THE question is simple yet unsettling: is there any Muslim country that grants citizenship to foreigners in the spirit of Islamic brotherhood? The answer is crushing—none.
Across the Muslim world, citizenship is not an act of fraternity but a privilege bound to birth, power or money. Some countries even sell it through investment schemes, while millions of poor Muslims remain stateless and excluded.
And yet, when one looks beyond the Muslim world, the irony is bitter. In many non-Muslim countries, a foreigner who arrives, even illegally, often finds humanitarian corridors, legal protection and a path to settlement. After a certain time, they are given rights equal to natives. These nations, without claiming Islam, practice what Islam once taught: compassion, equality and dignity.
Just yesterday, one of the workers on my agricultural land came to me in tears. He lived with his family in a small house provided for labourers. Now he was being forced to leave for Afghanistan. His family consists of his wife, six daughters and four sons. They have no right of citizenship in Pakistan. His grandfather migrated from Afghanistan decades ago. His father was born in Pakistan. He himself was born here. His children speak Urdu and Punjabi; they have never even seen Afghanistan. Pakistan is the only home they know. Yet in the eyes of the law, they are outsiders. As he prepared to leave, I felt helpless. I could offer him sympathy, but not the one thing he truly deserved—citizenship, dignity and belonging in the country his family served for nearly a century.
Our faith gave us the most beautiful model of migration and brotherhood. When the Last Prophet (PBUH) and his companions migrated to Madinah, the Ansar embraced them as family. They shared homes, split property and even offered marriage ties. They gave preference to others over themselves, a spirit praised in the Qur’an. That was Islamic brotherhood in action. No passports. No suspicion. Only faith, compassion and solidarity.
Contrast that with today’s Muslim States. Millions of workers in the Gulf spend their lives building economies, yet they are denied permanent rights, even for their children born there. Refugees in Muslim lands are restricted and treated as burdens. Citizenship laws are rigid, reserved for the privileged few. The only real path to citizenship in some Muslim countries is through wealth. Brotherhood is sidelined, while money is honoured.
The greater tragedy is that non-Muslim nations often embody the spirit we have abandoned. Refugees in Europe, North America and elsewhere are granted shelter, healthcare, education and eventually citizenship. They are treated as future citizens, not temporary burdens. This is the bitter irony: non-Muslim countries reflect the Islamic spirit of hospitality and justice, while Muslim nations, reciting the Qur’an daily, close their doors.
The question is not only about citizenship, it is about the soul of our Ummah. How did we replace mercy with bureaucracy and brotherhood with exclusivity? Until Muslim nations recover the spirit of Madinah, they will remain behind non-Muslim nations in practicing the very values Islam once taught.
—The writer is former Regional Executive Inclusive Development at NBP, Mirpur AK.
