Arab Christians
مسيحيون عرب

File:Michel Aflaq.jpg File:Suleiman1.jpg File:Shakira Milano Italy.jpg Khalil Gibran • Michel Aflaq • Fairuz • Edward Said • Emile Habibi • Amin al-Rihani • Ralph Nader • Suleiman Mousa • Tony Shalhoub • Shakira[1] • Carlos Menem • Carlos Ghosn
Total population
10,000,000-25,000,000 7.1 - 10% of the Arab world's population Regions with significant populations:  Brazil: 8,000,000  Syria: 2,000,000  Lebanon: 1,300,000  USA: 1,200,000  Mexico: 1,100,000  Chile: 750.000  Jordan: 370,000  Canada: 350,000  EU: 350,000  Australia: 140,000  Israel: 154,000 [2]  Palestine: 75,500 Arabian Peninsula: 100,000
Languages
Native Language: Arabic In the diaspora: English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, other European languages
Religion
Melkite Greek Catholic Church , Greek Orthodox Church , Maronite Catholic Church , Roman Catholic Church , Protestant Church

Christian Arabs are Christians from the Arab world that are self-identified as being Arab, like Arab Muslims. For the purposes of this article, Arabic-speaking Christians refers to Christians from the Arab world who do not identify as Arab. Their origins are from Southwest Asia and North Africa and have been blended with many cultures and civilizations through the centuries.

Large numbers of self-identified Arab Christians are found in the Southwest Asia and North Africa, particularly in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, West Bank and Gaza Strip. Emigrants from Arab Christian communities make up a significant portion of the Middle Eastern diaspora, with high population concentrations in the Americas, particularly in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, Chile, and the United States.

History

The New Testament has a biblical account of Arab conversion to Christianity in the book of Acts in Jerusalem in the witness of St. Peter, Chapter 2: Verse 11: "(both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs-we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!"^[3][4]

The first mention of Christianity in Arab lands occurs in the New Testament as the Apostle Paul refers to his journey in Arabia following his conversion (Galatians 1: 15-17). Later, Eusebius of Caesarea discusses a bishop named Beryllus in the see of Bostra, the site of a synod c. 240. Christians existed in Arab lands from the third century onward.^[5]

Some modern scholars suggest that Philip the Arab was the first Christian emperor of Rome.^[5] By the fourth century a significant number of Christians occupied the Sinai peninsula, Mesopotamia and Arabia. Others say that the first Christian ruler in history was an Arab called Abgar VIII of Edessa, who converted.

Throughout many eras of history, Arab Christians have co-existed fairly peacefully with their fellow non-Christian Arab neighbours, principally Muslims and Jews. Even after the rapid expansion of Islam from the 7th century AD onwards through the Islamic conquests, many Christians chose not to convert to Islam and instead maintain their pre-existing beliefs.

As "People of the Book", Christians in the region are accorded certain rights by theoretical Islamic law (Shari'ah) to practice their religion, however, strictly conditioned with first paying a special amount of money (tribute) obliged from non-Muslims called 'Jizyah' (pronounced Jiz-ya), in form of either cash or goods, usually a wealth of animals, in exchange for their right to worship under Islamic rule. The tax was not levied on slaves, women, children, monks, the old, the sick,^[6][7] hermits, or the poor.^[8]

Arab Christians, and Arabic-speaking Jews for that matter, predate Arab Muslims, as there were many Arab tribes which adhered to Christianity since the first century, including the Nabateans and the Ghassanids. The latter were of Qahtani origin and spoke Yemeni-Arabic as well as Greek who protected the south-eastern frontiers of the Roman and Byzantine Empires in north Arabia.^{[citation needed]}

The tribes of Tayy, Abd Al-Qais, and Taghlib were also known to have included a large number of Christians prior to Islam. The Yemenite city of Najran was also a center of Arabian Christianity, and were made famous by virtue of their persecution by one of the kings of Yemen, Dhu Nawas, who was himself an enthusiastic convert to Judaism. The leader of the Arabs of Najran during the period of persection, Al-Harith, was canonized by the Roman Catholic Church as St. Aretas.

