ArabianEmpires&Caliphates
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Arab identity is more cultural and philosophical than DNA. Islam has a very strong Greco-Roman influence due to the great contributions of the Umayyads. None of the Roman emperor was actually from Rome. Anyone could come to Rome and become A Roman citizen by hard intellectual capabilities. Sane applied to Early Islam. Coptic, Habash, Persian, Mongol, Greek, Berber etc all were allowed to become Mumin and embrace the Islamic empire where Arab was the lingua franca. Just like today's America were English is the lingua franca. Since tribalism had started to take root in the middle East, that philosophy was gone.
We need to revive the long lost Islamic-Arabic philosophy which made them a thunder Strom of the history of mankind. Khalid ibn Walid invented the philosophy of Blitzkrieg even though he didn't have the luxury of Luftwaffe. These days people want to become salary clerks and slum dog millionaires. They don't want to learn philosophy.
I would definitely say that the Arab identity, aside from being a cultural (like that of any ethnicity in the world), linguistic, civilizational etc. identity is likewise racial/ethnic. All modern-day Arabs, aside from the Afro-Arab minority (but even they are sons and daughters of the soil now) are original sons and daughters of the soil and racially the same people (Caucasian peoples, Afro-Asiatic and Semitic speaking peoples who inhabit the same geography) and DNA wise we also cluster with each other more than anyone else.
However I agree with you, in the modern form of ethnicity/nationality, that ethnicity is mostly tied to culture, language and identity.
As for Roman emperors not being from Rome, if I recall (correct me if I am wrong here), the first emperor (Augustus) was a Roman born in Rome. As where the majority of the earliest emperors. It is however true that most later emperors (3rd century and onwards) were non-Roman in origin.
Take the example of Constantine the Great, the founder of Constantinople and the first emperor that adopted Christianity as a state religion.
The Islamic world is in an intellectual, political etc. crisis and that has been the case for centuries if you ask me. The downfall really began with the sacking of Baghdad in 1258, I am afraid. But this is pretty well documented and not exactly breaking news, sadly.
And as I wrote earlier, Muslims are often their own worst enemy, and the same West has been hellbent on not allowing a Muslim power to rise again. Every educated Arab is well aware of this and knows the recent history but weakness has always been punished. Muslims are weak and have been (compared to the West) for centuries. It might change in the future but it requires fundamental changes among Muslims ourselves.