Uchambuzi wa Kiulaya kuhusu nchi za Kiarabu umeshindwa kutambua kwamba nchi nyingi za Kiarabu pamoja na mipaka yake zinatokana kwa karibu na mifano ya kihistoria ya kabla ya ukoloni, ikiwa ni pamoja na majina ya dola. Kwa upande wa Palestina, kama ilivyo kwa vyombo vingine vingi vya kisiasa vya Kiarabu, tangu zamani na katika kipindi chote cha Zama za Kati jina Filastin lilionyesha eneo maalum la kijiografia pamoja na utambulisho wa wakazi (wengi lakini si wote) Waarabu Waislamu. Zaidi ya hayo, historia ya Palestina ya kisasa mara nyingi husomwa kwa mitazamo ya Kiulaya, ya Kiothmani na ya walowezi wa Kizayuni, na sauti pamoja na uwezo huru wa kujitawala wa Palestina na Wapalestina wenyewe hutambuliwa mara chache. Kwa mtazamo huu wa kifalme na kikoloni, wanahistoria wa Mashariki ya Kati ya kisasa pia huelekea kuzingatia Dola la Kiothmani na "mageuzi ya Kiothmani", jambo ambalo ni sehemu ya mapokeo marefu ya Magharibi ya kujishughulisha na mpangilio wa nasaba za kifalme za Mashariki ya Karibu: Waashuri, Waajemi, Wagiriki, Waroma, Waothmani, Waingereza na wengineo. Hata hivyo, dawlah al-qutriyyah, yaani nchi/dola – neno la Kiarabu qutr likimaanisha "nchi" – kama jambo la kiudhati lisilotegemea kipindi fulani cha wakati, na iwe kwa jina la usultani, uamirisho, ufalme, ukhanati, ushaykhdom, wilayat, ukhalifa au jina jingine lolote, lilikuwa mojawapo ya aina zilizoenea zaidi za dola katika historia yote ya Kiislamu na katika nchi zenye wengi wa Waislamu; dola ambayo mara nyingi ilifurahia mamlaka ya kujitawala kwa vitendo. Ukhalifa wa Córdoba (929 hadi 1031 BK), Uamirisho wa Gharnatah (1230–1492), Ukhanati wa Asia ya Kati, Usultani wa Oman (1741 hadi leo), Beys wa Tunis (1705–1957), Uamirisho wa Mlima Lebanon (1516–1841), dola ya kwanza ya Kisaudi (Uamirisho wa Dir'iyah, 1744–1818) na Wilayat ya Muhammad ‘Ali Pasha wa Misri (1805–1948) ni mifano michache tu ya jinsi aina hii ya dola ilivyoenea sana katika historia ya Kiislamu. Baadhi ya dawlah za qutriyyah, kama Usultani wa Mamluk wa Misri (1250–1517), zilikuwa na nguvu zaidi kuliko Ukhalifa wa Kiislamu wa Baghdad katika karne ya 11 hadi 13. Mbali na kuwa jambo la ajabu, dawlah qutriyyah zilienea sana katika ulimwengu wa Kiarabu na Kiislamu, hasa baada ya kudhoofika kwa Ukhalifa wa Abbasi katika nusu ya pili ya karne ya 9 Miladi, na nchi nyingi hizi huru zilifurahia ustawi mkubwa na maendeleo ya ajabu ya kitamaduni.

The Eurocentric analysis of the Arab states has failed to recognise that most of the Arab countries and their borders are closely based on long (pre-colonial) historical precedents, including the naming of states. In the case of Palestine, as in the case of most other Arab political entities, traditionally and throughout the Middle Ages the name Filastin had indicated both an exact geographic location and the identity of the (predominantly, but not exclusively) Arab Muslim population. Moreover, the history of modern Palestine is often studied from and with European, Ottoman and Zionist-settler perspectives; the autonomous agency and voice of Palestine and the Palestinians themselves are seldom recognised. With this imperial and colonial mindset, historians of the modern Middle East also tend to focus on the Ottoman Empire and ‘Ottoman reforms’, which is also part of a long Western tradition of preoccupation with imperial chronologies of the Near East: Assyrian, Persian, Greek, Roman, Ottoman, British etc. Yet the dawlah al-qutriyyah, or the country/state – the Arabic term qutr being a ‘country’ – as a parachronism, and whether traditionally in the form of sultanate, emirate, kingdom, khanate, shaykhdom, wilayat, caliphate or any other name, was one of the most common forms of statehood throughout Muslim history and in Muslim-majority countries; a statehood which often enjoyed practical sovereignty. The Caliphate of Córdoba (929 to 1031 AD), the Emirate of Granada (1230‒1492), the Khanates of Central Asia, the Sultanate of Oman (1741 to the present), the Beys of Tunis (1705‒1957), the Emirate of Mount Lebanon (1516‒1841), the first Saudi state (the Emirate of Dir’iyah, 1744‒1818) and the Wilayat of Muhammad ‘Ali Pasha of Egypt (1805‒1948) are only a few examples of how incredibly widespread this form of statehood was throughout Muslim history. Some dual qutriyyah, such as the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt (1250–1517), were far more powerful than the Muslim Caliphate of Baghdad during the 11th‒13th centuries. Far from being an aberration, the dawlah qutriyyah became common throughout the Arab and Islamic worlds, especially after the decline of the Abbasid Caliphate in the second half of the 9th century AD and many of these independent states enjoyed a great deal of prosperity and spectacular cultural developments.

