Patriotism is love of your land. Probably, most people on earth have some measure of patriotism because they have some sentimental attachment to their land. Why Iqbal called it The Idol? Nationalism is the belief that your nation is superior to all other nations. So right out of the gates, this (false) sense of superiority sounds un-Islamic because it contradicts 'The Last Sermon' which made us all equal and one nation. No one has superiority over the other i.e. Pakistanis are not superior to Afghnis, Saudis are not superior to Yemenis, Egyptians are not superior to Somalis; but do we look at it this way?
Nationalism is what binds a group of people living in certain geographical are with common language, identity, traditions, DNA and history. With these commonalities, a group of people starts to make-belief that they are a superior nation to all other nations which means that all other nations are inferior. Dismemberment of Pakistan and by extension the countless loss of life was not in the cause of Islam but in the name of nationalism. Take for example Syria; Alawites killed the Sunni Muslims and now getting killed by them. Look at Russia-Ukraine - if Ukrainian did not have a separate national identity from Russia, this wouldn’t probably have been much of a conflict because Putin would’ve invaded and Ukrainians of Russian origin would’ve just join in. That’s not what happened. Even Russian descent Ukrainians stood up. Putin wasn’t thinking in an internationalist way because nationalism was at play and he wanted to re-absorb Ukraine into the motherland. Consequently, a violent contest is on show for the world to witness and make the best of it by alliances and arms sales specially the illegal trade of arms is booming.
Nationalism has been around for 230 years making the world a really crappy place because at the end of the day we are all equally worthless. There is no nation that is better than the next. The people who believe that are just stupid and haven’t read or travelled enough. Unfortunately, it’s not defunct, nationalism is healthy as ever, driving the world into a really stupid direction of civil wars like recent Thailand and Cambodia conflict. May be the World War III is in the offing because the hegemony of dollar is in peril.
Think about what nationalism does for an average Joe six-pack, you’re a mediocre person with mediocre IQ, mediocre life but you are from the Master Race. With this euphoric state of mind, you can look down on everybody from every other race. It gives people who have a meaningless life, a false sense of meaning and a false sense of value because they’re running around screaming, “I’m a Baloch nationalist and I’ll kill people of every other nationality, ethnicity or language to prove my right of land and stamp my superiority over them”. Well there is Baloch ethnicity on Iranian side as well but they dare not invoke their right to kill on other subhumans there because Iran will squish them like mosquitoes. What is the point of this nationalism anyway. Bengalis got their nationalistic goal- Bangladesh, then what? The very Sheikh Wajid and his daughter wreaked hell on them. These Balochis if they achieve their goal, they will end up suppressing the same people they are fighting for just like the prevailing perception is among the rest of Pakistan.
As much as people suffer around the world, nationalism appears healthier. It’s doing great business and tremendous harm. It’s like growing cancer around the world. No continent, country or county is immune to this disease.
However, patriotism is different; being patriotic means I love my country, it doesn’t mean I hate your country. The irony of nationalism is that it starts with the notion of superiority which in turn means your nation or every other nation is inferior. It’s founded on hubris and hatred. It’s a cancer that spreads, one nation attacks the other and the response is going to be even more nationalistic. As violence begets violence, nationalism begets nationalism, it’s a reactionary force. It is necessary that if you’re attacked, you need to somehow convince your people that they should go and die to defend the country. You’re not gonna convince them by making an intellectual argument. You need to convince them by going for their heart strings and that’s where nationalism is very effective.
To conclude, nationalism is The Idol of our age that we continue to worship with zero regard to humanity. Look at what’s happening in Gaza. Ummah is observing in deafening cruel silence because we are slave to our Idol which has interests.
I guess Iqbal was not too wrong.
May Allah guide us to the right path. Ameen
