Ummah

{{Short description|Arabic term used to refer to the collective nation of Muslim people}} {{About|the Islamic concept| the hip hop production collective|The Ummah}} {{Distinguish|Umrah|Umma}} {{Islamism sidebar|Concepts}} {{Italic title}} '''''{{Transliteration|ar|ALA-LC|Ummah}}''''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ʊ|m|ə}};<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Chambers Dictionary|publisher=Chambers|year=2003|isbn=0-550-10105-5|edition=9th|chapter=umma}}</ref> {{langx|ar|أُمَّة}} {{IPA|ar|ˈʊm.mæ|}}) is an Arabic word meaning Muslim identity, nation, religious community, or the concept of a commonwealth of the Muslim believers ({{lang|ar|أمة المؤمنين}} ''{{Transliteration|ar|ALA-LC|ummat al-muʼminīn}}'').<ref name="commonwealth"/> It is a synonym for ''{{Transliteration|ar|ALA-LC|ummat al-Islām}}'' ({{lang|ar|أمّةْ الإِسْلَامُ}}, <small>lit.</small> 'the Islamic nation'); it is commonly used to mean the collective community of Muslim people.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2017-01-05|title=Rohingyas and the Myth of Ummah|url=https://kashmirobserver.net/2017/01/05/rohingyas-and-the-myth-of-ummah/|access-date=2021-03-30|website=Kashmir Observer|language=en-US}}</ref> In the Quran, the ''ummah'' generally refers to a community, people, or group united by shared beliefs.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopaedia-of-the-quran-6-volumes-jane-dammen-mc-auliffe/page/n181/mode/2up?q=umma |title=Encyclopaedia Of The Qur’an ( 6 Volumes)}}</ref> The Quran uses the term in multiple contexts, including nations, religious communities, and communities associated with prophets.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Surah Ali 'Imran - 110 |url=https://quran.com/ali-imran/110 |access-date=2026-05-10 |website=Quran.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Surah Yunus - 47 |url=https://quran.com/yunus/47 |access-date=2026-05-10 |website=Quran.com |language=en}}</ref> The word ''ummah'' (pl. ''umam'' {{IPA|ar|ˈʊmæm|}}) means nation in Arabic. For example, the Arabic term for the United Nations is {{lang|ar|الأمم المتحدة}} {{Transliteration|ar|al-Umam al-Muttaḥidah}}, and the term {{lang|ar|الأمة العربية}} {{Transliteration|ar|al-Ummah al-ʻArabiyyah}} is used to refer to "the Arab Nation".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.almaany.com/ar/dict/ar-en/nation/|title=ترجمة و معنى nation في قاموس المعاني. قاموس عربي انجليزي مصطلحات صفحة 1|first=Almaany|last=Team|website=www.almaany.com}}</ref>

Ummah is distinguished from ''{{Transliteration|ar|ALA-LC|shaʻb}}'' ({{lang|ar|شَعْب}} {{IPA|ar|ˈʃæʕb|}}, "people"), which means a nation with common ancestry or geography. 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 ''{{Transliteration|ar|ALA|shaʻab}}'' ("people") would be used to describe the citizens of Syria. However, the term ''ummah'' is used to describe the Arab people as a whole, which includes Syrians as well as the people of the Arab world. Ummah can be a supra-national polity with a common history and identity based on religion. Pan-Islamism advocates for the unity of Muslims in one nation as an Islamic country or an Islamic state.<ref name="commonwealth">{{cite news|url=http://www.aucegypt.edu/GAPP/mesc/Documents/Barqiyya%20feb.04.pdf|newspaper=BARQIYYA|title=Ottomanism, Pan-Islamism, and the Caliphate; Discourse at the Turn of the 20th Century|publisher=American University in Cairo: The Middle East Studies Program|last=Bissenove|date=February 2004|volume=9|issue=1|access-date=April 26, 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923180140/http://www.aucegypt.edu/GAPP/mesc/Documents/Barqiyya%20feb.04.pdf|archive-date=September 23, 2015}}</ref>

