something similar I posted (re-posted) on other forums .
Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
"O mankind! We have created you from a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another. Verily, the most honourable of you with Allaah is that (believer) who has At‑Taqwa [i.e. he is one of the Muttaqoon (the pious)]. Verily, Allaah is All‑Knowing, All‑Aware"
[al-Hujuraat 49:13]
Allaah created Adam and Hawwa' [Eve], and made their offspring into peoples, tribes, races and colours. All people come from Adam and Hawwa', and no colour or race is superior to another. Rather all of them are equal before Allaah with regard to their origins, and the one who fears his Lord the most is the best and most honourable before Allaah.
However people split after this into nations, countries and races, is only like the splitting of a single family, brothers from one father and one mother.
This 'asabiyyah (tribalism) that is appearing nowadays in most countries, where people form factions on the basis of race, colour or homeland, is akin to the ancient tribalism that existed between the tribes of Aws and Khazraj; it is one of the leftovers of jaahiliyyah [ignorance].
There had been many wars between Aws and Khazraj during the Jaahiliyyah, with a great deal of enmity and hatred, and intense fighting, until Islam came and they entered therein, and became brothers by the grace of Allaah.
After Islam had set their affairs straight and they had become united, a Jewish man passed by a gathering of Aws and Khazraj, and he was bothered by their friendship and unity. So he sent a man who was with him to sit amongst them and remind them of the wars that used to be waged between them. He did that and kept doing it until they were provoked and became angry with one another, and they got riled up and started shouting their slogans and calling for their weapons, and threatening to go out to the Harrah (a place in Madeenah) to fight. News of this reached the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), so he came to them and started to calm them down, and said, "Are you issuing the calls of the jaahiliyyah when I am still among you?" Then he recited to them the following verse (Interpretation of the meaning):
"And hold fast, all of you together, to the Rope of Allaah (i.e. this Qur'aan), and be not divided among yourselves, and remember Allaah's Favour on you, for you were enemies one to another but He joined your hearts together, so that, by His Grace, you became brethren (in Islamic Faith), and you were on the brink of a pit of Fire, and He saved you from it. Thus Allaah makes His Ayaat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.,) clear to you, that you may be guided"
[Aal 'Imraan 3:103]
When the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) recited this verse to them, they regretted what they had done, and they reconciled and put aside their weapons.
Islam does not forbid a Muslim to love his homeland or the country in which he lives or grew up. What is reprehensible is basing one's feelings of loyalty and disavowal on that, and loving and hating on that basis. A person who belongs to the same country as you is not closer to you than a Muslim from another land, and the reason for your loving or hating others should not be whether or not they come from the same country as you. Rather loyalty and disavowal, or love and hatred, should all be based on Islam and piety.
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to love Makkah because it was the most beloved land to Allaah, but he did not love the kaafirs who lived there, rather he fought them because they fought against Islam and killed Muslims. Neither he nor his companions ever gave precedence to their love of Makkah over the laws of Allaah, so when Allaah forbade those who had migrated from Makkah to go back to it, except for Hajj and three days after it, they adhered to that and did not stay there for longer than that period. Their love for Makkah did not make them disobey Allaah, let alone do anything that was worse than that.
Today you see that tribalism and devotion to one's country has gone to such extremes that places of shirk are venerated just because they are in one's country; the flag is venerated because it represents the country, so the people stand and salute it with a reverence that is absent in their prayers when they stand before their Lord.
Using passports is not regarded as a kind of 'asabiyyah (tribalism) or jaahiliyyah (ignorance) because the purpose is simply to identify a person and the country of which he is a citizen. If it so happens that some people use them for the purpose of boasting and acting superior to others, or to express tribalistic pride in his country, this is something blameworthy.
We have mentioned that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) loved Makkah and that he gave precedence to obeying his Lord over his love for Makkah.
It was narrated that Ibn 'Abbaas said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said to Makkah, "What a good land you are, and how dear you are to me. Were it not that my people drove me out from you, I would never have lived anywhere else."
Narrated by al-Tirmidhi, 3926; classed as saheeh by al-Tirmidhi and by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Jaami', 5536.
You can also find similar stories of the Sahaabah and those who came after them, by reading their biographies. It seems that the love of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and the Sahaabah for Makkah was because it was the most beloved land to Allaah, as it says in another report narrated by al-Tirmidhi, no. 3925: "You are the best land of Allaah and the most beloved of the land of Allaah to Allaah." Classed as saheeh by Ibn Hajar.
But the natural love that a person feels for the place where he grew up is something that is not regarded as blameworthy by sharee'ah, so long as that does not distract you from acts of worship and obedience which are more important. Hence we see that the Sahaabah (may Allaah be pleased with them), Muhaajireen and Ansaar alike, left their homelands and went out to other lands, spreading the call of Islam throughout other countries. They went out for purposes that were nobler than their attachment to land and buildings.
And Allaah knows best.
http://www.islam-qa....onalism%20islam
Shaykh Saalih al-Fawzaan said:
The things in which the kuffaar are imitated include acts of worship, such as imitating them in matters of shirk, such as building (structures) over graves, building shrines and exaggerating about them. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "May the curse of Allaah be upon the Jews and the Christians, for they took the graves of their Prophets as places of worship." Al-Bukhaari, 425; Muslim, 531. And he told us that when a righteous man among them died, they would build a place of worship over his grave, and install images therein, and that they were the most evil of mankind. Al-Bukhaari, 417; Muslim, 528. Nowadays there are instances of major shirk because of exaggeration concerning graves, as is well known to scholars and ordinary folk alike. The cause of that is imitation of the Jews and Christians.
Another example is their imitation of the festivals of shirk and bid'ah, such as birthday celebrations, whether it is the birthday of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) or the birthdays of presidents and kings. Or these festivals of bid'ah and shirk may be named after days or weeks, such as a country's national day or independence day, or Mother's Day, or hygiene week, and other days or weeks that are celebrated. All of these have come to the Muslims from the kuffaar, for Islam has only two festivals: Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. Anything else is bid'ah and an imitation of the kuffaar.
http://www.islam-qa.com/en/ref/45200
there is an article by Sheikh Abdullah Saleh Uthaiymeen abt patriotism in Arabic but it doesnt come out well in English translation , here is a link tho
لتعبير عن حب الوطن
عبدالله الصالح العثيمين
http://www.al-sunna....ile.php?id=4146
Edited by m2ab, 15 August 2010 - 11:36 PM.
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