The Fallacy of Nationalism
By: Shaima Al-Khalili

There is an important occurrence in our past which needs to be studied to truly understand the present day situation of the Muslims. When one finds themselves proud to sport a Lebanon shirt (or the like), perhaps an important historical account is being completely overlooked or poorly understood. Nationalism as Arabs and Muslims know it today, is a relatively new concept to the Middle East. Let us see how this phenomenon began. Let us take a trip down memory lane to 1916, where three imperial powers conspired and betrayed the Muslims to further their own ends.

It was the First World War and the Ottoman Empire (the last “Islamic” empire to rule the Middle East) had taken sides with Germany, foreshadowing its inevitable decline. Once the war would be over, it was clear the Empire would have to be dismantled.

The leader Mecca at the time was a Hashemite called Sharif Hussein. With much British support, Sharif Hussein led an Arab revolt to topple the Ottoman Empire before the war was over. He gathered a fairly large, and divided them accordingly placing his three sons to head. His son Faisal was the one, who along with T.E. Lawrence (a.k.a. “Lawrence of Arabia”) liberated Damascus. It was clear that the inhabitants of the Middle East had a strong interest in self-governance; and to that end, Sir Henry McMahon, the British High Commissioner in Egypt, assured the Arabs in a letter, their freedom of autonomy after Sharif would topple the regime. This formed what was later called the McMahon-Hussein correspondence.

Once the Empire collapsed and the war was over, Sharif was stunned. At the same time the correspondence was taking place, Britain, France, and Russia were in a shameful scuttle to grab as much land as they possibly could in what manifestly turned into a clash of self-interest. The result was a document called the Sykes-Picot agreement. In this document lies the root where the complete and utter fallacy of nationalism began for all Arabs and Muslims. While the Ottoman Empire had once been divided into provinces that were all ruled from Constantinople, the document decreed new borders to be drawn and fashioned colonies: Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Transjordan, etc… were now all created, encompassing many different tribes and religious groups, much like how Africa was colonized; which was followed by the creation of new borders within which different tribes were now expected to coexist, resulting in numerous tribal wars and hostile confrontation. The most startling element of this document, however, was that these three world powers took the liberty of distributing all these “new” nations amongst themselves! New puppet governments were to be established while nations’ true authority lied in its colonial power (i.e. Britain, France, and Russia).

Years later, independence was achieved for all nations in the Middle East and while there have been a few movements to try and unify them under one common theme; pan-Arabism and pan-Islam for example, all have failed.

So remember that those beloved Lebanon, Syria or Palestine flags that people so proudly wave at human rights demonstrations, or even place over the coffin of their dead, were merely created to support the imperialist dream of a self-serving calculated area functioning under scrutinized supervision. Remember the infamous Sykes-Picot agreement the next time some sticks that Iraq flag on the back of their car. And finally, remember kids, each time someone sings a national anthem, they should ask themselves if the true natives of the land are singing that same tune. The last thing to remember is that Allah (swt) Himself dispels the notion of nationalism most eloquently in the Quran “O mankind! We have created you from male and female, and made you into nations and tribes so that you may know one another. Verily the most honourable of you in the Sight of Allah is that (believer) who has taqwa {49:13}”.

Source: Towards Mecca (Montreal based newsletter)

To contact author email: towardsmecca@montrealmuslims.ca