View source for Religion:Ummah

{{Short description|Arabic term used to refer to the collective community of Muslim people}}
[[File:MuslimWorldDemographics2022.png|thumb|Islam – Population of Muslims on [[Percentage|percentage]] by [[Globe|global]] subdivisions, 2022 estimates]]
'''''{{transl|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> {{lang-ar|أمة}} {{IPA-ar|ˈʊmːæ|}}) is an [[Social:Arabic|Arabic]] word meaning "[[Social:Community|community]]". It is distinguished from ''{{transl|ar|ALA-LC|shaʻb}}'' ({{lang|ar|شعب}} {{IPA-ar|ʃæʕb|}}), which means a nation with common ancestry or geography. Thus, it can be said to be a supra-national community with a common history.

It is a synonym for ''{{transl|ar|ALA-LC|ummat al-Islām}}'' ({{lang|ar|أمة الإسلام}}, 'the Islamic community'); it is commonly used to mean the collective community of [[Religion:Muslims|Islamic 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 typically refers to a single group that shares common religious beliefs, specifically those that are the objects of a divine plan of salvation.<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><ref>{{cite book|last=Houtsma|first=M. Th.|title=E.J. Brill's First Encyclopedia of Islam, 1913–1936|year=1987|publisher=E.J. Brill}}</ref> In the context of [[Religion:Pan-Islamism|pan-Islamism]] and politics, the word ''{{transl|ar|ALA-LC|ummah}}'' can be used to mean the concept of a ''[[Social:Commonwealth|Commonwealth]] of the Muslim Believers'' ({{lang|ar|أمة المؤمنين}} ''{{transl|ar|ALA-LC|ummat al-muʼminīn}}'').

==General usage==
The word ''ummah'' (pl. ''umam'') means [[Earth:Nation|nation]] in [[Social:Arabic|Arabic]]. For example, the Arabic term for the United Nations is ''الأمم المتحدة Al-Umam Al-Mutahedah'', and the term ''الأمة العربية Al-Ummah Al-Arabeyah'' 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>

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 ''sha'ab'' ("people") would be used to describe the citizens of [[Place:Turkey|Turkey]]. However, the term ''ummah'' is used to describe the Turkic peoples as a whole, which includes [[Place:Turkey|Turkey]] as well as the entire Turkish diaspora.

==Islamic usage and origin==
The phrase ''{{transl|ar|ALA-LC|Ummah Wāhidah}}'' in the [[Religion:Quran|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}} ''{{transl|ar|ALA-LC|Ma'rūf}}'', lit. "recognized [as good]") and forbidding what is wrong ({{lang|ar|منكر}} ''{{transl|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 [[Biography:Muhammad|Muhammad]] in CE 622 with the leading clans of [[Place:Medina|Medina]], which explicitly refers to Jewish, Christians 
and pagan citizens of Medina as members of the ''{{transl|ar|ALA-LC|Ummah}}''.<ref>{{cite book|first=Reuven|last=Firestone|title={{transl|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==
{{main|Religion:Muslim world|Religion:Caliphate}}
At the time of [[Biography:Muhammad|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 [[Religion:Islam|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 community.<ref name=Houtsma /> Unlike earlier messengers, who had been sent to various communities 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.<ref name=Houtsma /> Muhammad saw his purpose as the transmission of a divine message and the leadership of the Islamic community.<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, [[Religion:Caliphate|Caliphate]]s were established and the [[Religion:History of Shia Islam|Shia]] 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 [[Religion:Islamic state|Islamic state]]s under the leadership of a political successor to the Islamic prophet [[Biography:Muhammad|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>

==Qur'an==
There are 62 instances in which the term ''ummah'' is mentioned in the Qur'an,<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 Qur'an.<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 Qur'an, 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 Qur'an recognizes that each ummah has a messenger that has been sent to relay a divine message to the community and that all ummahs 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 to reference a general religious community and then evolves to specifically refer to the Muslim community.<ref name=Bearman /> Before it referred exclusively to Muslims, the ummah encompassed Jewish and Christian communities as one with the Muslims and referred to them as the [[Religion:People of the Book|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 Qur'an, ''ummah'' may be referring to a unity of mankind through the shared beliefs of the monotheistic religions.<ref name=Bearman /> However, Denny points out that the most recent ummah that receives 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 /> That is evidenced by the resacralisation of the [[Religion:Kaaba|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 genuine Muslim community.<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 Qur'an refers to the Muslims as the "best community" and accordingly led to it being as an exclusive reference to Islam.<ref name=Denny />

A verse in the Qur'an 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) of theirs is one, and God is their Lord entirely:

{{quote|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 community 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 community 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==
After Muhammad and the first converts to Islam were forced to leave [[Place:Mecca|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 Jewish 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 community, 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 community and political figure of authority.<ref name="Peters">{{cite book|last1=Peters|first1=Francis E.|last2=Esposito|first2=John L.|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}}</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 community.<ref name=Peters /> In other words, the community 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 [[Religion:Dhimmi|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 "[[Religion:People of the Book|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 community.<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 does state 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 community 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 community based on [[Biography:Abraham|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 University of Chicago|location=Chicago, IL}}</ref> 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 community.<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 the Prophet. Feuding among Muslim clans was forbidden.<ref name=Hodgson /> Muhammad's community was designed to transform the world itself through action in the world.<ref name=Hodgson />

==See also==
* [[Religion:Caliphate|Caliphate]]
* Constitution of Medina
* Divisions of the world in Islam
* Islamic missionary activity
* [[Religion:Kafir|Kafir]]
* List of countries by Muslim population
* [[Religion:Muslim population growth|Muslim population growth]]
* [[Religion:Muslim world|Muslim world]]
* [[Organization:Organisation of Islamic Cooperation|Organisation of Islamic Cooperation]]
* [[Religion:Pan-Islamism|Pan-Islamism]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [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]
* [http://www.ummah.co Online Islamic Learning Resource]

{{Islamic philosophy}}


[[Category:Islamic terminology]]

{{Sourceattribution|Ummah|1}}