Morocco’s Victory Reveals the Arab Unified Sense of Belonging Against the Segregation Attempts

The overwhelming joy in the Arab countries over the Moroccan national team’s victory over its Spanish counterpart revealed the depth of belonging to the one Arab component and refuted all calls for dismantling.

All Arab countries were overjoyed with the historic victory of the Moroccan national team over Spain on December 6, 2022, and its arrival, for the first time in its history, to the quarter-finals of the World Cup.

Crowds turned out in various Arab countries, and the wide joy was evident in occupied Palestine, northern Syria, Yemen, the Gulf countries, and others.

Political and media figures and social media celebrities expressed their overwhelming joy at Morocco’s historic victory.

The Moroccan national team qualified for the quarter-finals of the World Cup in Qatar by defeating Spain in penalty shootouts with three clean goals after the original and extra time ended with a goalless draw.

The Moroccan national team thus achieved an unprecedented historical achievement in its history, with the World Cup championship being held for the first time in an Arab land.

Cheers also rose in Cairo, Tunis, Beirut, Amman, Baghdad, Gaza, Jeddah, and other cities, where the Arabs rejoiced in the unexpected victory to a large extent over Spain.

 

Joy Indicator

Two years ago, the E-flies were working to spread the idea that Morocco is not an Arab country, claiming that its colloquial dialect is not Arabic. The yellow press launched an attack on Moroccan culture as a culture that contradicts the established values of Arabism in the Middle East.

The aim of these malicious campaigns was to dismantle what remained of the unifying identity of the Arab world, and they thought that they had made a major breach in this regard, but Morocco’s victory revealed the depth of the sense of belonging. The citizens of the Middle East, elated, celebrated a victory they considered a victory for the entire Arab world.

After its historic victory, Morocco became the first Arab team to make this achievement and the fourth African team after Cameroon (1990) and Senegal (2002), and Ghana (2010). The Arabs, from Baghdad to Casablanca, rejoiced at this victory.

Emir Tamim of Qatar watched the match from the stadium. He gave a thumbs up and grabbed the Moroccan flag, and congratulations poured in to the winning team from the Arab leaders.

The ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Lebanese Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, the Libyan Prime Minister, Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, and others congratulated the Moroccan team.

On the popular level, celebrations were spread in various Arab cities. Ahmed Inoubili, a Tunisian-Algerian living in Doha and married to a Moroccan woman, said nothing is impossible in the World Cup.

“We have an Arab team. Look at these fans. Do you think they are all Moroccans? No! There are Arabs,” he said, pointing to the huge, jubilant crowd.

Despite the political differences between the countries of the Arab world, at the popular level, the unitary idea continues to be represented in the collective consciousness of the Arab peoples. It is expressed in various manifestations and occasions.

 

Great Awareness

Morocco has always been in solidarity with the Arab peoples in their crises and pains before sharing their joys and celebrations. Starting with the flag of Palestine being raised in all national and football forums, for Palestine represents the bleeding wound of Arabs.

Although the wounds became many and varied in Arab countries other than Palestine, the struggle of the Arabs against the Israeli occupation and its devices that permeate the Arab region remains a basic symbol of belonging to the Arab identity.

Millions of Moroccans participated in demonstrations that took place against the invasion of Iraq. Hundreds protested against the violations and crimes committed against the Syrians and Egyptians. Moreover, the material and moral support that Moroccan associations and organizations are keen to provide to alleviate the suffering of their Arab brothers who live in harsh conditions highlights the deep sense of belonging. To list a few of a long list that emphasizes the fact that Moroccan people are one of the pillars of the great Arab world.

Jordanian Yahya Zakaria asked: How many million Arabs “supporters” of the failed nation-state model felt the real joy of victory at the end of the match and felt that they were part of a larger whole that transcends the borders of Sykes-Picot?

He stressed that self-respect, the sense of belonging even on a psychological and emotional level, is very important. Winning a football match will not stop wars and will not help us advance economically, but the war against the perceptions of Muslims and their fragmentation is not only with weapons and economy.

Many fans were hoping for Morocco to win so that the flags of Palestine would remain present in stadiums. A thousand lectures and seminars are unable to spread all this awareness about how the West and its media view Arabs and their values.

The RAND Corporation, in its book Networks of Islamic Moderation, used to say that the war in the Islamic world is a war against the ideas of all Muslims, but it is also against the conscience of Muslims, not just their ideas. The emotional and psychological conscience is more important than ideas and is more solid and resilient, stated Daniel Goleman.

 

Failed Attempts

In an interview with Al-Estiklal, the Amazigh associative activist Leila Khaloul said: “My mother tongue is Amazigh, but as a Moroccan, I belong to the Arab-Islamic culture. Our Amazigh ancestors were keen to learn and teach the Arabic language and spread it in Morocco in parallel with our Amazigh language. The Arabic language is essential to understand the meanings of the Qur’an, hadiths, and Islamic teachings. We are proud to belong to the Arab, Islamic, and African worlds. Attempts to dismantle and sow enmity between the components of our Moroccan society will never succeed.”

Mustafa al-Kathiri, the high commissioner for the former resistance fighters and members of the Moroccan Army of Liberation, explained that the French colonizer paved the way for the differentiation between the Amazigh and the Arabs in textbooks where the Arabs were presented as invaders and that the Amazigh were depicted as closer to the European civilization emanating from the Greek civilization instead of the Arab one.

However, the ambition to sow division between the Amazigh and the Arabs in Morocco failed at that time, as it fails today, with the people of Morocco clinging to their Arab, Islamic, and Amazigh identity, “as confronting the divisive ideas became a matter of life or death on the part of an entire generation of Moroccans, so that a large crowd mobilized, and the craftsmen and merchants along with the educated faced it.”