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The relationship between Islam and nationalism, from the beginnings of Islam until today, has often been tense, with both Islam and nationalism generally opposing each other.
The 13th verse of Al-Hujurat states: "O people, We have created you male and female and made you into nations and tribes that you may know one another [not to fight each other]. Verily, the most noble of you to Allah is the most righteous of you. Verily, Allah is knowing and aware." [1] [2]
Some Muslims believe that Muhammad condemned nationalism in many ahadith, stating "Whoever fights under a banner of foolishness [tribalism], supports tribalism, or gets angry for the sake of tribalism, he will die in a state of ignorance". [3] When asked about nationalism he answered by saying "Leave it, it is rotten". [4] Some Muslims believe that he declared nationalists as non-Muslims by saying "He is not one of us who calls to tribalism. He is not one of us who fights for the sake of tribalism. He is not one of us who dies following the way of tribalism". [5] He had travelled to Medina to solve the long and bloody conflict between the Khazraj and Aws tribes. Eventually, both tribes converted to Islam and became the Ansar. Muhammad also said that the Ghuraba will be "those who disassociated themselves from their tribes." [6]
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, various nationalist ideologies emerged from the Middle East, including Turkish nationalism, Arab nationalism, Iranian nationalism, and all 3 of these ideologies paved way for Kurdish nationalism, which started off as a defensive movement against them. This was also the period when the Salafi movement, Islamism, and Pan-Islamism emerged, with the latter rejecting the concept of nations in favour of one Islamic nation. [7]
Jamal al-Din al-Afghani led an Internationalist and anti-nationalist movement and wanted unity among Muslims. Afghani feared that nationalism would divide the Muslim world and believed that Muslim unity was more important than ethnic identity. [8] Muhammad Rashid Rida, a student of Afghani and of Afghani's disciple Muhammad Abduh, would continue this belief. Rida believed that the unification of the Islamic community would only be possible through the restoration of an Islamic caliphate which implements the Sharia . Rida called on Arabs to make a pan-Islamist project aimed at the revival of the Islamic caliphate which incorporates all Muslim lands. [9] Rida also called upon Muslims to build a political system based on Islam; rather than nationalism, which he frequently condemned as a Western ideology. [10] [11] [12]
Around 1908 was when Turkish nationalism began significantly rising. Towards the end of the Ottoman Empire, the Turkish National Movement led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk had made way for the ideology of Kemalism, which became the founding ideology of Turkey. The Kemalists aimed to Turkify and secularise and Turkey and went as far as banning the hijab and the adoption of the Turkish adhan. [13] In Turkey, the radical Kemalist reforms led to a birth of the ideology known as the Kurdish-Islamic synthesis. Many decades later, during the Cold War and Operation Gladio, the Turkish–Islamic synthesis emerged, where Alparslan Türkeş, an advocate of the Turkish adhan, began opening Grey Wolves training camps with American support to train its members to fight against leftists, Alevis, Kurds, as well as Islamists that did not accept Turkish nationalism. [14] [15]
In 1925, with the rule of the Pahlavi dynasty, Iran had also became a secular state with nationalist policies. Iran had been increasingly secularised and also Westernised until the Iranian Revolution which made Islam the basis of Iranian politics. Ruhollah Khomeini also aimed for the unity of all Muslims under the Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist. Khomeini made many attempts to bridge the divide between Sunnis and Shias and also to eradicate nationalism in Iran. [16]
Arab nationalism emerged in the 1920s and became the leading ideology in the mashriq. Its influence grew and Arab nationalists seized control of various Arab countries. Gamal Abdel Nasser later came and boosted Arab nationalism, and political parties like the Ba'ath Party did as well. Islamism began challenging Arab nationalism and being its top political opponent. [17] Arab nationalism decreased due to lost morale after the Six-Day War. [18] [19] The Muslim Brotherhood then stepped up its actions against Arab nationalism, especially in Egypt and Syria, which were the leading places for Arab nationalism. [20] The Syrian Ba'ath Party regularly attacked religion, and came into conflict with other Arab nationalist ideologies like Nasserism, which was accused by the Syrian Ba'athists of betraying socialist ideals. Nasser later accused the Ba'athists of being anti-religion and promoting sectarianism among Arabs. [21] [22] The Iraqi Ba'ath Party, especially during the rule of Saddam Hussein, was a secular and socialist party just like the Syrian Ba'ath Party. However, the Iraqi Ba'ath Party had a much stronger Anti-Iranian sentiment [23] [24] and only turned religious after the Faith Campaign after Iraq's defeat during the Gulf War but kept the nationalism. [25]
Hizb ut-Tahrir is extremely opposed to nationalism. [26]
Despite the inconsistency of Islam and nationalism, Pakistani nationalism is religious rather than secular, with Islam being the center of it. [27] Hamas also mixes Palestinian nationalism with Islamism, which makes it have conflicts with ISG and other Salafist organizations. Jaish ul-Adl mixes Baloch nationalism with Islamism, Ahrar al-Sham, Jaysh al-Islam and Other Rebel Groups mix Syrian nationalism with Islamism , The Taliban's official ideology combines Islamism with Pashtunwali and Afghan nationalism, also being one of the causes of the Islamic State–Taliban conflict. Al-Shabaab incorporates an Anti-Ethiopian sentiment, inspired by Somali nationalism, into its ideology. [28] [29]
Islamism is a neologism that refers to religious and political ideological movements that believe that Islam should influence political systems. Its proponents believe Islam is innately political, and that Islam as a political system is superior to communism, liberal democracy, capitalism, and other alternatives in achieving a just, successful society.
