Call to Muslims to Become an Ummah

After Hamd-o-Salat, Maulana Yusuf RH started his speech, in a manner quit unusual for him, with the following words:

"Look here, I am not feeling well, could not sleep all through the night. Inspite of this, considering it important, I am speaking. Whosoever understands it and acts upon it, Allah will make him shine, otherwise he would axe his own foot.

This Ummah came into existence after a lot of struggle. To make it an Ummah, the Rasool SallAllahu-Alaihi-Wasallam (SAW) and his companions Radhi-Allahu-Anhum (RAA) have undergone great hardships. While their enemies, Yahood and Nasara, always tried that the Muslims may not remain an Ummah, rather be splitted into factions. Now the Muslims have lost their 'Ummat-hood'[1]. As long as they were one Ummah, a few hundred thousand of them fell heavy upon the whole world. There was not even a single cemented house. Even the Masjid was not cemented. No lamp was lit in the Masjid of Rasool :saws1:. The first lamp was lit in the Masjid of Rasool :saws1:in the ninth year of Hijrah. The first man to light up a lamp in the Masjid of the Rasool :saws1:was Tameem Dari RAA, who embraced Islam in the ninth year of Hijrah. But by that time almost the whole Arab had entered into the fold of Islam. Different nations, different languages and different clans had become an Ummah. When all this had happened then only the first lamp was lit in the Masjid of the Rasool :saws1:. The light of hidayah (guidance) which the Rasool :saws1:brought with him had spread all over the Arab and even beyond it and the Ummah had come into existence. This Ummah then rose in the world and in whatever direction it proceeded, countries after countries fell at their feet. This Ummah was formed such that not a single person in it was siding with his family, his community, his party, his nation, his country or his language. No one gave weightage to his wealth, property, wife and children, rather everyone was concerned about the sayings of Allah and His Rasool :saws1:. An Ummah comes into existence only when all the relations and acquaintances are curtailed in case they come in the way of compliance to the orders of Allah and His Rasool :saws1:. When the Muslims were an Ummah, the whole Ummah was shaken if a single Muslim was killed anywhere. Now thousands and thousands are massacred but no heed is paid.

'Ummah' is not the name given to a nation or inhabitants of a specific region. Unification of hundreds and thousands of nations and regions forms the Ummah. Anyone who owns only a particular nation or region and disowns others, slaughters the Ummah, tears it into pieces and nullifies the efforts of the Rasool :saws1:and his companions RAA. First we splitted and thus slaughtered the Ummah, then only the Yahood and Nasara butchered into pieces the already slaughtered Ummah. If the Muslims once again become an Ummah, all the powers of the world, joined together, will not be able to cause the slightest harm to them. Atom bombs and rockets will fail to eliminate them. However, if due to national and regional feelings, the Muslims continue splitting the Ummah into pieces, then by Allah, your weapons and armies shall not be able to save you.

The Muslims are being beaten up all over the world and loosing their lives since by loosing 'Ummat-hood' they have nullified the sacrifices of the Rasool :saws1:. I am expressing the feelings of an aggrieved heart. The disaster is there because the Ummah no more remained an Ummah. The very concept of an Ummah has gone into oblivion and so is the process through which the Rasool :saws1:formed it.

To become an Ummah and for gaining the favour from Allah, the existence of Salat, Zikr, madrasah and education in madrasah is not enough. The killer of Ali RAA, Ibne Muljam, was such a staunch performer of Salat and remembrance of Allah that when the enraged mob, attempting to kill him, tried to slash his tongue he requested to be spared of it so that he could continue hymning the name of Allah till his last breath. Inspite of this, the Rasool :saws1: had said that the killer of Ali (RAA) would be the most wretched and unfortunate person. Abul Fazl and Faizi [2] obtained the education in madrasah and were so learned that they wrote a commentary of the Qur'an without any letter with a dot. But they were the persons who misguided Akbar and ruined the Deen. How can the qualities, possessed by Ibne Muljam, Abul Fazl and Faizi, suffice for the formation of Ummah and draw the divine help of Allah?

Shah Ismail Shaheed RH, Syed Ahmad Shaheed RH and their companions[3] belonged to the best lot from the point of view of Deen. When they reached the frontier areas, people there, accepted them as their elders. But then, the Satan deluded some of the local Muslims not to follow them as they were outsiders and they provoked others for treason. Consequently, their numerous companions were killed. The Muslims themselves shattered the Ummat-hood on the basis of regionalism. As a punishment, Allah imposed the British rule upon them. That was a wrath of Allah.

