Jump to content

Ummah

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the Islamic concept. For the hip hop production collective, seeThe Ummah.
Not to be confused withUmrahorUmma.
Part ofa serieson
Islamism
Fundamentals
Ideologies
Islamic fundamentalism
Concepts
Influences
Movements
Scholastic

Political

Militant

Key texts
Heads of state
Key ideologues
Criticism of Islamism
Related topics

Islam portal

iconPolitics portal
Islam– population ofMuslimsonpercentagebyglobalsubdivisions,2022 estimates

Ummah(/ˈʊmə/;[1]Arabic:أُمَّة[ˈʊm.mæ]) is anArabicword meaning "nation".[citation needed]It is distinguished fromshaʻb(شَعْب[ˈʃæʕb],"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 forummat al-Islām(أمّةْ الإِسْلَامُ,lit.'the Islamic nation'); it is commonly used to mean the collective nation ofIslamic people.[2]In theQuran,theummahtypically 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 ofpan-Islamismand politics, the wordummahcan be used to mean the concept of aCommonwealthof the Muslim Believers(أمة المؤمنينummat al-muʼminīn).

General usage

[edit]

The wordummah(pl.umam[ˈʊmæm]) meansnationinArabic.For example, the Arabic term for the United Nations isالأمم المتحدةal-Umam al-Muttaḥidah,and the termالأمة العربيةal-Ummah al-ʻArabiyyahis used to refer to "the Arab Nation".[5]

The wordummahdiffers 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 شعبshaʻab( "people" ) would be used to describe the citizens ofSyria.However, the termummahis used to describe theArab peopleas a whole, which includesSyriansas well as the people of theArab World.

Islamic usage and origin

[edit]
Further information:Enjoining good and forbidding wrongandMa'ruf

The phraseUmmah Wāhidahin theQuran(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 (معروفMa'rūf,lit. "recognized [as good]" ) and forbidding what is wrong (منكرMunkar,lit. "recognized [as evil]" ) "[3:110].

The usage is further clarified by theConstitution of Medina,an early document said to have been negotiated byMuhammadin CE 622 with the leading clans ofMedina,which explicitly refers to Jews, Christians and pagan citizens of Medina as members of theUmmah.[6][7][8][9]

Emergence

[edit]
Main articles:Muslim worldandCaliphate

At the time ofMuhammad,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 ofIslamemerged 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,Caliphateswere established and theShiaemerged.[11]Caliphates wereIslamic statesunder the leadership of a political successor to the Islamic prophetMuhammad.[12]Thesepolitiesdeveloped into multi-ethnic trans-national empires.[13]

Qur'an

[edit]

There are 62 instances in which the termummahis mentioned in theQur'an,[14]and they almost always refer to ethical, linguistic, or religious bodies of people who are subject to the divine plan of salvation.[3][15]The meaning of the term appears to transform throughout the chronology of the Qur'an.[14]When it is first used in the Qur'an, it is hardly distinguishable from the termqawm,which can be translated to 'people'.[16]The Qur'an recognizes that eachummahhas a messenger that has been sent to relay a divine message to the nation and that allummahs await God's ultimate judgment.[10][15]Although the meaning of theummahbegins simply with a general application of the word, it gradually develops to reference a general religious community and then evolves to specifically refer to the Muslim nation.[14]Before it referred exclusively to Muslims, theummahencompassed Jewish and Christian communities as one with the Muslims and referred to them as thePeople of the Book.[10][15]That is supplemented by theConstitution of Medinawhich declares all members of theummah,regardless of religion, to be of "oneummah".[10]In those passages of the Qur'an,ummahmay be referring to a unity of mankind through the shared beliefs of the monotheistic religions.[14]However, Denny points out that the most recentummahthat receives a messenger from God is the Arabummah.[15]As the Muslims became stronger during their residence in Medina, the Arabummahnarrowed into anummahexclusively for Muslims.[15]That is evidenced by the resacralisation of theKaabaand Muhammad's command to take a pilgrimage to Mecca, along with the redirection of prayer from Jerusalem to Mecca.[15]The period in which the term is used most often is within the Third Meccan Period, followed by the Medinian Period.[15]The extensive use of the term during both time periods indicates that Muhammad had begun to arrive at the concept of theummahto specify the genuine Muslim nation.[15]Furthermore, the early Meccan passages generally equateummahas religion, but in the Medinan passages refer more specifically to the relations ofummahand religion.[15]The final passage that refers toummahin the Qur'an refers to the Muslims as the "best nation" and accordingly led to it being as an exclusive reference to Islam.[15]

A verse in the Qur'an also mentions theummahin the context of all of the messengers[17]and that theirummah(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, yourummah(nation), is oneummah(nation), and I am your Lord, so fear Me. [Qur'an, Surah Al-Mu'minun (The Believers) (23:51–52)]

Mecca

[edit]

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

[edit]

