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Concept
Ummah
Summary
(ˈʊmə; أمة ˈʊmːæ) is an Arabic word meaning "community". It is distinguished from (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 (أمة الإسلام, 'the Islamic community'); it is commonly used to mean the collective community of Islamic people. 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 can be used to mean the concept of a Commonwealth of the Muslim Believers (أمة المؤمنين ).
The word ummah (pl. umam) means nation in 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".
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 Turkey. However, the term ummah is used to describe the Turkic peoples as a whole, which includes Turkey as well as the entire Turkish diaspora.
The phrase 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 , lit. "recognized [as good]") and forbidding what is wrong (منكر , 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 .
Muslim world and Caliphate
At the time of Muhammad, before the conception of the ummah, Arab communities were typically governed by kinship.
Official source
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