Nationalism... A disease which is rotting the foundations of this Ummah

[Khan]

Salam Aly kum wa rahmatullah,

Tribalism or its newer version Nationalism is not a new concept. Its been around for centuries & had a considerable impact in shaping today's world and continues to do so.

In old times tribes used their tribal name to exert superiority over others who they deemed inferior & when tribes joined together to form a kingdom then the names of those closest to the ruling elite were considered influential.

This is the fundamental flaw of tribalism it doesn't stop at nation or tribe it divides from the macro level to the micro level ranging from the country to community, from community to caste/race, from race to individuals.

And the basis of this division is not preservation of individual identity, in most cases, but is the belief of superiority because of belonging to a specific country, clan or family.

Although  this was prohibited by the Messenger Of Allah (SAW), it has seemed to crept back into our ummah with a vengeance.

The Prophet (SAW) called Asabiyah, which in english translates to tribalism/nationalism, A coal from the coals of hellfire [Abu Dawud & Tirmidhi]. The prophet (saw) also said "He is not one of us who calls for asabiyah or who fights for asabiyah or who dies for asabiyah." [Abu Dawud]

Apart from prohibition of asabiyah by the prophet (saw), The Quran emphasizes on unity. Our deen emphasizes that during the five daily prayers, where  prince & pauper alike,irrespective of color & caste, all stand shoulder to shoulder & bow down in one direction to the Almighty.

And hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together and do not become divided. And remember the favor of Allah upon you - when you were enemies and He brought your hearts together and you became, by His favor, brothers. And you were on the edge of a pit of the Fire, and He saved you from it. Thus does Allah make clear to you His verses that you may be guided. [Al-Imran:103]

Apart from being a command of Allah to avoid nationalism, lets briefly analyse why nationalism is detrimental.

Pride & Bigotry

This is the most obvious of sins and the sin responsible for the destruction of Iblees (Satan) himself. ...(Shaitaan) said, "I am better than him. You created me from fire and You created him from clay."  [Al-Araf:12]   

This is the very nature of nationalism. It has a psychology of egotism. Its not hard to observe when you see what happens during those Independence day parades. Usually claims like " Our country will be here till the end of times" or some other conceited statements along the lines of "we are the greatest nation on earth" are made, along with a display of "military might".

This pride is a gateway to shirk. How?

Because actions speak louder than words. On one hand these so called Islamic states declare that their constitution is according to the Quran and sunnah, or in some cases is the Quran  and sunnah, yet they have laws that are legislated upon by the democratic process or by decree of an absolute ruler. Laws which allow ribaa or interest based banking. A sin so grave that Allah & his messenger (saw) declare war on those who are invloved in it and for your information, the economies of almost all these so called Muslim countries run on this ribaa based banking system. A system which makes sure the wealthy become wealthier and the poor become poorer.

 These people are making halal what Allah (swt) made haram. Allah (swt) is Al Mulk [The Sovreign] and Al Hakam [The Law giver].  But these states claim sovereignty of their own and make laws which contradict the laws of Allah. This basically implies that they think they know better than Allah and their laws are better substitutes for the laws of Allah.

The Prophet (SAW) clearly stated this about a similar situation in a Hadith & equated it to shirk;

Udai Ibn Hatim said "I came to the Prophet sallalahu alaihi wassalam while I had a cross made from gold around my neck. He said, "يَا عَدِيُّ اطْرَحْ هَذَا الْوَثَنَ مِنْ عُنُقِكَ" "O 'Udai! Remove this idol from yourself!" So I removed it in which I heard him reciting from Surat Bara'ah this ayah,

اتَّخَذُوا أَحْبَارَهُمْ وَرُهْبَانَهُمْ أَرْبَابًا مِنْ دُونِ اللهِ

"They have taken their scholars and monks as lords besides Allah" [Tauba: 31]

And once He finished reciting this ayah, Udai commented, "I said, 'They did not worship them.'" The Prophet said,

أَلَيْسَ يُحَرِّمُونَ مَا أَحَلَّ اللهُ فَتُحَرِّمُونُهُ، ويُحِلُّونَ مَا حَرَّمَ اللهُ فَتَسْتَحِلُّونَهُ فَتِلْكَ عِبَادَتُهُمْ

"Didn't they (rabbis and monks) prohibited the allowed for them (Christians and Jews) and allowed the prohibited, and they (Christians and Jews) obeyed them? I replied, 'Yes'. He said, فَتِلْكَ عِبَادَتُهُمْ "that is their worship." [Tabarani & Tirmidhi]


Simply put Allah gives guidance regarding all matters and his laws are absolute, if someone comes and gives you an alternative to Allah's authority what would you call it?
 
