Nationalism has no basis in Islam yet the overwhelming majority of Muslims are taken in by its rhetoric and debilitating influence. Injected by the colonialists into the body politic of Islam, this poisonous ideology continues to afflict every Muslim society with disastrous consequences.
Rightwing parties have made a strong showing in elections in a number of countries recently including Austria. Our correspondent examines the reasons and what this may imply for the future of Muslims.
The Prophet of Allah passed away and like we said when he passed away there were multitudes of people who jumped on the Islamic bandwagon. This was in the final couple of years of the Prophet’s lifetime. Here we had over a hundred thousand who were not from the Muhajirin (radi Allahu anhum) who were not from the Ansar (radi Allahu anhum) who were not from amongst those who struggled for the past twenty years with Allah’s Prophet. So now we had new dynamics that are at work and because we have what is beginning to look like a civil war among Muslims we have to go to these issues to deal with them at the source because the ignorance of these source issues is the material of today’s war making among the Muslims.
This paper was presented by Imam Muhammad al-Asi at the ‘Dr Kalim Siddiqui Memorial Conference' convened by the Muslim Institute for Research and Planning and the Muslim Parliament of Great Britain in London on November 3, 1996.
Conference Papers to be updated.
The idea of secularization led naturally to the idea of an Indonesian 'nationalism'. But how can one inclusive 'nationalism' be created in a multi-national empire, covering an area as large as western and eastern Europe put together?
This paper was presented at an Education Conference held in Makkah in 1977, and has been reprinted numerous times in several different countries. In 1980, following the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Dr Siddiqui added two sentences to it. For edition, based on the 1996 reprinting, the original text has been used, with the additional sentences shown in the footnotes. Also in 1980, a post-script was added. This read: “Since this paper was first written... the historic situation has been transformed by the Islamic Revolution in Iran. The Islamic movement has already made the vital breakthrough.”
This article is an introduction (pishguftar) that Martyr Murtadha Mutahhari wrote for his book Khadamat-e mutaqabil-e Islam wa Iran (The Mutual Services of Islam and Iran) first published in 1349 H.Sh./1960. The translation of this book is under way and will soon be published by the Sazman-e Tablighat-e Islami, and we hope to publish some parts of it in the future in al-Tawhid.
