booke

political islam 479so strongly that in the end they outweighed his former doctrinalcommitment. 143 Similar is the case of al-Kh§ãib b. AbÊ Balta#a afterhis encounter with the Prophet (ß) and his people on the day of theconquest of Mecca. 144We conclude with a few comments that are drawn from the materialwe have presented. Firstly, the different social identities can coexistside by side and no one should be forced to abandon the one forthe other. To accept social identities—beyond those based on bloodrelationship—is a matter of personal choice which should be takenindividually and without force or interference from outside. The waythese different identities are prioritised is also a matter of personalchoice and varies from individual to individual. It has been a greatdanger that Islamist theories of the Islamic umma have tried to constructa unified Islamic identity—solely at the level of community—and to slice off aspects of Muslim-Believers’ other identities, such astheir national and political identities, by defaming them as secondaryor even contradictory to their religio-communal identity. As a seriousconsequence of such misguided theories many Muslim-Believersthought that it is a duty of their religion to show loyalty only to theirreligious community and that a good believer drops all interest (andresponsibility) to their families, nonbelieving friends, neighbourhoods,and schools. In extreme cases Muslim-Believers even turnedto violence against their own people in pursuing the Islamists’ cause—as happened in London, Madrid, Casablanca, Sham El-Sheikh, andAmman. Islamist propaganda made Pakistani youth in Great Britainfeel guilty when they were happily combining their identities of beingBritish, Pakistani, and Muslim-Believers. It confused young Turkishgirls and boys in Germany when they were told that they should feelfirst and foremost as Muslim-Believers and that loyalty to German143#Abdall§h b. ArÊqaã was one of the party of four (Prophet MuÈammad, AbåBakr, Ibn Fuhayra) that fled from Mecca to Yathrib in 622. Ibn ArÊqaã rode thecamel that also carried the Prophet, while Abå Bakr and his servant Ibn Fuhayrarode on the second camel. Ibn ArÊqaã’s status as a non-Muslim is particularly interestingbecause it meant that the Prophet completely trusted the service of a nonfollower;in Islamic fiqh this became a prophetical precedence for the permission forMuslims to do trade and commerce with non-Muslims.144According to the SÊra literature, al-Kh§ãib b. AbÊ Balta#a betrayed the Prophetas a favour to his old tribe by sending a letter to the Quraysh in Mecca in which hewarned them that MuÈammad was about to invade their city in 630. The letter wascaught and Balta#a summoned to the Prophet (ß) who, however, forgave Balta#a thelatter’s betrayal of trust.