Ummah

The phrase ' in the Quran (, "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 ( ', lit. "recognized [as good]") and forbidding what is wrong ( ', 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 Jews, Christians and pagan citizens of Medina as members of the '. ==Emergence==

of Muslims by country 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 centred on tribal affiliations and blood relations. Caliphates were Islamic states under the leadership of a political successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad. These polities developed into multi-ethnic trans-national empires. ==Qur'an==

There are 62 instances in which the term ummah is mentioned in the Qur'an, The meaning of the term 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 nation and that all ummahs await God's ultimate judgment. and that their ummah (nation) is "one" as God is their Lord entirely: ==Mecca==

Initially, it did not appear that the new Muslim nation 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 nation 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 Jews and polytheistic tribes, the arrival of Muhammad and his followers provoked no opposition from Medina's residents. Islamic historian, Tabari, suggested that Muhammad's initial intentions upon arriving in Medina was to establish a mosque, however this is unlikely. 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 nation and political figure of authority. The Constitution of Medina declared that the Jewish tribes and the Muslims from Medina formed 'one ummah.' 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 nation. 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 states 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 nation 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. Thee membership of the ummah was now based on two main principles: the first is to worship God alone, and secondly, to worship God properly, one must be in a guided nation. 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 Muhammad. Feuding among Muslim clans was forbidden. Muhammad's nation was designed to transform the world itself through action in the world. ==See also==