format_quote Originally Posted by
Aprender
Hmm. I guess I got jerked around a bit. Had some people try to convince me to become a shia, had some people tell me haraam this haraam that until the point it almost seemed haraam to be a woman and haraam to be an American -_-
jazakAllah for sharing your interesting story.
I do understand that being born in America (I am assuming, please correct me), you feel an immense connection with your nation-state. But we should also keep in mind that these nation-states, which most of us so willfully pay allegiance to, we had no role to play in the drafting of its boundaries, we had no role to play in penning down its anthem, we had no role to play in designing its flag. When one thinks about that, one is left wondering how unenlightening it is to be patriotic and to be nationalistic.
That is precisely what Islam teaches us. And that is how it has been in Islamic history for most of it. Muslim state or Daar ul Islaam where a Muslim needed no passport to travel across it. When a Muslim enlisted in army of Daar-ul-Islam, he was doing it for sake of Allah, not for sake of his province, or his country, as there was no concept of nation-states.
So, as Muslims, we should all strive to get rid of the nationalistic tribalism.
We, as Muslims, should be proud of what we achieve as humans and Muslims, and not of what we are by simply being born in certain nation-state!
And yourself being a pol sci major, I am sure you understand how things really are than they seem to be.
And lastly, thanks for sharing that beneficial video.