بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
The Nationalist Borders are Disappearing
For years, we have understood, intellectually, that the return of the Khilafah (Caliphate) will erase the nationalist borders that have been imposed on the Muslim Ummah. We have understood that living as one Ummah, under one system, is a Fard (duty) and that it was one that was achieved during the First Khilafah.
But we have wondered how it will be possible. After over a century of living under Capitalist rule, being told that the nationalist borders are for our betterment, we wonder how a change will be possible. We have been taught, by the West and the agents of the West, that the only way to be ‘free’ was to establish nation states where the rule was for the people, by the people, of the people. And so, this has become our ultimate gain, something that people across the colonial world began to strive for during the mid-1900’s. We have been told that anyone who fought against this idea was an extremist, a terrorist and a threat to the world and its values.
So, we believed and we fought. Independence movements sprung up across the British, and other Western Empires. Lives were lost, all so that we could be free of colonial rule, of foreign interference, of exploitation and misery. Across the Muslim lands, the rulers bound the ideas of nationalism to Islam, telling us that they are one and the same.
We believed it, even as we saw the questionable decisions that were made – by our rulers, by the international system. Decisions that weren’t meant to free us, but were meant to exploit us and keep us under the thumb of the USA and its agent. Decisions like the illegal invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, like the exploitative interest-based loans provided by the IMF and other international institutions. Like the wars in Yemen, Myanmar and Sudan – to name a few.
But Gaza changed all of that. Through the khair of Allah, and the sacrifice of the Palestinian people, we are able to see through the lies. We can see how the ideas of nationalism, and the division of Islamic land, led to the establishment of ‘Israel’ and the horrific annihilation of the so many Palestinians. We can see how these ideas separated the Muslims, allowed the kuffar to pit us against eachother, to implement a policy of ‘divide and rule’.
We have been told over and over again, that the ‘Muslim Ummah’ is just an idea that doesn’t exist – because Muslims across the world couldn’t possibly share one set of thoughts and ideas. We have been told that there are too many divisions amongst us – Shias, Sunnis, not to mention all the ‘national’ divisions, and they couldn’t possibly unite under one system.
But the events that followed October the 7th reminded us that this wasn’t true – as the entire Muslim Ummah united in its call for a response to Palestine. We didn’t care about factions; we didn’t care about small differences that the West had exacerbated amongst us. What we cared about was a solution to the horrors that the people, that the children, in Gaza were experiencing. And before long we began to understand the two nation solution would not solve the plight of the people of Palestine, and we were calling for Jihad.
Now, the brave mujahedeen in Syria have taken this one step further. They toppled Bashar Al Assad, a horrific dictator who aided the West in their oppression of the people of Syria, and of Gaza. And as they toppled him, they began to raise the call for Islam – for a unified response to Gaza, and for the re-establishment of the Islamic State.
Now, is it not our responsibility, as their Muslim brothers and sisters, to respond to that call? To demand that the armies within our countries respond to that call? To refuse to be manipulated by the lies of nationalism and patriotism?
It is narrated by Abu Da'wud that the Messenger of Allah (saw) said,
«لَيْسَ مِنَّا مَنْ دَعَا إِلَى عَصَبِيَّةٍ وَلَيْسَ مِنَّا مَنْ قَاتَلَ عَلَى عَصَبِيَّةٍ وَلَيْسَ مِنَّا مَنْ مَاتَ عَلَى عَصَبِيَّةٍ»
“He is not one us who calls for `Asabiyyah, (nationalism/ tribalism) or who fights for `Asabiyyah or who dies for `Asabiyyah.” And in another Hadith, the Messenger of Allah (saaw) referring to nationalism, racism, and patriotism said: «دَعُوهَا فَإِنَّهَا مُنْتِنَةٌ»“Leave it, it is rotten.”[Muslim and Bukhari]
Because the West, and the agents of the West, will work twice as hard to manipulate, confuse and divide us as they see the signs of Islam’s return. They will be monitoring these signs – they have always monitored these signs, as they see the threat that the return of Islam poses to their power. We can see how the USA immediately responded to what is happening in Syria. Their statements and meetings with the rulers in Jordan and the rest of the Middle East, make it clear that they are working to ensure that they are not alone in quelling possible support for the mujahedeen in Syria and their call for Jihad and the re-establishment of the Khilafah.
With this in mind, some may ask; what if the attempt to re-establish the Khilafah and send the Muslim armies to Gaza doesn’t work – we can’t be sure that we will succeed.
But isn’t our responsibility to try, to strive towards such a worthy goal and then to remember that the results are from Allah?
[وَإِذْ يَمْكُرُ بِكَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ لِيُثْبِتُوكَ أَوْ يَقْتُلُوكَ أَوْ يُخْرِجُوكَ وَيَمْكُرُونَ وَيَمْكُرُ اللّهُ وَاللّهُ خَيْرُ الْمَاكِرِينَ]
“And ˹remember, O Prophet, ˺ when the disbelievers conspired to capture, kill, or exile you. They planned, but Allah also planned.” And Allah is the best of planners.”(Ayah al-Anfal, verse 30)
To follow the Prophet, to fulfil the Fard of working to live under Islamic rule and rejecting other options? As we saw from the famous Hadith of the Prophet, when he rejected the Quraysh’s offer to continue their rule alongside the rule of Islam;
«لَوْ وَضَعُوا الشَّمْسَ فِي يَمِينِي، وَالْقَمَرَ فِي يَسَارِي عَلَى أَنْ أَتْرُكَ هَذَا الْأَمْرَ حَتَّى يُظْهِرَهُ اللَّهُ، أَوْ أَهْلِكَ فِيهِ، مَا تَرَكْتُهُ»
“If they put the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left on condition that I abandon this course, until God has made me victorious, or I perish therein, I would not abandon it.”
So that on the Day of Judgement we may hold our heads up high when the people of Gaza ask for justice, and say yes, we didn’t forget you. We fought for you, and we did not believe the lies that were fed to us after your sacrifice?
Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Fatima Musab
Member of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir