Ummah - wikipedia Ummah Not to be confused with Umrah. Ummah ( Arabic : أمة ‎ ( ˈʊm. mæ ) ) is an Arabic word meaning `` community ''. It is distinguished from Shaʻb ( شعب ( 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 ummat al - Islām ( أمة الإسلام, ' the Islamic community ' ), and it is commonly used to mean the collective community of Islamic peoples. 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. In the context of pan-Islamism and politics, the word ummah can be used to mean the concept of a Commonwealth of the Believers ( أمة المؤمنين ummat al - muʼminīn ). Contents 1 General usage 2 Islamic usage and origin 3 Emergence of the Ummah 4 Usage of Ummah in the Qur'an 5 Mecca 6 Medina 6.1 Constitution of Medina 7 Back to Mecca 8 See also 9 References 10 External links General usage The word Ummah ( pl. umam ) means Nation in Arabic. For example the Arabic term for the United Nations in Arabic is الأمم المتحدة Al - Umam Al - Mutahedah, and the term الأمة العربية Al - Ummah Al - Arabeyah is used to refer to `` The Arabic Nation ''. The Word Ummah differs from the concept of a country or people. In it is greater context it is used to describe a larger group of people. For example, in Arabic the world شعب Sha'ab ( `` people '' ) would be used to describe the citizens of Turkey. However, the term Ummah is used to describe the Turkic Nation as a whole, which includes Turkey, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and other countries and ethnic groups in Central Asia. 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 Jewish, Christians and pagan citizens of Medina as members of the Ummah. Emergence of the ummah At the time of Muhammad, before the conception of the ummah, Arab communities were typically governed by kinship. In other words, the political ideology of the Arabs centered around tribal affiliations and blood - relational ties. 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 community. But 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 had been given the task to develop a universal ummah and not only for the Arabs. Muhammad 's purpose as messenger to them was to transmit a divine message, and lead the Islamic community to salvation. Since Muhammad is the messenger for the ummah, it indicates there is a divine message, which further implies that God is directing the life affairs of the ummah. Accordingly, the purpose of the ummah was to be based on religion, following the commands of God, rather than kinship. Usage of ummah in the Qur'an Part of a series on : Islamism Fundamentals Islam History Culture Economics Politics Secularism Ideology Islamism Qutbism Salafism Shia Islamism Islamic fundamentalism Concepts Caliphate Islamic democracy Islamic socialism Islamic state Islamic monarchy Islamic republic Islamization ( of knowledge ) Jihad Pan-Islamism Post-Islamism Sharia Shura Slavery Two - nation theory Ummah Influences Anti-imperialism Anti-Zionism Islamic Golden Age Islamic revival Movements Scholastic Ahl - i Hadith Deobandi Madkhalism Sahwa movement Wahhabism Political Hizb ut - Tahrir Iranian Revolution Jamaat - e-Islami Millî Görüş Muslim Brotherhood List of Islamic political parties Militant Militant Islamism based in MENA region South Asia Southeast Asia Sub-Saharan Africa Key texts Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam ( Iqbal 1930s ) Principles of State and Government ( Asad 1961 ) Ma'alim fi al - Tariq ( `` Milestones '' ) ( Qutb 1965 ) Islamic Government : Governance of the Jurist ( `` Velayat - e faqih '' ) ( Khomeini 1970 ) Heads of state Ali Khamenei Omar al - Bashir Muammar Gaddafi Ruhollah Khomeini Mohamed Morsi Mohammad Omar House of Saud House of Thani Zia - ul - Haq Key ideologues Muhammad Abduh Jamāl al - Dīn al - Afghānī Qazi Hussain Ahmad Muhammad Nasiruddin al - Albani Muhammad Asad Hassan al - Banna Necmettin Erbakan Rached Ghannouchi Safwat Hegazi Muhammad Iqbal Ali Khamenei Ruhollah Khomeini Abul A'la Maududi Taqi al - Din al - Nabhani Yusuf al - Qaradawi Sayyid Qutb Tariq Ramadan Ata Abu Rashta Rashid Rida Navvab Safavi Ali Shariati Haji Shariatullah Hassan Al - Turabi Ahmed Yassin Related topics Criticism of Islamism Islam and other religions Islamophobia Reform movements Modernity ( Modernism ) Islam portal Politics portal There are a total of sixty - two instances that the term ummah is mentioned in the Qur'an. The use of ummah in the Qur'an almost always refers to ethical, linguistic, or religious bodies of people who are subject to the divine plan of salvation. The meaning of the term ummah in the Qur'an appears to transform throughout the chronology of the Qur'an. When it is first used in the Qur'an it is hardly distinguishable from the term qawm which can be translated to ' people '. 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. 