By Prof. Abdel Fattah Al-Awary
“Citizenship” means the devotion of a human being to his/her homeland as well as defending it.
Citizenship: it is the reactance between “the citizen” and his/her homeland where he/she lives and belongs. Citizenship requires the citizen’s belonging, devotion, loyalty, allegiance, and defense of his/her homeland.
The devotion of a Man to his/her homeland is classified as an instinctive kind of love instilled in his/her common sense and good nature; indeed, it is said that “devotion to homelands is part of faith” and “to know Man’s loyalty, look at how he/she longs to his/her homeland“.
All heavenly religions affirmed the noble conception of “Citizenship”, and imposed defending homelands as a duty, and considered whoever gets killed while defending his/her homeland as a martyr.
Moreover, the Holy Qur’an stressed the devotion to homeland, clarifying that expulsion and banishment from one’s homeland equals death, as Allah Almighty says: “And had We prescribed for them: ‘Slay yourselves’ or ‘Leave your habitations’, they would not have done it, save a few of them; yet if they had done what they were admonished to do, it would have been better for them, and stronger in establishing“. [Q:4:66]
In fact, one of the vows People of Israel had pledged to Allah Almighty, stressed such meaning, that expulsion from homelands equals death and bloodshed, as Allah Almighty says: ” And when We made a covenant with you: ‘You shall not shed your own blood, neither expel your own from your habitations’. Then you confirmed it, and you bore witness* Then there you are killing one another, and expelling a party of you from their habitations, conspiring against them in sin and enmity, and if they come to you as captives, you ransom them; yet their expulsion was itself unlawful for you. What, do you believe in part of the Book, and disbelieve in part? What shall be the requital of those of you who do that, but degradation in the life of this world; and on the Day of Resurrection to be returned to the most terrible of chastisement? And Allah is not heedless of what you do“. [Q:2:84-85]
Indeed, Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) taught us the features of Man’s devotion to his/her homeland during His immigration to Yathrib, where he declared his love and devotion to Mecca, his homeland, as Abdullah bin ‘Adiy bin Hamra’ narrated that: “I saw the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) when he was standing in Al-Hazwarah saying: “By Allah, you are the best land of Allah, and the dearest of the lands of Allah to me. By Allah, had I not been expelled from you I would never have left”.
Again, Ibn Abbas narrated that that Prophet Mohammad said about Mecca: “How sweet of a land you are and how dear you are to me, and if it were not that my people expelled me from you, I would not have lived in other than you.”
As a matter of fact, such close relation between a Man and his/her homeland, represented in that sense of belonging, devotion and defense of his/her homeland, has been found and tracked throughout ages in all cultures and communities. Indeed, all peoples worldwide have expressed their patriotism, devotion and belonging to their homelands; many of famous and prominent literary works glorified peoples’ loyalty and sacrifices to preserve the freedom and dignity of their homelands. The patriotic slogans and anthems succeeded in uniting people while defending their homelands at the time of wars. Throughout centuries, peoples used to strengthen and deepen the sense of patriotism by appreciating their countries’ memories and traditions as well as teaching the next generation’s patriotism and how to pay tribute to national heroes and patriotic figures, by building the national monuments and memorials.
In fact, such inclination was found among the Arabs long time ago, and it was much prominent in their poetry, where they expressed their devotion, belonging, pride and honor of their homelands. The most prominent Arab poet who tackled the topic of patriotism and homeland’s devotion in his works was Ibn al-Rumi.
It is worth to mention that, while traveling, Arabs used to carry a bunch of dust from their homelands, to smell it as well as dissolving it in their drinking water.
“Citizenship” means equality between all citizens in their rights:
Citizenship is applied to all citizens living in the same homeland without any discrimination or disparity; indeed, citizenship necessitates enforcing equality in the rights that emerge from national affiliation, which is the source where such rights can mingle with the human ones. Indeed, national affiliation is an excellent medium for applying the Quranic verses that endorsed equality between citizens in the same homeland.
