NATIONALISM;
A lecture by Sheikh Ibraheem Yaqoub El-Zakzaky On the Occasion of Nigeria’s National Day organised by the Muslim Students Society of Nigeria, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria on 1st October 1992
NB: This lecture was originally transcribed by Muhammad M. Ahmad but later edited
with minor changes to fit reading format by the lecturer himself.
NATIONALISM
Introduction The topic, nationalism, obviously in a gathering such as this, is needless to say that it relates nationalism to Islam. And this is to say we see nationalism through the Muslim’s perspectives. The choice of October 1 st for this lecture means that the organizers want the topic to be discussed on what is called the “National Day”, the day that what is called the Nigerian Nation is celebrating its 32years of “ Independence”. In this occasion we will have a chance to examine what nationalism is all about.
Incidentally, for the past three weeks (in September 1992) I have been giving a pre-khutbah talk in the central Masjid (A.B.UZaria) in Hausa language titled Musulunci da yankasanci meaning Islam and nationalism. (This lecture will, therefore, be more or less a summary
of the sum total of these talks with due consideration to the differences in the audience).
The topic nationalism in itself is very wide. Doing justice to such a wide topic is beyond the scope of a lecture such as this. What I will try as much as possible to do is
to first of all define the subject, then review some basic characteristics (of nationalism),
its background and how it spread and show some of its weaknesses and perhaps some of the dangers of the concept and finally reach a conclusion by making comparison between nationalism and Islam.
The Meaning of Nationalism;
By definition nationalism comes from the word nation, which comes from its Latin
word naita or naitas (spelling mistake is from the transcribe) - meaning place of birth. That is to say when talking about nation one is talking about his homeland that is to say where he was born. Gradually, the word ‘nation’ came to be used as a concept in sociology and political science, but with a wider meaning. In politics, For example,, it
denotes a people within a geographical area who share common history and culture.
Sometimes it is regarded that a nation must not necessarily have to dwell in a particular geographical location but rather a nation refers to a people who have a common identity. An associated concept to nation is the state which refers to the territory or land that a nation may be linked to. A state, therefore, refers to a geographical area while nation refers to the people. For example,, Palestinians are a nation but without a state because their state has been usurped by the Jews with the subsequent creation of the illegal state of Israel. So Palestine remains a nation but not a state. Similarly members of a nation can migrate from their birthplace and live in different places. For example,
the Jews themselves who, for many years before the foundation of Israel have been
moving around the whole world, and still there are lots of Jews all over the world
claiming Jewish nationality but not living in a Jewish State. However there is no nation without the feeling of attaching itself to a geographical location. When the Jews were roaming about in the world without a homeland, they were actually tracing their origin to a place which they after sometimes attacked and occupied and formed a state.
This two concepts, state and nation, became interwoven such that you hardly can refer to one without the other. We will consider this definition of a nation drawing many examples with Nigeria as a case study.
Nigeria is of course a state with geographical boundaries drawn on the map and imagined in the brain and some how also believed in the heart. Whether the people living within that geographical area called Nigeria can be considered as a nation is what perhaps we shall find out in the course of discussion about the meaning of the nation and it characteristics.
Nationalism is a strong urge, desire and identifying one’s self with a nation. When
somebody identifies one’s self with a nation and feels he could devote all his life, even sacrificing his life and properties in the course of promoting that nation, then that act he is engaging in is what is called nationalism. Thus, nationalism is actually a sort of ideology or so to say a worldview. It is an idea holding a group of people emotionally and also running their own lives. A government of a nation may be operating what is called nationalism and the same concept may be the ideology or religion that is being taught to the citizens. The activities of the media, electronic and print, as well as the educational system may also be all centred on stamping this idea of nationalism in the hearts of members of the nation-state.
We will Continue at part 2
©Freedom Fighters Ng.
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Shaikh Zakzaky