ABSTRACT
Theentryfor'Nation'intheInternationalEncyclopediaofthe SocialSciences(1968)assertsthat'nation'isnowacceptedasa centralpoliticalconceptofrecenttimes,andthatitiseither synonymouswithastateoritsinhabitants,orahumangroup boundtogetherbyloyaltyandcommonsolidarity.Thissuggests thatanation-stateisaterritorialentityinwhichthestateiscoextensivewiththenation.Nationalismontheotherhandisthe desiretoformandmaintainastate,andoftenprecedesthe emergenceofthenation,asinFichte'sAddresstotheGerman Nation(1808),thewritingsofArabnationalists,thePhilhellenicmovementandtheItalianRisorgimentointhenineteenthcentury,theAliJinnahcallforaMuslimstateof Pakistaninthe1940s,etc.Nationality,moreover,emergedin northernandwesternEuropebytheeighteenthcentury, securelybasedonacontinuityofpoliticalrulebydynastiesand governingelitesasfarbackastheMiddleAges.Itbecamethe basicdeterminantofpoliticalidentityandloyalty.Insome instances,asinFranceandAmerica,nationandcountryfor purposesofidentityandloyaltyaresynonymous,sothat classifyingpeoplesintonationsandmakingthistheirprimary basisofcorporatepoliticalidentitywasuntilrecentlyaWestern Europeanpractice.ElieKedouriehasarguedthatnationalism isadoctrineinventedinEurope,bywhichhumanitywas dividedintonations,definedbytheirhistory,language,etc., andentitledtoformsovereignstates. 1
WhenthisdoctrinetravelledeastwardsafterNapoleon,or wasimportedintotheMiddleEast,itbecameprecarious, becauseitclashedwitholder,deeperloyalties,andremained insignificantindeterminingpoliticalidentityanddirecting
political loyalty under Islam. A country in Islamic history is a place, and a nation is a people, or the umma, the community determined by religious belief, i.e. the nation of believers. Identity remained based on religious belief and loyalty developed, by force of historical circumstances, to a state, a government, or a ruler.