Behold, 'my nation', 'my region' and 'my community' are the feelings responsible for the segregation of the Ummah. Allah dislikes this so much that when an esteemed Sahabi, Saad Bin Ubadah RAA, committed a mistake, which if unchecked could have separated the Ansar and Muhajreen, he had to face the consequences. It is quoted that he was killed by jinns and a disembodied voice was heard in Madinah:[4]

قتلنا سيد الخزرج سعد ابن عبادة، ورميناه بسهم فلم يخط فؤاده
​

This incident set a precedent and taught a lesson that even if a person out of the best ones breaks the 'Ummat-hood', Allah will not spare him.

Ummah will be formed when all classes in the Ummah, without discrimination, take up the work which Rasoolullah :saws1:has entrusted. And remember the evils of dealing and lifestyle are the things, which spoil the 'Ummat-hood'. When an individual or a class perpetrates injustice and atrocities upon others and denies their full rights or puts them in trouble or humiliates and degrades them, then the division takes place and the 'Ummat-hood' is lost. That is why I say that the Ummah will not be formed merely by Kalimah and tasbeeh. It will be built by a reform in dealings and lifestyles and by paying the rights and respecting all. Rather it will be formed when one's own rights and interest are sacrificed for the sake of others. The Rasool :saws1:, Abu Bakr RAA and Umar RAA formed this Ummah by sacrificing every thing they had and by undergoing hardships. In the days of Umar RAA, once came a huge amount, of the order of millions and billions. Consultations were made for its distribution. At that time, the Ummah was intact. The persons participating in the consultations did not belong merely to a particular clan or class, rather to different clans and classes and were considered distinguished because of their companionship with the Rasool :saws1:. After mutual consultation, they proposed that the distribution should be such that the share given to the people of the Rasool :saws1:'s clan may be the largest, then to the people of Abu Bakr RAA's clan, then to those from Umar RAA's clan. As such the relatives of Umar RAA stood third in preference. When this suggestion was placed before Umar RAA he did not accept it and said that whatever the Ummah got in the past and was getting at that time, it was because of the Rasool :saws1:. Therefore, the closeness in relationship with the Rasool :saws1:should be the sole criterion. The closer one was in family-lineage with the Rasool :saws1:, the more he should get. In this way Bani Hashim were to be given the largest share, then Bani Abd Manaf then the descendants of Qusai, then of Kilab, then of Ka'ab, then of Murrah. As such the clan of Umar RAA fell much behind and it's share drastically reduced. But Umar RAA adhered to the decision leaving his clan far behind in receiving the share of the wealth. This is how this Ummah was formed.


------------
Footnotes:

1. 'Ummat-hood is the translation of 'Ummat-pana', a term coined by Maulana Yusuf RH. It refers to the quality of this Ummah being united like a single body as mentioned in a Hadith of the Rasool :saws1:.
2. Abul Fazl and Faizi were two confident courtiers of the Mughal Emperor, Akbar, who ruled India and floated a new religion Deen-e-llahi.
3. Maulana Shah Ismail Shaheed RH (b. 1193H) was a renowned scholar from the famous family of Shah Waliullah RH in Delhi. He crusaded for the elimination of bid'ah and revival of the spirit of Islam in northern India. Later on he joined the movement of jihad under the banner of Syed Ahmad Shaheed RH (b. 1201H) from Rae Bareily against the tyrant un-Islamic rule in India. They raised an army of Muslims and gathered in the northern frontier area of Indian subcontinent, inhabited by the Muslims famous for their martial characteristics, with an intention to seek their participation and then attack the un-Islamic government. At the end, after a battle at Balakot, the Muslims lost due to treason of some frontier chieftains. Both Maulana Ismail RH and Syed Ahmad RH along with a large number of their army personnel were martyred.
4. We have killed the chief of Khazraj, Saad Ibne Ubadah. We made him target of an arrow which pierced right through his heart.