In fact, Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) gave an example of complete partnership and designing a social contract between people living in the same homeland, as mentioned in the Prophetic Hadith: ” The example of the person abiding by Allah’s order and restrictions in comparison to those who violate them is like the example of those persons who drew lots for their seats in a boat. Some of them got seats in the upper part, and the others in the lower. When the latter needed water, they had to go up to bring water (and that troubled the others), so they said, ‘Let us make a hole in our share of the ship (and get water) saving those who are above us from troubling them. So, if the people in the upper part left the others do what they had suggested, all the people of the ship would be destroyed, but if they prevented them, both parties would be safe”.
After the arrival of the Prophet (PBUH) in al-Madinah, he drew up a new constitution that defined the relationships among Muslims and the relationships between /Muslims and non-Muslims. This constitution was called “al-Madinah Document” and it provided for equality in the rights of citizenship to the extent that the Prophet (PBUH) vowed to help Christians in building their places of worship and restore them, as the Covenant of Madinah mentioned: “They may, if they need repairs to their churches and places of worship or anything related to their interests and creed, get assistance from the Muslims to make such repairs; they must be assisted, and this must not be regarded as a debt against them but as support in the interest of their religion and as the fulfillment of the covenant of the Messenger of Allah, as a gift to them and a boon from Allah and His Messenger to them…”.
Even in the economic and financial matters, such as khiraj or taxes, the Covenant of the Prophet provided for “that they kept away from any harm of burdens which people who perform jihad bear, from any assault or khiraj (land tax) other than what they willingly pay without being forced or coerced into doing any such thing…”.
All the rights of equality in citizenship which approved by Islam for non-Muslims in the Islamic State, “They have the same rights as the Muslims have, and the same responsibilities as the Muslims have”, such as protection of lives, blood, money, honors, places of worship and freedoms, are all in exchange for complete loyalty to the homeland, society, and nation. Muslims and non-Muslims have the same responsibilities. The Prophet (PBUH) said in this regard: “None of them is scout or spy, neither secretly nor openly, for the benefit of an enemy at war, against a Muslim. Let none of them house the enemies of Muslims in his house, from where they could wait for the opportunity to launch the attack. They should not assist the enemies at war with weapons, horses, men, or others …”
Moreover, the Covenant of the Prophet (PBUH) for the Christians provided for the religious freedom: Whoever follows the Christian faith must not be forced into becoming a Muslim; mercy must be spread for them and anything harmful must be kept away from them wherever they may be in the land. “And do not dispute with the People of the Scripture unless it be with that, bettering the most virtuous way, except [in the case of] those of them who have done wrong, and say: ‘We believe in that which has been revealed to us and revealed to you our God and your God is one [and the same], and to Him we submit’.[Q. 29:46]
Indeed, this complete equality in the rights and obligations of citizenship allows them to have the same duties and rights of Muslims to become partners of Muslims. Furthermore, the Islamic State had not limited this partnership to the people of the Book (Jews and Christians) but it also granted it to the practitioners of other religions like the Magus and others…
If the West defined the rights of citizenship at the expense of religion, following the victory of secularism over the Western Church, to bring us secular citizenship, then Islam has founded the principles of citizenship and Islamic law prescribed these rights and guaranteed their protection so that they were not authorized by one governor and prohibited by another.
The basic principles of citizenship:
For citizenship to bear its desired fruit, some foundations must be achieved:
- Respect the ethics of Islam; avoid bad manners, respect human rights, and its application, from the rights of parents, relatives, to the rights of neighbors and companions. Each citizen must use public rights and services in an exemplary manner and work seriously to protect the property and life of others.
- Fulfilling promise and respecting charters: This is a matter to which the Quran incited and underlined that it is preferable to the support of religion. Allah Almighty said: “But if they ask you for assistance in the matter of religion then it is your duty to assist, except against a folk between whom and you there is a covenant; and God sees what you do”. [Q. 8:72]
