Arabs accepted Ottoman dominance as legitimate Islamic leadership before nationalism

Evidence

Arabs, however proud of their descent and of their culture, accepted Turkish dominance in the universal Islamic community in the same way as Dante had accepted German sovereignty in the Holy Roman Empire. Arab cultural self-awareness continued under Ottoman rule, but was combined with full identification with the Ottoman social and political order and with loyalty to the Ottoman Sultan as legitimate head of the Islamic state. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 829

Categorization

• XREF: The Dante/Holy Roman Empire analogy is a striking comparative frame that complicates any simple colonizer-victim reading of Ottoman-Arab relations. — connects to: Arab cultural pride coexisted with full loyalty to Ottoman rule; Haredim positioned themselves as better guardians by accepting Arab primacy