that they are united into a single community, or
umma, by a shared system of Islamic beliefs and
practices concerning a single, all-powerful and
merciful god—allah, who revealed himself in the
qUran, the holy book delivered by the prophet
Muhammad in the seventh century c.e. They view
the umma as a joining of all believers, without
regard to sect, caste, class, ethnicity, gender, or
nationality. The Muslim umma stands in contrast
to communities that are founded on such social
divisions, and it is opposed to those founded on
disbelief (kufr) and idolatry (shirk). It is close,
however, to other communities believed to be
founded on prophetic revelation—the people oF
the book, among whom the Jews and Christians
are foremost.
The concept of the umma was been formed
during three phases of Islamic history: (1) the age
of the first community in medina under Muham-
mad’s leadership; (2) the age of the caliphates and
their successor states; and (3) the modern age of
European colonialism and nation-states. Of these
three, that of the Medinan phase is the one that
has been most idealized by Muslims. Indeed, it
is so significant that the year of the creation of
this original umma in Medina under Muhammad’s
leadership in 622 c.e. was selected to be year one
on the Islamic lunar calendar. The exemplary
nature of this community is conveyed by the
Medinan chapters of the Quran, the hadith, and
the biographies of Muhammad and his Compan-
ions. Much of what the Ulama determined to be
the sUnna (body of precedents) of Islam is based
on traditions (the hadith) about what Muhammad
and his followers said and did in that era.
In the Quran the word umma occurs 62 times
in chapters dated to both the later Meccan and
Medinan periods of Muhammad’s life. It is used
with reference to all humankind (Q 2:213) and
to different groups and subgroups, including
the People of the Book, who have in one way or
another gone astray (for example, Q 23:52–54).
Above all, however, it refers to Muhammad’s
community, the Muslims. It is called a “middle”
community (Q 2:143) and the “best” community,
whose members are obliged not only to believe in
God, but also to uphold his laws, “commanding
the right and forbidding the wrong” (Q 3:110).
Aside from the Quran, another important early
source for information about the umma is a col-
lection of documents known as the Constitution
of Medina, found in early Islamic sources such as
mUhammad ibn lshaq’s Sirat rasul Allah (Life of the
Prophet of God, mid-eighth century). This docu-
ment, issued after the hiJra in 622, establishes
the community in political terms, affirming social
solidarity among the Meccan emigrants and the
Arab clans of Medina (ansar), and regulating
relations with outsiders. It also set forth terms for
peaceful coexistence with the Jews of Medina.
During the era of the caliphates (seventh
to 13th century), and in the ensuing centuries
of Islamic empires and states, the ideal of the
exemplary Muslim community of Medina became
firmly established, particularly among Sunni Mus-
lims. The initial pluralism of the Medinan com-
munity reflected in the Constitution of Medina
became even more pronounced and diversified
after Muhammad’s death, with the extraordinary
expansion of Islamic rule outside the Arabian
Peninsula toward Spain (andalUsia) in the west
and the indUs River valley in the east. The impe-
rial umma came to include not only Arab Muslims,
but also clients and converts from many different
ethnic, social, and religious backgrounds. Among
the converts were former Jews, Christians, and
Zoroastrians, as well as members of diverse eth-
nic groups such as Persians, Africans, Kurds,
Turks, Circassians, Asians, and various European
peoples. Required Islamic ritual practices—the
shahada, prayer, almsgiving, Fasting, and the
haJJ—fostered communal unity. The status of
Arabic as the sacred language and the leading
means of transmitting religious knowledge also
contributed. During this era of great Islamic cul-
tural achievement, the Muslim umma overlapped
with the dar al-Islam (House of Islam)—ter-
ritories ruled by Muslims, where the sharia wasK 688 umma