Ummah
Ummah (, "people"), which means a nation with common ancestry or geography. Thus, it can be said to be a supra-national nation with a common history.
It is a synonym for ummat al-Islām (أمّةْ الإِسْلَامُ, lit. 'the Islamic nation'); it is commonly used to mean the collective nation of Islamic people.[2] In the Quran, the ummah typically refers to a single group that shares common religious beliefs, specifically those that are the objects of a divine plan of salvation.[3][4] In the context of pan-Islamism and politics, the word ummah can be used to mean the concept of a Commonwealth of the Muslim Believers (أمة المؤمنين ummat al-muʼminīn).
General usage
The word ummah (pl. umam [ˈʊmæm]) means nation in Arabic. For example, the Arabic term for the United Nations is الأمم المتحدة al-Umam al-Muttaḥidah, and the term الأمة العربية al-Ummah al-ʻArabiyyah is used to refer to "the Arab Nation".[5]
The word ummah differs from the concept of a country or people. In its greater context it is used to describe a larger group of people. For example, in Arabic the word شعب shaʻab ("people") would be used to describe the citizens of
Islamic usage and origin
The phrase Ummah Wāhidah in the Quran (أمة واحدة, "One Nation") refers to all the Islamic world as it existed at the time. The Quran says: "You [Muslims] are the best nation brought out for Mankind, commanding what is righteous (معروف Ma'rūf, lit. "recognized [as good]") and forbidding what is wrong (منكر Munkar, lit. "recognized [as evil]")" [3:110].
The usage is further clarified by the Constitution of Medina, an early document said to have been negotiated by Muhammad in CE 622 with the leading clans of Medina, which explicitly refers to Jews, Christians and pagan citizens of Medina as members of the Ummah.[6][7][8][9]
Emergence
At the time of Muhammad, before the conception of the ummah, Arab communities were typically governed by kinship.[10] In other words, the political ideology of the Arabs centred on tribal affiliations and blood-relations.[10] In the midst of a tribal society, the religion of Islam emerged and along with it the concept of the ummah. The ummah emerged according to the idea that a messenger or prophet has been sent to a nation.[3] Unlike earlier messengers, who had been sent to various nations in the past (as can be found among the Prophets in the Old Testament), Muhammad sought to develop an ummah that was universal and not only for Arabs.[3] Muhammad saw his purpose as the transmission of a divine message and the leadership of the Islamic nation.[3] Islam sees Muhammad as the messenger to the ummah, transmitting a divine message, and implying that God is directing the life affairs of the ummah.[10] Accordingly, the purpose of the ummah was to be based on religion by following the commands of God, rather than kinship.[10]
Immediately after Muhammad's death in 632,
Qur'an
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There are 62 instances in which the term ummah is mentioned in the
A verse in the Qur'an also mentions the ummah in the context of all of the messengers[17] and that their ummah (nation) of theirs is one, and God is their Lord entirely:
O messengers, eat from the good foods and work righteousness. Indeed, I, of what you do, am Knowing. And indeed this, your ummah (nation), is one ummah (nation), and I am your Lord, so fear Me. [Qur'an, Surah Al-Mu'minun (The Believers) (23:51–52)]
Mecca
Initially, it did not appear that the new Muslim nation would oppose the tribes that already existed in Mecca.[18] The first Muslims did not need to make a break with traditional Quraysh customs since the vision for the new nation included moral norms that were not unfamiliar to the tribal society of Mecca.[18] However, what distinguished this community from the tribes was its focus of the place of those morals within a person's life.[18]
Medina
After Muhammad and the first converts to Islam were forced to leave
Constitution of Medina
