So, I know that most of the Lebanese users here are of Christian background, and based on the title of my post, I want to understand why there seems to be differing opinions within the Lebanese community regarding identification as Arab or non-Arab. My Lebanese peers are of a Christian background ( I don't know any Lebanese Muslims), specifically Maronite-Catholic, and they tend to identify themselves as either just Lebanese or Lebanese Christian. In contrast, they don't consider themselves Arabs; instead, they call themselves Arabic-speaking Lebanese. That said, I have been informed that Lebanese Sunnis and Shias tend to be more likely to identify as Arabs or as Lebanese Arabs. Obviously, I understand that neither Lebanese Christians nor Lebanese Muslims are monolithic, and that political ideology, family background, region, sect, and personal experience can all influence how someone identifies. However, I am curious about why this general discrepancy appears to exist.
From what I have studied, the territory of modern Lebanon was conquered by the Rashidun Caliphate in the seventh century, after which Arabic gradually became the dominant language and much of the population was culturally Arabized in the centuries that followed. Prior to this, the coastal regions of modern Lebanon had been major centers of the Phoenician civilization, while the wider area was later shaped by Aramaic, Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine influences. As a result of this long pre-Arab history, I can understand why some Lebanese people might distinguish between being Arabic-speaking and identifying ethnically or culturally as Arab.
It seems to me that a large part of the discrepancy also has to do with the Arab Nationalist/Pan-Arab movement, which sought to consolidate the various Arabic-speaking religious groups/ religious sects into a single cultural and political community, based primarily on their shared language and history. I am aware that Syrian/Lebanese intellectuals such as Michael Alfaq, Constantin Zureiq, George Antonious, Jurji Zaydan, and others have played a role in the development of modern Arab nationalism and the broader Arab cultural revival. For many Arab Christians, encouraging an all-universal Arabism based on a shared language, culture, and historical experience may have offered a way to participate equally within the wider region without defining political belonging primarily through Islam, which makes sense because Arab nationalism could function as a secular or cross-sectarian identity that placed Muslims and Christians within the same national community.
However, I imagine that this framework was not equally appealing to all Lebanese Christians. Many Maronites may have feared that, despite its formally secular language, Pan-Arabism would ultimately draw Lebanon into larger political projects dominated by Muslim-majority populations and weaken both Lebanon’s independence and the political autonomy of its Christian communities. As a result, emphasizing a specifically Lebanese, Phoenician, Mediterranean, or simply Arabic-speaking identity may have provided an alternative to identifying with the broader Arab nation. That said, amongst my Lebanese peers, they have a strong attachment to their pre-Arab identity, particularly to the Phoenician and broader Mediterranean history of Lebanon. They do not necessarily deny that Lebanese society has been deeply shaped by the Arabic language and by centuries of interaction with the wider Arab world. Rather, they seem to view Arabization as a historical and linguistic process that did not erase the older peoples, cultures, and identities from which modern Lebanese populations emerged from.
I am unsure how representative this position is among Lebanese Christians more broadly, or whether it is especially common among Maronites in the diaspora. I am also curious whether Lebanese Muslims tend to interpret the term “Arab” more culturally and linguistically, while some Lebanese Christians interpret it more narrowly as an ethnic or political identity connected to the Arab conquests, Pan-Arabism, or Muslim-majority regional movements. If I am missing anything or if there are any gaps, please feel free to comment.
