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480chapter sixsociety is a betrayal to their religion. It misled so many FrenchMuslim-Believers who heard from their Islamist Imams that theirloyalty should be only with their fighting brothers in the Muslimworld rather than with the country in which they were born andbred. The Islamists want us to have one single identity behind whichthey can nurture their dreams of a totalitarian society in which pluralityis suppressed and otherness eradicated. This fundamentallycontradicts the teachings of the Book which allows us to possess multipleidentities and to live a mode of existence where both Muslim-Assenters and Muslim-Believers overcome repressive forms of singleidentities. The Prophet (ß) himself acted successfully on the basis ofseveral identities: he belonged to the smaller clan of the Banå #Abdal-Muããalib and the wider clan of the Banå H§shim; his tribe wasthat of the Quraish; he belonged to the Arab people (qaum), whilehis nation (sha#b) was, after his hijra from Mecca, the people ofMedina, which included both believers and nonbelievers (e.g., Jews);and finally he founded the state in Medina where Muslim-Believerswho followed his prophethood and attested his messengerhood constitutedthe umma that existed inside his multireligious state. Today,people can follow the example of the Prophet (ß) by accepting thepossibility of multiple identities. As a Turkish Muslim-Believer inGermany, an Arab Muslim-Believer in France, or a Pakistani Muslim-Believer in Great Britain one follows the example of the Prophet (ß)by protecting first and foremost the welfare and safety of the countryin which one has gained citizenship. Loyalty to the state—and thisincludes the right to fiercely criticise its government and administration—isa matter of absolute priority. As the example of MuÈammad’sfirst state shows, such loyalty does not eliminate or even diminishloyalty to one’s cultural tradition (language and customs), ethnicroots, or religious beliefs. The Prophet (ß) would not have accepteda Muslim-Believer who risked the welfare and safety of the state byexclusively adhering to religion and completely ignoring otherloyalties.Fortunately, more and more young Muslim-Believers in Europerealise that the exclusivist ideology of al-Q§#ida and other Islamistgroups have driven them unnecessarily to the brink of high treasonwhen they were asked to place loyalty to their religion above loyaltyto their home nation. They now realise that Allah’s Book wants theminstead to negotiate the sometimes difficult and often ambiguousrelationship between religious and other identities and not combat