==Islamic usage and origin== {{Further|Enjoining good and forbidding wrong|Ma'ruf}} The phrase ''{{Transliteration|ar|ALA-LC|Ummah Wāhidah}}'' in the Quran ({{lang|ar|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 ({{lang|ar|معروف}} ''{{Transliteration|ar|ALA-LC|Ma'rūf}}'', lit. "recognized [as good]") and forbidding what is wrong ({{lang|ar|منكر}} ''{{Transliteration|ar|ALA-LC|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 ''{{Transliteration|ar|ALA-LC|Ummah}}''.<ref>{{cite book|first=Reuven|last=Firestone|title={{Transliteration|ar|ALA-LC|Jihād}}: The Origin of Holy War in Islam|year=1999|location=New York|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=118|isbn=0195125800}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|chapter=Muhammad|title=Encyclopedia of Islam Online}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Watt|first=W. Montgomery|year=1956|title=Muhammad at Medina|url=https://archive.org/details/muhammadatmedina029655mbp|location=Oxford|publisher=Clarendon Press}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|first=R. B.|last=Serjeant|title=The Constitution of Medina|journal=Islamic Quarterly|volume=8|year=1964|page=4}}</ref>

==Emergence== [[File:Islam percent population in each nation World Map Muslim data by Pew Research.svg|thumb|World percentage of Muslims by country]] {{main|Muslim world|Caliphate}}{{Islamic culture}}{{Islam}} At the time of Muhammad, before the conception of the ''ummah'', Arab communities were typically governed by kinship.<ref name=Watt>{{cite book|last=Watt|first=W. Montgomery|title=Muhammad at Medina|year=1972|publisher=Clarendon Press|location=Oxford}}</ref> In other words, the political ideology of the Arabs centred on tribal affiliations and blood relations.<ref name=Watt /> 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 had been sent to the nation.<ref name="Houtsma">{{cite book|last=Houtsma|first=M. Th|title=E.J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913–1936|year=1987|publisher=Brill|isbn=9004082654|pages=125–126|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zJU3AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA125}}</ref> Unlike earlier messengers, who had been sent to various nations in the past (as can be found among the prophets in the Hebrew Bible), Muhammad sought to develop an ''ummah'' that was universal and not only for Arabs.<ref name=Houtsma /> Muhammad saw his purpose as the transmission of a divine message and the leadership of the Islamic nation.<ref name=Houtsma /> 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''.<ref name=Watt /> Accordingly, the purpose of the ''ummah'' was to be based on religion by following the commands of God, rather than kinship.<ref name=Watt />

Immediately after Muhammad's death in 632, caliphates were established and the Shias emerged.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=my7hnALd_NkC&pg=PA18|title=Islam: Its History, Teaching, and Practices|last=Nigosian|first=Solomon A.|date=29 January 2004|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=978-0-253-11074-9|page=18}}</ref> Caliphates were Islamic states under the leadership of a political successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad.<ref name="khalifate">{{Cite journal|title = Caliph, caliphate|last1 = Kadi|first1 = Wadad|date = 2013|journal = The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought|last2 = Shahin|first2 = Aram A.|pages = 81–86}}</ref> These polities developed into multi-ethnic trans-national empires.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EAMqBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA3|title=Demystifying the Caliphate: Historical Memory and Contemporary Contexts|last1=Al-Rasheed|first1=Madawi|last2=Kersten|first2=Carool|last3=Shterin|first3=Marat|date=11 December 2012|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-932795-9|page=3}}</ref>

