The Ummah's Politics

Ummah's Politics--Ummah.com General (For the Muslims): "Ummah's Politics
Muslims today have begun to awaken from their stupor towards the realisation that Islam is their solution, and the entire world shakes from the Ummah's revival. What remains are the physical obstacles imposed by the regimes presiding over the Muslims by the Imperialists, and the lack of understanding and clarity of the Islamic concepts that still pervades the Muslim mentality. The feeling of belonging to a single Muslim Ummah has emerged to replace the national and tribal affiliations conjured by the Kuffar. Also, Islam as a political creed has slowly managed to take firm roots in the minds of the Muslims. In spite of the awakening process, much ambiguity still surrounds the ideas and concepts of Islam. For the Muslims to revive, they must possess a clear, well-defined picture of the ideas and concepts, and the necessity of defining the Islamic terminology becomes vital to the revival of the Ummah.

The Definition of the Word Ummah

The word Ummah usually means all of the Muslims. Imam Qurtubi has defined the word Ummah in his book, Tafsir Ahkam al-Qur'an, as multitudes of people bonded by the same creed. But in the verse:

'There should be among you a band of people ...' [Al-Imran: 104], it means a group or party, because the verse clearly states 'min kum' (among you).

The classical scholars deduced this understanding from this verse:

Ibn Kathir says in his book, Tafsir al-Qur'an al-Adhim, 'The ayah means that there should be from this Ummah a group aiming to work for Islam and ordering what is right and forbidding what is wrong.'

Ad-Dahhaq said, ''They are particular people from the Sahabah, and particular people from the narrators, meaning particular people from the Mujahideen and scholars.''

Imam Abu Bakr Ibn al-'Arabi said in his book, Ahkam al-Qur'an, 'Ummah in this verse means jama'ah (group).'

Imam AI-Tabari, a leading commentator and interpreter, said in his book, Jami' al-Bayan, on"