Neo-Arabs

History is forcing a new definition of the word "Arab" upon us, at least in response to the radically shifting emotions conjured up when it's encountered: from terror to freedom, from barbarism to dignity, from despair to inspiration.

But wouldn't defining an alleged Neo-Arab be as risky as predicting the outcome on a landscape of a hurricane in the midst of its rage? Perhaps. Yet, I, and certainly many millions of others, do feel something previously unfelt, as if breathing an unprecedented air: a new Arab is emerging, like a genie confined for millennia, cruelly constricted, in a cramped rusty lamp that stopped working a long time ago, growing taller and bigger toward the heavens and across the horizon.

It may be much easier to describe what's NOT the Neo-Arab (let’s call it the Old Arab) than what it is: He rules his domain omnipotently, be that a woman, a household, a street, a company, an institution, or a country, with a mandate from God.  He must cling to the mantle of a sheikh, a more powerful patriarch, for him to have his own little sheikhdom.  If he’s not a wolf, he’s prey. And if he’s prey, he’s doomed by the insurmountable will of God, who created him to be victimized.  His religion is fear and greed.  His people are distinct from all humankind, either superior or inferior, or both depending on who, where, and when.  He's parochial, intolerant, monolithic, and seeks God not by obeying Him but by imitating Him.  He's never wrong, either because he can’t make mistakes or is afraid of making them in the first place; so he never feels guilty. He's a tyrant at heart, oppressing his conscience, tormenting others.

Mix that with power, and you’ve got Ben Ali and his cronies, Mubarak and his thugs, Qaddhafi and his mutants, and the rest of the gang.  Though these fallen idols may epitomize the Old Arab, it’s certainly not only them.  And “Old” here doesn’t necessarily denote age: Qaddhafi is old, his lieutenant son is young; but both are Old Arabs.  The Old Arab can also be seen in my own father, most Arabs I know, and, of course, myself.  No revolution can bring about a Neo-Arab unless it’s underpinned by one within.

Although the Neo-Arab is yet to be identified, a model is taking shape, or can be shaped up if the momentum is aptly mounted, which may serve as a goal to be pursued.  Paradoxically, this Neo-Arab may not be subject to definition, lest he would resemble the excessively defined Old Arab.  He does not come in one color.  The Neo-Arab may be a she, or something else; a Muslim, Christian, or even an atheist; as these identities can’t be generalized and are matters of natural existence, personal choice, and privacy, dearly valued by the Neo-Arab, who may not even speak Arabic, yet identifies, culturally or otherwise, with the Arabs.

Nevertheless, I shall attempt to sketch a Neo-Arab prototype:  She realizes that she’s first and foremost an individual human being, given the divine gift of life and its inseparable component of freedom, and that along with that comes an individual responsibility which can’t be delegated to another person, or to a group of persons.  He has rights, which are no less precious than bread, water, and air.  And he grants others their rights in return for earning his.  She’s driven by enlightened self-interest.  What’s good for her is what’s ultimately good for her society.  What’s good for her country is what’s ultimately good for the world.  He is not ruled by a sheikh, whether religious or tribal or mercantile, who provides for him and protects him from evil, or by anyone at all for that matter.  Rather, he, among equals, is governed by competent equals who represent his interest and enforce justice for all.  She has been illuminated that “La ilaha illa Allah” means that only God merits her servitude, and that nothing else whatsoever is to be idolized: no man, thing, idea, symbol, or self is to be associated with God as the only purpose of worship.

With a newfound freedom, earned by a fearlessly overwhelming will of the people, Neo-Arabs will cherish the principle of freedom the most as they’ve been deprived of it the longest, so much that they would never deny anyone else that birthright.  Neo-Arabs reject hegemony, whether over or by them.  And they see before them a vast realm of possibility, clear of the ever thwarting mantra of the Old Arab: “laysa bil-imkan ahsan min ma kan” (it can never be better than it is.)  They see it, I dare say, with optimism and self-confidence, enough to feel the responsibility, moral authority, and right to innovate their own brand of democracy and present it to the world: one that cannot be manipulated by the powerful and the rich, that doesn't end up just another ideology exploited by strategic planners and shrewd marketeers, that's not a veneer for autocracy, oligarchy, plutocracy, kleptocracy, fascism, or one-party rule in the disguise of a multi-party system; a democracy that’s not about fucking the poor or fucking the rich, that's not crippled by division between rivals for control; a democracy that remains true to its original ends: peace, justice, and equality for free people who rule themselves.  Such democracy would be submission to God’s will and a vehicle for His compassion.

This must depend largely on whether enough inner revolutions occur for the Neo-Arabs to triumph in Egypt, Tunisia, and, Libya.  It depends on whether this nascent core of the Islamic civilization succeeds in pioneering a model for delivering it from its Wilderness, for its rebirth as a leading world civilization at peace within and without: an Islamic civilization that embraces its diversity and grows bigger by it; one that provides the world with a firm center and offers its richness to it; one that is humbled by its pride in being the birthplace of civilization itself, the crossroads for human migration and exchange of goods and ideas throughout history, the beacon of faith that illuminated people’s hearts the world over, the mouth from which God’s word spread to the farthest fringes of the earth; an Islamic civilization that is on a par with other world civilizations and positively collaborates with them for the wellbeing of humanity.

It's a clean white page. What an opportunity. What a challenge.