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Originally Posted by FlorenceArt
Great explanation Dennis. I tried to express something similar myself but got so muddled I didn't post 
Not sure about the part where the Spanish got this attitude from the Arabs though, because I'm not sure the Arabs had that mindset at the time. But it's just a feeling, I may be wrong. Hey, maybe they got it from the Spanish? |
Assume the Arabs did. This stuff is a cultural reflex, and it predates Islam. Culture shapes religion as much as religion shapes culture. Islamic law will simply make formal as part of the law prohibitions that already existed before Islam came about. Whenever you have this sort of transfer of cultural patterns, it will be conqueror -> conquered. The conqueror imposes their way of doing things on those they conquer.
Much of the middle east is still fundamentally a tribal culture. Families aggregate into clans, and clans aggregate into tribes. Relationships between those groups are of paramount importance. (Look into the long standing conflict between the Arab Lakhmid and Ghassanid tribes.)
Democracy (to the extent it exists) is a thin veneer over long standing cultural patterns. Primary loyalty is to one's family, clan, and tribe.
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Dennis