==Quran== There are 62 instances in which the term ''ummah'' is mentioned in the Quran,<ref name=Bearman /> and they almost always refer to ethical, linguistic, or religious bodies of people who are subject to the divine plan of salvation.<ref name=Houtsma /><ref name=Denny>{{cite journal|last=Denny|first=Frederick Mathewson|title=The Meaning of 'Ummah' in the Qur'an|journal=History of Religions|date=August 1975|volume=15|issue=1|pages=34–70|publisher=The University of Chicago Press|doi=10.1086/462733|s2cid=162244982}}</ref> The meaning of the term appears to transform throughout the chronology of the Quran.<ref name=Bearman >{{cite book|last=Bearman|first=P.|title=Encyclopedia of Islam|year=2013|publisher=Brill Online|edition=Second|author2=Th. Bianquis |author3=C.E. Bosworth |author4=E. van Donzel |author5=W.P. Heinrichs |chapter=’Umma‘}}</ref> When it is first used in the Quran, it is hardly distinguishable from the term ''qawm'', which can be translated to 'people'.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.almaany.com/en/dict/ar-en/qawm+(people)/?page=2|title=Translation and Meaning of qawm (people) in English Arabic Dictionary of terms Page 2|first=Almaany|last=Team|website=www.almaany.com}}</ref> The Quran recognizes that each ''ummah'' has a messenger that has been sent to relay a divine message to the nation and that all ''ummah''s await God's ultimate judgment.<ref name=Watt /><ref name=Denny /> Although the meaning of the ''ummah'' begins simply with a general application of the word, it gradually develops in reference to a general religious community and then evolves to refer to the Muslim nation specifically.<ref name=Bearman />

Before it referred exclusively to Muslims, the ''ummah'' encompassed Jewish and Christian communities alongside Muslims and referred to them as the People of the Book.<ref name="Watt" /><ref name="Denny" /> That is supplemented by the Constitution of Medina which declares all members of the ''ummah'', regardless of religion, to be of "one ''ummah''".<ref name="Watt" /> In those passages of the Quran, ''ummah'' may be referring to a unity of mankind through the shared beliefs of the monotheistic religions.<ref name="Bearman" /> Frederick Mathewson Denny argues that the most recent ''ummah'' that received a messenger from God is the Arab ''ummah''.<ref name="Denny" /> As the Muslims became stronger during their residence in Medina, the Arab ''ummah'' narrowed into an ''ummah'' exclusively for Muslims.<ref name="Denny" /> This is evidenced by the resacralisation of the Kaaba and Muhammad's command to take a pilgrimage to Mecca, along with the redirection of prayer from Jerusalem to Mecca.<ref name="Denny" />

The period in which the term is used most often is within the third Meccan period, followed by the Medinian period.<ref name="Denny" /> The extensive use of the term during both time periods indicates that Muhammad had begun to arrive at the concept of the ''ummah'' to specify the genuinely Muslim nation.<ref name="Denny" /> Furthermore, the early Meccan passages generally equate ''ummah'' as religion, but in the Medinan passages refer more specifically to the relations of ''ummah'' and religion.<ref name="Denny" /> The final passage that refers to ''ummah'' in the Quran refers to the Muslims as the "best nation" and accordingly led to it being an exclusive reference to Islam.<ref name="Denny" /> A verse in the Quran also mentions the ''ummah'' in the context of all of the messengers,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://legacy.quran.com/23/51-52|title=Surat Al-Mu'minun [23:51–52] – The Noble Qur'an – القرآن الكريم|website=legacy.quran.com}}</ref> and that their ''ummah'' (nation) is "one" as God is their Lord entirely:

{{blockquote|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.<ref name=Hodgson /> 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.<ref name=Hodgson /> However, what distinguished this community from the tribes was its focus of the place of those morals within a person's life.<ref name=Hodgson />

