Ummah and Nationality.

I took a class about the history of Middle East this new semester. To my surprise, it was very hard to understand. Well, more complicated i guess a lot happenings and deals here and there, with more numbers and more names to remember. But to think positively, I'm gonna try to learn this by heart. To feel it, and send it to my brain for a lifetime memory.

One thing that caught my attention when somewhere around the early 19th century, Egypt changed their "sense of belonging". "帰属意識の転換"(Yes, I'm studying history in Japanese..)
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From an ummah, to a sense of watan (nation in arabic).
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This mind-set was obviously caused by the English/European thinking, that they were once ruled by. As a Muslim, I think it is one of the reason why our ummah is falling apart in the middle east. They were separated by their sense of nationality rather than the Muslim brotherhood itself.
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"You are Saudis, we are Egyptian. So we're different,"
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In God Almighty's view, we are all the same. We are differentiate ONLY by the deeds that we do. If I'm not mistaken, the land of one Muslim, belongs to another Muslim. Meaning, there is no county-like boundaries that are separating us; one very big Islamic country or land that we are free explore and live. Isn't that better for everyone? There is too much bureaucracy even among the Muslim countries now.

Last week for our presentation class, we were discussing about people that don't have a nationality. There are estimated around 15 million people that were left out during war, or displaced in an independence process.


One of the story found in YouTube was a family that lives in Palestine. The husband have had an Egyptian passport but it was lost during the war. Now, the whole family do not belong to any nationality as the man's application for a new nationality was rejected for the 3rd times. Now, their children can't go to school, get medical treatment, work legally, own a property or even travel out from the country. And the uncertain future of the generation will continue.

How sad. Why do we have to be like this? I miss the Ummah. The Ummah that was once portrayed in the times of our beloved prophet, Rasulullah s.a.w. The times where Islam was the only thing that brings people together. Their hearts fill with loved for each other, because of Allah. How beautiful.

I'm not being racist here, but when Mekah was opened by the prophet, they had numerous of other religion as well. Practising their own beliefs, freely. And still they worked together to build a country; to build an Ummah.