As of 2010 there are believed to be more than 40 Million Christians worldwide and in the Arab world, mostly living in the Americas, Syria, Lebanon etc.

Christians today

Syria

In Syria, Christians formed just under 15% of the population (about 1.2 million people) under the 1960 census, but no newer census has been taken. Current estimates put them at about 10% of the population (2,000,000), due to lower rates of birth and higher rates of emigration than their Muslim compatriots. Most Christians are Greek Orthodox , Greek Catholic and Maronite, with some Syriac Christians.

Lebanon

The earliest indisputable tradition of Christianity in Lebanon can be traced back to Saint Maron in the 4^th century CE, the founder of national and ecclesiastical Maronitism. Saint Maron adopted an ascetic recluse life on the banks of the Orontes river in the vicinity of Homs–Syria and founded a community of monks which began to preach the gospel in the surrounding areas. The Saint Maron Monastery was too close to Antioch to enable the monks freedom and autonomy which prompted Saint John Maron, the first Maronite patriarch-elect to lead his monks into the Lebanese mountains to escape emperor Justinian II’s persecution; the Maronites monks finally settled in the Qadisha valley.During the Muslim conquest the Christians, particularly the Maronites were persecuted, the persecution culminated during the Umayyad caliphate; nevertheless the influence of the Maronite establishment spread throughout the Lebanese mountains and became a considerable feudal force.[[cn}} In the 12^th century, the Maronite Church re-established its connection with the Church of Rome after hundreds of years of no contacts due to Muslim occupation of the Lebanese shores^[9]. According to Kamal Salibi some Maronites may have been descended from an Arabian tribe, who immigrated thousands of years ago from the Southern Arabian peninsula. Salibi maintains "It is very possible that the Maronites, as a community of Arabian origin, were among the last Arabian Christian tribes to arrive in Syria before Islam"^[10].

Lebanon holds the largest number of Christians in the Arab world in proportion to its total population. It is known that they made up around 55% of Lebanon's population before the Lebanese Civil War, but their percentage today may be as low as 40% now (1,800,000), however of the estimated 16,000,000 strong diaspora, they form a majority. Lebanese Christians belong mostly to the Maronite Catholic Church, with sizable minorities of Greek Orthodox and Melkite Greek Catholics. There is, however, uncertainty about the exact numbers because no official census has been made in Lebanon since 1932. Lebanese Christians are the only Christians in the Middle East with a sizable political role in the country where the Lebanese president, half of the cabinet, half of the parliament are of the various Lebanese Christian rites.

Jordan

In Jordan, Christians constitute about 7% of the population (about 400,000 people), though the percentage dropped sharply from 18% in the early beginning of the twentieth century. This drop is largely due to influx of Muslim Arabs from Hijaz after the First World War, the low birth rates in comparison with Muslims and the large numbers of Palestinians (85-90% Muslim) who fled to Jordan after 1948. Nearly 70-75% of Jordanian Christians belong to the Eastern Orthodox Church, while the rest adhere to Catholicism with a small minority adhering to Protestantism. Christians are well integrated in the Jordanian society and have a high level of freedom. Nearly all Christians belong to the middle or upper classes. Moreover, Christians enjoy more economic and social opportunity in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan than elsewhere in Southwest Asia. Although they constitute less than ten per cent of the total population, they have disproportionately large representation in the Jordanian parliament (10% of the Parliament) and hold important government portfolios, ambassadorial appointments abroad, and positions of high military rank.

Jordanian Christians are allowed by the public and private sectors to leave their work to attend Divine Liturgy or Mass on Sundays. All Christian religious ceremonies are publicly celebrated in Jordan. Christians have established good relations with the royal family and the various Jordanian government officials and they have their own ecclesiastic courts for matters of personal status.

Israel, the West Bank and Gaza

About 75,500 Palestinian Christians live in the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip,^[11] with about 122,000 living in Israel (as Arab citizens of Israel), and an estimated 400,000 Palestinian Christians living in the Palestinian diaspora. Both the founder of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, George Habash, and the founder if its offshoot, the DFLP, Nayif Hawatmeh, were Christians, as is prominent Palestinian activist and former Palestinian Authority minister Hanan Ashrawi.