And do not say about what your tongues assert of untruth, "This is lawful and this is unlawful," to invent falsehood about Allah . Indeed, those who invent falsehood about Allah will not succeed. [Al-Nahl:116]


Furthermore statements like " Our country will be here till the end of times" is a blatant disregard of the knowledge and power of Allah (swt). These sort of people forget that civilizations much more powerful and prosperous then them, who held the same opinion about themselves, were wiped from the face of the earth. The people of Aad & Thamud are one of many examples.

And to make such a statement that a country will be here till the end of times is associating yourself with the knowledge of Allah. Allah calls himself Al Alim ul Ghaib Wa Shahadah [Knower of the unseen & witnessed] and yet these people indirectly make the same claim by believing that they will be around until qiyamah.

Neither can a nation anticipate its term, nor delay it. [Al-Hijr:5]

And for every nation is a [specified] term. So when their time has come, they will not remain behind an hour, nor will they precede [it] [Al-Araf:34]


National interest

A nation works according to its national interests and not morals. A nation justifies its action according to what it feels (or rather the ruling elite feels) is good for the nation. Which may include attacking other countries killing of multitudes of innocent people and then calling it collateral damage.

So when a muslim nation is almost annihilated because of war and its citizens are dying of hunger and disease, other muslim nations are busy working on their national interests.

In this way millions of muslims present in Palestine, Syria and Iraq become an Arab problem. Kashmir becomes an IndoPak problem, Somalia is an African problem whereas Bosnia and Chechnya are an eastern European problem and the Rhoingya muslims of Burma have no where to go & are massacred in multitudes.
 
(And in retaliation, all the Muslim countries have changed their Facebook display pictures to show solidarity with the victims.)

There is no unified response from the muslim countries, no sanctions or consistent diplomatic boycott of any sort because they don't want to undermine the national interests of their own countries by ruining their diplomatic ties with those countries which are responsible for the death of millions of muslims.

Some may argue that muslim countries send aid. Aid is for the victims who survived & who still live under the constant threat of war & persecution. Where is justice for those who were massacred? Aid is of little use unless the forces which threaten the muslim ummah are dealt with and that can't happen when national interests stand in our way.


O you who have believed, be persistently standing firm in justice, witnesses for Allah , even if it be against yourselves or parents and relatives. Whether one is rich or poor, Allah is more worthy of both. So follow not [personal] inclination, lest you not be just. And if you distort [your testimony] or refuse [to give it], then indeed Allah is ever, with what you do, Acquainted. [An-Nisa:135]


The leaders of muslim nations are more concerned about the economy and the future of their rule in their respective countries rather than justice for the muslim ummah.

This is what διαίρει καὶ βασίλευε or Divide and Rule has done to us. We have been chronically desensitized to the suffering of our muslim brothers and sisters through meticulous programming.

A number of muslims today are willing to fight for and die for a piece of land that has been handed to us by the Pro-Zionist lobbies, who by the way were the ultimate decision makers for what we get by drawing lines of their liking on a map, so that we may continue to bicker among ourselves & keep working for standards of development and prosperity that they layout before us. This lobbying picked up momentum during world war one and has only become more ruthless as time went by.

Make no mistake nationalism was inserted into the muslim world masked as territorial sovereignty to fragment us. The zionist agenda cannot proceed with their Greater Israel project until they break the barriers of the muslim resistance and the best way to do that is by Divide & Conquer.

Isn't this what today's secular and so called Muslim governments do? They program us to get emotional over our national interests and want us to be proud of our national achievements. They want to harbor a sense of exclusivity in us; a sense of pride. This is a form of materialistic ideology.

