Nationalism in Arabic Countries

The writing of this article aims to discover the beginning of the emergence of nationalism in the Islamic world and the influence of nationalism on the Islamic world along figure of the reformer. The method used in this study is the historical method with the following steps in writing history: (1) heuristics, (2) criticism, (3) interpretation, and (4) historiography. Based on the above, the conclusion is that the emergence of nationalism was in the 16th century in Europe. Nationalism was used as a tool of colonialism by the West to undermine the Ottoman Turkish caliphate. The phases of the development of Arab nationalism began with the arrival of Western nations in the Arab world, namely the entry of Napoleon in 1798 to Egypt with the notion of democracy, equality, and the idea of nationality. Napoleon's arrival begins to set off a series of events and ideas. These ideas, in their entirety, constitute modern Arab nationalism. The current awakening in the Arab world began with the French occupation of Egypt. Arab nationalism is a secular movement determined by several factors, namely the language, historical traditions, and the similarity of interests. So, several essential figures-initiated nationalism in Arabia, including Abdul Hamid (Sultan Abdul Hamid II) from Turkey, Al-Tahtawi from Egypt, Muhammad Rashid Rida from Syria, Abdul Rahman Kawakibi from Arab, and Gammal Abdul Nasser from Egypt.