North Africa

There are tiny communities of Roman Catholics in Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, and Morocco because of French rule for Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco, Spanish rule for Morocco, and Italian rule for Libya. Most of the members in North Africa, however, are foreign missionaries or immigrant workers and people of French, Spanish, and Italian colonial descent, while only a minority among them are converted Arabs (or their descendants) or descendants of converted Berbers, often brought to Christian (Catholic) belief during the modern era or under French colonialism. Charles de Foucauld was renowned for his missions in North Africa among Muslims, including African Arabs.

Many millions of Arab Christians also live in a diaspora elsewhere in the world. These include such countries as Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia,Venezuela, Cuba, Dominican Republic and the United States. The majority of self-identifying Arab Americans are Eastern Rite Catholic or Orthodox, according to the Arab American Institute. On the other hand, most American Muslims are black or of South Asian (Indian or Pakistani) origin. There are also many Arab Christians in Europe, especially in the United Kingdom,France (due to its historical connections with Lebanon and North Africa), and Spain (due to its historical connections with north Morocco), and to a lesser extent, Ireland, Germany, Italy, and Greece.

Religion

The Arabic-speaking Christians belong to different churches: Melkite Greek Catholic Church , Greek Orthodox Church , Maronite Catholic Church , Protestant Church , Roman Catholic Church.

Doctrine

Like Arab Muslims and Arab Jews, Arab Christians refer to God as Allah, since this is the word in Arabic for "God".^[12][13] The use of the term Allah in Arab Christian churches predates Islam by several centuries.^[12] In more recent times (especially since the mid 1800s), some Arabs from the Levant region have been converted from these native, traditional churches to more recent Protestant ones, most notably Baptist and Methodist churches^{[citation needed]}. This is mostly due to an influx of Western, predominantly American Evangelical, missionaries.

Identity: What is an Arab Christian?

Arab Christians are Christians in certain countries in the Arab world .Arab Christians are indigenous to the Middle East, with a presence there predating the 7th century Islamic expansion in Western Asia. Many Arab Muslims today were originally Arab Christians who converted to Islam for various reasons.Entirly almost most of the Levantine Christians are ethnic Arabic , descendants from Arabian tribes such as the Kahlani Qahtani tribes of ancient Yemen (i.e. Ghassanids, Lakhmids, Banu Judham and Hamadan) and maybe descendants of the Canaanites which also came from the Arabian Peninsula.

Rejection of "Arab Identity"

In Lebanon many Maronites and other Lebanese Christians sects,feel a stronger link and cultural identification with Phoenicians and show pride in the belief that their ancestry is linked to the Phoenicians.^{[14][15][16][17]} Key people involved in the attempted revial emphasis of the Phoenician identity in Lebanon were May Murr,Charles Corm, Michel Chiha, and Said Aql well known for their efforts in their promotion of Phoenicianism.^{[18][19][20][21]} Phoeniciansm is deeply disputed by many Arabist scholars who have on occasion tried to convince them these claims are false and to embrace and accept the Arab identity instead.^[22]This conflict of ideas of an identity is believed to be one of the main pivotal disputes between the Muslim and Christian populations of Lebanon and what mainly divides the country from national unity.^[23][24] It's generalized that Muslims focus more on the Arab identity of Lebanese history and culture whereas Christians focus on the pre-arabized & non-Arab spectrum of the Lebanese identity and rather refrain from the Arab specification.^[25][26][27]

Lebanese Christians are known to be specifically linked to the root of Lebanese Nationalism and opposition to Pan-Arabism in Lebanon, this being the case during 1958 Lebanon crisis. When Muslim Arab nationalists backed by Gamel Abdel Nasser tried to overthrow the then Christian dominated government in power, due to the displeasure of the government's pro-western policies and their lack of commitment and duty to so called "Arab brotherhood" by preferring keep Lebanon away from the Arab League and the political confrontations of the Middle East. A more hard-nosed nationalism among some Christian leaders, who saw Lebanese nationalism more in terms of its confessional roots and failed to be carried away by Chiha's vision, clung to a more security-minded view of Lebanon. They regarded the national project as mainly a program for the security of Christians and a bulwark against threats from Muslims and their hinterland.^[28]