There are people who use verses which are misrepresented to the masses to give Asabiyah a free pass, such as the ayah:

O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise (each other). Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of Allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you. And Allah has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things). [Al-Hujurat:13]


Some people think because this ayah mentions that it is Allah who divided us into nations and tribes, it is then, therefore Ok to be divided along nationalistic or tribal lines. The question is why don't these people ponder upon the first and last parts of this ayah? Which state that you all have the same origin and to whatever tribe/nation or family you belong to, it does not matter to Allah. What matters to Allah is your Taqwa or righteousness.

Secondly people who have this sort of logic of interpreting this ayah to justify nationalism, should be asked, Allah says "it is He who guides and He who misguides whom he wills", then is it ok to be misguided? Of course not. Misguidance is a test of faith from Allah. Just like the fitnah of Asabiyah.

Furthermore nationalistic or tribal ideologies are against the nature of Islam which promotes universal brotherhood. This was stressed by the greatest man (SAW) to walk this earth, in his final sermon, meaning this was the advice he gave to this ummah before his death. So we can infer that this advice was important.

He (SAW) said: ..."O people! Indeed, your Lord is one and your father is one. Indeed, there is no superiority of an Arab over a non-Arab, nor of a non-Arab over an Arab, nor of a white over a black, nor a black over a white, except by taqwa. Have I conveyed the message?" They replied, "You have conveyed it, Messenger of Allah!" Then he said, "What day is this?" They replied, "A sacred day." Then he said, "What month is this?" They replied, "A sacred month." Then he said, "What city is this?" They replied, "A sacred city." He said, "Allah has made your blood and your property (the narrator said, 'I don't know if he said "and your honor" or not') as sacred as this day of yours, in this month of yours, in this city of yours. Have I conveyed the message?" They replied, "You have conveyed it, Messenger of Allah!" He said, "Let whomever is present tell whomever is absent." [Musnad Of Imam Ahmed]

So the question remains Why are we proud of our countries? Is it because they make us better individuals? No. Everything good in you and in the world around is the Fitrah i.e: your sense of Oneness of God, Compassion & Ihsan, otherwise loosely translated as morality. This is what people are born with, which is the nature of Islam. Everything good in this world stems from Islam (submission to Allah). Nationalism or tribalism, on the other hand, have almost nothing good to offer. They are tools exploited by democracies and dictatorships alike to further their ruling agendas and to misguide the masses.

Imagine the alternative; No borders, no race, no color or any other attribute to separate us. All being treated equally as brothers & sisters, according to the law of Allah. No animosity, No competition for superiority. And when threatened by an external force, we as an Ummah would be one formidable unit fighting solely to protect each other for the sake of Allah ,not for political interests.

The Muslims are like one man, if his eyes complains then the whole of him complains, and if his head complains then the whole of him complains [Muslim]

Brothers & Sisters, we are now at a time of great fitnah where everything bad is masked with goodness & everything ordained by Allah is being systematically demonized in societies around the world. As an example consider how much the word 'Jihad' carries a negative connotation and is almost always associated with senseless, unjustified violence and the word jihadi is used as a derogatory term by the media.

Another more social example would be marriage. Consider for a moment how a man with more than one wife is viewed by society and media, whereas on the other hand consider how the relationship between a single unmarried woman and a single unmarried man is depicted by the media, particularly media in these so called Islamic states. One of these relationships is considered or portrayed as romantic & civilized whilst the other is considered barbaric and unjust.You probably know which is portrayed as positive & which is portrayed negatively because this is what secular social programming does. It molds and manipulates opinions.


It is imperative that we spot these tribulations and act accordingly to safeguard ourselves and those around us. Do not believe everything TV channels or governments tell you. Do not follow the society but rather follow the sunnah.

And the best ways to safeguard ourselves & those around us is to educate ourselves about the deen, the political history of the world and the current condition of the world.


Please watch the videos below for further details:

- How Western Democracy Is Hypocritical & Shirk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRhrOwMCewg

- The Shaping Of The Modern Muslim World https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qh9awD5KwNY

- Rise Of Nationalism https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6KbUKlG46Q  Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRD-gpYQWtM

- Real Terrorism https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPisDM76JxU

- Disunity Of The Ummah https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCOfFYtfT8k


And Allah Knows Best...


