Shaykh Yasir Qadhi shares some tidbits on a Muslim’s loyalty towards his religion or his nation. Which should take precedence? When should a stand be taken?
The concept of nationalism and tribalism is discussed and we analyse it as being Islamic or un-Islamic. Can one be a member of the state and a member of the Ummah simultaneously? If yes, then what precautions ought to be taken and followed diligently?
Listen intently as Shaykh Yasir Qadhi puts all our imminent doubts to rest.
Salam Alaikum, warahmatullahi wabarakatuh the concept of nationalism is one that a lot of people have spoken about in the last 100 years or so. And questions have arisen is nationalism Islamic? Is it an Islamic, can you be a member of the nation state and still be a member of the oma. And of course you have, you know, as usual, you have extremist positions on on both sides, and you have the moderate position, or the middle position that the majority of the Muslims have embraced. The fact of the matter is that there are extremist voices on the far left on the far right, there are those who say that nationalism and the existence of nation states is itself a type of cohort type of
shirt, the type of how long seemed to be a part of and of course, that is extremism. Because at the end of the day, this is a human construct that you can take the good and reject the bad from the other side, you have those that say that the nation state and the loyalty to the nation state should Trump each and every other type of loyalty, that you are a member of the nation state first, and then a member of the second. And that's the other side. And as usual, Islam is the middle path. And the position that pretty much all of the mainstream scholars of the world have embraced is that the nation state is a modern construct, it only goes back 100 200 years, it's a very recent phenomenon.
And as we know, nations come and go borders, you know, they keep on changing. And so the nation state is a state that has a certain uses or certain functionality. And it is useful to be a part of In fact, in the modern world, everybody at some level has to be a part of some nation state, even those that choose to abandon that identity had to have had it in the first place in order for them to abandon it. And just like the tribes of jaggedy, Islam, the tribes existed, and our Profit System came not to demolish the tribe, not to get away with them. But to make sure that tribalism does not Trump the more important loyalty and that is loyalty to Allah and His messenger and to the oma
tribalism in and of itself can be held on and it can be made head on, and our prophets, Allah Selim was a member of the aura, she tried. And he was proud of this fact, till he died, the one of the last in the battles that he fought, he said,
I am the grandson of Abdullah Pardo. And this is a statement that signifies Look, I know who my grandfather is, he is the leader of the parish, and the blessings of the forest are something that are well known in the books of our history. And the fact of the matter is that the same can be applied to the nation state, that nation states can have positives, and they can be turned into something negative. And as long as the Muslim understands that this nation state is a social construct that has this positive, and I can be a member of it, a productive a useful member of it, but that the nation state can be right and wrong, unlike Allah subhanho wa Taala. So when the nation
is wrong, my loyalty cannot be to the nation in this wrong, and I have to criticize and cut off from this wrong that the nation state does. That doesn't mean that you become a traitor to the system. That doesn't mean that you do things that are an Islamic but it means you speak the truth and that you fear none other than Allah subhanho wa Taala I'll be at a time there are some gray areas and there's some difficulty nobody's denying that. But in essence, it is possible it is high that it is completely reasonable to be a God fearing loyal member of the oma a mud definitely a pious person. And at the same time somebody who is a member of a nation state, even if that nation state and the
oma might appear to be at clash at times and whatnot. There are ways to work around this there are ways to demonstrate that you can be a righteous Muslim, it is a lived and experienced reality for millions and millions of Muslims living in the Western world. So I encourage all of you if you're able to take this class, no doubt signed up to it. This is your brother in Islam. He has it all the was Salam Alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh