Nationalism and Islam: Perspective of Egyptian and Syrian Muslim intellectuals

Abstract

The problem of the relationship between nationalism and Islam has historically revealed dynamic discourses, but seems to have gained little attention. This problem is important not only in understanding the modern discourse on Islam and nationalism but also in promoting a dialogue between Islam and the West. This paper attempts to show how the best known of Muslim intellectuals from Egypt and Syria during the 19th and first half of the 20th century, managed to fuse Islamic concepts and nationalism together into a single, unified discourse. This paper approaches the question in two different ways. In order to provide a context, the first section reviews how nationalism emerged and influenced the Muslims. The next section studies how Muslim intellectuals have responded to foreign ideas in general and nationalism in particular, and how some of them have attempted to work out a compromise between nationalism and Islam.