Naturalization and the Rights of Citizens

Abstract

The subject of naturalization, which is an integml part of the concept
of identity and its related problems, has been an issue in the Muslim
world since its filst contacts with western thought, culture, military, and
politics. Even though the matter was decided, in practical terms, by the
emergence of ethnic and geographic nation-states out of the wreckage of
the Ottoman Empire, it remains an open topic at the cultural and academic
levels. In fact, whether it is addressed as a challenge, an excuse,
or as a means to an end, it remains a major and very sensitive question.
As new ethnic and regional Muslim nation-states begin to show signs of
instability, the subject grows more complex: it takes on new aspects of
identity and affiliation and seeks to discover the best way of ordering relations
between the peoples of each region or between them and the (factional,
military, or otherwise) elitist governments controlling them.
With the stirrings of a new Islamic movement and its members' belief
that Islam represents a viable political alternative, the question of naturalization
has become a major challenge to them. In fact, it is often thrown
in their faces by their secularist opponents. Thus the question has become
instrumental in the current political struggle taking place in the Islamic
world. Many Muslim governments cite indigenous non-Muslim minorities
as an excuse to deprive their Muslim majorities, who often represent 98
percent of the total population, of the right to be ruled by the Shari'ah.
These are the same governments that discredit Islamic movements by
viewing their very presence, principles, demands, and objectives as a
threat to national unity. To counteract this "threat," then, they promulgate
"emergency measures" and suspend constitutional legal codes.
Naturalization is the basis of nationalism, which gives identity to the
modem state, and may be defined as an affiliation with a geographically
defined region. Anyone who traces hisher lineage to that region is subject
to all accompanying rights and responsibilities. Thus the bond between
them is secular and worldly. The same is true of bonds between
states, for they are entirely secular and m e a s d in terms of profit and
loss. It is essential that all citizens, regardless of their religious, ethnic or ...