An Identity for a State? Or a State Without an Identity?!
In the thirteenth year of the Prophetic mission, representatives of the Aws and Khazraj, who came from Yathrib to Mecca, pledged allegiance to the Messenger ﷺ in a pledge of governance, war, and obedience. So the Prophet ﷺ migrated to them to receive governance from them accordingly. With his ﷺ arrival in Medina and his direct handling of the measures of governance and authority, the first Islamic state was established, based on a new foundation, which is the Islamic creed, and he ﷺ began to take care of the affairs of his subjects with God's law, which began to be revealed with the establishment of this state, after only a small amount of it had been revealed before. So the world began to learn about a new state, with a new civilizational identity, and a society with a new way of life. And the eyes of the world were increasingly drawn to this state as its expansion increased, reaching in the eras of the caliphate state India and the borders of China in the east and the shores of the Atlantic in the west and the borders of France from the direction of Andalusia. It was from the civilizational strength of Islam that it was able to attract that huge number of peoples. They were peoples with many religions, different cultures, various languages, different legislations, and multiple colors and races, and they had different ways of life. Therefore, these people were divided among "identities" that could hardly be counted. However, Islam, with its agreement with human nature and its persuasion of the mind, was able to melt them all into one crucible. After their faith and conversion to Islam, they abandoned their previous religions, cultures, legislations, and ways of life, and many of them even abandoned their original languages, and the civilization of Islam folded the pages of their previous civilizations, so they became one nation, embodied one civilization, merged into one way of life, and adopted one legislative system, which is Islamic law, without the multiplicity of their races, their different historical past, and their varied geographical and climatic environments constituting any obstacle. The Islamic nation, throughout its vast extent, was defined by one identity, which is Islam. Islam alone is the identity of all these people after they became one nation, which is the Islamic nation.
Islam is what gave them the overall idea about the life of this world, what came before it, and what comes after it, and its relationship to what came before it and what comes after it. It is what gave them the meaning of their existence in this life, and it is what portrayed for them the meaning of living and its purpose, and it is what defined for them the concept of happiness, and it is what provided them with the concepts of good and evil and the measure of good and bad in actions, and it is what placed them on a law from the command, so they were content with it from the laws of the legislators, and it is what replaced the bond of Islamic brotherhood among them with national, ethnic, linguistic, national, tribal and other bonds, and they were brothers by the grace of God. Islam did not leave a place after all of this for another identity other than its identity, so the Qurayshi, the Aws, the Khazraji, the black, the white, the Arab, and the non-Arab, if any of them was asked about his identity, he would say I am a Muslim.
This identity that the Muslims carried and defined themselves with for hundreds of years, until the delusion of Western civilization penetrated their heads. A group of Muslims became contaminated with the delusion of Turanian nationalism, and then others became contaminated with the delusion of Arab nationalism, so many of them were divided with the beginning of the twentieth century into a group that exalted the "Turkish national identity" and another that exalted the "Arab national identity". After the collapse of the Islamic state and the fall of most of the Muslim countries under the occupation of the disbelieving colonizer, he deliberately, according to his colonial rule "divide and conquer," to fragment the Islamic countries, especially the Arab countries, into small states. In order to consolidate these artificial states on the ground and to enhance their legitimacy within the heads and souls, he deliberately established new "identities" for each of them that would divide the nation with one "identity" into various "identities". After trivializing the "Turkish and Arab identities," they followed them with the "Kurdish identity" and the "Persian identity," then they exhumed for the Egyptians the "Pharaonic identity," for the Syrians the "Aramaic identity," for the Iraqis the "Babylonian identity," for the Lebanese the "Phoenician identity," for the Kurds the "Kurdish identity," for the Tunisians the "Carthaginian Phoenician identity," and then they provoked in the Berbers what they called the "Amazigh identity." The disbelieving colonizer made the flags of those states and what they contain of slogans and symbols "visual identities" for each of them, and even added to them "auditory identities," which are the national anthems, and "historical identities," as he created for each state a special history that separates it from its Islamic "historical identity," so he attributed each of them to extinct civilizations that passed through their countries before their Islamic history. Thus, he made the nation with one "identity" nations with various "identities," and the prisoners of these prisons called countries began to define themselves as Syrian, Iraqi, Lebanese, Egyptian, Palestinian, or Jordanian, after they all defined themselves as Muslims with "their Islamic identity," and that they belong to one civilization, which is Islamic civilization.
When the Sham revolution began fourteen years ago, its revolutionaries, who set out from the mosques, raised Islamic slogans that expressed their true "identity," and all the people of Syria and those who supported them followed them, and they sacrificed their lives, blood, and money for them: "It is for God, it is for God," "Neither Eastern nor Western, Islamic, Islamic," "Our leader forever is our master Muhammad," "The people want the rule of God's law." The factions that carried national and secular titles quickly disappeared so that the revolutionaries would follow the factions that declared the "Islamic identity" and that their goal was to establish an Islamic system on the ruins of the Ba'athist Asadi system of disbelief, and embrace the mujahideen from all over the Islamic countries who came rejoicing like many Muslims in the world in the imminent establishment of the state of Islam in the heart of the believers' home in Sham. The same faction that took power in Damascus after the fall of the tyrant was, at its inception and for several years, the most vocal of the fighting factions in declaring the Islamic political project, and even often attacked some revolutionary factions and fought them under the pretext of their deviation from the Islamic project and their allegiance to regional regimes or their dealing with major countries. But the shock was that when it took over power, it unraveled its yarn after it was strong, and turned against its promises and slogans, and consolidated the secular system, and allied itself with the states and regimes most hostile to the nation, at the same time that these countries were committing the most heinous massacres against Muslims in Gaza. A few days ago, it honored us by announcing what it falsely called the "visual identity" of the new Syria. So what is the significance of this announcement?
