The immigration of Arab Christians is a very difficult reality, which has a great impact on the destiny of our Arab World and will change the nature of the area, the basis of its flourishing, its safety, and its internal stability. This is why Arabs, Moslems and Christians alike, must decide to face and actively address this phenomenon.
The immigration of Arab Christians is a very difficult reality, which has a great impact on the destiny of our Arab World and will change the nature of the area, the basis of its flourishing, its safety, and its internal stability. This is why Arabs, Moslems and Christians alike, must decide to face and actively address this phenomenon.
As is the case with the huge crisis facing the modern world in general and the Arab world in particular, we must first examine the reasons that gave rise to this immigration, which damages Arab society.
Arab Christians formed one of the bases of both the old and modern society. In the early days of Islam, they formed a cultural, political, and military column in the Arab State, which expanded to the East reaching India and to the West reaching Spain. Arab Christians were also the energy that forced Islam to expand outside the Arab Peninsula and Syria. Their presence in the Arab world was very important for the development and growth of Islam and its extensive land acquisition within the old world.
During the renaissance period (19th and 20th centuries), the Arab Christians played an active role in rebuilding the characteristics of Arabism and its civilization, opening it to the other rising civilizations, particularly during the Arab decline. The Arab Christian enclave nurtured a link between deep cultural traditions of Arabism and the progressive thinking of modernization.
The Arab Christians, due to their wide-range cultural background, created and continue to encourage developments in Arab culture and thinking. Their immigration would deprive the Arab World of this rich diversity and would peel off away a large share of its cultural and ethnic origins.
When we talk about the Christian presence in the Arab World we do so with hopes that they will remain. Arab Christians are among the original structural founders. The continuation of their existence in the Arab world would help to prevent the expansion of racism and extremism, and would thus prevent the kind of violence that leads to historic disasters. Their commitment to stay would act as a response – in action not in words – to the Israeli idea of the “one-religion-state,” the pure race, and the elected people. It would also challenge the basis of Zionist thought, founded on iron, fire, blood, and tears. More importantly, their presence confronts the Israeli idea of disregarding the Arab population altogether.
The presence of the Arab Christians would strengthen the modern state through the diversity of its elements and would inspire Arab unity, thus ending racism within the state. Moreover, their presence and their social, cultural and economic contact with the Christian West strengthens the Arab cause worldwide. Arab Christian immigration is a serious setback to the Arab people, making them vulnerable to a future climate that refuses inter-faith dialogue and communication.
Preservation of the Arab Christian presence is a hope that can only be realized by adopting and implementing democratic practice when dealing with human beings, their rights and individual creativities. Their preservation will also enrich the Arab social structure and the Modern Arab State, helping to destroy the pattern of civil war like the events in Lebanon in 1840, 1860, and 1975, in Sudan, and in what we fear will happen in Egypt.
Finally, Arab Christian preservation would help end the great loss in scientific, cultural and intellectual creativity in the Arab World. This also means safeguarding the elements of economic strength in trade, industry, banking, and professionalism.
In conclusion, if Arab Christian immigration continues, it will form a deep blow to the core and future of our society. It must be our immediate task to prevent this immigration and to strengthen the presence of the Arab Christians in our United East.
