Islam and its impact on enhancing inclusive citizenship

Citizenship means enjoying civil rights associated with nationality, including the right to vote in elections, the right to candidacy, and the exercise of public freedoms related to political participation and holding public offices in state institutions. Originally, the concept of citizenship is theoretically linked to democracy, and the glorification of citizenship reappeared with the American and French revolutions, falling into a framework of a dual perspective based on opposition to dynastic rule. Moreover, the major symbolic concepts of citizenship include equality, responsibility, and independence of opinion. A citizen is a person who enjoys full civil and political rights in the state of which they hold citizenship.

According to Ibn Manzur in "Lisan al-Arab," the homeland is the place where one resides, and it is the person's habitat and dwelling. It is said: So-and-so's homeland is such-and-such land, meaning that he has taken it as a place and a residence where he resides. Hence, the phrase "settling" on the land emerged, meaning making it a homeland. Regardless of the various linguistic and intellectual interpretations of the homeland, it remains linked to residing in a specific land, which may be imposed by life circumstances, migration, and work.

Therefore, a citizen is no longer just an individual living by chance in the homeland, because the term "citizen" has become associated with legal, political, and social meanings with the development of the concept of the state, political and constitutional systems. The term also signifies the existence of bonds and determinants linking it to the emerging state in a homeland.

The pressing question today is: What is Islam's stance on citizenship in terms of concept and practice? What are the rights that Islam has enshrined for citizens (Muslims and non-Muslims) in Islamic states and societies? To what extent do European and American declarations of rights align or diverge from Islamic values and principles regarding freedoms and general rights? And are these concepts, or some of them, considered Islamic in terms of theory and application?

To answer these questions and others, we provide some excerpts from the document written by the Prophet, peace be upon him, in Medina, comprising forty-seven articles (47) that confirm beyond doubt that what the parchment stipulates as general principles have become rules and laws followed, and continue to be followed, by the constitutions of European and American states after the American and French revolutions, in order to protect freedoms, uphold the right to participation, achieve diversity, recognize the other, and ultimately, strive for equality and social justice.

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