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Name
khaled ALi
- United States
Profession
Question
How can an American Muslim who was born in Iraq feel loyal to his country of citizenship? A lot of people might think it is easy, but it is in fact very difficult; someone who sees his family members and friends killed on daily basis, how could he think of loyalty and sincerity to America?
Answer
America as a country is not exactly equivalent to a specific president or government or even its congress. Anyone who is aware of the dynamics of the political system and process in the US and the influence of interest groups realizes the fact that the differences between these elements and sentiment of huge category of the population. Like many other countries, there are positives and negatives and one must look at this total picture whether in the “West” or in other countries as well.
A Muslim’s loyalty is not for the wrong actions or decisions taken by people in authority but to the good values and principles on which the country’s constitution is based, which is largely compatible with Islamic values.
Name
mohamed
- Egypt
Profession
Question
I understand how a Muslim should be loyal to his country, and being a British citizen, I realise the importance of being faithful and loving to my country of citizenship. However, given the fact that I was born Egyptian and grew up most of my life there, I have hard time saying that I am not Egyptian. Even though I left my birthplace because of the so many unjust and uncivilised way people are treated, but I still feel Egypt as part of me and I have hard time saying I am British. I don’t know if this is good or bad. Am I being hypocritical to my country of citizenship, British.
Answer
I don’t believe there is any inherent conflict between being a good British citizen from Egyptian origin. This is the case with many British and Americans who also came from different national or ethic backgrounds. I see no hypocrisy; in fact some countries allow dual citizenship in acknowledgement of the natural attachment that many of its citizens feel towards their countries of origin.
Name
Shadi
-
Profession
Question
Dear Dr. As-salamu alaykum. As you see, Muslims in the West are facing great challenges regarding upholding to the teachings of their religion in the West. Do you see any conflict between living in the West and one's loyalty to his religion?
Answer
Muslims anywhere and at any time face varying degrees of challenges even in Muslim countries. Living in the West may also be an opportunity to carry the message of Islam and to embody and exemplify it to others. This even enhances one’s loyalty to his or her faith.
Name
Dr. Saleh
- Saudi Arabia
Profession
professor
Question
I am a Ph.D. student at the University of Toronto. I originally come from Saudi Arabia, but I got my Canadian citizenship three years ago. One day my colleague asked me, which country you love more: Canada or Saudi Arabia (Makkah), so I immediately said of course Makkah, the land of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and the centre of Islam, but I still love Canada for many things. He said: if you have this feelings about Makkah, there can no be hope for showing loyalty to your homeland.
Answer
I believe that your friend’s definition of love and loyalty is exclusivist and chauvinistic. It is similar to asking a person whether he or she loves his or her daughter or son more. The love of Makkah is not a nationalistic feeling; it is of different type due to its religious significance and comparing it to one’s country of residence is a false comparison. Similarly, the love of Jerusalem by religious Jews is, from their perspective, of a different category from their love of their countries of residence.
Name
Ahmed
-
Profession
Question
How can a Muslim strike a balance between the love for Islam and Muslim ummah who is being attacked on a number of levels, and the loyalty to his non-Muslim country?
Answer
For Muslims (and perhaps for many other religious groups) adoration and love of God comes first. Love of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and for the Muslim ummah is derived from the love of Allah. Also, loyalty to one’s country of citizenship is derived from the Qur’anic principles of fulfilling one’s covenants and the covenant of citizenship is not to commit aggression against any innocent persons whether Muslims or non-Muslims for that matter. As stated earlier in a different question, presidents, governments or other bodies and their erroneous decisions are not the exact equivalent to the country and its constitution. In fact, many such actions maybe questionable constitutionally and are believed to be in violation of international law to which these countries are committed to officially.
The dilemma of faithfulness to the country when some of its actions are seen by the Muslims as contrary to not only faith but sensible implementation of law, is the same dilemma that face other fellow citizens of other faith communities. Why is it that non-Muslim opponents of the war and occupation of Iraq are not regarded as disloyal? Why should the finger be pointed only to Muslims? In my view, real and genuine loyalty is to speak up against injustices and aggression and to even refuse to be part of the killing machine of innocent people. Many democratic countries allow this resistance (conscientious objection) even if the person may have to pay for their refusal to participate in unjustified acts of aggression.
It is the action of even a minority that upholds the humanitarian and moral values of their country that are responsible for awakening that moral conscience among their fellow citizens and in due time the wrong course followed by their governments is eventually corrected (e.g. opposition to the Vietnam war). This is the ultimate and genuine loyalty.
One final remark is that Muslims do not only oppose aggression against “Muslim” countries but they do so with any oppressed country or people.
Name
Samy
-
Profession
Question
How to respond to those who cast doubt on us, Muslims, as being more loyal to our religion rather than the country we are living in?
