1. Definition:
Nationalism is a political
ideology which holds that the state is of primary importance, or adopts the
belief that one state is naturally superior to all other States. It is defined
as a sentiment or feeling or consciousness of a people for a specific
territory; is referred to as the policy of national independence and may describe
a nation as a society united under one government known as a state; or as a
considerable group of people with a common descent or history; a sentiment based
on common cultural characteristics that bind a population together and often produces
a policy of national independence or separatism.( Oxford Illustrated Dictionary),
“which is a consciousness of and pride in the individual character and spirit
of a people as subjectively experienced and hence, leans more readily toward a
sense of national unity.” (Webster’s Universal Dictionary)
2. Arabic Terms Used to refer Nationalism:
There are three terms used in Arabic to refer to
the concept of nationalism:
i)
Al Asabiyah
ii)
AL Qawmiyah
iii)
AL Wataniyah
These terms specify different aspects of nationalism
which are told under the term nationalism, though some scholars use these terms
interchangeably.
2.1
Al Asabiyah
means “tribalism, racism, nationalism and group sentiments”. (Wehr, A Dictionary of Modern
Written Arabic)
2.2
Al Qawmiyah
means “nationality, nationalism and ethnocentrism.” (Wehr)
2.3
Al Wataniyah means “nationalism,
national sentiment and patriotism.” (Wehr)
In the real world, however, the different
phenomena of these three terms intermingle in different stages of their
development that it becomes difficult to differentiate or elucidate them
separately in many cases.
2.1
Al Asabiyah:
Ibn Kahldun describes Al Asabiyah as social
cohesion and solidarity, which has been necessary for tribes to survive against
the threat to their secure living in the presence of hostile powerful tribes.
Ibn Kahldun writes:
“One feels shame,
when one’s relatives are treated unjustly or attacked, and one wishes to
intervene between them and whatever
peril or destruction threatens them.” (Muller)
This feeling
entices altruism in one for one’s tribesmen. This altruism is a source of guarantee
for mutual security under the aegis of tribalism. The Holy Prophet, (S.A.W) in
his early days of preaching, enjoyed this tribal protection, though the chief
of the tribe Abu Talib did not embrace Islam but he did not forsake his
protection for the Holy Prophet (S.A.W). For the same reason of Asabiyah the
tribe of Banu Hashim sided with the Holy Prophet (S.A.W) when all the Quraish
boycotted with Banu Hashim despite the fact that not all the Banu Hashim had embraced
Islam.
In
this regard Al Asabiyah is a natural instinct. And Islam, being a religion,
which corresponds the most what is natural, acknowledges this natural love for
one’s own people. A saying of the holy prophet goes:
Narrated Suraqah ibn Malik ibn Ju'sham al-Mudlaji:
“The Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) gave us an address and said: “The
best of you is the one who defends his tribe, so long as he commits no sin.” (Abu Daud: Book 41: Hadith 5101)
On the other
hand God calls the difference of caste, creed and tribe a sign of His wisdom
behind His creation:
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنَّا
خَلَقْنَاكُم مِّن ذَكَرٍ وَأُنثَىٰ وَجَعَلْنَاكُمْ شُعُوبًا وَقَبَائِلَ
لِتَعَارَفُوا ۚ إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ
عِندَ اللَّهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ ۚ إِنَّ
اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِير
“O
mankind! Lo! We have created you male and female, and have made you nations and
tribes that ye may know one another. Lo! The noblest of you, in the sight of
Allah, is the best in conduct. Lo! Allah is Knower, Aware.” (79:13)
In the same
verse, Allah categorically refutes any claim of superiority on the bases of
caste, creed, tribe etc. It is but the “best in conduct” that is superior in
the eyes of Allah.
It is only when the term Asabiyah is
associated with negative meaning that it is condemned by Islam. The negative
aspect of Asabiyah is defined by the holy prophet (S.A.W) as:
Narrated by Wathilah
ibn al-Asqa: I asked:” Apostle of Allah! What is party spirit (Al Asabiyah)? He
replied: That you should help your people in wrongdoing.” (Sunan Abu Daud 5027)
In this case, Asabiyah can be an equaling to
undue favor and partiality to one’s clan, tribe or group of people. The Holy
Prophet condemned it:
Narrated Abdullah ibn Mas'ud: “If anyone
helps his people in an unrighteous cause, he is like a camel which falls into a
well and is pulled out by its tail.”(Abu Daud book 41, 5098)
It is narrated by Abu Daud that the Messenger of Allah (S.A.W)
said:
“He is not one us who calls for `Asabiyah,
(nationalism/tribalism) or who fights for `Asabiyah or who dies for `Asabiyah.” (Abu
Daud 5121)
2.2.1. Some Historical Evidences:
i) Asabiyah effected the creation of
Umayyad dynasty which was condemned by the then prominent Muslim figures and
the common people and in its is wake it caused the tragedy of Karbala in which
Husain, the grandson of the Holy Prophet (S.A.W) was slain with his tribesmen;
and also the tragedy of Harrah, in which almost the whole population of Madinah
was massacred by Umayyad army.
