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On the New and the Eternal in the Intellectual Tapestry of Michel ʿAflaq: Religion, the Sacred, and the Secular
Abstract
From the early to mid-twentieth century, thinkers across the globe of a variety of political tendencies—as well as theological positions—envisioned the emergence of the New Man in history. In the context of the Arab World, Michel ʿAflaq (1910-1989), founder of the Arab Baʿth Party, dedicated himself to formulating a compelling anticolonial nationalist vision that would usher forth the New Arab (al-ʿarabī al-jadīd). In his view, this agonizing process of self-constitution at the level of the singular human person would lead to the emergence of the virtuous New Arab Generation (al-jīl al-ʿarabī al-jadīd) collectively on the world stage as an expression of the Arab nation’s eternal message (al-risāla al-khālida). For ʿAflaq, revolution begins with the metaphysical revolution of the soul, and likewise any struggle towards progress and renewal must derive its vitality from eternity (al-khulūd) itself. While a number of works have meditated on one concept or another in the intellectual tapestry of ʿAflaq and his followers, the task remains to integrate them together to fully capture their vibrant meaning. Such an endeavor brings about a key question: how to understand the new and the eternal in ʿAflaq’s thought? Therefore, in this paper I argue that ʿAflaq’s ultimate goal of realizing the New Arab Man who would create the united Arab nation—that is to say, realizing true decolonization—rested upon a foundation of the concept of the eternal. Indeed, it is precisely in this interplay of the new and the eternal that one fully begins to understand the higher aims of Baʿthism.
Discipline
History
Geographic Area
Arab States
Mashreq
Syria
The Levant
Sub Area
None