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. Before it refers exclusively to Muslims, the ummah encompasses Jewish and Christian communities as one with the Muslims and refers to them as the People of the Book. This is supplemented by the Constitution of Medina which declares all members of the ummah, regardless of religion, to be of ' one ummah. ' In these passages of the Qur'an, ummah may be referring to a unity of mankind through the shared beliefs of the monotheistic religions. However, Denny points out that the most recent ummah that receives a messenger from God is the Arab ummah. As the Muslims became stronger during their residence in Medina, the Arab ummah narrowed into an ummah exclusively for Muslims. This is evidenced by the resacralization of the Kaaba and Muhammad 's command to take a pilgrimage to Mecca, along with the redirection of prayer from Jerusalem to Mecca. The period in which the term ummah is used most often is within the Third Meccan Period followed by the Medinian period. The extensive use of the term during these two time periods indicates that Muhammad was beginning to arrive at the concept of the ummah to specify the genuine Muslim community. Furthermore, the early Meccan passages generally equate ummah as religion, whereas in the Medinan period the passages of the Qur'an refer more specifically to the relation of the ummah and religion. The final passage that refers to ummah in the Qur'an refers to the Muslims as the `` best community '' and accordingly led to ummah as an exclusive reference to Islam. A verse in the Qur'an also mentions the ummah, in the context of all of the messengers, that this ummah ( nation ) of theirs is one ummah and that 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 community would oppose the tribes that already existed in Mecca. 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. However, what distinguished this community from the tribes was its focus of the place of those morals within a person 's life. Medina 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. 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. 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. Islamic historian, Tabari, suggested that Muhammad 's initial intentions upon arriving in Medina was to establish a mosque, however this is unlikely Tabari also claimed that Muhammad observed the first Friday prayer in Medina. It occurred on Friday because Friday served as a market day in Medina to enable Jews to observe the sabbath. 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. The Constitution of Medina declared that the Jewish tribes and the Muslims from Medina formed ' one ummah. ' 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. The purpose of the Constitution of Medina was to uphold political obligations and social relations between the various tribes. 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. In other words, the community was united according to preserve its shared interests. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. The document does state that the Jews who join the Muslims will receive aid and equal rights. 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. This implies that the ummah is not strictly a religious community in Medina. 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. 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. Back to Mecca After the Muslim takeover of Mecca, membership in the ummah required a commitment to Islam. 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 Abraham. 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. 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. Muhammad 's community was designed to transform the world itself through action in the world. See also Islam portal Caliphate Constitution of Medina Divisions of the world in Islam Islamic missionary activity List of countries by Muslim population Muslim population growth Pan-Islamism Organisation of Islamic Cooperation Muslim world Kafir References ^ Jump up to : Houtsma, M. Th ( 1987 ). E.J. Brill 's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913 - 1936. BRILL. pp. 125 -- 126. ISBN 9004082654. Jump up ^ Houtsma, M. Th. ( 1987 ). E.J. Brill 's First Encyclopedia of Islam, 1913 - 1936. E.J. Brill. Jump up ^ Team, Almaany. `` ترجمة و معنى nation في قاموس المعاني. قاموس عربي انجليزي مصطلحات صفحة 1 ''. www.almaany.com. Jump up ^ Firestone, Reuven ( 1999 ). Jihād : The Origin of Holy War in Islam. New York : Oxford University Press. p. 118. ISBN 0195125800. Jump up ^ `` Muhammad ''. Encyclopedia of Islam Online. Jump up ^ Watt, W. Montgomery ( 1956 ). Muhammad at Medina. Oxford : Clarendon Press. Jump up ^ Serjeant, R.B. ( 1964 ). `` The Constitution of Medina ''. Islamic Quarterly. 