AHC: Christian Head of State in an Arab Country Besides Lebanon

While there is a notable Christian minority in several Arab countries even beyond Lebanon, their political involvement has been rather limited (for a number of reasons). Is there any chance that a self-identified Christian politician rises to the top job?

Tariq Aziz in Iraq seems to have the best shot as he has risen the farthest in OTL, perhaps if Saddam Hussein were incapacitated early in his presidency -- but then how long could he last as leader?
 
While there is a notable Christian minority in several Arab countries even beyond Lebanon, their political involvement has been rather limited (for a number of reasons). Is there any chance that a self-identified Christian politician rises to the top job?

Tariq Aziz in Iraq seems to have the best shot as he has risen the farthest in OTL, perhaps if Saddam Hussein were incapacitated early in his presidency -- but then how long could he last as leader?

There were significant amounts of Christian Ba'athists in Iraq, there is a possibility

A much more unlikely one are the Copts in Egypt if it's a democracy.
 

Buzz

Banned
Palestine, Arafat had a Christian wife. I know Abbas goes to a Church every year on Christmas for all the Christians in Palestine.

Being the home of Jesus, would having a Christian head of Palestine help their image in the West?
 
For Palestine, Kamal Nasser or George Habash?

Clearly there is not too much said about Palestinian Christians by American Christian supporters of Israel these days. A Christian head of state might at least raise awareness but their ideology (likely Communism as with the fellows above) and tactics would probably negate that and they could easily be written of as not the right kind of Christian.
 
There were significant amounts of Christian Ba'athists in Iraq, there is a possibility

Michel Aflaq himself was a Christian, though I don't know how close he ever came to being in power. Mostly, I think, he was a backroom theoretician.

As for Christians who actually had power in Iraq, I read somewhere that Tariq Aziz was NOT generally regarded as being a member of Saddam's inner circle. I'm not sure if there were any other Christians higher up than him, but I'm kinda doubting it.
 
Don't Muslims traditionally view Jews and Christians as people of the book?

Well, sure, but that doesn't mean that they are full co-religionists. Not to mention Christians generally were in a different place socially (Syriac, Chaldean, Copt, etc. different ethnic identities) and economically (generally wealthier) that class-based friction could occur as well.
 
Syria was also a possibility...in fact any Arab nation with a powerful secularist Baathist party and a sizeable Christian minority would be a possibility.
 

Yuelang

Banned
Saddam Hussein is a Sunni... in shia majority nation

Perhaps his parents convert to Christianity somewhere before Saddam was born, and Saddam still end up as Dictator of Iraq...

He will definitely end up as Bush family's best pal...
 
While there is a notable Christian minority in several Arab countries even beyond Lebanon, their political involvement has been rather limited (for a number of reasons). Is there any chance that a self-identified Christian politician rises to the top job?

Tariq Aziz in Iraq seems to have the best shot as he has risen the farthest in OTL, perhaps if Saddam Hussein were incapacitated early in his presidency -- but then how long could he last as leader?

Fares al-Khoury was Prime Minister of Syria. (Head of government, not of state, but still...) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fares_al-Khoury
 
Egypt maybe, if a democracy

I think it'd be the opposite - extremely unlikely if Egypt is a democracy. Democracies rarely directly elect minorities to the head office (as opposed to local offices). It does happen, but only in very advanced, stable democracies with long experience of constitutional rule. In immature democracies it doesn't happen because those are basically spoils contests, and everyone wants their own member to control it. In a parliamentary system where the PM is not directly elected, it is more likely to happen than in a presidential system because the interpersonal dynamics are different.

Christians were leaders of the Arab nationalist movement because they hoped a secular Arab identity would remove their second class status in the Arab world. Instead, all it got them was authoritarian dictatorships that become increasingly Islamist as a means to shore up their dwindling support.

The only real chance I see is if Saddam Hussein was removed after end of the first Gulf War in 1991, but the Baathist regime survived. Then I could see Tariq Aziz taking over as head even if it is only temporary.
 

TinyTartar

Banned
I'm not sure if this counts, but Paul Bremer, who was the head of post Saddam Iraq for the first year or so, was I believe a Catholic.

As for its feasibility, it'd have to come from a coup of some sort. The monarchies are firm no-gos for Christians. Apparently, some of them, the Hashemites I think, claim lineage from Muhammad's family.
 
If the Assyrians ever achieved independence that would do it.

But would they count as Arabs? They speak Aramaic, don´t they? Even other Christians in the Middle East, like the Maronites and Copts, tend not to consider themselves as Arabs, even though they speak Arabic.
 
Even other Christians in the Middle East, like the Maronites and Copts, tend not to consider themselves as Arabs, even though they speak Arabic.

I have heard of people claiming that but I have never seen anyone in real life claim their not Arabs because their Christians. Even when I was one I always stated I was an Arab
 
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