The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, also transliterated as Ba'th, was a political party founded in Syria by Michel Aflaq, Salah al-Din al-Bitar, and associates of Zaki al-Arsuzi. The party espoused Ba'athism, which is an ideology mixing Arab nationalist, pan-Arab, Arab socialist, and anti-imperialist interests. Ba'athism calls for the unification of the Arab world into a single state. Its motto, "Unity, Freedom, Socialism", refers to Arab unity and freedom from non-Arab control and interference.
Michel Aflaq was a Syrian philosopher, sociologist and Arab nationalist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of Ba'athism and its political movement; he is considered by several Ba'athists to be the principal founder of Ba'athist thought. He published various books during his lifetime, such as The Road to Renaissance (1940), The Battle for One Destiny (1958) and The Struggle Against Distorting the Movement of Arab Revolution (1975).
Pan-Islamism is a political movement which advocates the unity of Muslims under one Islamic country or state – often a caliphate – or an international organization with Islamic principles. Historically, after Ottomanism, which aimed at the unity of all Ottoman citizens, Pan-Islamism was promoted in the Ottoman Empire during the last quarter of the 19th century by Sultan Abdul Hamid II for the purpose of preventing secession movements of the Muslim peoples in the empire.
Nasserism is an Arab nationalist and Arab socialist political ideology based on the thinking of Gamal Abdel Nasser, one of the two principal leaders of the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, and Egypt's second President. Spanning the domestic and international spheres, it combines elements of Arab socialism, republicanism, secularism, nationalism, anti-imperialism, developing world solidarity, Pan-Arabism, and international non-alignment. According to Mohamed Hassanein Heikal, Nasserism symbolised "the direction of liberation, socialist transformation, the people’s control of their own resources, and the democracy of the peoples working forces."
Syrian nationalism, also known as pan-Syrian nationalism or pan-Syrianism, refers to the nationalism of the region of Syria, as a cultural or political entity known as "Greater Syria," known in Arabic as Bilād ash-Shām.
'Abd al-Rahman al-Kawakibi was a Syrian author, a liberal thinker, and Pan-Arab solidarity supporter. He was one of the most prominent intellectuals of his time; however, his thoughts and writings continue to be relevant to the issues of Islamic identity and Pan-Arabism. His criticisms of the Ottoman Empire eventually led to Arabs calling for the sovereignty of the Arab Nations, setting the basis for Pan-Arab nationalism. Al-Kawakibi articulated his ideas in two influential books, The nature of tyranny and the struggle against slavery and Mother of All Villages. He died in 1902 of “mysterious” causes. His family alleged that he was poisoned by Turkish agents.
The Iran–Iraq War was fought for nearly eight years and left a lasting legacy on Iran and Iraq. The Battle of al-Qadisiyya was the engagement between the Arab-Muslim army and the Sāsānian Iranian army during the first period of Muslim expansion which resulted in the Arab-Muslim conquest of Iran. In the centuries following the battle, Qādisiyyah became enshrined in Muslim collective memory as a symbol of the successes of early Islamic history. Already during the period of the Crusades, Muslim leaders referred to Qādisiyyah as a point of reference to which they compared their own achievements. Academic studies of the narratives of Qādisiyyah and other early Islamic battles have revealed numerous topoi that make up a common schema of the Arab-Muslim conquests; the generation of these literary layers seems to have begun immediately, as story-tellers (quṣṣāṣ) embellished their narrative in order to create an entertaining story or to glorify past ancestors.
The 1963 Syrian coup d'état, labelled in Ba'athist historiography as the "March 8 Revolution", was the seizure of power in Syria by the military committee of the Syrian Regional Branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. The planning and the unfolding conspiracy of the Syrian Ba'athist operatives were prompted by the Ba'ath party's seizure of power in Iraq in February 1963.
Ba'athist Iraq, officially the Iraqi Republic (1968–2003), was the Iraqi state between 1968 and 2003 under the one-party rule of the Iraqi regional branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. The regime emerged as a result of the 17 July 1968 Revolution which brought the Ba'athists to power, and lasted until the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. Between 1979 and the fall of the Ba'athist regime in 2003, Iraq was under the rule of Saddam Hussein, so it is referred to as the Saddam regime.
