Ruling on Arab nationalism and undermining the position of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) What is your opinion of one who is asked, “Which is better in your view, your Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) or your language?” and he answers. “My language”? Is he an apostate if he says that, whether in jest or out of ignorance?. Praise be to Allaah. Firstly: We do not see how you can compare between something tangible and something intangible, so how can the person say that the language – which is an intangible thing – is better than the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) – who is a tangible thing, i.e., a person? If we think about it we will realize that the matter may be taken in two ways, one that has to do with the questioner and one that has to do with the respondent. With regard to the respondent: it may be that he understands “language” as referring to Arab nationalism – as it seems that they are Arabs and are talking about the Arabic language – and that he understands the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) as referring to Islam. In this case it is possible to compare the two things and ask questions about them. With regard to the questioner, he wants to draw attention to his exaggerated respect for his language by comparing it to something that is venerated by the Muslims, namely the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), so he asks him if his language is greater than the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). Secondly: If the first interpretation is correct, then the respondent has fallen into kufr, because Arab nationalism is a jaahili call that involves kufr, criticizes Islamic sharee’ah and divides Muslims, joining Muslims to non-Muslims on the basis of the Arabic language. In their view an Arab kaafir is closer and dearer to them than a non-Arab Muslim. This is clearly kufr and disbelief in Islam and its laws. The nationalist poet Fakhri al-Baroodi said: The Arab lands are my homeland, from Damascus to Baghdad From Najd to Yemen to Egypt to Tetouan (Morocco) No border separates us and no religion divides us The language of al-daad (i.e., Arabic) unites us with Ghassaan and ‘Adnaan. Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Azeez ibn Baaz (may Allaah have mercy on him) was asked: What is your opinion on the call for nationalism which believes that belonging to a race or language takes precedence over belonging to a religion, and these groups claim that they do not oppose religion, but they give nationalism precedence over it. What is your opinion of this call? He replied: This is a jaahili call, and it is not permissible to join it or encourage those who promote it. Rather it must be put an end to, because Islamic sharee’ah opposes it and rejects it. We should refute their specious arguments and claims with that which makes the truth clear to those who seek it. Islam is the only thing that preserved Arabness in language, literature and culture. Rejecting Islam leads to destroying Arabness in language, literature and culture. Hence the daa’iyahs should strive their utmost to call people to Islam just as the colonialists are striving their utmost to destroy it.
Posted on: Fri, 28 Jun 2013 06:43:55 +0000
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