Press Release
Institutional Racism is a Feature of Nationalism

The Church of England is about to apologise to the many migrants to Britain who faced hostility due to their ethnicity, known as the Windrush Generation. The Archbishop of Canterbury said he was ashamed of the Church’s history and that it was still deeply institutionally racist.

Britain itself is still deeply institutionally racist, with its official church merely a reflection of that. The unnatural division of the people throughout the world according to their birthplace is the nationalist foundation of the world under the Capitalist hegemony. The secularists in Europe divided themselves along nationalist lines and have fought endless bloody battles and wars to assert themselves over each other. Then they imposed their nationalistic values on the rest of the world, as a way to subdue it and make it serve the narrow national interests of whichever colonial master had the upper hand on any given day.

Nationalism is the root cause of all institutional racism today. National unity is a contradiction in terms, as it is a divisive ideal which only ever leads to further division as one group asserts its superiority over another.

British institutions are inextricably linked to the nationalism of the past and present. Immigrants to Britain will always be treated with hostility, for as long as people identify themselves primarily along national and ethnic lines.

Islam does not promote nationalist, tribal, racial or ethnic division. Instead Islam unifies all people, as there are no indigenous and minority citizens in the Islamic State that is founded on the way of Prophethood, as all people are equal citizens, regardless of their background.

On many occasions the Prophet (saw) would emphasise how rotten nationalism is, in his words and actions. He (saw) said:

«لَيْسَ مِنَّا مَنْ دَعَا إِلَى عَصَبِيَّةٍ، وَلَيْسَ مِنَّا مَنْ قَاتَلَ عَلَى عَصَبِيَّةٍ، وَلَيْسَ مِنَّا مَنْ مَاتَ عَلَى عَصَبِيَّةٍ»

“He is not one of us who calls of ‘asabiyyah (Nationalism) or who fights for ‘asabiyyah or who dies for ‘asabiyyah.”

In his last sermon, the Prophet (saw) declared:

«أيها الناس، إن ربكم واحد، وإن أباكم واحد، كلكم لآدم، وآدم من تراب، إن أكرمكم عند الله أتقاكم، ليس لعربي فضل على أعجمي إلا بالتقوى»

“O people! Your Lord is One, and your father is one. You all belong to Adam, and Adam was made of clay. No Arab is to be preferred over a non-Arab except by virtue of his piety.”

Yahya Nisbet
Media Representative of Hizb ut Tahrir in Britain