Answer
Loyalty to one’s country, as explained in a previous question, is actually derived from the principles of our religion: fulfillment of our covenants, especially when we know that these covenants do not require a person to give up his faith in order to be a “loyal” citizen. In reality, the constitutions of many “liberal, secular” democracies affirm freedom of religion.
Name
Hasan
-
Profession
Question
I am looking for a scholarship in the West but some question confuses me. I wonder if I got a scholarship in the USA for example, am I not considered helping this country which adopt hostile positions towards Muslims?
Answer
If you feel uncomfortable that your research work will be directly connected with an ongoing aggression, then it is up to you to make this assessment and decide on whether or not you will accept the scholarship, if available. On the other hand, in principle helping any country develop defenses against unprovoked aggression against it, is legitimate. Unfortunately these “defensive measures” are sometimes abused by those in authority. It is only through the peaceful democratic process and involvement and coalition building that those in power are checked or better governments are elected.
Name
Mahmoud
-
Profession
Question
One day I heard brother Tariq Ramadan criticizing the Islamic schools in the west and considering them as impediments for interactions, and among the reasons he used was the fact that if we all send our students to Islamic schools who is going to give da’wah in public schools and act as representatives of Islam. Even though I see it a valid point, but I don’t know how to respond to it. We all know the many positive aspects of Islamic schools. Do you agree with Dr. Ramadan’s argument?
Answer
Many faith communities, like Jewish and Christian communities, have their own faith-based private schools. Yet, it is rare that anyone raise the issue of interaction with the rest of the society. Interaction can take place through various healthy competitions (sports and otherwise) and children do interact with larger society.
Likewise, Islamic schools can serve the crucial role of grounding children in their faith, giving them a righteous atmosphere of learning, providing good role models and even enhancing their academic performance. It is true that critical assessment of the Islamic schools is needed especially in view of limited experience as compared to well-established Jewish and Christian schools. It is also true that failure to produce an ideal Muslim citizen on the part of some schools, need to be corrected; however this calls for improvement and providing schools with better human and financial resources that they badly need rather than to kill our own baby.
Name
M.S.
-
Profession
Question
Dear Dr., you as a member of the ECFR, do you think that Muslims living in the West could change the unjust foreign policies taken by their countries of residence?
Answer
Speaking on my own behalf and as one who lived in the west for decades, I believe it is possible eventually through better, positive and active involvement and building coalitions. For example, Muslims in the US have been instrumental in the opposition of war in Iraq, and when other segments of American citizens realized that this is a common cause, they collaborated in numerous demonstrations and had some degree of influence on some elections. It is true that influence may not be as great as many wish to be, but we should never give up and we should have patience.
Name
JAZ
-
Profession
Question
Do the ECFR and FCNA play sufficient roles in educating Muslims about their duties? I met many people in the West who know nothing about these Muslim organizations.
Answer
A lot needs to be done; more resources are needed for these councils to be able to provide that education and raise awareness in the society. Other Muslims need also help spread the good word as well.
Name
MF
-
Profession
Question
When Muslims face difficulties regarding their religion (banning Hijab for example), they hear calls from scholars asking them to go back to Muslim countries and "immigrate" from the Western countries they live in. My question is:
Is this a correct approach? And if the answer is 'NO', then what should Muslims do to successfully handle such difficulties?
Answer
It is neither desirable nor feasible for millions of Muslims who are citizens of the west to immigrate. Muslims SHOULD use their citizenship rights to engage in dialogue with the broader society and to explain Islam to them. They should also be more active in civic and political activities in order to bring about change and mitigate these injustices.
Name
Bashir
- Nigeria
Profession
Software Architect
Question
Assalamu alaikum,
Dear respected scholar in Islam. Kindly explain the boundaries and the status of citizenship in Islam? I want to clearly verify this due to the fact in Nigeria as one country having 36 states, discrimination became the order even among Islam practicing states. We witnessed a situation where by a Muslim from a particular states was viewed and irrespectedly refer as non-Indegine from another Islamic practiced state. Kindly share more light on this issue?
Answer
It is unfortunate that some practices among Muslims do not conform to what Islam teaches about human brotherhood, equality, and accepting plurality of ethnic, racial and national groups in anyone’s society. In fact, Islam teaches not only accepting plurality within the Muslim ummah but also dealing with other faith communities in kindness, justice and respect so long as they choose to coexist peacefully with Muslims. In a sense every Muslim is a “citizen” of the Muslim ummah and broadly a citizen of the planet earth, which belongs after all to Allah alone.
Name
Omar
-
Profession
Question
Is there conflict between religion and citizenship?
Answer
The question has been extensively answered during the session. Please refer to other questions.
Name
Editor
-
Profession
Answer
Finally, we would like to thank our guest for speaking to Islamonline viewers today, and we also thank all those who participated in this dialogue. We request our readers to join us in the upcoming sessions.
