Nationality in Islam

One of the important issues in Islamic private international law is ‘nationality’ and the relation between ‘person’ and ‘Islamic government’. The relation according to which ‘person’ is regarded as a member of population governed by this government creates rights and obligations for ‘person’. Though, in customary law, nationality is based on the relation between ‘person’ and a certain ‘government’ and its scope is specified by geographical borders, in Islamic rules and laws, nationality has a more extensive sense and its basis is acceptance of Islam (nationality based on faith) or acceptance of Islamic government (contractual nationality). In other words, according to Islamic rules, those will be regarded as citizens of an Islamic government who have converted to Islam or accepted Islamic government and its rules and laws through a contract they have concluded with the leader of Muslims or one of Muslims. This has caused some differences between the nature of nationality according to Islamic rules and laws on the one hand and what that is included in customary law on the other. In this study, the authors try to study ‘nationality’ which has not been so discussed in works of jurists so that it may be clarified who are regarded as citizens of the Islamic government according to Islamic jurisprudence.