==Medina== {{main|First Islamic state}} After Muhammad and the first converts to Islam were forced to leave Mecca, the community was welcomed in Medina by the Ansar, a group of Pagans who had converted to Islam.<ref name=Houtsma /><ref name=Ye>{{cite book|last=Ye'or|first=Bat|title=The Dhimmi: Jews and Christians under Islam |year=1985|publisher=Associated University Press|location=Cranberry, NJ}}</ref> 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.<ref name=Ye/> Upon arriving in Medina, Muhammad established the Constitution of Medina with the various tribal leaders in order to form the Meccan immigrants and the Medinan residents into a single nation, the ''ummah''. Rather than limiting members of the ''ummah'' to a single tribe or religious affiliation as had been the case when the ''ummah'' first developed in Mecca, the Constitution of Medina ensured that the ''ummah'' was composed of a variety of people and beliefs essentially making it to be supra-tribal.<ref>{{cite book|last=Goitein|first=S.D.|title=Studies in Islamic History and Institutions|year=1968|publisher=E.J. Brill|location=Leiden, Netherlands}}</ref> Islamic historian, Tabari, suggested that Muhammad's initial intentions upon arriving in Medina was to establish a mosque, however this is unlikely.<ref name=Peters /> Tabari also claimed that Muhammad observed the first Friday prayer in Medina.<ref name=Tabari /> It occurred on Friday because Friday served as a market day in Medina to enable Jews to observe the sabbath.<ref name=Tabari>{{citation |last=Watt|first=W. Montgomery|author2=M.V. McDonald |title=The History of al-Tabari: The Foundation of the Community|year=1987|volume=VII|publisher=State University of New York|location=Albany}}</ref> Membership to the ''ummah'' was 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.<ref name="Peters">{{cite book|last1=Peters|first1=Francis E.|author-link=Francis E. Peters|last2=Esposito|first2=John L.|author2-link=John L. Esposito|title=The children of Abraham: Judaism, Christianity, Islam|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2006|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zu6EAAAACAAJ|isbn=978-0-691-12769-9}}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Peters|first=F.E.|title=Muhammad and the Origins of Islam|url=https://archive.org/details/muhammadorigins00pete|url-access=registration|year=1994|publisher=State University of New York|location=Albany}}</ref>

The Constitution of Medina declared that the Jewish tribes and the Muslims from Medina formed 'one ''ummah''.'<ref name="Watt" /> It is possible that the Medinan ''ummah'' was purely secular (compared to the later transformation of the ''ummah'' in Mecca) due to its variety of beliefs and practices of its members.<ref name="Peters" /> The purpose of the Constitution of Medina was to uphold political obligations and social relations between the various tribes.<ref name="Peters" /> 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.<ref name="Peters" /> In other words, the nation was united according to preserve its shared interests.<ref name="Peters" /> 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 the dhimmah contract.<ref name="Watt" /> 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.<ref name="Watt" /> 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=== The Constitution of Medina is a document created by Muhammad to regulate social and political life in Medina.<ref>{{cite book|last=Esposito|first=John L.|title=The Islamic World: Past and Present|year=2004|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|chapter="Ummah"}}</ref> 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.<ref name=Lecker>{{cite journal|last=Lecker|first=Michael|title=Constitution of Medina|journal=Encyclopedia of Islam|year=2013|volume=Three}}</ref> 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.<ref name=Lecker /> 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.<ref name=Lecker />

The document states that the Jews who join the Muslims will receive aid and equal rights.<ref name="Lecker" /> 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.<ref name="Lecker" /> This implies that the ''ummah'' is not strictly a religious nation in Medina.<ref name="Watt" /> 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.<ref name="Lecker" /> 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.<ref name="Watt" /><ref name="Lecker" />

==Back to Mecca== After the Muslim takeover of Mecca, membership in the ''ummah'' required a commitment to Islam.<ref name=Peters /> 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.<ref name=Hodgson>{{cite book|last=Hodgson|first=Marshall G. S.|title=The Venture of Islam: Conscience and History in a World Civilization|year=1974|publisher=The Univer,sity of Chicago|location=Chicago, IL}}</ref> Thee membership of the ''ummah'' was now based on two main principles: the first is to worship God alone, and secondly, to worship God properly, one must be in a guided nation.<ref name=Hodgson /> 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 Muhammad. Feuding among Muslim clans was forbidden.<ref name="Hodgson" /> Muhammad's nation was designed to transform the world itself through action in the world.<ref name="Hodgson" />

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== {{Commons}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20071020112254/http://www.darulehsan.net/learningcentre/Literature/dar_ul_ehsan_literature_Unity_of_Muslims.php The definition of 'Ummah' is the unity of the Muslims] (archived 20 October 2007) * [http://www.ummah.co Online Islamic Learning Resource] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140726224021/http://www.ummah.co/ |date=2014-07-26 }}

Category:Sharia terminology Category:Pan-Islamism Category:Islamic concepts of religious geography