ii) Abbasids came to power by ousting the Umayyad
with the help of Asabiyah. They used not only their clan’s manpower in the name
of Asabiyah but the power of Ajam by arousing their resentments against Umayyad
dynasty, which was by nature an Arabic Asabiyah. This led the Islamic empire to
wasteful civil wars for centuries.
2.2.
Al Qawmiyah:
Asabiyah
develops into Qawmiyah when exceeds from the bounds of tribalism. It grows from
the confinement of clan to that of a nation. This phenomenon can well be
explained by the European nationalism. The major contribution to the
nationalist theory was made by German philosophers such as J.G Herder
(1744-1803), Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762-1814), and G.W.F. Hegel (1770-1831).
Also Jacques Rousseau (1712- 1778) supported the theory of nationalism. They
wanted to see Germans rule the world, by establishing the Germans the best of
all nations. In its reaction, the rest of the European nations developed sentiments
of nationalism, too, which led the whole Europe
to the most devastating world wars I and II that caused millions of lives to
death and maimedness and destruction worth trillions of dollars.
2.2.1. Some Historical Evidences:
i) It
was this syndrome of nationalism which overlapped the Arabs in the 20th
century against the great Ottoman Empire and
effected its fall in 1924. The facts are recorded as:
In addition, the correspondence
of Sharif Husain of Hijaz with McMahan in 1915 resulted in the promise to
create a United Arab State
if they fought in Collaboration with the British against the Turks. Attracted
by this bargain, as well as by the lucrative offer combined with Arab
nationalist obsession, Sharif Hussain ordered the Arabs to take sides with
British Imperialism against their Turkish Muslim brethren in the First World
War. Consciously or unconsciously, but profoundly inspired by the spirit of
Arab nationalism, this Arab stabbing of the Turks leant itself toward Turkish defeat.
(Ali, 191)
Arab countries celebrated the fall of Ottoman Empire as national event for many years.
ii) This phenomenon can well be observed in
the die-hard conflict of Arab and Ajam (non-Arab). Iran
(Persia)
despite its being a Muslim country is uniquely characterized as compare to other
Muslim Arab countries. Behind this distinction lies the factor of Asabiyah. The
division of Arab and Ajam is on the basis of Qawmiyah. Setting aside the long
history of Arab-Ajam conflict, only one facet of this conflict is cited here:
One can observe that Iran (Persia), the leader of Ajam, having being conquered
by Arabs and accepted Islam introduced by Arabs, developed its own version of
Islam, which is quite different form all other Islamic countries, with its
peculiar Ajamic or Persian perspective and outlook.
As Iqbal puts
it:
ذرا سی بات تھی اندیشہٴ عجم نے اسے
بڑھا دیا ھے فقط زیب داستاں کے لیے
“It
was but a little point but the philosophy of Ajam enlarged it just to embellish
the narrative.”
Despite the great commonality of religion with Arabs,
Iran
kept itself distinguished from the rest of the Arab. It is observed that “while
Islam has been since the seventh century the primary religion of Iran, because of historical and ethnic
differences, it has not brought Iran
into the pan-Islamic fold made up of Arab nations.” (Kessler and MingJi 250)
Also,
“It is interesting
to note that Ahmadi-Nejad and other current Iranian leaders’ popularity
increases when they emphasize links to the imperial past, rather than
association with Islamic principles. While early in the revolution, imperial
history was ignored, references to the ‘glorious’ past return when leaders feel
the need to unite the country.” (250)
Arabic Asabiyah has always been present in Arab
nations but the present-day nationalism is tended to be defined with respect to
territorial and geographical confinement of Arab countries, which led them to
disintegration from each other. The most evident phenomenon of this
disintegration of Arab comity of nations caused by the consciousness of
nationalism is that the establishment and existence of the state of Israel is a
threat to all Arab countries but they could not unite themselves against their
common enemy. They fight it on their own. They fail but do not extend their
cooperation to each other.
