' (; ) is an Arabic word meaning Muslim identity, nation, religious community, or the concept of a commonwealth of the Muslim believers ( '). In the Quran, the ummah generally refers to a community, people, or group united by shared beliefs. The Quran uses the term in multiple contexts, including nations, religious communities, and communities associated with prophets. The word ummah (pl. umam ) means nation in Arabic. For example, the Arabic term for the United Nations is , and the term is used to refer to "the Arab Nation".
Ummah is distinguished from ' ( , "people"), which means a nation with common ancestry or geography. The word ummah differs from the concept of a country or people. In its greater context it is used to describe a larger group of people. For example, in Arabic the word شعب ' ("people") would be used to describe the citizens of Syria. However, the term ummah is used to describe the Arab people as a whole, which includes Syrians as well as the people of the Arab world. Ummah can be a supra-national polity with a common history and identity based on religion. Pan-Islamism advocates for the unity of Muslims in one nation as an Islamic country or an Islamic state.
Islamic usage and origin
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
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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. Unlike earlier messengers, who had been sent to various nations in the past (as can be found among the prophets in the Hebrew Bible), Muhammad sought to develop an ummah that was universal and not only for Arabs. 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.
Quran
There are 62 instances in which the term ummah is mentioned in the Quran, The meaning of the term appears to transform throughout the chronology of the Quran. When it is first used in the Quran, it is hardly distinguishable from the term qawm, which can be translated to 'people'. The Quran 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. 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. 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.