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Nasser. His military ‘defeat’ against the tripartite aggression in 1956
catapulted him as the leader of the Arab masses beyond Egypt. Though
not everyone was enamoured by his meteoric rise, for over a decade follow-
ing the Suez War, Nasser symbolized Arab nationalism and pan-Arabism.
As discussed earlier, the Saudi policy on issues such as anti-imperialism,
decolonization, opposition to Western-sponsored military alliances or
non-alignment was not different from Nehru’s. However, the conserva-
tive and non-secular Saudi polity meant that there was little politico-
ideological convergence between New Delhi and Riyadh, and since the
early 1950s Nehru gravitated towards Nasser-led secular Arab nationalism
and socialism. This phase ended in the aftermath of the June War of 1967
when Israel dealt a devastating blow to pan-Arabism personified by
President Nasser. Hiding behind the anti-Israeli rhetoric, the leaders of
the 1952 revolution failed to transform the socio-economic conditions of
the ordinary Egyptians and to bring about far-reaching structural changes.
Therefore, the Arab defeat in 1967 abruptly ended the journey of pan-
Arabism. The decimation of the Arab armies not only undermined the
position of Nasser as the regional leader but also dealt a fatal blow to the
ideas of secularism.
The shifting regional climate offered an opportune moment to Saudi
Arabia and its claims for the leadership of the Arab and Islamic world. The
nascent oil wealth added to the Saudi appetite. Pan-Islamism has been a
recurrent theme in the Arabian Peninsula. Amidst the First World War, the
British encouraged the Sharif Hussein of Mecca to rebel against the
Ottoman rule (Wilson 1991 ), but when he was proving to be weak and
inefficient, London sided with the al-Saud and facilitated the formation of
the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd in 1925 which later became the Kingdom
of Saudi Arabia. After the end of the Second World War, with the US play-
ing the midwife, Britain encouraged the formation of the Baghdad Pact in
1955 composed of monarchical Iran and Iraq and pro-Western Pakistan
and Turkey (Mawby 2005 ). The formation of the military bloc composed
of conservative rulers with Pakistan as its core unnerved India and forced
it to reach out to secular Arab nationalists.
Despite its opposition to the Baghdad Pact (later renamed as CENTO),
Saudi Arabia continued its efforts towards pan-Islamism as a counter to
pan-Arabism. Nasser’s anti-monarchical rhetoric, his calls for the
overthrowing of monarchies and aspirations for feudalism giving way to
socialism unnerved many Arab rulers who viewed pan-Arabism with great
suspicion (Tibi 1981 ). During the heydays of Nasserism, al-Saud and
P. R. KUMARASWAMY AND MD. M. QUAMAR