They would define the people living in the Ottoman Empire as the nation of Islam, a concept that signifies adherence to the Islamic faith and therefore includes all Muslims around the world.Based on this definition, they concluded that if Muslims are the people of Islam (ehli islam), then others are the people of the nation (ehli millet). Thus, they changed the semantics of the concept of nation in order to find a concept that corresponded to nationalism (milliyetçilik). Accordingly, the concept of nation (millet) was no longer defined as “religion, Shariah, lifestyle or a certain road taken,” but came to signify the numerical totality of the people belonging to a certain Shariah.
It should be noted that the practice of picking up words or concepts from the Quran or hadith (reports of what the Prophet Muhammad said, did or approved of) may prove more disadvantageous in certain contexts. Indeed, such a word or concept may turn out so extremely alienated or distorted that it is virtually impossible to restore it to its original state. If the concept of nation (millet) had not undergone such a shift in meaning, nationalism (milliyetçilik) could not have easily acquired legitimacy as an ideological or political formation.
The intellectuals of the Muslim world have the misconception that the problems of the age could be easily solved by adapting the concepts imported or copied from the West to Islamic literature. On the contrary, this leads to a severing of ties with both the Western and Islamic sources of information and thought.
For this reason, Muslims are not inclined to develop or improve their own language when they try to make sense of the modern world, and they do not refrain from using concepts as they see fit without further scrutiny. So they may use “religion, Shariah, nation [millet] and community [ummah]” as concepts corresponding to “tribe or nation [ulus].” In this case, while the mindset is in harmony with the nationalist (milliyetçi) ideology, people may oppose nationalism (milliyetçilik) at a discursive level.
The nation (ulus) as relating to modern history and as a political entity, and nationalism (ulusçuluk/milliyetçilik) represent an action of building. The main actor of this act of building is the state. In modern history, first the state emerges and then it starts to build its nation (ulus). The state effectively uses the law, education and the economy in this process.
Of course, the act of building is not restricted to the nationalist (milliyetçi) ideology or the modern state of modern times. It is possible to talk about an act of building in the Islamic context. In the final analysis, the community of Muslims (ummah) signifies an act of building. However, there is a major difference between the act of building by the nation-state and that by Islam. The nation-state is guided by a progressive view of history, repressing all major social realities and entities or transforming them as this is the only way for its survival. On the other hand, in the process of building the community of Muslims (ummah), historical and social realities are accepted as data without denying their existence. The concept of ummah sits on all of them as a sky dome. This dome does not function to repress or deny or assimilate natural tendencies or identities, but ensure that they continue to exist within their national or innocent boundaries. Thus, the ummah by its very nature is pluralistic. Accordingly, the process of ummah building does not include conflicts, but follows a perfectly natural course.
Islam does not approve of any tribal or racial claim to superiority over others (tribal asabiyyah). Tribes or races are realities. It is nonsensical to attempt to discard, fragment and destroy them through coercive or authoritarian policies or modernization policies. Such interventions lead to various social disturbances. Indeed, if you try to destroy a tribe or race, this will start a chain reaction of destruction of clans, families and individuals, disrupting social peace and political union. This is mostly the case when it comes to social fluctuations or unrest experienced in Turkey and the Muslim world.
