Borders between peoples have become a fact of life of our times. This is a fact that is blindly accepted. From childhood we are presented with a divided world, where the map is a mosaic of different colours representing separate Nation States. In adulthood this is reinforced as we unquestioningly accept the need to apply for visas when making the Hajj to Mecca, or visiting relatives in Tajekistan, or when we are told that only an Iranian can be the leader of the so called ‘Islamic’ Republic of Iran. This issue is further emphasised when for example, we see on the television that according to international law, Muslims from Pakistan are ‘foreigners’ in Somalia.

Yet it is this self-same fact of today’s world order that leads to immeasurable misery. In this world of divided nations, jealousies emerge and damaging competitions appear. Europe is scarred by wars ravaged as one nation seeks to dominate others. The world nations struggle with each other, and new nations have their bloody birth within other nations. The world is full of divided nations even if we bestow on them the token title of ‘United Nations’.

Allah (swt) says,

“O human beings! We created you from a pair male and female, and We fashioned you into tribes and races that you may recognise each other, indeed the best amongst you is the one who is most conscious of Allah.” [TMQ 49:13]

In the framework of the Khilafah, Islam questions the issue of divided nations. For in the Khilafah, Muslims and non-Muslims that accept to live under the ideology of Islam would never be divided on racial grounds. This seems strange in a world where those in the West who share a love for democracy find themselves divided as a myriad of competing nations and races.

Under Islam the world has witnessed, and Inshallah will witness again, a land without borders. Peoples of different races will be standing together as one. Under Islam there was no Israel to fight Egypt, there was no Iran to fight Iraq or vice-versa - all these lands were one land.