Rebellion, Myth-Making, and Nation Building: Lebanon from an Ottoman Mountain Iltizam to a Nation-State
December 3, 2007, 5:00-6:00PM
Fares Center Conference Room
Cosponsored by The Middle Eastern Studies Program, Tufts University
Speaker: Abdul-Rahim Abu-Husayn, Professor of History, American University of Beirut; Visiting Scholar, The Fares Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies

Summary

Abdul-Rahim Abu-Husayn, Professor of History at the American University of Beirut and Fall 2007 Visiting Scholar at the Fares Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies, presented his research at a roundtable cosponsored by The Middle Eastern Studies Program of Tufts University.

Based upon his research of Ottoman archival materials and his criticism of Lebanese canonical historians, Abu-Husayn portrayed an alternative view of Lebanon's evolution from an Ottoman outpost to a full-fledged nation-state. His principal argument was that the Lebanese resistance of the Ottomans in the form of a “long rebellion” was instrumental in creating a Lebanese entity in 1861 and in giving the country its national hero: Fakhreddine II of the Maanid dynasty.

Fakhreddine's role in resisting the Turks is one of the few points that historians, be they pan-Arabists or Lebanese particularists, agree upon. As a result, Fakhreddine's position as the “father of Lebanon” has become quasi-official. However, Abu-Husayn considers Fakhreddine's legacy as the historical explanation for the emergence of the Lebanese state in the late nineteenth century to be greatly exaggerated. His research concurs with the findings of Lebanese historian Kamal Salibi, who contends that Fakhreddine's control over a number of areas that comprised Lebanon was not necessarily part of a grand design to unite those areas into a single Lebanese state.

Abu-Husayn also found that like all other emirs of his time, Fakhreddine had an oscillating relationship with the Ottomans. His only distinction is that he enjoyed outside support from European powers such as Tuscany and the Catholic Papacy. Indeed, since Fakhreddine was Druze, this external support is what made him popular in Maronite Christian circles. Maronite Patriarch historian Estfan Houeiek has maintained that Fakhreddine's clout in Maronite Christian circles is due to his being raised in a Maronite household, but Abu-Husayn emphasized that strong instructions from the papacy to assist Fakhreddine and the Maanid dynasty were more influential.

Abu-Husayn also challenged the traditional version of Lebanese historiography regarding the formation of Lebanon. After the bitter civil war fought between the Maronites and Druze in the nineteenth century, the Maronites emerged as the leading community in many respects. As the most organized institution, the Maronite church under Patriarch Houeiek demanded the formation of a greater Lebanon with special connections to France.

Abu-Husayn refined this account by adding that the idea of a greater Lebanon had been previously advanced by Paul Njeim, a Maronite intellectual who argued that the notion of a greater Lebanon simply constituted a return to the Lebanon of Fakhreddine, whom he credited for forming a “civilized state resembling those of Europe.” Abu-Husayn characterized Njeim's hypothesis as a typical nationalist attempt to seek a historical antecedent for his projected Lebanon, but he also highlighted the unusual fact that the hero of this Maronite-imagined golden age was Druze.

Abu-Husayn attributed this anomaly to the desire of Lebanese Maronites to legitimize the rule of the Shehabi dynasty, which followed the Maans. The Maronites had come to be the masters of the region—in both economic matters and administration of the emirates—after the death of the last Maanid emir and the ascension of the Christian house of Shehab. By praising Fakhreddine, the Patriarch historian Doueihi was attempting to impart a sense of Ottoman legitimacy upon the Maans and the Shehabs. As Doueihi was concerned about the survival of his religious community, he believed that this legitimacy was critical to appease non-Christians in the area. Based on the contemporary Lebanese nationalist narrative and the unrivaled position of Fakhreddine in Lebanese historical textbooks, not withstanding Abu-Husayn's findings, Douiehi's success was great indeed.

~ By Tarek Zeidan (MALD '09)

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