“Nasif Yazeji (1800-1871) and Butrus Bustani
(1819-1893) are attributed to be the pioneers of Arab nationalism. It is said
that Ibrahim Yazeji composed an ode to Arab patriotism highlighting the glories
of the Arab race and created a sense of awakening that lead to the rebellion
against Turkish Ottoman rule.” (Jameelah 188)
Abul Hasan Ali Nadvi writes describing the condition
of Egypt that how the
concept of nationalism poured onto the Arab countries and how they imbibed it uncritically
without questioning the devastating effects it caused to the Europe:
“Exotic cultural concepts and materialistic
philosophies and Movements of the West were being imported freely into Egypt. Its
leading intellectuals had dedicated themselves unequivocally to their
propagation. The University students and the younger army officers vied with
each other in their imitative zeal. Everyone who was discontented with the
existing order was anxious to welcome what the West offered. Innumerable books
were written in support of the need to westernize which were hurriedly read by
immature minds.” (Ali. 91)
2.3.
Al Wataniyah:
Now we bring in the case of Wataniyah. In this
concept the element of land or territory or geography with the sentiments of Asabiyah
is inclusive. Two examples are illustrated here: the creation of nation states
of Israel and Pakistan in
1948 and 1947 respectively, were based on the concept of Al Wataniyah
(Nationalism). The Asabiyah of children of Israel and that of Muslims of
subcontinent, particularly of the north western part of the subcontinent,
culminated into Al Wataniyah to create nation states.
The
concept of nationalism penetrated into the subcontinent in the early twentieth
century in the wake of European nationalism. India was a British colony and was
assimilating British education, culture, philosophies and cults. Shutting their
eyes from the disastrous consequences of European nationalism, the Indian
politicians and thinkers adopted it to foster national sentiments to get rid of
British rule.
The
united India
comprises many nations on the basis of caste, creed, race etc in it. Here, Asabiyah
was used in a wider scope at the basis of religion to create the sentiments of
Qawmiyah which culminated into Al Wataniyah to form two separate countries: India and Pakistan.
There
were mainly two schools of thoughts in the Muslim circles of thinkers and
scholars regarding Al Wataniyah or nationalism: Those who favored nationalism
and those who rejected it. Both the schools of thought claimed their stance
supported by Quran and Sunnah; both had great names on their board.
Here
we have a look at their arguments. The concept of nationalism was presented
under the phrase of “two nation theory” by the proponents of Muslim
nationalism. They maintained that in the subcontinent there lived not one
homogeneous nation but many nations, two of them are largest ones: Hindus and
Muslims. On account of their numbers they are capable of having two separate countries
to exercise their own ideologies of life which are so very different to each
other. Allama Iqbal, the greatest proponent of this theory, put his concept of religion-based
nation state in his rejoinder to Jwahir Lal Nehru in 1933:
“In conclusion I must put a straight question to pundit
Jawhar Lal, how is India's problem to be solved if the majority community will
neither concede the minimum safeguards necessary for the protection of a
minority of 80 million people, nor accept the award of a third party; but
continue to talk of a kind of nationalism which works out only to its own
benefit? This position can admit of only two alternatives. Either the Indian
majority community will have to accept for itself the permanent position of an
agent of British imperialism in the East, or the country will have to be
redistributed on a basis of religious, historical and cultural affinities so as
to do away with the question of electorates and the communal problem in its
present form.” (Biography. allamaiqbal.com)
In his poem یعنی وطن
بحیثیت ایک سیاسی تصور کے وطنیت (Country being a political concept), he says:
ان تازہ خداؤں میں بڑا سب سے وطن ہے
جو پیرہن اس کا
ہے ، وہ مذہب کا کفن ہے
Among the present day gods the
greatest one is nationalism
Its apparel is the shroud of the
religion.
بازو ترا توحید کی قوت سے قوی ہے
اسلام ترا دیس ہے
، تو مصطفوی ہے
Your strength is Oneness of God
your country is Islam,
You, Muslims, are follower of Prophet
Muhammad (S.A.W).
اقوام میں مخلوق
خدا بٹتی ہے اس سے
قومیت اسلام کی
جڑ کٹتی ہے اس سے
This nationalism divides
humanity into nations
It cuts off the root of Islamic
nationalism.
Iqbal propounded
the concept of Islamic nationalism or Islamic brotherhood, which is beyond
geographical bounds.
ایک ہوں مسلم حرم کی پاسبانی کے لیے
نیل کے ساحل سے لے کر تابخاک کاشغر
(Bang e Dara: Dunya e Islam)
May
all the Muslims from the bank of Nile to the land of Kashghar
get united for the defense of Haram (The Holy Kaba)!
