost all part of the Arab world, a development that could not be ignored by the Arab nationalists. One of the main results of the Gulf War was a growing sense of rapprochement between the nationalist and Islamist camps. In 1993 a group representing the two sides (including Rashid al GhannOshi, Khayr al Din ijasib, Mu}:iammad Sidqi al Dajani, 'Isam Nu'man, and a representative of ijasan al Turab1) agreed to hold an Arab-Islamic conference to mark the era of reconciliation and set an agenda for both camps. Meeting in London, they agreed to invite 100 representatives (approximately 50 from each camp), nominated a preparatory committee, and named most of the would-be participants. For many months afterwards, the preparatory committee worked to surmount the many obstacles which, to a certain extent, nearly undermined the enterprise. Eventually, after the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt had agreed to participate, the Arab nationalists had agreed to drop their insistence on inviting members of the Sudanese opposition, and the Lebanese government (as well as the Syrians) had given permission to hold the conference in Beirut, it was decided to convene the conference on 12 October 1994 ...