Also this is seen with its movement members and leaders. With Etienne Saqr, Said Akl, Charles Malik, Camille Chamoun and Bachir Gemayel being notable names. Some being noted go as far as having Anti-Arab views, in his book the Israeli writer Mordechai Nisan who at times met with some of them during the war quoted Said Akl a famous Lebanese poet and philosopher as saying;

"I would cut off my right hand just not to be an Arab."^[29]

Akl believes in emphasis of the Phoenician legacy of the Lebanese people and promoted the use of the Lebanese dialect written in a modified Latin alphabet, that had been influenced by the Phoenician alphabet, rather than the Arabic one.^[30]

With the exiled Leader and founder of the right-wing yet secular Guardians of the Cedars Etienne Saqr also the father of singers Karol Sakr and Pascale Sakr that took no sectarian stance and even had Muslim members who joined in their radical stance against Arabism and Palestinian forces in Lebanon. ^[31] Saqr summarized his party's view on the Arab Identity on their official ideological manifesto by stating;

Lebanon will remain, as always, Lebanese without any labels. The French passed through it yet it remained Lebanese. The Ottomans ruled it and it remained Lebanese. The stinky winds of Arabism blows through it, but the wind will wither away and Lebanon will remain Lebanese. I do not know what will become of those wretched people who claim that Lebanon is Arabic when Arabism disappears from the map of the Middle East and a new Middle East would emerge, which is clean from Arabs and Arabism.^[32]

In Lebanon, almost 1 in 3 of Lebanese carry the Phoenician gene in their DNA. This Phoenician signature is distributed equally among different groups (both Christians and Muslims) in Lebanon and that the overall genetic makeup of the Lebanese was found to be similar across various backgrounds.^[33] In addition the study found that the J2 (old levantine haplogroup) was found in an "unusually high proportion" (about 20-30%) among Levantine people such as the Lebanese, Palestinians, and Syrians. A Lebanese Christian who was tested as having the J2 haplogroup stated that "It carries no big meaning," and added he views himself as "Lebanese, Arab and Christian -- in that order."^[34] Although this viewpoint could be considered unusual.^[35] Another Lebanese citizen tested stated he would be "very proud" to discover he had Phoenician roots."I will be more than happy to have Phoenician roots," said Nabil. "Phoenicians started the civilization, they are the ones who invented the alphabet, I would be very proud to be a Phoenician," he adds. Dr Pierre Zalloua says the project's discovery is a "truly unifying message".^[36] He explained,"I think it's a truly unifying message, and for me its very gratifying. Lebanon has been hammered by so many divides, and now a piece of heritage has been unravelled in this project which reminds us that maybe we should forget about differences and pay attention to our common heritage," stated Dr Pierre Zalloua.^[37]

On a Al-Jazeera special dedicated to the political Christian clans of Lebanon and their struggle for power in the 2009 election entitled, Lebanon: The Family Business. The issue of identity was brought up on several occasions, by various of politicians including Druze leader Walid Jumblatt whom himself cited that all Lebanese somewhat lack a real identity and the country is yet to discover one they can all agree on. Sami Gemayel a minor but aspiring politician from the Gemayel clan and son of former president Amin Gemayel. In the program he openly stated he did not considered himself an Arab but instead identified himself as a Syriac, going on to explain that to him and many Lebanese the "acceptance" of Lebanon's "Arab identity" according to the Taef Agreement wasn't something that they "accepted" but instead were forced into signing through pressure.

