A Facebook page that claims to have been founded by a group of students from Jamia Milia Islamia has declared that the chant “La ilaha illallah Muhammadur Rasulullah” is against Nationalism. The group called ‘Students of Jamia’ (SOJ) claimed this while sharing a post by another Facebook page called ‘Al Haya Min Allah’ (AHMA). As per its description, SOJ is a “group of JMI students determined to stand against all injustices, and strive towards achieving justice and righteousness.”

The original post from AHMA which SOJ appears to endorse says, “Nationalism is a ridiculous ideology even when thought from a purely rational point of view. It’s a view that divides people on the basis of a completely arbitrary standard and something that the individual has no control over – his/her place of birth.”

“Nationalism forces people inside one walled piece of land to have brotherhood for one another and espouse enmity against those on the other side of the wall whom he/she has never met,” it adds.

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AHMA states, “Nationalism promotes the worship of nation based on man made boundaries. It becomes the taghut that decides what is right or wrong, obligates it’s citizens to have unconditional loyalty to it, its army, its flag etc.” The page quotes Muhammad Iqbal to claim, “Of all the new false gods, the biggest is the motherland (watan), The garment of this idea is actually the death-shroud of religion.”

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The post by SOJ appears consistent with the ideology of Sharjeel Imam who, too, believes that nationalism is ‘shirk’. Sharjeel Imam is the mastermind of the anti-CAA Shaheen Bagh protests who had called for North East India to be cut off from the rest of the country and is now lodged in prison. The SOJ’s ideology also appears consistent with that of the Islamic Youth Federation (IYF), Sharjeel Imam’s link to which is being probed by investigative agencies.

The IYF believes that ‘La ilaaha illallaah’ translates to “There is no God and sovereign except Allah”. The image in the post shared by SOJ also states, “The concept of nationalism is against the concept of AL-WALA WAL-BARA (love and hate for the sake of Allah) which is the very fundamental of Tawheed which Islam gave to its people.”