In order to form the Ummah, it is essential that everyone's efforts should be directed towards unity and avoidance of division. It is narrated in a Hadith of the Rasool :saws1: that on the day of reckoning a man would be brought who had performed Salat, Saum, Hajj and Tableegh every thing in the world. But he would be subjected to chastisement because some of his utterances had created division in the Ummah. He would be told that first he should undergo the punishment for his word which harmed the Ummah. On the other hand, there would be another person who would have dearth of Salat, Saum and Haj etc. in his account and would be scared of Allah's wrath. But he would be bestowed upon with enormous rewards. He himself would enquire which of the deeds was fetching him the favours. He would be told that on certain occasion he uttered something, which prevented a possible destruction in the Ummah and caused integration and averted disintegration. All that was being given as the reward for the word uttered by him.

In the formation and deformation, integration and disintegration of the Ummah, the greatest role is played by the tongue. It unites the hearts as well as tears them away. A wrong utterance instigates a quarrel and complete disruption, while another utterance becomes a source of unity and joins the disrupted hearts. Therefore, the most important requirement is to have a control on tongues. This is possible when the slaves of Allah have a persistent consideration that Allah is present with them at every time and every place and listening to all their utterances.

There were two clans amongst the Ansar, viz. Aus and Khazraj. An age old enmity and quarrel existed between them. When the Rasool :saws1: migrated to Madinah and the Ansar entered into the folds of Islam, then by virtue of the Rasool :saws1: and Islam, their age-old quarrel turned into mutual love and affection. Seeing this, the Jews conspired to make them once again hostile against each other. In a gathering where persons from both the clans were present, a conspirator arrived and started reciting provocative verses related to their old enmities. First a hot exchange of words took place between them and then the swords were drawn out. Someone informed the Rasool :saws1:. He rushed to the place and said, 'Do you intend to start a bloodshed amongst yourselves while I am present with you?'. He gave a very brief but touching sermon. Both the parties realized that they were instigated by the Satan. They cried and embraced each other and the following verses of the Quran were revealed:

يا أَيُّهَا الَّذينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّـهَ حَقَّ تُقاتِهِ وَلا تَموتُنَّ إِلّا وَأَنتُم مُسلِمونَ ﴿١٠٢﴾ـ​

O Muslims! Fear Allah as He should be feared and remain a perfect Muslim and obedient slave of Allah till your last breath. When someone remembers Allah at every moment and is afraid of His anger and punishment and always obedient to Him, then the Satan would not be able to mislead him and the Ummah will be saved from division and evils.

وَاعتَصِموا بِحَبلِ اللَّـهِ جَميعًا وَلا تَفَرَّقوا ۚ وَاذكُروا نِعمَتَ اللَّـهِ عَلَيكُم إِذ كُنتُم أَعداءً فَأَلَّفَ بَينَ قُلوبِكُم فَأَصبَحتُم بِنِعمَتِهِ إِخوانًا وَكُنتُم عَلىٰ شَفا حُفرَةٍ مِنَ النّارِ فَأَنقَذَكُم مِنها ۗ كَذٰلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ اللَّـهُ لَكُم آياتِهِ لَعَلَّكُم تَهتَدونَ ﴿١٠٣﴾ـ​

Hold Allah's rope i.e. His sacred book and His deen with full collectiveness and with the quality of 'Ummat-hood'. Be firm on this and do not split on the basis of nations, regions, languages or any other account and do not forget the kindness of Allah that He brought to an end the enmity in your hearts which persisted since ages and created love in your hearts and made you brothers. And while fighting amongst yourselves you were standing on the brink of hell and were about to fall into it when Allah held you back and saved from the hell. The Satan is with you and the remedy is that a group amongst you may be there whose sole purpose should be to invite people towards good deeds and stop them from all evils and destruction.

وَلتَكُن مِنكُم أُمَّةٌ يَدعونَ إِلَى الخَيرِ وَيَأمُرونَ بِالمَعروفِ وَيَنهَونَ عَنِ المُنكَرِ ۚ وَأُولٰئِكَ هُمُ المُفلِحونَ ﴿١٠٤﴾ـ​

There should be a group in the Ummah whose sole job and aim should be to invite towards deen and everything that is good, to put in efforts for imaan, to move on the path of good, on Salat, on the remembrance, on the knowledge brought by the Rasool :saws1:, to save from evils and sins so that the Ummah remains an Ummah.

وَلا تَكونوا كَالَّذينَ تَفَرَّقوا وَاختَلَفوا مِن بَعدِ ما جاءَهُمُ البَيِّناتُ ۚ وَأُولٰئِكَ لَهُم عَذابٌ عَظيمٌ ﴿١٠٥﴾ ـ​

Those who, inspite of these advices, follow Satan and walk on divergent paths to create differences and disrupt the 'Ummat-hood' of the Ummah, will be heavily punished by Allah.