The official declared "Arab Identity" of Lebanon was created in 1990 based on the Taif Agreement. Without any free discussion or debate among Lebanese people and while Lebanon was under Syrian custody and in the presence of armed Syrian military inside then Lebanese parliament when voting on constitutional amendments were taking place.^[38]

In a speech in 2009 to a crowd of Christian Kataeb supporters which he stated to him he felt there was importance in Christians finding an identity and went on to state what he finds identification with as a Lebanese Christian concluding with a purposely exclusion of Arab in the segment.The speech met with an applause afterward from the audience^[39];

What we are missing today, is an important element of our life and our honor. Which is our identity. I will tell you today, that I as a Lebanese citizen, my Identity is Maronite, Syriac, Christian, and Lebanese(مارونية سريانية مسيحية لبنانية : Maroniya, Syryaniya, Masïhiya, Lubnaniya).^[40]

Etienne Sakr whose Anti-Arabism secular Lebanese nationalist party Guardians of the Cedars was banned by request of the Taef agreement which firmly imposed the Arab identity on to Lebanon.Which led to him and many party members being exiled. In an interview in 2008 he stated how he believed Arabism was being forced onto the Lebanese people even those who didnt want to accept it. He stated Those who openly rejected Arabism were prone to suffer persecution from the government and he also explained that in his opinion there is little difference between Arabism and Islamism.^[41]

-

We are not Arabs. Last year my people in Lebanon had a press conference saying exactly that. The next day Siniora sent them (a poet, lawyer and a journalist) to jail for two months and two days because they said Lebanon is not an Arab state. This was their crime. It was nothing they could accuse them of, but still they did not release them. The judge was pressured not to release them. Our big enemy is Arabism. Arabism is the first step toward the Islamization of Lebanon. The ambition of the Saudis is not only to Islamicize Lebanon but also the whole world.

^[42]

Sakr summarized the civil war from his perspective and the apparent problems in the current political situation in Lebanon;

You have Lebanon here, the Arabs want to annex Lebanon, and for that they had to push the Christians out, this was the plan since 1975. They sent Arafat and he failed. They sent Syria for 30 years and they destroyed Lebanon. And now the plan is going on with these politicians who are loyal to all except Lebanon.We have to get back to our national cause. This is a sacred cause for me and for others. We have to do everything we can for it. We cannot stop. This is our country. We have a system in Lebanon with a lot of corruption. We have feudalism, the same people in high positions. They work for their own well being, not for that of Lebanon. The proof is that the country is dying.

^[43]

Another infamous Lebanese politician who rejected Arabism was the politically secular Greek Orthodox Antun Saadeh founder of the SSNP, who was executed for advocating the abolition of the Lebanese state, by the Kataeb led government in the 1940s for allegedly trying to orchestrate a failed coup attempt against the government in power and declare a regime change. he rejected Arab Nationalism (the idea that the speakers of the Arabic language form a single, unified nation), and argued instead for the creation of the state of United Syrian Nation or Natural Syria encompassing the Fertile Crescent. Saadeh rejected both language and religion as defining characteristics of a nation, and instead argued that nations develop through the common development of a people inhabiting a specific geographical region. He was thus a strong opponent of both Arab nationalism and Pan-Islamism. He argued that Syria was historically, culturally, and geographically distinct from the rest of the Arab world, which he divided into four parts. He traced Syrian history as a distinct entity back to the Phoenicians, Canaanites, Arameans, Babylonians etc. ^[44]

There is also a portion of Arabic-speaking Christians that belong to the Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac people ethnic group. They use Syriac-Aramaic in their liturgy and some still speak it as a language. They are a separate ethnicity.

Embrace of Arab identity

Many scholars and intellects like Edward Said believed Christians in the Arab world have made significant contributions to the Arab civilization and still do. Some of the top poets at certain times were Arab Christians, and many Arab Christians were physicians, writers, government officials, and people of literature.^[45]

Some of the most influential Arab nationalists were Palestinian Christians like George Habash, founder of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and Syrian intellect Constantin Zureiq.