May the peace, mercy and blessings of Allah be upon you all.

[Abu Abdullah]

Assalamu alaikum, brother khan, may Allah guide our ummah in the right path. I am very glad to read your post. We, muslims, should always be united on quran and sunnah. We should act like one body as Rasul(sm) has told us to. But it is a very sorrowful fact that when we call people to the sovereignty of Allah, as a part of tawheed, they treat us astray and call us kharijees. I read in a blog today, the writer has told that Rasul(sm) and khulafa a rashidin didn't run the khilafat on the basis of sovereignty of Allah, they ran it on the basis of treaties between muslims and non-muslims! If we look into the muslims country, we will see that in the name of democracy we are divided and fighting for power and authority. They are killing their own muslim brothers and sisters in the name of establishing the tagut,democracy. What do you think we muslims should do now by the quran and sunnah?
Reply soon.
Take care.
Abu Abdullah

[submit]

Disunity is among the trials from God for believers. In fact the trial was sent as early after the religion of Islam has been perfected.

And it will be ongoing as satan, hypocrites, disbelievers etc. will keep on instigating the believers to feud and have bloodshed

[Khan]

Assalamu alaikum, brother khan, may Allah guide our ummah in the right path. I am very glad to read your post. We, muslims, should always be united on quran and sunnah. We should act like one body as Rasul(sm) has told us to. But it is a very sorrowful fact that when we call people to the sovereignty of Allah, as a part of tawheed, they treat us astray and call us kharijees. I read in a blog today, the writer has told that Rasul(sm) and khulafa a rashidin didn't run the khilafat on the basis of sovereignty of Allah, they ran it on the basis of treaties between muslims and non-muslims! If we look into the muslims country, we will see that in the name of democracy we are divided and fighting for power and authority. They are killing their own muslim brothers and sisters in the name of establishing the tagut,democracy. What do you think we muslims should do now by the quran and sunnah?
Reply soon.
Take care.
Abu Abdullah

Wa AlayKum Salam Warahmtullah Brother,

As i mentioned brother Abu Abdullah, educating ourselves about our deen, current affairs and the brief history of the world will help us a lot in recognizing these evils which are hidden in plain sight. We also need to break free of the chains that this zionist financial system ensalves us in.

We can start by educating people logically about the flaws of the current political systems around the muslim world. I mean look at what happened when there were democratic elections in Egypt or Palestine? The muslim brotherhood was immediately overthrown & Hamas was declared as a terrorist organisation.

This is quite clear that the democracy the zionist west wants in islamic states is the one which obeys them unconditionally.

Most of the problem lies in the fact that a huge percentage of the ummah has been unable to recognize the systematic political and financial degradation it is going through just because of our disunity. I mean look around, our muslim brothers & sisters are being murdered, robbed, raped, dying of disease and hunger & we are arguing about what position should our hands be during salah. Just look at our priorities. Name one "Islamic" nation that took a military stand against israel or zionist west (by stand i mean a genuine military operation not empty threats).

We can use the tools at our disposal according to our capacity to spread awareness. How can people fight an enemy if they are not even aware of its existence? Most importantly we should not believe everything we see on Tv, including the news. A certain amount of skepticism is healthy. Even our religion encourages asking questions & evidence based reasoning.

And dear brother Abu Abdullah even the great Prophets of Allah were mistreated & sometimes even killed when they merely spoke of the haqq, so don't be surprised of some individual's taking offense and calling you names. Keep inviting to the way of Allah with wisdom and beautiful preaching.


The Prophet (SAW) & khulafa (RA) ruled according to the treaties not the law of Allah?

How is that not absurd? They make it sound like that the law of Allah does not allow or is contradicting to honoring of treaties. The fact of the matter is that the The Prophet (SAW) & khulafa ruled according to the commands of Allah and to say something like they ruled only according to the treaties and not based on the sovereignty of Allah implies that the Prophet abandoned or disregarded the revelation/command of Allah. nau'zubillah. Do they even have the slightest of idea what are they accusing the Prophet (SAW)of?  The Prophet (SAW) ruled according to the law of Allah & the Khulafa ar Rashidun loved the Prophet (SAW) dearly & were loyal to the laws of Allah (SWT) till the end of their lives. May Allah be pleased with them all.

