Islam and the Traits of Nationalism
Ever since nationalism came into existence, it has always featured certain basic characteristics. In many ways these have proven to be inimical towards religious beliefs. The following are just some instances of this tradition as it has affected Islam.
1- Nationalism is a secular ideology according to which religion and state, politics and faith should be separated from one another. One of the mottos most often expressed by Egyptian nationalists was:“The religion belongs to Allah, but the country belongs to all.”
What this statement intended to say was that religion is a personal issue which falls outside the framework of public life. Religious thought should not interfere with social-political decision-making, for it is the nation and not religion that deserves the loyalty of a society. Nationalism rejects religion's claim to be regarded as the fundamental element of unity. Accordingly, religion after all undermines national unity and causes religious minorities to live separate from each other. Nationalism teaches us that the only instrument of unity is human being's tendency towards geographical, racial and linguistic identification. For these reasons, nationalism encourages secularism and consequently, religion and everything else that is perceived as threat to national unity must be sacrificed for its sake.
This attitude persists in spite of the fact that Islam was revealed to the Prophet to unify the World-wide Community and to regulate all dimensions of human life. It was the practice and sunnah of the Prophet to welcome every single individual no matter which nationality he belonged to. Among the Prophet's companions were Salman the Persian, Bilal the Abyssinian and Suhayb of Rum, all of whom helped the Prophet in administering the Islamic state.
It is related that one of the Prophet's Arab companions named Qays once referred to these three as foreigners. When the Prophet heard this, he became angry and said,“Both your father and your religion are the same, and the Arabism by which you are taking pride was never attributed to your original parents ....”
In the Qur'an those verses that highlight the identity of the Muslim Community (Ummah) never disregard the necessary role that religion played within everyday life. The concept of the ummah as a religio-political community connotes the presence of religion in all personal, social, earthly and heavenly aspects of life. The first leader of the ummah was the Prophet himself, then his successors who ruled as Caliphs according to Sunni tradition or as Imams according to that of the Shi'i tradition. Twelver Shi'i tradition also holds that during the occultation of the Imam, the Muslim Community is entrusted to the“Guardianship [the Authority] of the Jurist”
(Wilayat al-Faqih), a system according to which a religious scholar (faqih) who possesses all or most of the requirements necessary to guide the community is entrusted with the leadership of the Muslim ummah.
The leadership of Imam Khomeini during the first decade after the victory of the Islamic Revolution of Iran (1978-1989) is perhaps the best example of the Wilayat al-Faqih system. Today one of the most important articles in the Iranian Constitution is that which sets forth the principles underlying this office.
The Late Imam Khomeini declared in one of his speeches that“If a faqih acts dictatorially on just one occasion, he loses his guardianship mandate.”
According to his view, if a faqih were to take a wrong step, or commit a minor sin, his guardianship would have to be revoked.
As Hamid Dabashi elaborates,
Khomeini never appears explicitly in his speeches and correspondences to claim any power or demand any obedience for his person. Even in Velayat-Faqih (the Authority of the Jurist) he argues theoretically for the authority of the Jurist without ever explicitly, or even implicitly, indicating that he personally ought to occupy that position.
The unity of religion and politics is regarded as one of the central elements of an Islamic government. Sayyid Hasan Mudarris (d.1938/39), a distinguished clergyman who represented the people in the Iranian parliament and finally was poisoned and martyred by King Reza Pahlavi, declared that“The foundation of our politics is our religion,”
and also professed that“Our religion is the same as our politics and our politics is the same as our religion.”
Later on the same doctrine was espoused by Imam Khomeini. The Imam, opposing those who separate Islam from government and politics, remarks in his Final Discourse that:
... they need only be reminded that the Holy Qur'an and the traditions of the Messenger of God (S) have more edicts in relation to government and state craft than in any other areas. More importantly, many of the apparently devotional precepts in Islam are truly politico-devotional precepts, the overlooking of which has been responsible for the present afflictions of the Muslim world.
He states furthermore that“The Prophet of Islam (S) instituted a government like other governments of the world except that his was one for the purpose of promoting social justice ....”
2- Traditionally, nationality and the attachment to a homeland are the most authoritative criteria in assessing the virtue of a nation. To affirm this virtue, a nation should maintain a link with its history and culture.
A good example was Iran during the time of the Pahlavi dynasty. There were many attempts made by the nationalists to persuade Iranians to relate to the early monarchy, concentrating on Cyrus and Darius the great kings of ancient Iran. 0ne of the manifestations of this effort was the substitution of the Islamic calendar with that of the Iranian monarchical calendar in 1976. Hamid Dabashi states:
As yet another measure of his attempts to shift the cultural basis of his legitimacy from Islamic to Iranian symbolics, the monarch decided to alter this arrangement. He wished for the Iranian calendar, the one particularly dear to the nationalists, to begin not with the migration of the Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Medina, but, instead, to commence with the presumed data of the coronation of Cyrus the Great, the assumed royal progenitor with the man identified..
Dabashi goes on to say that Ayatullah Khomeini then in Najaf, accusing such attempts and the ideas behind them, regarded them as“the clear indications of the anti-Islamic designs of the regime and forbade Iranians from using the new calendar.”