During a final session of the Lebanese Parliament, a prominent Maronite procliams his identity as Arab: "I, the Maronite Christian Lebanese Arab, grandson of Patriarch Estefan Doueihy, declare my pride to be a part of our people’s resistance in the South. Can one renounce what guarantees his rights?” ^[46]

The eminent Lebanese historian Kamal Salibi (a protestant Christian) in his 'A House of Many Mansions' [1988] states (ch. 6): "It is very possible that the Maronites, as a community of Arabian origin, were among the last Arabian Christian tribes to arrive in Syria before Islam. Certainly, since the 14th century, their language has been Arabic. Syriac, which is the Christian literary form of Aramaic, was originally the liturgical language of all the Semitic Christian sects, in Arabia as well as in the Levant and Mesapotamia".

Prominent Christians from the Arab World

• Michel Aflaq, founder of pan-Arabist Baath party, (Syrian, Greek Orthodox Christian).
• Suleiman Mousa, prominent historian and author of "Biography of Major T.E. Lawrence: An Arab View" (Jordanian, Catholic Christian).
• George Wassouf, Syrian singer, (Syrian Christian).
• Edward Said, prominent intellectual and writer (Palestinian, Protestant Christian).
• Constantin Zureiq, prominent intellectual and academic, (Syrian, Greek Orthodox Christian).
• George Habash, founder of PFLP, (Palestinian, Greek Orthodox Christian).
• Nayef Hawatmeh, founder of DFLP, (Palestinian, Greek Orthodox Christian).
• Said Khoury, entrepreneur, co-founder of the Consolidated Contractors International Company, (Palestinian,Greek Orthodox Christian).
• Yousef Beidas, prominent Financier, (Palestinian, Greek Orthodox Christian).
• John Sununu, US political leader, (Palestinian-Lebanese, Greek Catholic Christian).
• Hanan Ashrawi, Palestinian scholar and politic activist, (Palestinian, Anglican Christian).
• Steve Bracks Australian State MP, Premier of Victoria, Australia, (Lebanese, Catholic Christian).
• René Angélil, Canadian producer and husband of Céline Dion, (Lebanese-Syrian, Greek Catholic Christian). [2]
• Carlos Menem, president of Argentina from 1988 to 1999, (Syrian, converted to Roman Catholic from Islam)
• Emile Habibi, writer, (Arab citizens of Israel, Protestant Christian)
• Azmi Bishara, former Knesset member, (Arab citizen of Israel, Greek Orthodox Christian)
• Azmi Nassar, manager of the Palestinian national football team, (Arab citizen of Israel, Greek Orthodox Christian)
• Salim Tuama, Hapoel Tel Aviv middlefielder, (Arab citizen of Israel, Greek Orthodox Christian)
• Simon Shaheen, oud and violin virtuoso and composer, (Arab citizen of Israel, Greek Catholic Christian)
• Salim Jubran, member of the Israeli Supreme Court, Arab citizen of Israel, Maronite (Christian)
• Ralph Nader, US Presidential candidate and consumers' rights activist (son of Lebanese Christian immigrants, but declines to comment on personal religion)
• Hani Naser, musician,producer (son of Jordanian Christian Immigrants)
• Shakira, international superstar daughter of Lebanese father from Zahle and Colombian mother.
• Tony Shalhoub, three-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe-winning American television and film actor. (Lebanese, Maronite Christian)
• Marie Keyrouz, chanter of Oriental Church music, (Melkite-Maronite nun). Founder of L'Ensemble de la Paix (Ensemble of Peace) and Founder-President of L'Instituit International de Chant Sacré (International Institute of Sacred Chant) in Paris.
• Julio César Turbay, president of Colombia from 1978 to 1982, (Lebanese Maronite Christian)
• Carlos Slim Helú, Mexican businessman, (Lebanese Maronite Christian)
• Bruno Bichir and Demián Bichir, Mexican actors, (Lebanese Maronite Christians
• Elias Farah, Iraqi philosopher, (Syrian, Greek Orthodox Christian).
• Amin al-Rihani, writer and intellectual, (Lebanese, Maronite Christian).
• Afif Safieh, diplomat, (Palestinian, Greek Catholic Christian).

See also

• Christianity in the Middle East
• List of Christian terms in Arabic
• Lakhmids
• Arab Orthodox
• Sophronius
• John of Damascus

References

External links

• Arabic Christians Community