It would have been easier and less burdensome if the announcement of this new slogan was free of the term "identity." The adoption of the term "identity" did not come in vain, but rather came with very dangerous implications. It came to cut off the path to the announcement of the true and only "identity" of the people of Syria and all Muslims in the whole world, as well as it was passed depending on the lack of understanding of the general public of Syria and the general public of Muslims in the world of the significance of this term: "identity."
"Identity" is a contemporary term, according to which it is defined as "the distinctive characteristics, features, beliefs, and values that define a person or group, and shape their uniqueness and sense of self." Al-Sharif Al-Jurjani defined it in his book Al-Ta'rifat as "the absolute truth that includes the truths as the nucleus includes the tree." Accordingly, the "identity of the state" consists of: the creed on which it was based, its point of view on life, the civilization to which it belongs, the nation it represents, the legislative system that regulates people's relationships in it, and the message it carries to humanity. This "identity" is not expressed in the image of a bird. Even worse, the symbols contained in this image are explained in a way that distracts minds from the "Islamic identity." The three stars are the stars of the Syrian national flag that was approved by the High Commissioner of the French occupation, Henri Ponsot, in 1932 AD. The rest of the symbols of the slogan symbolize the geographical directions of this national state, and its administrative divisions, i.e., its governorates! It is very ridiculous to consider the administrative division of a state as part of its "identity"! The most dangerous thing in describing this slogan is what the ruler of the state stated in his speech at the ceremony of announcing this forged "identity."
The most important and dangerous thing that came in the speech of the new ruler of Syria is attributing the "identity" of the people of Syria to civilizations before Islam by thousands of years! Accordingly, their civilization is not Islamic civilization, and their "identity" is not based on Islam, but rather their "identity" is the product of various civilizations that have followed each other on the land of Sham for thousands of years, without regard to the "identities" of these civilizations, religious, creedal, cultural, and legislative... In his view, identity is a "historical geographical identity," Islam and its culture and legislation have a share in it that it is one of its rings and some of its components, no more and no less, and what confirms this meaning is his carefully chosen expressions about "Syria throughout history," "its cultural diversity," and "Syria's personality," instead of Islam being "its identity, culture, civilization, and personality." Moreover, the repetition of expressions such as "the Syrian people" and that the "new identity" is the "identity of this people" is another affirmation of a "special identity" for the people of Syria apart from other people, even though God Almighty has decreed and His Prophet ﷺ that all Muslims are one nation apart from other people. Their "identity" is one, which is the "Islamic identity," and their "personality" is one, which is the "Islamic personality," and if a state is established for them in a region of the regions, it is necessary to work to annex the rest of the regions to it so that all Muslims will be one nation, in one state and under one banner.
One of the most dangerous terms that came in the speech of the ruler of Syria is the expression "the Syrian human being"! This is one of the most dangerous expressions that even many secular and Western intellectuals and politicians reject. This type of expression is only adopted by ethnic and national racists who classify people according to their racist affiliations. It is the expression of the Nazis who spoke of the "superior Aryan human being," and the expression of the Zionists who speak of the Hebrews as God's chosen people! Did God Almighty create a Syrian human being, another Lebanese, another Palestinian, another Jordanian, and another Iraqi...?! Where is the ruler of Syria from the saying of God Almighty: ﴿THE BELIEVERS ARE BUT BROTHERS﴾, and from the saying of the Prophet ﷺ: «O people, your Lord is one, and your father is one. There is no superiority of an Arab over a non-Arab, nor of a non-Arab over an Arab, nor of a red person over a black person, nor of a black person over a red person, except in terms of piety...»?!
The truth is that when the ruler of Syria said that the "identity of his state" derives its features from the predatory bird, he was explicit that he wanted his state to be "without an identity." No state has ever defined its "identity" or the "identity of its people" with definitions such as: strength, determination, speed, perfection, sharp vision, smart hunting, innovation in performance, skillful maneuvering, swimming in space, soaring in the heights, skill in hunting, professionalism in swooping, protecting the family, and pure, clear metal! Quite frankly, if an ignorant person like Antarah ibn Shaddad, Hatem al-Tai, and Saif ibn Dhi Yazan read these qualities, he would find them the most accurate expression of his qualities and the qualities of every noble and honorable Arab from the Arabs of ignorance before the revelation came down on the Seal of the Prophets ﷺ. If this is the "identity," then for what purpose did God Almighty send His Prophet ﷺ? And for what purpose did he ﷺ establish a state with a more glorious and precious "identity" and fight with it against Arabs who contained in their metal the elements of your empty "identity," and then fight against states with various "identities" to exalt one "identity" in the land of God, which is the "Islamic identity"?! Or have you forgotten the saying of God Almighty: ﴿[We take] the color [i.e., religion] of Allah, and who is better than Allah in coloring. And we are worshippers of Him﴾?! Indeed we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we will return.
Written by the Central Media Office of Hizb ut-Tahrir
Ahmed Al-Qasas
Member of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut-Tahrir
