The Qur’an certainly praises the natural inclination of human beings to love their kin and, by extension, their homeland or region of origin. Nevertheless, it in no way associates this with another, less praiseworthy human inclination, namely tribalism, which today we call chauvinism and which, in its extreme forms, manifests itself in every kind of exclusivism, whether racial, religious or of some other nature.
The Legitimate Love of Kin and Homeland
Peoples and tribes are the work of God “so that you may know one another“, as the Qur’an literally puts it (49,13). The land is loved even in God’s oaths: “I swear by this city” (90,1).
The Messenger of God loved two cities. To Mecca, as he left it: “How dear you are to me! Had my people not driven me out of you, I would have lived nowhere else” (Tirmidhî 3926). In Medina, hearing Bilâl sing of his longing for Mecca, he did not rebuke him; he prayed: “O God, make us love Medina as we love Mecca, or more” (Bukhârî 1889). And he would urge his mount on when he caught sight of its walls, “out of love for it” (Bukhârî 1802).
The Slide into Partisanship
But although it is legitimate and partakes of virtue in the eyes of revelation, this attachment must not be such as to deprive people who are “distant” of love for the benefit of those who are “close”, still less to deprive them of justice. The Qur’an uses a term to designate partisanship, chauvinism and even fanaticism. It is the term ḥamiyya, whose root evokes intense heat and protection. It is, in short, the ardor put into defending something, with a connotation of excess. It can be translated as “partisan ardor”, “zeal”, “partisanship”, “clannishness”, “fanaticism”, etc.
إِذْ جَعَلَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ فِى قُلُوبِهِمُ ٱلْحَمِيَّةَ حَمِيَّةَ ٱلْجَٰهِلِيَّةِ فَأَنزَلَ ٱللَّهُ سَكِينَتَهُۥ عَلَىٰ رَسُولِهِۦ وَعَلَى ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَأَلْزَمَهُمْ كَلِمَةَ ٱلتَّقْوَىٰ وَكَانُوٓا۟ أَحَقَّ بِهَا وَأَهْلَهَا
When those who had denied set in their hearts partisan ardor (ḥamiyya): that partisan ardor of the age of ignorance (jâhiliyya). God then sent down His tranquility upon His messenger and upon the believers, and imposed on them the word of vigilant awareness (taqwâ); they were the most worthy of it and the most suited to it. (48,26)
In substance, the verse depicts a way of being proper to the jâhiliyya, that is, to the age of ignorance that preceded Islam, but which clearly resurfaces in every age. In the verse, its opposite is sakîna, which means serenity, and taqwâ, which can be translated as vigilant (or attentive) awareness.
What stands against partisan ardor, then, is the calming of the heart and the awareness that the individual strives to keep awake toward others, even in disagreement or adversity.
By analogy, the verse applies to any group, tribe, nation or religious community whose pride and interests come before compassion and justice. It says nothing against attachment to one’s own; it simply names the ardor that is its excess.
The Hierarchy of Loves
The blameworthy clan spirit is the one that feeds on an “other” to be despised or wronged; love of one’s kin or homeland has no need of it. In a spirit wholly revolutionary for its time, and no less relevant today, the Qur’an thus places awareness above all else in the hierarchy of beings:
يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَٰكُم مِّن ذَكَرٍ وَأُنثَىٰ وَجَعَلْنَٰكُمْ شُعُوبًا وَقَبَآئِلَ لِتَعَارَفُوٓا۟ إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِندَ ٱللَّهِ أَتْقَىٰكُمْ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌ
O humankind! We created you from a male and a female, and We made you peoples and tribes so that you may know one another. The noblest of you in the sight of God is the most vigilant in awareness (atqâ). God is indeed most knowing, fully informed. (49,13)
And in keeping with this Qur’anic teaching, the Messenger of God declared in his farewell sermon: “No superiority of the Arab over the non-Arab, nor of the non-Arab over the Arab, except through vigilant awareness (taqwâ)” (Aḥmad 23489).
The point, then, is not to give up one love for the sake of another, but to restore the hierarchy of loves by placing the True, the Just and the Light, all of them divine Names, above all else:
قُلْ إِن كَانَ ءَابَآؤُكُمْ وَأَبْنَآؤُكُمْ وَإِخْوَٰنُكُمْ وَأَزْوَٰجُكُمْ وَعَشِيرَتُكُمْ وَأَمْوَٰلٌ ٱقْتَرَفْتُمُوهَا وَتِجَٰرَةٌ تَخْشَوْنَ كَسَادَهَا وَمَسَٰكِنُ تَرْضَوْنَهَآ أَحَبَّ إِلَيْكُم مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِۦ وَجِهَادٍ فِى سَبِيلِهِۦ فَتَرَبَّصُوا۟
Say: if your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your wives, your clan, wealth you have acquired, a trade whose decline you fear and dwellings that please you are dearer to you than God, His messenger and striving in His way — then wait. (9,24)
The Legal Limit Not to Be Crossed
While God acknowledges resentment as a human feeling, and while, pragmatically, He foresees how hard it is for the individual to rid himself of it, He nonetheless sets a limit: resentment must not lead to the slide into aggression and injustice.