The Constitution of Medina is a document created by Muhammad to regulate social and political life in Medina.[24] It deals with various tribal issues such as the organization and leadership of the participating tribal groups, warfare, blood money, ransom of captives, and war expenditures.[25] It is at the beginning of the document that the Muslims from the Quraysh (those from Mecca) and the Muslims from Yathrib (those from Medina) are declared to be an ummah or one nation.[25] The word ummah appears again when the document refers to the treaty of the Jews and states that the Yahūd Banī ' Awf, or Jews, are an ummah that exists alongside the ummah of the Muslims or may be included in the same ummah as the Muslims.[25] The document does state that the Jews who join the Muslims will receive aid and equal rights.[25] In addition, the Jews will be guaranteed security from the Muslims, and are granted to maintain their own religion just as the Muslims will maintain theirs.[25] This implies that the ummah is not strictly a religious nation in Medina.[10] The Constitution of Medina lists the various Medinan tribes derived from the Aws and Khazraj as well as the several Jewish tribes that are granted to keep their tribal organization and leadership.[25] The document also reveals that each group, the Muslims and the Jews, is responsible for its own finances except during time of war, when the two are able to share expenses.[10][25]
Back to Mecca
After the Muslim takeover of Mecca, membership in the ummah required a commitment to Islam.[21] This happened as a result of Islam beginning to distinguish itself not just from Paganism but also Judaism and Christianity by emphasizing a model of nation based on Abraham.[18] The membership of the ummah was now based on two main principles; the first is to worship God alone and secondly, in order to worship God properly one must be in a guided nation.[18]
The essentials of the new society were the new relations between human beings and God and between human beings and one another. The society was held together by the Prophet. Feuding among Muslim clans was forbidden.[18] Muhammad's nation was designed to transform the world itself through action in the world.[18]
See also
- Caliphate
- Constitution of Medina
- Divisions of the world in Islam
- Islamic missionary activity
- Kafir
- List of countries by Muslim population
- Muslim population growth
- Muslim world
- Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
- Pan-Islamism
References
- ISBN 0-550-10105-5.
- ^ "Rohingyas and the Myth of Ummah". Kashmir Observer. 2017-01-05. Retrieved 2021-03-30.
- ^ ISBN 9004082654.
- ^ Houtsma, M. Th. (1987). E.J. Brill's First Encyclopedia of Islam, 1913–1936. E.J. Brill.
- ^ Team, Almaany. "ترجمة و معنى nation في قاموس المعاني. قاموس عربي انجليزي مصطلحات صفحة 1". www.almaany.com.
- ISBN 0195125800.
- ^ "Muhammad". Encyclopedia of Islam Online.
- ^ Watt, W. Montgomery (1956). Muhammad at Medina. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
- ^ Serjeant, R. B. (1964). "The Constitution of Medina". Islamic Quarterly. 8: 4.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Watt, W. Montgomery (1972). Muhammad at Medina. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
- ISBN 978-0-253-11074-9.
- ^ Kadi, Wadad; Shahin, Aram A. (2013). "Caliph, caliphate". The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought: 81–86.
- ISBN 978-0-19-932795-9.
- ^ a b c d Bearman, P.; Th. Bianquis; C.E. Bosworth; E. van Donzel; W.P. Heinrichs (2013). "'Umma'". Encyclopedia of Islam (Second ed.). Brill Online.
- ^ S2CID 162244982.
- ^ Team, Almaany. "Translation and Meaning of qawm (people) in English Arabic Dictionary of terms Page 2". www.almaany.com.
- ^ "Surat Al-Mu'minun [23:51–52] – The Noble Qur'an – القرآن الكريم". legacy.quran.com.
- ^ a b c d e f g Hodgson, Marshall G. S. (1974). The Venture of Islam: Conscience and History in a World Civilization. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago.
- ^ a b Ye'or, Bat (1985). The Dhimmi: Jews and Christians under Islam. Cranberry, NJ: Associated University Press.
- ^ Goitein, S.D. (1968). Studies in Islamic History and Institutions. Leiden, Netherlands: E.J. Brill.
- ^ ]
- ^ a b Watt, W. Montgomery; M.V. McDonald (1987), The History of al-Tabari: The Foundation of the Community, vol. VII, Albany: State University of New York
- ^ Peters, F.E. (1994). Muhammad and the Origins of Islam. Albany: State University of New York.
- ^ Esposito, John L. (2004). ""Ummah"". The Islamic World: Past and Present. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- ^ a b c d e f g Lecker, Michael (2013). "Constitution of Medina". Encyclopedia of Islam. Three.
External links
- The definition of 'Ummah' is the unity of the Muslims (archived 20 October 2007)
- Online Islamic Learning Resource