Islam and Nationalism

[Arain007]

Islam and Nationalism

By Orya Maqbool Jan

The statement of Mohammad Khalid Abdul Razak, Malaysian Consul General in Pakistan, that almost 700 affluent Pakistanis have transferred approximately Rs. 180 billion to Malaysia must be shocking to all those illustrious historians and intellectuals who vociferously present the theories of colour, race, linguistic pride and nationalism against Islam's global concept of humanity. Islam declares all the creatures like a family (Ayal) of Allah as the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) narrated in his last sermon that “all mankind is the progeny of Adam and Adam was fashioned out of clay”. The rising tendency of shifting abroad is negation of the very concept of the nationalism propagated by the intellectuals. On the other hand, it has strengthened Islam's global concept of humanity.

The money has been transferred under a programme, “Malaysia, My Second Home” which was initiated in 2001.Under this programme, until recently 13,000 people have settled there after channelling their money. Under the programme, you can shift to Malaysia along with your family. No tax will be charged on your capital. Besides you would have rights to purchase land or property and to import car free of tax along with the facility of educating children less than 21 years of age. Those who have crossed this age limit could avail the facility of education after submitting an application. However, they will be issued a special ID card on which “Malaysia, My Second Home” will be inscribed. It means that if you have MYR 3, 50,000; almost equivalent to Rs. 10 million, you can settle there. One hundred eighty billion rupees transferred by nearly 700 Pakistanis is equivalent to 2/3 of Pakistan's annual development budget. The whole budget of some provinces is even lesser than this. Craze of leaving one's homeland to settle abroad is not confined to well off people only. Every strata of the society is plagued with it.

Disparaging the Pakistanis who leave their country to settle overseas, BBC made a documentary named as 'Chaudhrian De Kami Putar' (subaltern sons of headsmen). Those who themselves had farming background but superciliously called the barbers, blacksmiths, carpenters, masons, weavers as 'Kammis' (menials). After going abroad, some of them became weaver in a textile mill, some opted to be blacksmith and carpenter and others started their careers as chefs in hotels. The work of cleaning the households and cities was once performed by shudras of the subcontinent. After the British invasion they, the shudras, converted to Christianity in multitudes, but this occupation remained peculiar to them. If any of them became Muslim, they were disdainfully called as 'Mussalli' (underbred).

These great scions of Chaudhries went to the level of doing such odd jobs after they settled abroad. In order to materialise the dream of settling abroad they went by ferries and in the process were lost in deserts, drowned in seas and languished in jails. Those who were fortunate enough to reach their destination were destined to hide themselves due to legal issues but settled there ultimately. When deported, they tried to go there again or tried their luck in some other country. Pakistanis in UAE cannot stay there after a certain age. The stage of senility has come, days to go to the world hereafter are drawing nearer but majority of them still prefer to get the nationality of Canada to fritter their nest eggs there. Those who settled in Europe or any other country, only one generation of theirs remembered the homeland but the next generations unchained themselves from the nationality and identity of their parents. This phenomenon is not particular to Pakistan. People in other countries also go abroad in flocks on ships. Moreover, this phenomenon is not even specific for a nation. In aspiration of brighter future, man has always left his homeland. If it would have not been so, there would have been only Red Indians on the land of today's superpower America. No German, French, British, Russian and other people from different parts of the globe would have inhabited there. All of these left their land, territory and country, which is considered as the real foundation of nationalism. They then stopped thinking about their native place in such a way that if someone asks them, “who are you? “. “We are Americans” would be a definite reply.

The resolute affiliation of a man to his motherland, the foundation stone of nationalism, is so 'inveterate' that in case of famine, flood, and economic woes and even in deteriorated situation of law and order, no nationalist has clung to it. Today, Lebanese immigrants have outnumbered all other nations across the globe. They are the carriers of centuries-old history, the Canaan region that is the land of Prophets Yusuf (AS), Younas (AS) and Ayub (AS), earthly paradise of olive gardens and the Shangrila of Khalil Jibran's dreams. However, when the people of this enthralling region took up arms in the name of religion (Christians, Muslims, Sunnis and Shias), formed militias and divided the territories, the beauteous Lebanese were compelled to leave their earthly paradise and settle in other parts of the world. At present, more than 12 million Lebanese are settled outside Lebanon out of which almost seven million are in Brazil alone whereas the current Lebanese population is nearly 4.1 million. The world's richest person, Carlos Slim, a Mexican, has also migrated from Lebanon. Although, he is the wealthiest man of the world yet his motherland is under $52 billion debt.

What kind of relation this is? What is the philosophy behind bumping off thousands of human beings, squandering billions on buying arms and ammunition and spending billions on armed forces for the defence of the homeland? All this is because the chauvinist historians, intelligentsia, poets and fictionists have always directed all their capabilities to divide the humans, sometimes on the basis of language and race, at others on splendour of their land. During the whole practice of historiography, there is plethora of lies insomuch that the historians endow upon the invaders, the title of 'heritors of Sindhi civilisation and culture', who ingested all the aboriginal nations; Balochs, Punjabis, Pathans and Sindhis, effaced the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation and converted those, who survived, into Shudras. These invaders were the same Aryans who left their homeland to settle here when famine struck it.

In the beginning it was kings who after conquests created countries, made geographies and drew territories. The tradition was carried on by the world powers, which crafted nation states, issued passports, and established visa systems just to confine the poor into their poverty and the well off people in their countries from the plundered resources. All this has happened in the last eighty years or so. But my Allah spurns all these demarcations. According to Him, the earth belongs to Him. All the creatures are like a family (Ayal) of Allah and He commands the humans to disperse in the expanse of His land. However, in return, He only demands that on His earth only His commandments should reign. He considers division only between those who want to enforce His orders and those who want to implement their own will. This division is ad infinitum; distinction of Nimrod from Abraham (AS), Pharaoh from Moses (AS) and the distinction of today's complete Islam from complete paganism.

Source: Islam and Nationalism