In Egypt, Taha Husayn and Lutfi Sayyid were among those who suggested reviving the national heritage of ancient Egypt, and of awakening in the people a sense of their Pharaonic history.
However, Muslims are supposed to follow the example of their Prophet and the teachings of the Qur'an, and to take pride in them as the means of achieving unity and saving humankind. In his Final Discourse, Imam Khomeini states:
We take pride and our noble and thoroughly committed nation is proud in being the followers of a school of thought which intend to dig out the Qur'anic truths - which commit themselves thoroughly to the unity of Muslims and even humanity- from the graveyards and utilize it as the greatest prescription for the disentanglement of man from all shackles on limbs and on his mind and souls which are leading him towards destruction, slavery and servitude to the oppressors.
In Imam Khomeini's opinion, nationalism is one of the causes of the disasters and miseries faced by Muslims today. He writes in fact that those who try to revive nationalism are struggling against Islam.
One of his statements in this regard is as follows:“Nationalism is planned by plotters to create discord among Muslims and it is being propagandized by agents of colonialization.”
Imam Khomeini also states:
The plan of the great powers and their affiliates in the Muslim countries is to separate and divide the various strata of Muslims, whom God has declared brothers, under the guise of Kurd, Arab, Turk, Fars, etc. nations and even make them regard themselves as enemies of one another. This is against the path of Islam and the Qur'an.
He furthermore remarks that:“Those who, in the name of nationalism, factionalism, etc., create schism and disunity among Muslims, are armies of Devil, opponents of the holy Qur'an and helping agents of the superpowers.”
Imam Khomeini clearly identified nationalism with reactionary forces and with colonial powers who encouraged nationalistic feelings among Muslims in order to foster disunity.
3- National prejudice ('asabiyyah) in any of its forms, whether it be tribalism, racism, nationalism, or other manifestations such as bias against other nations and favouritism towards one’s own, selfishness, fanaticism, vanity, exaggerating of national excellencies and finally feelings of being superior to others
are the touchstones of nationalism. Ibn Khaldun remarks that“'asabiyyah is one of the fundamental elements of nationalism.”
According to Islamic teachings, prejudice is strongly condemned. The Prophet said:“Whosoever possesses in his heart 'asabiyyah even to the extent of a mustard seed, God will raise him on the Day of resurrection with the (pagan) Beduins of the jahiliyyah (the pre-Islamic era).”
According to one definition,
... 'asabiyyah is an inner psychic quality which is manifested in patronizing and defending one's kindred and those with whom one has some kind of affinity or relation, whether it be religious creed or ideology, or whether it be soil or home. The affinity may also be similarity of profession or the relationship of teacher and pupil, or something else.
'Asabiyyah may therefore be seen as a moral wickedness and a hateful characteristic generating moral and behavioural vices. Those who ascribe to this quality often claim that it“take[s] the form of defence of truth or religion, but in reality it is not aimed to defend a just and truthful cause but for extending one's own influence or that of one's co-religionists and allies.”
When someone because of his selfish and tribal impulses defends the vices of his kinsmen or group, his attitude is an evident example of 'asabiyyah. In the words of Imam Khomeini:
He is a corrupt member of society, who corrupts it by confusing vice with virtue, and stands with the Beduins of the jahiliyyah, who were a group of nomadic Arabs who inhabited the desert before the advent of Islam, in an era of prevalence of darkness and ignorance.
And Iqbal Lahuri says“Nationalism is another face of barbarism.”
Prior to the spread of Islam, the Arabs were a tribal society. They had a strong sense of 'asabiyyah towards their own groups. Islam challenged this prejudicial spirit and declared that the division of human beings into different tribes and races had only been willed by Allah in order to allow people to recognize one another more readily, not to give a sense of superiority to one tribe or nation over another. This is because in the sight of Allah, it is an individual's virtue and piety that functions as the key element of his superiority.
According to a hadith the Prophet said:“O you mankind! All of you are from Adam and Adam was created from earth (clay). There is no superiority of Arab over non-Arab except through the virtue of piety (God fearing).”
It is also related that on the occasion of the battle of Uhud, a young Persian Muslim soldier, while attacking an infidel enemy, proudly said:“Here is my sword, and I am a Persian.”
The Prophet felt that such words would motivate nationalistic sentiments among the Muslims; thus he warned the man right away to take pride in his religion instead of his nationality.
The Prophet, once addressing the Quraysh, said:“O People of Quraysh! Verily one's honour and pride should be due to one's Islam (neither to his/her blood nor to his/her race).”
He insisted that Arabism was not a matter of narcissism; it was merely a language (like other languages) spoken by Arabs. In the Prophet's eyes, it was only by means of faith and good behaviour only that a man could achieve a higher position.
These points demonstrate that nationalism is not concerned just with people's emotional feelings; it is an ideology as well. Islam never recommends such feelings and ideology to Muslims, though it does not oppose the positive feelings of nationalism that causes good results.
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Author: S. Ahmad Rahnamaei