وَلَا يَجْرِمَنَّكُمْ شَنَـَٔانُ قَوْمٍ أَن صَدُّوكُمْ عَنِ ٱلْمَسْجِدِ ٱلْحَرَامِ أَن تَعْتَدُوا۟
Let not hatred of people who barred your way to the Sacred Mosque drive you to aggression. (5,2)
وَلَا يَجْرِمَنَّكُمْ شَنَـَٔانُ قَوْمٍ عَلَىٰٓ أَلَّا تَعْدِلُوا۟ ٱعْدِلُوا۟ هُوَ أَقْرَبُ لِلتَّقْوَىٰ
And let not hatred of a people drive you to be unjust. Be just: that is closer to vigilant awareness. (5,8)
يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ كُونُوا۟ قَوَّٰمِينَ بِٱلْقِسْطِ شُهَدَآءَ لِلَّهِ وَلَوْ عَلَىٰٓ أَنفُسِكُمْ أَوِ ٱلْوَٰلِدَيْنِ وَٱلْأَقْرَبِينَ
O you who believe, be resolute agents of equity, witnesses for God, even if it be against yourselves, your parents or your kin. (4,135)
The Arabs used to say: “Help your brother, whether he is unjust or a victim.” The Prophet kept the phrase, but sublimated its meaning. He declared: “Stop him from being unjust: that is what helping him consists in.” (Bukhârî 2444, 6952).
Arabic has another term for clan spirit: ʿaṣabiyya. The Prophet was once asked about it. He replied: “It consists in supporting your people in injustice.” (Abû Dâwûd 5119); one version specifies: “Is it ʿaṣabiyya for a man to love his people? — No; it is for him to help them in injustice.” (Ibn Mâjah 3949, disputed chain).
It is reported that a Meccan Emigrant (muhâjir) and one of the Hosts of Medina (anṣârî) once came to blows, and that each called on his own for reinforcement. The Prophet declared: “What is this call of the jâhiliyya? …” (Bukhârî 4905, Muslim 2584).
Transcending Resentment
And beyond resentment, God envisages the higher way out, that is, the return to affection. Which, He declares, is not everyone’s lot.
عَسَى ٱللَّهُ أَن يَجْعَلَ بَيْنَكُمْ وَبَيْنَ ٱلَّذِينَ عَادَيْتُم مِّنْهُم مَّوَدَّةً
Perhaps God will place affection between you and those whose enemies you were. (60,7)
وَلَا تَسْتَوِى ٱلْحَسَنَةُ وَلَا ٱلسَّيِّئَةُ ٱدْفَعْ بِٱلَّتِى هِىَ أَحْسَنُ فَإِذَا ٱلَّذِى بَيْنَكَ وَبَيْنَهُۥ عَدَٰوَةٌ كَأَنَّهُۥ وَلِىٌّ حَمِيمٌ ﴿٣٤﴾ وَمَا يُلَقَّىٰهَآ إِلَّا ٱلَّذِينَ صَبَرُوا۟ وَمَا يُلَقَّىٰهَآ إِلَّا ذُو حَظٍّ عَظِيمٍ
The good deed and the bad are not equal. Repel evil with what is better; then the one with whom you were at enmity will become like a warm friend. But this [attitude] is granted only to those who show patience, and it is granted only to those who possess an immense share of good. (41,34-35)
God endows the purified and revived heart with a light that dispels the shadows of the surface, and substitutes its inner sight (baṣîra) for its outer sight (baṣar), so that closeness comes to be defined there on the basis of more essential and more universal criteria.
أَوَمَن كَانَ مَيْتًا فَأَحْيَيْنَٰهُ وَجَعَلْنَا لَهُۥ نُورًا يَمْشِى بِهِۦ فِى ٱلنَّاسِ كَمَن مَّثَلُهُۥ فِى ٱلظُّلُمَٰتِ لَيْسَ بِخَارِجٍ مِّنْهَا
Is the one who was dead and whom We brought back to life, to whom We gave a light by which he walks among people, like the one who is plunged in darkness, unable to come out of it? (6,122)
This, then, is the whole path: to strive toward true oneness, that is, to place God, His light and His love above the passions.
أَفَرَءَيْتَ مَنِ ٱتَّخَذَ إِلَٰهَهُۥ هَوَىٰهُ
Have you seen the one who takes his passions as his god? (45,23)
Further reading
- “Believer” and “Unbeliever”: What the Words of the Qur’an Really Say
- “Islâm”: What the Word Really Says
- Does the Qur’an Command Fighting the “Unbelievers”?
- Table of the major tafsirs
Arabic text of the Qur’an: Tanzil Project (CC BY 3.0 licence).