After Muhammad and the first converts to Islam were forced to leaveMecca,the community was welcomed in Medina by the Ansar, a group of Pagans who had converted to Islam.[3][19]Despite Medina already being occupied by numerous Jews and polytheistic tribes, the arrival of Muhammad and his followers provoked no opposition from Medina's residents.[19]Upon arriving in Medina, Muhammad established theConstitution of Medinawith the various tribal leaders in order to form the Meccan immigrants and the Medinan residents into a single nation, theummah.Rather than limiting members of theummahto a single tribe or religious affiliation as had been the case when theummahfirst developed in Mecca, the Constitution of Medina ensured that theummahwas composed of a variety of people and beliefs essentially making it to be supra-tribal.[20]Islamic historian,Tabari,suggested that Muhammad's initial intentions upon arriving in Medina was to establish a mosque, however this is unlikely.[21]Tabari also claimed that Muhammad observed the first Friday prayer in Medina.[22]It occurred on Friday because Friday served as a market day in Medina to enable Jews to observe the sabbath.[22]Membership to theummahwas not restricted to adhering to the Muslim faith but rather encompassed all of the tribes as long as they vowed to recognize Muhammad as the nation and political figure of authority.[21][23]The Constitution of Medina declared that the Jewish tribes and the Muslims from Medina formed 'oneummah.'[10]It is possible that the Medinanummahwas purely secular (compared to the later transformation of theummahin Mecca) due to its variety of beliefs and practices of its members.[21]The purpose of the Constitution of Medina was to uphold political obligations and social relations between the various tribes.[21]The community members in Medina, although not derived from the same faith, were committed to each other through a desire to defend the common good of the nation.[21]In other words, the nation was united according to preserve its shared interests.[21]The people of other religious beliefs, particularly those that are considered to be "People of the Book" were granted the special protection of God through thedhimmahcontract.[10]These other religious groups were guaranteed security by God and Muhammad because of their common religious history as being the "People of the Book."The dhimmah served as a sort of alliance between Muslims and non-Muslims.[10]In the earlier treaties of the dhimmah, both groups were viewed as equal in status and both were obligated to help the other. However, in later treaties, after Islam had gained more power throughout Arabia, the dhimmah was perceived as the fulfilment of the religious duties of Muslims along with the payment of zakat. With the new contract of dhimmah, non-Muslims' protection by God and Muhammad became dependent on their payment.

Constitution of Medina

[edit]

TheConstitution of Medinais 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 anummahor one nation.[25]The wordummahappears again when the document refers to the treaty of the Jews and states that the Yahūd Banī ' Awf, or Jews, are anummahthat exists alongside theummahof the Muslims or may be included in the sameummahas 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 theummahis 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

[edit]

After the Muslim takeover of Mecca, membership in theummahrequired 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 onAbraham.[18]The membership of theummahwas 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

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^"umma".The Chambers Dictionary(9th ed.). Chambers. 2003.ISBN0-550-10105-5.
  2. ^"Rohingyas and the Myth of Ummah".Kashmir Observer.2017-01-05.Retrieved2021-03-30.
  3. ^abcdefHoutsma, M. Th (1987).E.J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913–1936.Brill. pp. 125–126.ISBN9004082654.
  4. ^Houtsma, M. Th. (1987).E.J. Brill's First Encyclopedia of Islam, 1913–1936.E.J. Brill.
  5. ^Team, Almaany."ترجمة و معنى nation في قاموس المعاني. قاموس عربي انجليزي مصطلحات صفحة 1".www.almaany.com.
  6. ^Firestone, Reuven (1999).Jihād:The Origin of Holy War in Islam.New York: Oxford University Press. p. 118.ISBN0195125800.
  7. ^"Muhammad".Encyclopedia of Islam Online.
  8. ^Watt, W. Montgomery (1956).Muhammad at Medina.Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  9. ^Serjeant, R. B. (1964). "The Constitution of Medina".Islamic Quarterly.8:4.
  10. ^abcdefghijklWatt, W. Montgomery (1972).Muhammad at Medina.Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  11. ^Nigosian, Solomon A. (29 January 2004).Islam: Its History, Teaching, and Practices.Indiana University Press. p. 18.ISBN978-0-253-11074-9.
  12. ^Kadi, Wadad; Shahin, Aram A. (2013). "Caliph, caliphate".The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought:81–86.
  13. ^Al-Rasheed, Madawi; Kersten, Carool; Shterin, Marat (11 December 2012).Demystifying the Caliphate: Historical Memory and Contemporary Contexts.Oxford University Press. p. 3.ISBN978-0-19-932795-9.
  14. ^abcdBearman, P.; Th. Bianquis; C.E. Bosworth; E. van Donzel; W.P. Heinrichs (2013). "'Umma'".Encyclopedia of Islam(Second ed.). Brill Online.
  15. ^abcdefghijDenny, Frederick Mathewson (August 1975). "The Meaning of 'Ummah' in the Qur'an".History of Religions.15(1). The University of Chicago Press: 34–70.doi:10.1086/462733.S2CID162244982.
  16. ^Team, Almaany."Translation and Meaning of qawm (people) in English Arabic Dictionary of terms Page 2".www.almaany.com.
  17. ^"Surat Al-Mu'minun [23:51–52] – The Noble Qur'an – القرآن الكريم".legacy.quran.com.
  18. ^abcdefgHodgson, Marshall G. S. (1974).The Venture of Islam: Conscience and History in a World Civilization.Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago.
  19. ^abYe'or, Bat (1985).The Dhimmi: Jews and Christians under Islam.Cranberry, NJ: Associated University Press.
  20. ^Goitein, S.D. (1968).Studies in Islamic History and Institutions.Leiden, Netherlands: E.J. Brill.
  21. ^abcdefgPeters, Francis E.;Esposito, John L.(2006).The children of Abraham: Judaism, Christianity, Islam.Princeton University Press.ISBN978-0-691-12769-9.[permanent dead link]
  22. ^abWatt, W. Montgomery; M.V. McDonald (1987),The History of al-Tabari: The Foundation of the Community,vol. VII, Albany: State University of New York
  23. ^Peters, F.E. (1994).Muhammad and the Origins of Islam.Albany: State University of New York.
  24. ^Esposito, John L. (2004). ""Ummah"".The Islamic World: Past and Present.Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  25. ^abcdefgLecker, Michael (2013). "Constitution of Medina".Encyclopedia of Islam.Three.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ummah&oldid=1231579955"