Ummah: Characteristics of a Model Community
وَكَذَلِكَ جَعَلْنَاكُمْ أُمَّةً وَسَطًا لِتَكُونُوا شُهَدَاءَ عَلَى النَّاسِ وَيَكُونَ الرَّسُولُ عَلَيْكُمْ شَهِيدًا ... (البقرة 143)
We have made you into a balanced community, so that you bear witness before humankind and the Messenger bear witness before you… (Al-Baqarah 2:143)
كُنْتُمْ خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ تَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَتَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ وَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ ....(آل عمران 110)
You are the best community singled out for humankind; you order what is right and forbid what is wrong and believe in Allah… (Al ‘Imran 3:110)
Community is a very important aspect of Islamic teachings. Islam emphasizes building good individuals, good families and good community. Community is the “Ummah.” Islamic Ummah has eight characteristics:
1. Ummah is the community of faith. Faith enlarges our community and faith also strengthens our community. The more the people of faith the larger is our community and the stronger the faith the better will be our community.
2. Ummah is Universal. It transcends the barriers of race, color, language or nationality. We are part of the universal Ummah and wherever Muslims live they are the Ummah of that area.Universalitydoes not require that all people of the Ummah must dress alike, eat alike, or think alike. Diversity is good and it enriches the Ummah. E pluribus unum “Out of many, one” was the first motto of United States . This is basically an Islamic principle.
3. Ummah is Balanced: Ummah avoids extremes; it follows the middle path of moderation. It keeps the balance between the material and spiritual, between the temporal and eternal, between the individual and communal.
4. Ummah is of Ukhuwwah. The relationship between the members of our community is that of Ukhuwwah. We are brothers and sisters to each other. This means that we are equal and we must love and care for each other. Just as blood brothers and sisters usually care for each other, so the members of this Ummah are should care for each other. In order to keep this brotherhood strong, Muslims must avoid certain things. These are mentioned especially in Surah al-Hujurat (Surah 49):
o Do not accept or spread rumors
o Do not fight each other and if there is a fight then make reconciliation quickly
o Do not make sarcastic remarks against each other, or abuse each other, do not have suspicion or backbite each other or spy against each other.
5. Ummah is of Shura – Shura is consultation, organization, leadership and working together. This is the operational principle. The members of the Ummah must work with each other under the principles of Shura. They should be open and honest, their dealings must be transparent and they must not do anything in their community matters against the will of the people.
6. Ummah builds institutions – Groups cannot survive without institutions. They need them for their survival and for their growth. Some of the most important institutions of the Ummah are: Masajid, Schools, and Social service programs as primary institutions. It also establishes other economic, judicial and political institutions according to the needs and circumstances.
7. Ummah is of Da’wah – Our mission is to invite others to the path of God with wisdom and good preaching. We must remove suspicions and misunderstanding from the minds of others. We must not force any one to accept Islam but we must invite people to Islam. We do have many things in common with the people of other faiths as well as differences. We should build on the commonalities and where we differ we should do so respectfully. We must not misrepresent other people and we must not create hate against any group or religion.
8. Ummah is for the benefit of all people. خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ (Best community singled out for mankind.) It is said: خير الناس من ينفع الناس (The best people are those who are beneficial to people.) The world today is shrinking and people talk about “global village” or “age of globalization.” We should not speak only of faith community and intra-faith community but we should also pay attention to:
o Interfaith community – like minded people of different faiths should have dialogue and should work together.
o Global community – We are living in an interdependent world and we should think of peace and justice for all people. It is said, “Think globally and act locally.” Whatever we do locally in our own area or in our own community, we must keep in mind that it may have its impact on the global community.
o Peace and justice for all people – This should be our objective and goal.
May Allah guide us to understand our role and bless us to become the model community.
(Khutbah at ISOC – Rabi’ al-Awwal 1430/ March 27, 2009)