The Arab Cold War was a political rivalry in the Arab world from the early 1950s to the late 1970s and a part of the wider Cold War. It is generally accepted that the beginning of the Arab Cold War is marked by the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, which led to Gamal Abdel Nasser becoming president of Egypt in 1956. Thereafter, newly formed Arab republics, inspired by revolutionary secular nationalism and Nasser's Egypt, engaged in political rivalries with conservative traditionalist Arab monarchies, influenced by Saudi Arabia. The Iranian Revolution of 1979, and the ascension of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini as leader of Iran, is widely seen as the end of this period of internal conflicts and rivalry. A new era of Arab-Iranian tensions followed, overshadowing the bitterness of intra-Arab strife.
The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, also referred to as the pro-Iraqi Ba'ath movement, is a Ba'athist political party which was headquartered in Baghdad, Iraq, until 2003. It is one of two parties which emerged from the 1966 split of the original Ba'ath Party.
The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region, officially the Iraqi Regional Branch, is an Iraqi Ba'athist organisation founded in 1951 by Fuad al-Rikabi. It was the Iraqi regional branch of the original Ba'ath Party, before changing its allegiance to the Iraqi-dominated Ba'ath movement following the 1966 split within the original party.
The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region, officially the Syrian Regional Branch, was a neo-Ba'athist organisation founded on 7 April 1947 by Michel Aflaq, Salah al-Din al-Bitar and followers of Zaki al-Arsuzi. The party ruled Syria from the 1963 Syrian coup d'état, which brought the Ba'athists to power, until 8 December 2024, when Bashar al-Assad fled Damascus in the face of a rebel offensive during the Syrian Civil War. The party suspended all activities on 11 December 2024 "until further notice" and transferred its assets to the Syrian transitional government, de facto dissolving the party.
Munif al-Razzaz was a Jordanian-Syrian physician and politician who was the second, and last, Secretary General of the National Command of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, having been elected to the post at the 8th National Congress held in April 1965.
The Arab Nationalist Movement, also known as the Movement of Arab Nationalists and the Harakiyyin, was a pan-Arab nationalist organization influential in much of the Arab world, particularly within the Palestinian movement. It was first established in the 1950s by George Habash with the primary focus on Arab unity.
Arab nationalism is a political ideology asserting that Arabs constitute a single nation. As a traditional nationalist ideology, it promotes Arab culture and civilization, celebrates Arab history, the Arabic language and Arabic literature. It often also calls for unification of Arab society. It bases itself on the premise that the people of the Arab world—from the Atlantic Ocean to the Arabian Sea—constitute one nation bound together by a common identity: ethnicity, language, culture, history, geography, and politics.
Ba'athism, also spelled Baathism, is an Arab nationalist ideology which advocates the establishment of a unified Arab state through the rule of a Ba'athist vanguard party operating under a revolutionary socialist framework. The ideology is officially based on the theories of the Syrian intellectuals Michel Aflaq, Zaki al-Arsuzi, and Salah al-Din al-Bitar. Ba'athist leaders of the modern era include the former president of Iraq Saddam Hussein, and former presidents of Syria Hafez al-Assad and his son Bashar al-Assad.
This article details the history of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party from its founding in 1947 to its dissolution in the 1960s.
The Assadist–Saddamist conflict, also known as the Ba'ath Party intraconflict, was a conflict and ideological rivalry between the Assadist Syrian-led Ba'ath Party and its subgroups, loyal to Ba'athist Syria, and the Saddamist Iraqi-led Ba'ath Party and its subgroups, loyal to Ba'athist Iraq. The conflict continued ideologically even after the Fall of Saddam, and ended after the Fall of the Assad regime. Nonetheless, both regimes demonstrate shared traits, including autocratic rule, oppression, limitations on freedoms, power monopolization, electoral fraud, and responsibility for extensive suffering in both nations and the wider region.
The Grey Wolves, the unofficial militant arm of the MHP, has been involved in street killings and gunbattles.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)The Grey Wolves – The most prominent organization of the violent right wing in Turkey is the Grey Wolves. The Grey Wolves are named for a mythical she-wolf who led ancient Turks to freedom. Its wolf's-head symbol is displayed by MHP members and other nationalists. The Grey Wolves have been implicated in many attacks against leftists, Kurds, Muslim activists, and student organizations. They have also been implicated in attacks supporting the Turkish occupation of Cyprus. Mehmet Ali Ağca, who was convicted of shooting Pope John Paul II, was a former Grey Wolf.
Abdillah, a representative of Hizb ut Tahrir-Batam, confirmed that nationalism is dangerous for Muslim beliefs. Nationalism is a sense of identity with the nation.
Zia ul-Haq is often identified as the person most responsible for turning Pakistan into a global center for political Islam. ...
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