What is the ruling on the verse in the song that says, "Allah is the First, then glorify my country"?
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The questioner : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
May Allah guide you and preserve you, O honorable Shaykh. What is your opinion of the poet who says in the song that is broadcast:
"Allah is the First, then I glorify my country." Is there anything wrong with this verse?
The Shaykh : Allah is the First
The questioner : Then I glorify my country
The Shaykh : Then I glorify my country. Yes, I do not see anything wrong with this verse. If he says, "Allah is the First," he means that Allah is before everything, and this includes religion, because religion is the right of Allah. So if he says, "Allah is the First," he means that Allah, His Shari'ah, what must be believed in, and what must be acted upon are before everything, and then the country comes after that. There is nothing wrong with this. However, I say that it is obligatory for a person not to be fanatical about his country just because it is his country. The Muhajirun migrated from their land, from Makkah, which is the best of the earth's regions, and they left their families and their wealth seeking the pleasure of Allah, and they did not become fanatical about the land. But one who is fanatical about his country because it is an Islamic country, not because he was born in it and lived in it, there is nothing wrong with that. As for one who is fanatical about the country because it is his country, there is something of the tribalism of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance in that. Yes.
May Allah guide you and preserve you, O honorable Shaykh. What is your opinion of the poet who says in the song that is broadcast:
"Allah is the First, then I glorify my country." Is there anything wrong with this verse?
The Shaykh : Allah is the First
The questioner : Then I glorify my country
The Shaykh : Then I glorify my country. Yes, I do not see anything wrong with this verse. If he says, "Allah is the First," he means that Allah is before everything, and this includes religion, because religion is the right of Allah. So if he says, "Allah is the First," he means that Allah, His Shari'ah, what must be believed in, and what must be acted upon are before everything, and then the country comes after that. There is nothing wrong with this. However, I say that it is obligatory for a person not to be fanatical about his country just because it is his country. The Muhajirun migrated from their land, from Makkah, which is the best of the earth's regions, and they left their families and their wealth seeking the pleasure of Allah, and they did not become fanatical about the land. But one who is fanatical about his country because it is an Islamic country, not because he was born in it and lived in it, there is nothing wrong with that. As for one who is fanatical about the country because it is his country, there is something of the tribalism of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance in that. Yes.