ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Islam and Nationalism Part Two: The History of the Inroad of Nationalism in the Islamic World Nationalism as an imported school Nationalism is an imported school which has been exported by exploiting powers to disturb the unity of the Islamic world.

Some Western thinkers and Orientalists who have always strived to introduce Western political and cultural colonization in Asia and Africa, provided the ground for its rise and the so-called enlightened groups depending on the West acted as its banner-bearers, propounding this school of thought. Western colonizing governments have always considered the unity of the world of Islam, which they call “Pan-Islamism", a potential danger to their political and economic interests.

At the end of the 19th century, inspired by the ideas of Sayyid Jamal-al-Din and Sultan Abdul Hamid, there started talks about the unity of world Muslims, and the union and solidarity of the Turks and Arabs in the Ottoman Empire prevented the inroad of Western values and ideals in the critical and strategic Middle East zone. Colonizing powers felt the danger and adopted a policy which unfortunately proved effective.

This was the infusion of the idea of nationalism and the awakening of national sentiments among the Arabs and Turks in order to check “Pan-Islamism” and thereby divide the great Ottoman Empire, and replace the declining influence of the Ottomans by the power of Western colonization. It is noteworthy that nationalism rose first, not in the Muslim lands which were under British and French domination, but in regions which formed part of the Ottoman Empire.

In India which was a British colony, such Westernized intellectuals as Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan found no need to rely on nationalism, national and xenophobian sentiments and were still occupied with the thought of economic and educational improvement of the Muslims. They even took an opposing stand against the nationalism of the Hindu Congress Party.

In Algeria and Sudan too, it was Islam that stood in the persons of the Mahdi Sudanese and Algerian Abdul-Qader against colonization, but there was no sign of nationalism. In Indonesia and Malaysia and Muslim lands of the Far East, too, which were directly under British and French domination, Westernized intellectuals believed there was no need to rouse nationalistic feelings.