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Ummah Ummah A New Paradigm for a Global World Katrin A. Jomaa Published by State University of New York Press, Albany © 2021 State University of New York All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher. For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Name: Jomaa, Katrin A., author. Title: Ummah : a new paradigm for a global world / Katrin A. Jomaa, author. Name: Jomaa, Katrin A., author. Description: Albany : State University of New York Press, [2021] | Includes Title: Ummah : a new paradigm for a global world / Katrin A. Jomaa, author. bibliographical references and index. Description: Albany : State University of New York Press, [2021] | Includes Identifiers: ISBN 9781438482057 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781438482040 bibliographical references and index. (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781438482064 (ebook) Identifiers: ISBN 9781438482057 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781438482064 Further information is available at the Library of Congress. (ebook) Further information is available at the Library of Congress. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 To Prophet Mohammad and his family, with love • I dedicate this work to every human being who struggles and hopes for a just, integrated, and peaceful world For seekers of truth and lovers of wisdom wherever they find it “O humankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble among you in the sight of God is the best in conduct (most pious). Indeed, God is All-knowing and All-aware.” (Qurʾān 49:13) “Political society exists for the sake of noble actions, and not of living together. Hence they who contribute most to such a society have a greater share in it than those who have the same or a greater freedom of nobility of birth but are inferior to them in political excellence; or than those who exceed them in wealth but are surpassed by them in excellence.”1 “Let there be from among you (minkum) an Ummah inviting to goodness (khayr) and enjoining righteousness and deterring wrongness (yaʾmurūna bil-maʿrūf wa yanhawna ʾan al-munkar) and those are the successful.” (Qurʾān 3:104) Imām Ali says: “He who has a despotic opinion will perish and he who consults men shares with them their minds.”2 “. . . To each among you, We have prescribed a law and a clear way (shirʿatan wa minhājan). If Allah willed, He would have made you one ummah, but that (He) may test you in what He has given you; so strive as in a race in all virtues. The return of you (all) is to Allah; then He will inform you about that in which you used to differ.” (Qurʾān 5:48) “My sense is that multicultural societies can be held together by a political culture, however much it has proven itself, only if democratic citizenship pays off not only in terms of liberal individual rights and rights of political participation but also in the enjoyment of social and cultural rights. The citizens must be able to experience the fair value of their rights in the form of social security and the reciprocal recognition of different cultural forms of life.”3 1. Aristotle, Politics (1281a 3–8). 2. Ali Bin Abī Ṭālib, Nahju-l-Balāgha, Sermon 161, ed. Muhammad ʿAbduh (Beirut: Muʾassasat al-ʾAʿlamī lil-Maṭbūʿāt, 2003), 500. 3. Jurgen Habermas, “The European Nation-State: On the Past and Future of Sovereignty and Citizenship,” 409. Contents List of Illustrations xi Acknowledgments xii Introduction 1 Chapter 1 Conceptual Meaning of Ummah in the Meccan Verses of the Qurʾān 21 Ummah in the Literature 21 Analysis of the word ummah in the Meccan verses of the Qurʾān 24 Ummah, Appointed Term (ajal), and Associated Responsibility 24 Ummah, Religion, and Forefathers 30 Ummah and al-Kitāb 34 Ummah and Imām 38 Ummah and the Covenant (al-Mīthāq) 42 A Possible Order of a Global Ummah Composed of Different Umam? 48 Ummah, Ummī Prophet, and the Global Ummah 50 Ummah and Sovereignty 55 Leadership, the Book, and Justice 55 Land (Territory) 57 Ummah and Nation-State 58 vii viii Contents Al-Ummah al-Wāḥidah and Its Differentiation across Human History 62 Ummah of the Prophets 62 Dealing with Religious Diversity 63 Confederates of Evil (al-Aḥzāb) 65 The Reformers (Muṣliḥūn) 66 Conclusion 71 Chapter 2 Ummah in the Medinan Verses of the Qurʾān 77 The Notion of a Shared Ummah: Rights and Obligations 78 Prophet Abraham (Ibrāhīm) Was an Ummah 80 Defining the Ideology and Outlook of the Muslim Ummah through Prophet Abraham 83 The Best Religion (Dīn) is Following Millat Ibrāhīm “al-Ḥanīf” 93 Al-Manāsik (the Rituals) 100 The Middle Ummah (al-Ummah al-Wasaṭ) and the Witness (Shahāda) 103 Ummah from Ahl Al-Kitāb (Jews and Christians) 109 The Best Ummah (Khayr Ummah) Ever Raised Up for Humankind 114 Ummah of the Book and Governance 122 Conclusion 128 Chapter 3: Ummah in the Medina Constitution 133 Al-Muʾminūn (“The Believers”) 139 Decrees Addressing the Believers 144 Decrees Addressing the Jews 155 Decrees Addressing Ahl as-Ṣaḥīfah (the People of the Constitution) 160 Sacred Land (ḥaram) 160 Conclusion 169 Chapter 4 The Ummah and Political Governance—Comparative 173 The Ummah and the Aristotelian Polis 177 Khalīfa and Political Animal 177 Contents ix Khalīfa 179 Khalīfa in Early, Classical, and Modern Exegesis 181 Khilāfa in Islamic Literature 191 Aristotelian Polis and Qurʾanic Ummah 197 Polis and Ummah: Medium Whereby Citizens Exercise Virtuous Activity 201 Difference between Law and Sharīʿah 203 Rule of Law (Polis and Ummah) 207 Resolving Conflict by Invoking Competing Virtues in Aristotle and the Qur’ān 208 Community and State in Contemporary Political Theory 212 Polis and Constitution versus Ummah and al-Kitāb 222 Introducing Reforms through the Constitution 223 The Characters of Constitution and the Citizen Mirror Each Other 226 Constitutional Law Transformed into Community Norm 229 Polis and Justice versus Ummah and Wasaṭiyyah 232 Justice as a “Mean” and the Concept of “Wasaṭ” 232 Understanding “Prophet Abraham Was an Ummah” through Aristotle’s “Unity of Virtues” 237 Ummah Attains Justice through Shūra (Collective Judgment of Khulafāʿ) 238 Justice Is Manifested in the “Common Good” Resulting from Collective Judgment 243 Ummah and Political Power 245 The Just Leadership versus Ṭāghūt 245 ʾUlū ’l-Amr (Those Entrusted with Authority) 249 ʾUlū ’l-amr in the Medina Constitution 255 ʾUlū ’l-amr in the Modern Period 257 Concluding Remarks 263 Appendix 279 Bibliography 287 Index 295 Index of Qurʾanic Citations 331