Tribalism and the dangers of depending on it

Author: Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisī - MAY ALLAH HASTEN HIS RELEASE - ALLAH HUMA AMEEN

Allāh the Exalted said to His Prophet,
﴿أَلَمْ يَجِدْكَ يَتِيماً فَآوَى﴾
Did He not find you an orphan and gave you a refuge? [al-Duhaa, verse 6]

Meaning: He granted you refuge with your disbelieving grandfather, and then your disbelieving uncle who protected you, helped you, defended you and prevented the harm of your people from reaching you.

Allāh the Exalted said about the enemies of His Prophet Shu‘ayb, whose family were disbelievers,
﴿وَلَوْلاَ رَهْطُكَ لَرَجَمْنَاكَ﴾
Were it not for your family, we should certainly have stoned you." [Hood, verse 91]

Allāh the Exalted said about the Prophet of Allāh Sālih and his near relatives who were defending him,
﴿قَالُواتَقَاسَمُوا بِاللَّهِ لَنُبَيِّتَنَّهُ وَأَهْلَهُ ثُمَّ لَنَقُولَنَّ لِوَلِيِّهِ مَا شَهِدْنَامَهْلِكَ أَهْلِهِ وَإِنَّا لَصَادِقُونَ﴾
They said: "Swear one to another by Allāh that we shall make a secret night attack on him and his household, and afterwards we will surely say to his near relatives: 'We witnessed not the destruction of his household, and verily! We are telling the truth.'" [al-Naml, verse 49]

There is no blame upon the caller or Mujāhid if his disbelieving people help him, or his tribe and family defend him due to their tribalistic feelings.

Nor is there blame upon him if he benefits from the support of his people due to their nationalism or ties of lineage, as long as he himself does not base his allegiance (walā’), disalliance (barā’) and love on these pre-Islamic ties.

The same ruling applies to him being defended and supported by nationalists, human rights activitists, democratics, or others who follow a path other than that of Islām; or to him being supported, defended or served by representatives of non-Muslim international organizations – crusader organizations or regular ones – who openly strive to reduce the oppression; in this case there is no blame on him as long as he disavows and distances himself from their deviant methodologies and disbelieving creed, and does not praise or support them, and he makes it clear that he opposes them in these aspects.

But what is never permissible for him, and what we want to alert and warn against, is that he should never feel things like tribal loyalty towards (them), nor should he ever rely on their backing and trust in them. It is not blameworthy upon the Muslim if Allāh employs such situations for his benefit at a specific time or in specific circumstances, but he should not rely upon them or incline towards them from the onset, for they are destructive landslides. I have lived among such people, and advised them, but few are those to accept the advice.

I gave them my advise about their crookedness
But they showed no guidance before the ‘morrow’s morn.

Among them are youths moved by their zeal. They have studied neither the Sharī‘ah or reality. They have newly begun practicing the religion and have not yet rid themselves of the arrogance, pride, and tribalism of their pre-Islamic days, such that some of them even consider it shameful, cowardly, and disgraceful to be secret and discrete. Others are forced by the tribal set-up in which they live to proclaim that they are carrying automatic weapons or bombs that they roam about with in their cars here and there, showing them to this person and that person; they think it is a trivial matter to blab to everyone about how they dream and hope to kill Americans and destroy the American military bases in their lands. They then become astonished at how the enemies of Allāh ask him about these things when they interrogate him, and he wonders how they knew about it?! How did they hear about it?! He will then put it down to their developed abilities, technological means, spies, etc.

But he will never attribute it to his own negligence, foolishness, and slips.

How many times did I remind the likes of these people and exhort them not to rely on the promises made by the tyrants that they would turn a blind eye to their families and their possession of weapons? (And I reminded them) that they (i.e. the tyrants) only do this as long as they remain clearly loyal to the state. And in some states, the tyrants even gift gilded, ornated weapons to the tribal elders and leaders, but it is only to tell them that this weapon should only be used to help the state and consolidate the thrones of the tyrants, and for as long as the tribe or the clan is one of them and their loyalty lies with them.

But if a member of the tribe changes his loyalty to Islām and the Muslims, becomes a supporter of the religion, makes his enmity to the tyrants clear, and declares himself free of his allies, or strives to fight the Western or Eastern oppressive leaders, then in this case the scales will tip and the affairs will be overturned, and the tyrants will bare their teeth to the person – and even his whole tribe if it thinks about protecting or defending him. But how can it be otherwise when many of the oppressors turned against those closest to them when the truth came out - some distanced their fathers, betrayed their brothers or brushed aside their close ones aside for the sake of their personal benefit, the benefit of their organization, or for the benefit of their superiors – so does it make sense for a clan or tribe to stand as a real obstacle to him, or even a mere hindrance?

In reality, this matter is well-known, and it is also clear in the life of the Prophet for the Quraysh turned against him even though he was among the best of them and his fathers were the most noble of its people, when he showed that he was free of their religion and displayed his enmity to their gods and ridiculed them – so the Quraysh thought nothing of their tribal ties and even turned against them, laid siege to Banū Hishām in the mountains, boycotted them and harmed them.

Thus the tyrants in every age rely on tribes to consolidate their thrones, and they turn a blind eye to many transgressions and acts of disobedience by these tribes as long as they are loyal to them and side with them. But if they think of supporting some of the people who oppose the oppressors - and this is rare in our times – then at this time the oppressors will not care for them, and indeed they will destroy them and violate their honour, as though the ruler was not pampering them the previous day. People have lived through this in our lands and have seen how entire villages and towns have been destroyed, and how their lands become fields of battle stormed by armored vehicles and bombed by airplanes if they try to grant shelter to some of their people and refuse to hand them over to the state. I used to hear the enemies of Allāh cursing those youth and their clan with the filthiest words and phrases and saying, “We have certain red lines – if you cross them then do not bother to inquire after your clan or anyone else.”

Undoubtedly, one of the most important red lines – before even harming their thrones – is that a person tries to harm the security of their American leaders.

Do not then be astonished after entire towns are destroyed, that these clans then emerge proclaiming their loyalty to the government and their alliance to their policies by declaring themselves free of those who revolt against it and oppose its laws - even if they are the most noble of the tribe’s children - for this is a time of subservience and defeat.

Has the time not come for our brothers to take heed of this lesson; to strip themselves of their pre-Islamic arrogance, (and to stay away from) relying on tribalism or having good thoughts about it? Or to reflect on the reality of this path and the nature of this da‘wah, and to realize that there are differences between people and a difference between the right and wrong, each with its own understanding, and each with their own ties between them?
The ties of pre-Islām cannot stand against them and withhold their responsibility.

So it is not permissible for an intelligent person to rely on them, depend on their backing, or incline towards them.