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Islam or Muslim Nationalism: Muslims Must Make a Choice

Here is a simple fact about Islam: Islam cannot strike root in a heart that is clogged with the blind worship of race, tribe or territory. Cobwebs of blind loyalty and devotion to all kinds of false gods need to be first cleared from the human heart before the light of divine truth can penetrate it.

From this point of view, Muslim Nationalism, as a blind and unquestioning worship of the Muslim people and all things associated with them, is as much contrary to Islam – and as much a hindrance to the discovery and embrace of the truth of Islam and of truth in general – as all other forms of Nationalism, Chauvinism and Jingoism, whether tribal, territorial, linguistic, cultural, gender-based or racial.

That is why Muslims must make a choice between Islam and Muslim Nationalism. I am not talking about all the petty localized, tribal, territorial and geographical brands and species of Nationalism which Muslims have embraced over the past century or so. I am talking about their overall loyalty to “Muslims” themselves, regardless of whether or not a Muslim act or posture or fact was in keeping with or contrary to the truth of Islam.

Till Muslims, individually and collectively, clear their hearts and minds of these false deities, including the deity of Muslim Nationalism – as well as all other kinds and brands of Nationalism – they will remain strangers to Islam. For Islam is not blind loyalty to geographical, tribal, ethnic or national groupings, but it is total and unreserved commitment to certain basic principles that transcend all narrow and arbitrary demarcations of race, territory and tribe.

As a result, when Muslims forsake or compromise Islam for the sake of Muslim Nationalism, they will also remain at the receiving end of the wrath of Allah and depredation of nations, societies, cultures and peoples more powerful than them. They will open themselves to domination and subjugation by others whether in science and technology or in economic, political or military matters.

Profession of Islamic Faith Begins with Complete and Emphatic Negation

That is why profession of the Islamic faith begins with a negative statement that sweeps the table clean of all previous beliefs and commitments, allegiances and loyalties. It is represented in two earth-shaking words “La Ilaah.”

These two magic words mean that in our life there is no higher power; no controlling authority; no overriding presence of any kind or category. They mean no one is worthy of our full and unquestioned allegiance, loyalty, obedience or devotion.

None whatsoever.

It represents – albeit in a very specific sense – a complete break from one’s past. It means a complete cleaning of the stables.

A new convert to Islam is thus required to discard and disown all former soft spots, commitments, assertions, identities, loyalties, loves, ambiguities and allegiances. So are all those who are renewing their ongoing Islamic faith by repeating the profession.

It all begins with a clean sweep. It begins with a categorical declaration of “La Ilaaha.”

A Christian, thus, says goodbye to Christianity; a Jew to Judaism; a Hindu to Hinduism; an Atheist to Atheism; and a continuing Muslim to any deities whose love and veneration may have crept into his heart unbeknownst to him.

Profession of Islamic Faith Culminates into Perfect Affirmation

Profession of Islamic faith then culminates in perfect affirmation. It takes the believer to the next higher stage of categorically declaring “But Allah.” That means a believer – new or old – having completely dissociated himself from all other claimants to influence, power, love, loyalty, allegiance, commitment and divinity is now ready to profess a new loyalty, love, commitment and allegiance.

And that new love and loyalty, allegiance and commitment is to God Almighty – none but him – whose Arabic name is Allah. Of course Allah is much more than that, but of that at some other time.

We will visit the concepts of Al-Asmaa-ul Husnaa (God Almighty’s lovely names – 99 plus more) and Ismul Jalaalah (the might, power and glory which the expression Allah stands for) at some future date, should Allah enable us to do that.

Meanwhile, by claiming that there is no God but Allah, a new convert to Islam now directs all his love and loyalty, his devotion and commitment, toward Almighty God and states clearly, firmly and categorically that Allah, God Almighty, alone is worthy of any of these.

So, the declaration of Islamic faith that began with a complete negation in the form of La Ilaaha now finds its culmination in the form of Illa Allah.

Most Powerful Proclamation on Earth

Once again, this positive statement also is couched in two words: Illa Allah, which means Allah is the sole exception to the earlier rejection of all deities and powers and influences in one’s life. None but Allah is left as the object of unquestioned and overriding devotion, commitment and adoration.

Thus, the positive statement that you believe in Allah does not make sense or acquire validity until it has been preceded by your unconditional rejection of all other claimants to name and fame or to authority and control over you and your life.

Now read: Laa Ilaaha Illa Allah.

Paraphrase: I put God above everything in my life. So far as I am concerned, God’s command is supreme. And everyone and everything is subordinate to that fact.

