Islam's Reformers .pdf

nation. We have already said that men should live in society inorder to protect the rights which one cannot gain by himself.Living in a society requires reciprocal help and sacrifice. Let usstudy the matter to see whether one would rather sacrifice one’slife for one’s religion or for one’s nation.A nationalist may think this way: the feeling of dying for thenation should be in common. It should be considered aninjustice for one person to die while another person enjoysliving. The profit of the nation is necessary for my own profit. If Isacrifice myself in that way, I will be sacrificing the real purposefor the sake of the means. I, first of all, think of myself. I cannotsacrifice myself for another person. If self-sacrifice is forreceiving fame and reputation, who on earth wants to beannihilated for temporary fame and honour? No one knows onwhat hill and in what dale the soldiers who, in an army ofmillions, died for their nation, are, and their names have beenwiped out from the hearts of people. Those men sacrificed theirpossessions along with their lives. To be more clear, they are,on their account, in a pitiable condition, rather than beingpraiseworthy. If the self-sacrifice I would render for the nationwould not be appreciated and, in addition, if I would be deemedguilty because of those who envy me, what would become ofme?In nationalism, there is no thoughtful or logical reason thatforms the power of self-sacrifice in man. Nor can self-sacrificebased on unreasonable feelings receive its reward. Especiallythe progressives and exploiters, who govern the nation, willnever sacrifice their lives for the sake of such feelings. Ithappened so in communist countries. As it was witnessed in theSecond World War, those who had fought in the battlefield andwon honour were executed by shooting when they came backlest they might seize the power. As for the people, they do nothave the idea of sacrificing their lives for one another. Thefeeling and mania of nationalism in reformers, who try to imitateEuropeans to the extent of adoration and who suppose theirevery idea, every deed to be the very truth and the veryhappiness, are, imitative in this mania as well. Men haveadhered to the occupational, professional and sectional bonds,i.e. to nationalism, which they invented with their minds andthoughts, more firmly than they have to racialism. If we putaside the swindler politicians who use nationalism as a means- 94 -