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
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