Uprightness of the Ummah

A “community” is a group of people who have the same interests, religion, race, etc. But what I would like to discuss here is the case of a great number of people spread all over the world: the Muslim “Ummah”.

The terminology “Ummah” is used in the Qur’an to describe people who have the same interests, endeavors and goals, while upright in following God’s ordinances. Probably close to the term “fraternity”: “Surely, this ummah (= fraternity) of yours is a unique one, and I am your Lord, so worship Me (alone)” (21:92).

The Qur’an praises those people, who accepted the guidance of the last Prophet Muhammad (God’s blessings upon him), based on the revelation of God: “You are indeed the best ummah that has been brought forth for (the good of) mankind: you enjoin the doing of what is right and forbid the doing of what is wrong; and you have faith in God .. “ (3:110).

When the Qur’an was revealed and the Prophet was spreading its message to all people around him, among them were “people of the Book” (meaning Christians and Jews) who claimed to follow the earlier revelations. They were all supposed to follow the Qur’an too, which is the last version of all God’s revelations.  God has already mentioned in the original Torah and Gospel, that when the last Prophet comes all followers of those Prophets have to follow him, and the earlier Prophets had given the pledge that they would (see Qur’an, 3:81).

In the Old Testament (Deut. Xviii.18) “Muhammad” is foretold and the rise of Arab nation is mentioned in Isiah.xii.11. for Kadar was a son of Ismail and the name is used for the Arab nation. In the New Testament as it now exists, “Muhammad” is also foretold (in the Gospel of St. John.xiv.16, xv.26, and xvi.7). The future “Comforter” translated from the Greek word “paracletos” which is an easy corruption from “periclytos”, which is almost a literal translation of “Muhammad” or “Ahmad” (See: Abdullah Yusuf Ali’s note on his Translation of the Qur’an).

But both Christians and Jews, except some of them, do not accept Islam. So the revelation came: “.. Now if the followers of earlier revelation had attained to (this) faith, it would have been for their own good, (but only few) among them are having the faith, while most of them are iniquitous” (3:110).

Only a small number of them accepted, others not only refused the call, but most of the Jews who were living in Medinah and the neighborhood, plotted with the pagans to attack the Prophet and his followers.

The Qur’an praised the Jews and the Christians who accepted the call of God as follows: “They are not all alike; some of the people of the Scripture are upright ones, they recite God’s verses in the watches of the night, prostrate themselves. They do have faith in God and in the Last Day, enjoin the doing of what is right and forbid the doing of what is wrong, and vie with one another in doing good works: and these are among the righteous” (3:113-114).

The necessity of uprightness

What absolutely needed for the Muslim Ummah today is the necessity of uprightness in behavior. The Muslim Ummah should follow the footsteps of God’s messengers.

God says: “We have indeed sent Our messengers with clear signs, and We revealed with them the Scripture and (thus gave you) a Balance (wherewith to weigh right and wrong), so that mankind may uphold justice. And We sent down iron wherein is great might, and (many) uses for mankind, and so that God might mark out those who would stand up for Him and His messengers, even though (He Himself) is beyond the reach of human perception. Verily God is Powerful, Almighty!” (57:25).

God is calling those who have attained to faith to be upright and steadfast in upholding justice in all domains of life:

“O you who have attained to faith! Be ever upright in justice, bearing witness to the truth for the sake of God; even though it be against yourselves, or parents and kinsmen; whether the person concerned be rich or poor, God is closer to the two. So do not follow your own whim, lest you swerve from justice, for if you twist, or refrain, surely God is aware of what you do” (4:135).

This uprightness needs perseverance from all members of the Ummah to be steadfast in exercising their duty towards God who entrusts them to implement His ordinances in all domains of life.

God says: “O you who have attained to faith! Surrender yourselves wholly unto God, and follow not Satan’s footsteps, for, verily, he is your open foe” (2:208).

Satan’s footsteps are all kinds of men-made rules or behavior, which are contradictory to God’s ordinances.

Certainly, all nations need to come up with rules for themselves to cover their needs for societies’ regulation, but for Muslims, everything should be within the frame of God’s ordinances and not out of it.