But mark you, this most powerful proclamation on earth is not for the glory of an individual, tribe, nation, race, class or gender, but purely and solely dedicated to the glory of God Almighty, who is God of everyone and everything, whether they know him or not and regardless of whether they accept him or not.

No Words More Powerful in Human Language

La Ilaaha Illa Allah.

No god but God!

Human language has no words that are more powerful or profound that these four words. They combine in them a profession of simple faith as well as a categorical declaration thereof.

At the same time, they also constitute a complete ideology and philosophy of life and an unreserved commitment to live life in a certain specific way: individually as well as collectively; socially as well as culturally and morally; politically as well as economically and militarily; and in every other way.

The believing individuals – who now come to be called Muslims or even Mu’mins – have made their choice and it is God. They have chosen God Almighty over and above everything and everyone else.

For them the buck stops, as someone said, with God Almighty.

A Trap Set by the Devil

But beware of the danger. Read the warning signs. And don’t rush blindly into the trap the Devil has set for those who try to escape from his grip.

The tragedy of human life is that the Devil haunts and hounds human beings all the time and tries to get them in trouble at every opportunity he gets. We should not forget that it was he, as the Qur’an tells us, and not the woman, as so many others tell us, who was instrumental in having the humankind thrown out of “The Garden” – Paradise?

Now that human beings are ready to profess their love and loyalty to God, the Devil sets a new trap for them. He comes to them and whispers something like this:

“Hey buddy, now that you have embraced God, you want to know what God wants from you? What God really wants you to do? I will tell you what he wants and what he would like you to do. Just trust yourself and do whatever you feel strongly about deep down inside you. If you feel it in your heart deeply and strongly enough, it must be from God. It must be God “talking” to you. So, go ahead and do it.”

Or things to that effect.

There are no objective criteria. There are no verifiable reference points. There are no universal standards of right or wrong. There are no immutable notions of good or evil.

There is no clear cut concept of Halal or Haram.

And there are no clear boundaries defined by God – Hudoodullah.

It is all about what you feel; and think; and believe at the moment – based on whatever dark forebodings or whisperings you may have heard in your heart or imagined in your mind.

The result often is madness and mayhem; chaos and confusion; suffering and pain; injustice and oppression; aggression and war; marauding and murder. Humanity has been a victim of this from its beginning days.

Human Beings Need a Model – and a Manual

Thus, human beings need both theoretical and practical guidance if they are to escape the traps the Devil has set for them at every turn.

Human beings are fairly smart people. They can generate the most powerful ideas and thoughts. They can dream the most spectacular dreams. They can also be spell-binding talkers about those ideas and dreams.

But in human life there is often a slip between idea and practice. Human beings need a bit of handholding when it comes to translating ideas into practice. They need a guide, a teacher, a mentor.

They need a practical model as well as a clear theoretical explanation.

Humanity thus needed two things:

1. A manual that will tell them what to do and how to do it. And humanity received such a manual from God in the form of the Qur’an.
2. A practical human model and example that will actually show them what the finished product looked like. And that is what the life of Prophet Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, provided.

Without that kind of help, human beings often get their ideas mixed up when they are still at the stage of thinking. And they often make the silliest of mistakes when they get to the level of putting their ideas into practice.

Muhammad the Educator – and the Model: Muhammad, Rasulullah!

It was for this reason that God Almighty sent down his messengers and prophets, not only to teach, but also to show humanity how to put into practice the guidance that came from on above.

May God Almighty bless all his prophets and messengers! Without their teaching, humanity would forever have been groping in the dark. And without their showing how, humanity would never have been able to practice these things right.

Most of God’s prophets and messengers, however, were sent to specific tribes, nations and cultural and geographic groupings. And they were sent for limited periods of time.

They all came; they did their mission; and they all left. As a Muslim scholar – a real one – once put it, they left because they had come only to leave and to go back.

The last and final prophet and messenger to come from God was Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam – may God Almighty bless him! He, unlike all the previous prophets and messengers,

(a)    Came to all of humanity; and
(b)   Came for all time to come.

And there was something else. He put into practice everything that he taught. And he showed others how to do it – every minute detail, nuance and variation of it.

Thus, he set about teaching human beings in great detail all that they needed to know about how to live a good, productive and most wonderful life on earth, and on how to make that earthly life the basis for an even more wonderful life of joy, bliss and fulfillment in the hereafter.

It was thus most natural and logical – and of course a mercy from God Almighty – that “La Ilaaha Illa Allah” should now move to yet another level in the form of “Muhammad Rasulullah.”

In this way, the abstract commitment to God and his divine revelation became, in a most natural way, a concrete contract with a human being Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, to accept his message; to follow his directives; and to emulate his example.