The following are the Consensus and Resolutions approved at the Muslim Institute World Seminar on ‘The Impact of Nationalism on the Ummah’ held in London from 31 July – 3 August, 1985. They were published in Crescent International, 16-31 August, 1985, and reprinted in Issues in the Islamic movement, Vol. 6, 1985-86 (1405-06), pp. 49-51.
Consensus and Resolutions the Muslim Institute World Seminar on ‘The Impact of Nationalism on the Ummah’ (London, 31 July – 3 August, 1985).
A world seminar to consider ‘The Impact of Nationalism on the Ummah’ met in London from July 31 to August 3, 1985, under the auspices of the Muslim Institute. It was attended by ulama, scholars, writers, journalists, students and workers of the Islamic movement from all parts of the world belonging to different schools of thought in Islam. The seminar heard a wide range of papers and engaged in intensive discussion on problems facing the Ummah. The seminar came to the following conclusions:
1. That modern nationalism is a peculiar product of western political development and has been introduced to the lands and peoples of Islam through colonialism; modern nationalism was, and remains, an all pervasive instrument of colonial and neo-colonial policies of kufr that has acquired political social, cultural and economic dominance over the house of Islam.
2. The nation-States that how divide the Ummah, their ruling classes, and their political and economic systems are an imposition of the political power of kufr on Islam and have no legitimacy in Islam. The nation-States and their rulers represent the fragmentation of the Ummah in the interest of the adversaries of Islam, and all such States and their political systems are separately and collectively subservient to taghoots. As such the major goal of the Ummah in the next phase of history is to abolish and dismantle the nation States that now govern the Muslim areas of the world and to create a unified Dar al-Islam.
3. The separation of religion from politics is a notion introduced through nationalism. Islam does not recognize politics that is not based on religion.
4. The ‘political party’ approach is essentially western and therefore unsuited to the Islamic movement. The global Islamic movement must manifest a unified approach that includes all Muslims everywhere; a series of specialized institutions to perform local, regional and even global functions for the Islamic movement should be developed in all parts of the world.
5. The Islamic Revolution in Iran has created an Islamic State that is not based on nationalism. The Islamic State of Iran is the leading edge of the global Islamic movement that is now emerging.
6. The question of leadership is vital in Islam. The leaders, rulers, and dominant classes in modern Muslim nation-States are one and all subservient to the political power and culture of kufr and, therefore, unfit to lead the Ummah or any part of it. The leadership of the Ummah and the Islamic movement must emerge from the roots of Islam, especially from among the ulama. At the present time the figure of Imam Khomeini is a genuine manifestation of Islamic leadership for the global Islamic movement.
7. To love one’s country or pride in local or regional history, culture or language is not against Islam, so long as these are not in conflict with the teachings of Islam. Modern nationalism, however, is in clear contravention of the basic rules and values of Islam.
8. Arabic as the language of the Qur’an and ibadah occupies a central position in Islam. For this reason the attempt by Arab nationalist movements to present Arabism and the Arabic language in exclusivist and racial terms makes Arab nationalism the most dangerous of all nationalisms that divide the Ummah.
9. All Islamic liberation movements in the Ummah are part of the global Islamic movement. No form of liberation has any meaning except the one that is achieved through jihad and leads to the establishment of the Islamic State. All local Islamic movements should abandon their ‘national’ policies, slogans and identities and merge into the global Islamic movement.
10. The global Islamic movement must set out to abolish and dismantle the nation States and to undertake the total political, social, cultural and economic transformation of the Ummah. All national boundaries that divide the Ummah should be eliminated and all the resources of the Ummah must be mobilized for the defence of the frontiers of Islam.
11. The Hajj is the most profound expression of the universal unity and brotherhood of the Ummah, free of all nationalistic and other divisions. The Hijaz is also the common heritage of the entire Ummah and no nationalist or monarchical regime can claim exclusive sovereign, political or territorial rights over the cities of Makkah and Madinah. The administration of the Haramain, therefore, must be transferred to a body representing the entire Ummah especially created for this purpose. The ever-deepening and sinister links of the Saudi regime with the United States of America and indirectly, with the Zionist entity called ‘Israel’ are a grave threat to the safety of the Haramain in Makkah and Madinah.
12. This seminar urges all Muslims, especially scholars, teachers and writers, to warn the Ummah against the all-pervasive influences of nationalism in the common culture, art, literature and educational textbooks of Muslim societies.
13. The seminar calls for the establishment of a central body to coordinate the work of the global Islamic movement, and asks the Muslim Institute to undertake consultation and circulate a discussion paper on the subject.