Kwa mfano, Emirate huru ya Aleppo, ambayo ilijumuisha sehemu kubwa ya kaskazini mwa Syria na sehemu za magharibi ya al-Jazirah, ilianzishwa mwaka 944 na wakuu wa Hamdanid, na ikawa makao ya emirate huru chini ya Sayf al-Dawlah. Ilifurahia kipindi cha ustawi mkubwa na ikawa makazi ya mshairi mkuu zaidi wa Kiarabu, al-Mutanabi, pamoja na mmoja wa wanafalsafa wakubwa wa Uislamu, al-Farabi, mwanazuoni wa taaluma nyingi, mwandishi wa Maoni ya Watu wa Mji Fadhili, pia unaojulikana kama Dola Kamilifu (al-Farabi 1985).

For instance, the independent Emirate of Aleppo, which encompassed most of northern Syria and parts of western al-Jazirah, was founded in 944 by the Hamdanid princes and became the seat of an independent emirate under Sayf al-Dawlah. It enjoyed a period of great prosperity and became home to the greatest Arab poet, al-Mutanabi, and one of the greatest philosophers of Islam, the polymath al-Farabi, the author of The Opinions of the People of the Virtuous City, also known as The Perfect State (al-Farabi 1985).

Urithi huu tajiri wa kihistoria wa dawlah qutriyyah, ambao sawa yake ya kisasa ni dawlah wataniyyah au taifa la kitaifa, ulikuwa miongoni mwa mambo yaliyochangia kuibuka na kujengwa kwa utaifa wa tabaka mbili wa watani‒qawmi katika ulimwengu wa Kiarabu na katika Palestina yenye Waislamu wengi mwanzoni mwa karne ya 20.

This rich historical legacy of the dawlah qutriyyah, whose modern equivalent is the dawlah wataniyyah or national state, was a factor in the emergence and construction of a two-tier watani‒qawmi nationalism in the Arab world and in Muslim-majority Palestine in the early 20th century.

Leo, ulimwengu wa Kiarabu una nchi ishirini na moja, au dual qutriyyah, bila kuhesabu Palestina. Wanaitikadi wa uarabu wa kitaifa mara nyingi hubishana kwamba kushindwa kwa mipango ya umoja wa Kiarabu, pamoja na utawala mkuu na udumifu wa al-dawlah al-qutriyyah katika ulimwengu wa Kiarabu, kwa kiasi kikubwa ni matokeo ya urithi wa ukoloni. Lakini hoja hii inapuuza urithi wa kihistoria wa dola chini ya Uislamu, uwakala wa asili wa Waarabu, mila mbalimbali za kienyeji na kikanda, pamoja na mizizi ya kale ya kienyeji na uhuru wa kihistoria wa jamii nyingi za Kiarabu. Kwa hakika, kama tutakavyoona hapa chini, ukoloni wa Ulaya ulizuia kuundwa kwa dawlah qutriyyah huko Palestina.

Today the Arab world consists of twenty-one states, or dual qutriyyah, excluding Palestine. Pan-Arab nationalist ideologues often argue that the failure of Arab unity schemes and the predominance and durability of al-dawlah al-qutriyyah in the Arab world are primarily the product of the colonial legacy. But this argument is made in disregard of the historical legacy of statehood under Islam, Arab indigenous agency, the distinct local and regional traditions and the ancient local roots and historical autonomy of many Arab societies. In fact, as we shall see below, European colonialism prevented the creation of a dawlah qutriyyah in Palestine.

Zaidi ya hayo, majina ya kijiografia ya Kiarabu kama vile Palestina/Filastin, Misri, Syria, Libya, Iraq na Yemen yana mizizi ya kihistoria ya kale na ya kina, pamoja na uhalali wa asili wa kujitambulisha. Aidha, nguvu ya ndani iliyosababisha kuundwa kwa taifa la Palestina, Emirate ya Dhaher al-ʿUmar, katika Palestina ya karne ya 18, ambayo ilikuwa aina ya dawlah qutriyyah, ni mfano halisi wa jambo hili. Kufufuliwa na kuenea kwa majina ya kale ya kijiografia kama Palestina/Filastin katika zama za kisasa kulitokana na matumizi ya kawaida ya jina hilo katika historia ya kale (kuanzia Enzi ya Shaba ya Marehemu na kuendelea).

Moreover, Arabic toponyms such as Palestine/Filastin, Egypt, Syria, Libya, Iraq or the Yemen all have deep and ancient historical roots and indigenous legitimacy of self-definition. Furthermore, the indigenous agency behind the creation of Palestinian statehood, the Emirate of Dhaher al-ʿUmar, in 18th century Palestine, which was a form of dawlah qutriyyah, is a case in point. The revival and spread of ancient toponyms such as Palestine/Filastin in the modern era was derived from the common use of the name in ancient history (from the Late Bronze Age onwards)

na katika kipindi chote cha Ugiriki na Roma ya Kale, Ukristo wa Byzantium, na Uislamu wa Zama za Kati. Ingawa urithi wa ukoloni na ushawishi wa mawazo ya Ulaya kuhusu 'taifa-dola' ulichangia kuibuka kwa aina ya utaifa wenye tabaka mbili (watani‒qawmi) katika ulimwengu wa Kiarabu, mizizi ya kienyeji na urithi wa kihistoria wa kikanda lazima uwe sehemu ya mchanganyiko wa sababu zilizosababisha kuibuka na kutawala kwa dawlah qutriyyah kote katika ulimwengu wa Kiarabu.

and throughout Classical Antiquity, Byzantine Christianity and Medieval Islam. Although the colonial legacy and influence of European ideas about the ‘nation-state’ contributed to the rise of a two-tier (watani‒qawmi) form of nationalism in the Arab world, local roots and regional historical legacies must be part of the mix of factors for the emergence and domination of the dawlah qutriyyah throughout the Arab world.