The First Arab-Islamic Conference 5-7 Jumada al Ula 1415/10-12 October 1994 Beirut, Lebanon

Abstract

This conference has been in preparation for almost thirty months. The
reason for this rather long (by Middle Eastern standards) gestation period
was the unprecedented nature of the conference, difficulties of selecting
participants and finding a safe and available location.
Since the early 1950s, Arab nationalist and Islamic relations have
been passing through very turbulent periods. The secularization of
Arabism and the rise of Arab nationalists to power in many Arab coun·
tries led to frequent and bloody confrontations between the two sides over
power and legitimacy of the state. However, during the last two decades,
Arab regimes have become somewhat less ideological and more tyrannical;
coercive means rather than persuasion has been widely deployed to
preserve the status quo. As a result, many Arab nationalist intellectuals,
activists, and public leaders have dissociated themselves from the ruling
elites and moved to. establish independent Arab nationalist formulae,
research centers, and groupings. Parallel to this turn was the spectacular
rise of Islamic political forces in almost all part of the Arab world, a
development that could not be ignored by the Arab nationalists.
One of the main results of the Gulf War was a growing sense of rapprochement
between the nationalist and Islamist camps. In 1993 a group
representing the two sides (including Rashid al GhannOshi, Khayr al Din
ijasib, Mu}:iammad Sidqi al Dajani, 'Isam Nu'man, and a representative
of ijasan al Turab1) agreed to hold an Arab-Islamic conference to mark
the era of reconciliation and set an agenda for both camps. Meeting in
London, they agreed to invite 100 representatives (approximately 50 from
each camp), nominated a preparatory committee, and named most of the
would-be participants. For many months afterwards, the preparatory
committee worked to surmount the many obstacles which, to a certain
extent, nearly undermined the enterprise. Eventually, after the Muslim
Brotherhood of Egypt had agreed to participate, the Arab nationalists had
agreed to drop their insistence on inviting members of the Sudanese
opposition, and the Lebanese government (as well as the Syrians) had
given permission to hold the conference in Beirut, it was decided to convene
the conference on 12 October 1994 ...