The
Collective Aim Of The Ummah
We Muslims are the
member of an Ummah (Islamic community) whose sole purpose of existence and the
aim of installation, according to Qur’an, is none other than calling people to
Allah. As such, in this terrestrial
existence not only our dignity and honor depends on realizing this collective
aim, but our very existence as a religious community also depends on executing this duty in the
right earnest. In the seventeenth section
(ruku) of Surah Al-Baqarah (the Cow), along with the order for the
change of Qiblah, the following verse was revealed:
“And thus have We
made you an exalted (middle) nation (Ummah), that you may be the bearers of
witness against the people and (that) the Messenger of Allah may be the bearer
of witness against you.” (2: 143)
The divine order for
the change of Qiblah was in fact a symbol that henceforth the custodian of the
mosque of Jerusalem i.e. the sons of
Israel have been deprived of the guardianship of the holy place and of their
position as the upholders of the divine
guidance. And in their place were installed the sons of Ismael as the custodians
of the Holy Kaba at Makkah Al-Mukarramah and as the new recipients and
propagators of the Divine Guidance. Quite obviously, the sons of Ismael occupy
the pivotal and nuclear position in the Muslim Ummah. As such their language
was chosen for the revelation of the last Divine Book, and their customs and
practices with amendments, modifications, additions and omissions have become
the warp and woof of the last divinely revealed code of life. Other nations -
akhereen - which joined them later in Islam became in essence an integral part
of them. This indeed was a great blessing of God on them. But it was a
privilege of only “Ummiyyeen” (unlettered people of Arabia) that the last
Prophet (SAW) was chosen from amongst them.
The objective and aim
of the formation of this Ummah has been described very clearly thus in Surah
Al-i-Imran:
“You are the best of
the nations raised up for (the benefit of) men: you enjoin what is right and
forbid the wrong and believe in Allah.”
(3:110)
This verse
makes it crystal
clear that, according
to the Qur’an,
there is a
radical difference in the ultimate aims and goals of the Muslim Ummah
and other nations and communities of the world. By and large the goals which
most nations of the world have been aiming
at are self-aggrandizement, political
power and military
armaments, amassing of wealth, and subjugation of other peoples
for their own selfish ends. This subjugation has been both political and/or
cultural and economic. On the other hand, the aim and object of the very
existence of this Ummah is that Allah (SWT) is recognized as the Lord of the
Universe, His commands are exalted and upheld by all, the truth triumphs,
virtues and good deeds flourish and vices and wickedness are completely
uprooted. In other words, this Ummah is in reality the representative of God on
earth: an agency for the propagation of virtue and an institution for the total
eradication of evil and falsehood from this world.
To be continued....
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