8 : 4. ^ Jump up to : Watt, W. Montgomery ( 1972 ). Muhammad at Medina. Oxford : Clarendon Press. ^ Jump up to : Bearman, P. ; Th. Bianquis ; C.E. Bosworth ; E. van Donzel ; W.P. Heinrichs ( 2013 ). `` '' Umma `` ''. Encyclopedia of Islam ( Second ed. ). Brill Online. ^ Jump up to : Denny, Frederick Mathewson ( August 1975 ). `` The Meaning of `` Ummah '' in the Qur'an ``. History of Religions. The University of Chicago Press. 15 ( 1 ) : 34 -- 70. doi : 10.1086 / 462733. Jump up ^ Team, Almaany. `` Translation and Meaning of qawm ( people ) in English Arabic Dictionary of terms Page 2 ''. www.almaany.com. Jump up ^ `` Surat Al - Mu'minun ( 23 : 51 - 52 ) - The Noble Qur'an - القرآن الكريم ''. legacy.quran.com. ^ Jump up to : Hodgson, Marshall G.S. ( 1974 ). The Venture of Islam : Conscience and History in a World Civilization. Chicago, IL : The University of Chicago. ^ Jump up to : Ye'or, Bat ( 1985 ). The Dhimmi : Jews and Christians under Islam. Cranberry, NJ : Associated University Press. Jump up ^ Goitein, S.D. ( 1968 ). Studies in Islamic History and Institutions. Leiden, Netherlands : E.J. Brill. ^ Jump up to : Peters, Francis E. ; Esposito, John L. ( 2006 ). The children of Abraham : Judaism, Christianity, Islam. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978 - 0 - 691 - 12769 - 9. ^ Jump up to : Watt, W. Montgomery ; M.V. McDonald ( 1987 ). `` The History of al - Tabari : The Foundation of the Community ''. VII. Albany, NY : State University of New York. Jump up ^ Peters, F.E. ( 1994 ). Muhammad and the Origins of Islam. Albany, NY : State University of New York. Jump up ^ Esposito, John L. ( 2004 ). `` '' Ummah `` ''. The Islamic World : Past and Present. Oxford : Oxford University Press. ^ Jump up to : Lecker, Michael ( 2013 ). `` Constitution of Medina ''. Encyclopedia of Islam. Three. External links The definition of ' Ummah ' is the unity of the Muslims Online Islamic Learning Resource Islamic philosophy Fields Alchemy Aqidah ( theology ) ' Aql ( intellect ) Cosmology astrology medieval astronomy Eschatology Ethics Kalam ( dialectic ) Fiqh ( jurisprudence ) Logic Metaphysics Natural philosophy ( physics ) Peace Madrasah ( education ) Medieval science Medieval psychology Sufism ( mysticism ) Schools Early Farabism Avicennism Averroism Illuminationism Sufi cosmology metaphysics Transcendent theosophy Traditionalist Contemporary Concepts ʻAṣabīya Ḥāl Iʻjaz ʼIjtihād ʻlm ʻIrfān Ijmāʿ Maslaha Nafs Qadar Qalb Qiyās Shūrā Tawḥīd Ummah Philosophers by century ( CE ) 9th -- 10th Al - Kindi Ali ibn Sahl Rabban al - Tabari Abu al - Abbas Iranshahri Zakariya Razi Apharabius Abu Hatim al - Razi Al Amiri Ikhwan al - Safa Abu Sulayman Sijistani Ibn Masarrah Abu Yaqub al - Sijistani 11th Al - Ghazali Ibn Miskawayh Avicenna Ibn Hazm Bahmanyār Mu'ayyad fi'l - Din al - Shirazi Nasir Khusraw 12th Abu'l - Barakāt al - Baghdādī Afdal al - Din Kashani Ahi Evren Ahmad Yasavi Ayn - al - Quzat Averroes Ibn Tufail Omar Khayyám Suhrawardi Shams Tabrizi 13th Hajji Bektash Wali Jalal ad - Din Muhammad Rumi Ibn Sab'in Ibn Arabi al - Abharī Nasir al - Din Tusi Fakhr ad - Din ar - Razi Qutb al - Din al - Shirazi Sadr al - Din al - Qunawi 14th -- 16th Ibn Khaldun Yunus Emre Hajji Bayram Jalaladdin Davani Sadr ad - Din Dashtaki Aziz Mahmud Hudayi Qadi Mir Husayn al - Maybudi Mahmud Shabistari Sayyid Haydar Amuli Dawūd al - Qayṣarī Jami 17th -- 19th Mir Damad Mir Fendereski Mulla Sadra Mohsen Fayz Kashani Abd al - Razzaq Lahiji Mujaddid Alf - i - Sani Rajab Ali Tabrizi Qazi Sa'id Qumi Shah Waliullah Dehlawi Hādī Sabzavārī 20th -- present Muhammad Husayn Tabatabaei Muhammad Iqbal Gohar Shahi Mohammad Baqir al - Sadr René Guénon Frithjof Schuon Martin Lings Hossein Nasr Naquib al - Attas Abdolkarim Soroush Gholamhossein Ebrahimi Dinani Taha Abdurrahman Mohammed Abed al - Jabri Mohammed Arkoun Fouad Zakariyya Reza Davari Ardakani Ahmad Fardid Mostafa Malekian Hasanzadeh Amoli Javadi Amoli Partawi Shah GND : 4426061 - 1 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ummah&oldid=833806569 '' Categories : Arabic words and phrases in Sharia Pan-Islamism Islamic concepts of religious geography Islamic terminology Hidden categories : Articles containing Arabic - language text Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Talk Contents About Wikipedia অসমীয়া تۆرکجه বাংলা Български Bosanski Català Čeština Cymraeg Dansk Deutsch Eesti Español Esperanto Euskara فارسی Français 한국어 हिन्दी Hrvatski Bahasa Indonesia Italiano Қазақша Kurdî Latina Lietuvių Bahasa Melayu Nederlands 日本 語 Нохчийн Norsk Oʻzbekcha / ўзбекча Polski Português Română Русский Scots Shqip Српски / srpski Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska Türkçe Українська اردو 中文 36 more Edit links This page was last edited on 2 April 2018, at 14 : 41. 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Question: what does the arabic word ummah refer to
Answer: the collective community of Islamic peoples