The statements in the blog makes it sound like the governance of the Prophet (SAW) & Khulafa (RA) was dependent upon the treaties but it was the other way around. Because of the character of Islam of honoring treaties and its justice to non-muslims, the non-muslims readily entered into mutual agreements with the Prophet (SAW) & Khulafa.

And Allah Knows Best...

[Tahmeed]

Assalamu alaikum dear brother khan,

May Allah bless you for ur wonderful discussion. The dajjal named nationalism and this democracy is indeed rotting our faith and unity. And I 100% support you.

With these tthings, another fitnah has risen from the west named 'secularism', destroying the whole idea of Islamic rule.

Perhaps u know that pious ( ) woman named Taslima Nasrin. One of her friends (I cant remember the name, Sumon perhaps and he is a writter) once told her,"QASAM OF SECULARISM! I will protect you."!

Can u imagine? People have started worshipping this thing. I am not telling to just kill the non-muslims or to deprive them of their rights, because I am not a terrorist. Islam tolerates other religions. The greatest example is the Sanad of Madina. But u cant make a hybrid constitution mixing their laws and our laws. A muslim cant think of making a secular state denying the shariah and based on democracy, while Allah clerely says;

"Whoever doesnt judge by the law which Allah has sent, he is a kafir." (5:44)

The only way we can re-establish Islamic rule as a whole in the so called 'Islamic countries' is Daw'ah. May Allah help us all this mission.

Please let me know ur opinion on this.

Allah Hafiz,

Tahmeed

[Khan]

Assalamu alaikum dear brother khan,

May Allah bless you for ur wonderful discussion. The dajjal named nationalism and this democracy is indeed rotting our faith and unity. And I 100% support you.

With these tthings, another fitnah has risen from the west named 'secularism', destroying the whole idea of Islamic rule.

Perhaps u know that pious ( ) woman named Taslima Nasrin. One of her friends (I cant remember the name, Sumon perhaps and he is a writter) once told her,"QASAM OF SECULARISM! I will protect you."!

Can u imagine? People have started worshipping this thing. I am not telling to just kill the non-muslims or to deprive them of their rights, because I am not a terrorist. Islam tolerates other religions. The greatest example is the Sanad of Madina. But u cant make a hybrid constitution mixing their laws and our laws. A muslim cant think of making a secular state denying the shariah and based on democracy, while Allah clerely says;

"Whoever doesnt judge by the law which Allah has sent, he is a kafir." (5:44)

The only way we can re-establish Islamic rule as a whole in the so called 'Islamic countries' is Daw'ah. May Allah help us all this mission.

Please let me know ur opinion on this.

Allah Hafiz,

Tahmeed

Wa Aly Kum Salam Warahmtullah brother Tahmeed,

These people are examples of simpletons who think that they are doing something that matters or is good but instead end up doing damage & harm to society. And look at how she and the likes of her are rewarded with numerous awards. The reason? she pleased the liberal zionists.

Just look at the ideology she follows... Feminism, an ideology which pits women and men against each other. They make it a competition, they are not happy with what Allah has given them. Feminists say that a woman knows better what is good for her not Allah, they say that Islam is oppressive yet the countries they look up to rate the beauty of a woman according to how much flesh she shows. Don't need to go far to confirm that look up something called a beauty pageant, (miss world, miss universe etc) and they have advertisements where even a man's shaving razor commercial has a half naked woman. When this constant bombardment of suggestive sexual themes leads to some of its viewers to commit rape they ask what went wrong. And people wonder why these western countries have the highest rate of rapes?

To top that some of  these countries which hail themselves as champions of justice & freedom ban our muslim sisters from wearing the hijab, freedom of choice indeed. I guess freedom is only available to you if you choose to wear mini skirts & bikinis.

I agree with you brother. We don't need a hybrid constitution. This deen & its laws were perfected by Allah.

And Allah knows best