YOU and the UNIVERSAL UMMAH

Defining the Muslim ‘We’;  Unity and Variety

 

People who share a particular worldview, group themselves together and refer to themselves as ‘We. For many people, the main factor which brings them together is the skin color or race. For racists, their special ‘we’ hinges on, for instance, being white or black, Jewish or Arab, Malay or Chinese. For others, this special ‘we’ hinges on class or occupation. Marxists for example would see themselves mainly as workers pitted against exploiting capitalists. For some others, their identity comes mainly from devotion to an individual. For Christians, it is the love of Christ which brings them together.

 

Contains:

 

·         HAJJ-THE GREATEST GATHERING OF MANKIND – Natural laws affecting the rise, decline and fall of societies

·         INDIVIDUAL DUTY TO THE UMMAH

·         INSTITUTIONS FOR COHESION AND STRENGTH – Da’wah; Jihaad

 

Defining the Muslim ‘We’

In Islam, ‘We’ does not hinge on any racial, class, occupational, regional or linguistic identity. The reason for this is that such identities do not provide any guide to what is good and true on the one hand and what is false and reprehensible on the other.

The adherents of Islam are not marked out as Arabs, Turks, Persians, Semites, Berbes, Kurds, Malays, Hui Chinese, poor, rich, oppressed, whites, blacks, Asians, Easterners, or Muhammadans. None of these can truly define this ‘we’ of the Muslims who belong to the ummah or the universal community of believers. It is therefore abdurd to label Muslims as an ‘ethnic community’ as is often done in places like Britain.

What then is the Muslim people? It is a people that is surrendered to God. Their real identity is based on faith in God. This bond of faith is the most important basis for binding people together in harmony and for achieving the highest values for which man was created.

Because of the overriding demands of this faith, there can be no such thing as a Marxist Muslim or a Baathist Muslim. The ummah cannot accept within its fold any person who professes an ideology or beliefs which go against the basic teachings of Islam. However, you need to be very careful in labeling anyone a Kaafir (or an unbeliever) and putting him outside the pale of Islam. You cannot label as an unbeliever any Muslim who professes the Shahaadah, act accordingly, and performs the obligatory duties if Islam, unless he clearly professes the word of unbelief, refuses to acknowledge a fundamental principle of Islam, or commits an evident ace of unbelief such as rejecting the verses of the Quran.

The irreducible elements in Islam have serve to keep Muslim history on course despite many intellectual and military challenges in the past and at present. These elements have also given Muslim civilization and culture unity and stability. (top)

 

Unity and Variety

There is an extraordinary richness and variety in Muslim cultures made possible by the fact that Islam’s moral and legal code assumed that everything is allowed unless it is prohibited. Local customs therefore which do not contradict any principle or law of Islam have been incorporated with ease in the cultures of Muslim peoples.

In this way Islam has discouraged what is obnoxious and preserved much of what is good in human cultures. It has not sought to impose a total and dull uniformity. While it established Islamic institutions like Salaat and promoted the use of Arabic, it did not seek to obliterate local languages, dress, cruisine, artistic expression or vernacular architecture. There was nothing of the brashness and destructiveness that have gone hand in hand with the sweeping spread of European culture. One British nineteenth century writer noted for example that  ‘the history of European settlements is America, Africa, and Australia presents everywhere the same general feature – a wide and sweeping destruction of natives races by the uncontrolled violence of individuals if not of colonial authorities’.

Unity and variety are thus two characteristics of the Muslim ummah. Because of the essential unity, it is possible for a Muslim to travel to any part of the world and feel instantly  at home among local Muslims, despite differents in dress, language, or economic conditions. He would exchange the same greetings of peace, ‘As-salaamu alaykum’, he would perform the Salaat in congregation with ease, and he would normally feel something of the welcoming warmth that is accorded to a brother in faith. Despite the picture of desolation and ruin which the ummah generally presents, there is still much of warmth and beauty, openness and generosity of soul in Muslim communities the world over.

As a Muslim, you belong to this ummah by virtue of your faith in God and in particular by your profession of the Shahaadah. Of course, for practical pruposes Islam requires and in some cases allows bonds in addition to faith – such as family and kinship ties, clans and tribal bonds and patriotic attachments – so long as these do not conflict with or damage the overriding requirements of faith. These requirements could separate a man from his father, son, wife or clan or make him keave the land of his birth in search of justice and freedom to practice his faith.

Bilaal, Suhayb and Salmaan were not only regard as non-Arabs but were former slaves who suffered injustice oppression. They were close and beloved companions of the Prophet. For the strength of their faith and their stead-fastness, these have had a special place in the hearts of Muslims through the ages. It is therefore neither race, status nor wealth which gives members of the Muslim ummah their identity. It is the consciousness of being human and affirming the oneness of God that is the basis of the unity of the ummah.

The color of your skin or the language you speak does not confer any worth or advantage on you as a human being in the sight of God. Yet, people order their world and conduct their social, political and economic affairs ont the basis of skin color and language. On this basis, they regard themselves as superior to others with a different skin color and often brutalise, oppress or shun them altogether. Racism or racial consciousness is thus one of the major sources of evil and danger in the modern world.

The variety of skin colors are languages among humans is not meant to gives rise to meanness and brutality. It is meant to show something wanderfull, subtle and sublime in God’s handiwork:

‘And among God’s signs are the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the variations in your languages and your colors, truey in that are signs for those who know’ (30: 22)

‘Mankind! We created you from a single pair of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another. Indeed, the noblest among you in the sight of God is the one who is more deeply conscious of God’ (49: 13)

The institutions of Islam serve to strengthen the fact of human unity and in particular the unity of the believers. We have already seen that the congregational Prayer serves to strengthen the feeling of equality and brotherhood among believers. What demonstrates above all the unity of the universal Islamic community or ummah is the institution of Hajj. (top)

 

·         HAJJ-THE GREATEST GATHERING OF MANKIND – Natural laws affecting the rise, decline and fall of societies

·         INDIVIDUAL DUTY TO THE UMMAH

·         INSTITUTIONS FOR COHESION AND STRENGTH – Da’wah; Jihaad