ASABIYYAH FROM BROTHER YOUSUF OF MARYLAND

Definition of asabiyyah:

Linguistically, asabiyyah comes from the word asabah, which is the
relatives of the person from the father side. These relatives are called asabah
because they strengthen and defend the person that makes him/her
stronger.

Idiomatically, asabiyyah is man's supporting his people to whom he
belongs, whether they are right or wrong, oppressing or oppressed. The belonging
to these people can be due to kith and kin, ethnicity, color, birthplace,
citizenship, school of thought [Madh'hab], or a group of people with
common interest.

What causes asabiyyah? The drive that causes asabiyyah is the feeling of
being better than others, and that others are at a lower class. So, the
person that has this feeling of asabiyyah thinks so highly of himself
and of those to whom he belongs, and thinks that other people are as good as
his own people.

This kind of thinking is corrupted, and it is in fact a kind of
arrogance that comes from the mentality of Iblis, which led him to disobey the
command of Allah when He ordered him to prostrate to Adam. Iblis said, "I am
better than him, You created me out of fire and you created him (Adam) out of
clay." The Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.) warned us when he said, "No one
enters Paradise if they have in their heart a grain weight of arrogance." The
prophet (S.A.W.) defined this arrogance in two things: Rejection of the
truth and looking down on people.

What are the harms of asabiyyah? Asabiyyah is harmful in many ways. It
destroys the ummah, and changes the unity and harmony to disunity and
disharmony. This is beneficial to the enemies of the ummah or an
opportunistic group of people from this ummah. This situation is
witnessed many times in the past as well as today.

The asabiyyah, in Jahiliyya time before Islam turned the Arab tribes
into enemies and made from their Arabian Peninsula a battlefield. Allah
(S.W.T.) told us about their situation before Islam in surat Al-Imran, (verse
103), what can be translated as, "And hold fast, all of you together, to the
Rope of Allah, and be not divided among yourselves, and remember Allah’s
Favor 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)…" This kind of situation is not restricted to the Arabs, it actually
plagued all nations that were disunited because of asabiyyah.

The different kinds of Asabiyyah:

The first kind is the asabiyyah of relatives relationship and ethnic
discent: it is the most ancient and the strongest kind of asabiyyah. The
closer the relationship is, the stronger the asabiyyah. The further away
the relationship is, the weaker the asabiyyah. Tribalism, ethnicism, and
nationalism are of this kind of asabiyyah. From this comes a Jahili
(unIslamic) slogan, "Support your brother whether he is oppressing or
oppressed."

The second kind is the asabiyyah of principles and mathaahib schools of
Islamic laws: This kind of asabiyyah grows amongst a group of people who
are binded by one thought or one principle, be it religious or not, or the
followers of a certain math’hab school of Islamic law. The individual in
this group of people strongly supports his group or the followers of his
math’hab whether they are right or wrong.

The third kind of asabiyyah is regionalism: It is formed amongst a group
of people who live in one region. They think that just because they are
living together in one region, that by itself will give them better
qualifications than others. So they look down on others and think highly of their own
selves even if those other people have lived with them for tens of years
and even if they were born in their region but they are not originally from
them.

This kind of asabiyyah has grown in intensity within the Muslim
ummah after the fall of the Islamic Ottoman Khilafah. This regionalism was a
goal that was sought by the enemies of Islam, so they planted this deadly
thought and nourished it with all means, and people ended up victims of this
deadly asabiyyah that only benefited the opportunistic people by keeping and
strengthening their positions.

In the past, this kind of asabiyyah (regionalism) was the reason behind
losing Andalousiah (Al-Andalous).

The fourth kind of asabiyyah is racism: It is formed amongst people with
the same color of skin, thinking that their skin color by itself makes them
better than other people of different skin color. This kind of asabiyyah
did not exist in the Muslim ummah (walhamdulillah), but it is deep rooted in
the west; the people of dark color skin were deeply hurt and oppressed
because of their color in these countries which claim to be advanced and
civilized for a very long time.

So much blood was shed, they were dishonored, and
stripped from their human rights because of their skin color and we know
many details about that in this society that we live in. This oppressive
situation gave birth to a violent reaction that manifested itself in
many rebellions, violent acts and hate crimes that are initiated by different
people out of asabiyyah for their own color at different times and
different places.

Islam rejects all kinds of asabiyyah, because all these kinds of
asabiyyah are not suitable to be a fair and just framework for the human
societies; they are in fact manifestations of oppression, corruption and
transgression on the earth.

Allah (S.W.T.) proclaimed that He created the differences amongst people
to be a reason for them to get to know each other, and live together in
cohesion and collaboration and not a reason for them to look down on one
another. In reality, the scale of being better than others is at-taqwa
(rightousness) and the good deeds. Allah (S.W.T.) says in surat
Al-Hujurat, (verse 13), what can be translated as, "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 honorable of you in the sight of Allah is
those who has most taqwa…"

Allah (S.W.T.) also says in another verse, that the differences amongst
people are a sign that indicates the greatness of Allah's creation and
His power like the sign of the creation of the earth and the sky. Allah
(S.W.T.) says in surat Al-Ruom, (verse 22), what can be translated as, "And among
His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the difference
of your languages and colors. Verily, in that are indeed signs for men of
sound knowledge."

We all as Muslims, those who inherited Islam and those who converted
cannot be true Muslims if we still carry any kind of asabiyyah. When we accept
Islam we have to leave and throw away all kinds of Jahiliyya beliefs,
thinking, mentality, and behavior. This is how we will accept Islam as a
complete way of life.

Ma'salaam,

Y.M.Yousuf & Family
Maryland