He advocated the restoration of Islamic
caliphate:
تا خلافت کی بنا دنیا میں ہو پھر استوار
لا کہیں سے ڈھونڈ کر اسلاف کا قلب و جگر
(Bang
e Dara: Dunya e Islam)
Find
out the heart and soul of your ancestors so that you can restore the foundation
of the caliphate in the world.
On the contrary, two great religious and political figures
Abul Kalam Azad and Husain Ahmad Madani opposed the idea of two nation theory
on the basis of religion, rather advocated Indian nationalism. In his
speech in a special session of Indian national Congress in 1923 Abul Kalam
stated:
“If an angel were
to descend from the clouds today and settle on Delhi’s
Qutub Minar and proclaim that India
can win Swaraj (self-rule) within tow hours provided that India renounces
Hindu-Muslim unity, then I would renounce Swaraj and not unity. Because if
Swaraj is delayed that is a loss but to India, but if unity is lost that is
a loss to humanity.” (Jahanbegloo)
Abul
kalam in his exegetical notes on Surah Al Fatihah writes:
“This is clear that the mind which the Surat-ul- Fatiha depicts is a type of mind
which reflects the beauty and the mercy of the God of Universal Compassion. It
is in no sense fettered by prejudices of race or nation or other exclusive groupings.
It is a mind imbued with Universal Humanism. This is the true spirit of the
Quranic invitation.” (Jahanbegloo. qtd Syeda
Saiyidain Hameed)
Husain Ahmad
Madani another renowned Islamic scholar vigorously opposed the theory of two
nations. He said:
"All should endeavor
jointly for such a democratic government in which Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs,
Christians and Parsis are included. Such a freedom is in accordance with
Islam." (qtd. Pakistan
Struggle and Pervez.
614).
He was of the view that in the present times,
nations are formed on the basis of homeland and not on ethnicity and religion. (614)
Iqbal’s ideology
succeeded to get the Muslims of North West of the subcontinent a homeland of
their aspirations. But the question arises here is that Muslim majority areas
of the north west of the subcontinent were not culturally dominated by the
Hindus, as was the case cited by the supporters of separate homeland for the
Indian Muslims, and in politics they had the option of separate electorate, so
no threat to their political identity, it was but the Muslims of Hindu majority
provinces which were dominated by Hindus majority and if Muslim identity was in
danger, it was the identity of the Muslims of the Hindu majority provinces not
of the Muslim majority provinces, but Pakistan was suggested for the areas
where such a problem did not exist, at least not in substantial proportion.
Did
Iqbal want transformation of the populations that Hindus minority from Muslim
majority provinces should have migrated to Hindu majority provinces and Muslims
minority form Hindu majority areas to Muslim majority provinces? No such
evidence we find in the literature came from Iqbal. Moreover, such a mass
exodus was out of question.
It could have
been possible that in a federation, all the parts of the subcontinent achieved
autonomy along with guarantee to safeguard their cultural, religious and
political identities; separation was not necessary. It seems that for the same
reason Quaid e Azam agreed to join the interim government under the cabinet
mission plan (1946), but it was the non-cooperative attitude of the Indian
National Congress and of the Muslim league which led them to the partition.
The Muslims of
present India
still have their separate identity, no one force them; the influence of the
Hindu and Muslim culture is reciprocal.
3. Summary:
The concept of Nationalism has
two aspects: negative and positive. One’s natural love for one’s people or
country is not only allowed in Islam but appreciated unless no undue favor or partiality
is made, or else, it will become Asabiyah which is strictly prohibited in Islam.
This Asabiyah in its both three forms: Asabiyah, Qawmiyah and Wataniyah, did
more harm to Muslim integrity and unity than good. Arab nationalism played
major role to cause the downfall of the Ottoman Empire.
The phenomenon of rivalry between Arab and Ajam is another example of pride in
nationalism within the fold of Islam.
Nationalism in its present form is a foreign
ideology imported from Europe. Europe suffered two great wars in the twentieth century
on the basis of nationalism. But the Muslim countries adopted the ideology
uncritically. Nationalism effected the partition of the subcontinent in 1947. Some
Islamic scholars like Allama Iqbal in favor of Islamic nationalism emphasized
the creation of a nation state to save the Muslims’ religion and culture from
the overwhelming Hindu religion and culture. On the contrary, the scholars like
Abul Kalam Azad and Husain Ahmad Madani opposed the idea of a nation state on
the same basis of religion and supported united Indian nationalism. They were
of the opinion that countries are formed on the basis of geography not on
religion. Muslims being a universal Ummah should not confine themselves in the
boundaries of nation states.
irfanshehzad76@gmail.com
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