All the teachings of deen are directed towards unity and integration. Salat unites. Saum unites. Haj unites the nations, the countries and people of different languages. The Halaqas of Taleem unite. Respect (Ikram) of Muslims, mutual love and exchange of gifts, all these things unite and lead to Jannah. On the day of judgement, all those who would have strived for these deeds will have shinning faces. Contrary to this, creating mutual enmity, jealousy, backbiting, slander, disgrace, humiliation and hear-burning, all these things cause a disunity and disintegration and lead their doers to hell. They will have their faces blackened on the day of judgement.

يَومَ تَبيَضُّ وُجوهٌ وَتَسوَدُّ وُجوهٌ ۚ فَأَمَّا الَّذينَ اسوَدَّت وُجوهُهُم أَكَفَرتُم بَعدَ إيمانِكُم فَذوقُوا العَذابَ بِما كُنتُم تَكفُرونَ ﴿١٠٦﴾ وَأَمَّا الَّذينَ ابيَضَّت وُجوهُهُم فَفي رَحمَةِ اللَّـهِ هُم فيها خالِدونَ ﴿١٠٧﴾ـ​

My brothers and friends! Numerous verses were revealed when the Yahood tried to instigate differences among the Ansar and brought the two clans opposite to each other. In these verses, the mutual differences and quarrels have been termed as acts of Kufr and warning has been given for chastisement in the hereafter. At present the efforts is being made all over the world to shatter the 'Ummat-hood'. The only remedy and antidote is that you get involved in the effort of Rasool :saws1:. Bring the Muslims to mosques. Therein talk of Imaan may be given, Halaqas of Taleem and Zikr may be arranged, consultation for the effort of deen may be made. People from different classes, communities and different languages may join these works on the pattern of Masjid of the Rasool :saws1:. Then the 'Ummat-hood' will come into existence. Protect yourself from the deeds which may provided a chance to Satan to sow the seeds of division. When three persons sit together, they may keep in mind that the fourth with them is Allah. When four or five persons sit together, they remember for sure that the fifth or sixth person with them is Allah. He is listening and looking whether they are talking of integrating the Ummah or disintegrating it; backbiting, slandering or conspiring against anyone.

This Ummah was formed with the blood and starvation of the Rasool :saws1:. Now we are splitting it on insignificant accounts. Remember, even the grip for neglecting the Salat of Jummah will not be as strong as that for disintegrating the Ummah. If 'Ummat-hood' comes in the Muslims, they will never be disgraced in the world. Even the powers of America and Russia will bow to them. And the 'Ummat-hood' will come into existence when the Muslims act upon أَذِلَّةٍ عَلَى المُؤمِنينَ i.e. every Muslim adopts humbleness and humility with other Muslims [5:54]. This is to be practiced in Tableegh. When the quality of أَذِلَّةٍ عَلَى المُؤمِنينَ comes into Muslims they will be certainly أَعِزَّةٍ عَلَى الكافِرينَin the world, i.e. dominant and powerful against the disbelievers, whether they are from Europe or from Asia. My brothers and friends! Allah and the Rasool :saws1: have strictly forbidden all those activities, which may inculcate differences in the hearts and create disunity. Since whispering between two or four persons enables Satan to create suspicion in the heart of others, it is prohibited and termed as Satanic act.

إِنَّمَا النَّجوىٰ مِنَ الشَّيطانِ لِيَحزُنَ الَّذينَ آمَنوا وَلَيسَ بِضارِّهِم شَيئًا إِلّا بِإِذنِ اللَّـهِ ۚ وَعَلَى اللَّـهِ فَليَتَوَكَّلِ المُؤمِنونَ ﴿١٠﴾ ـ​

Similarly humiliating, mocking and jesting are also forbidden.

يا أَيُّهَا الَّذينَ آمَنوا لا يَسخَر قَومٌ مِن قَومٍ عَسىٰ أَن يَكونوا خَيرًا مِنهُم ​

Digging for faults of others and to mention someone's actual short comings before others i.e. backbiting are also forbidden. Backbiting is to describe someone's actual evils before others.

وَلا تَجَسَّسوا وَلا يَغتَب بَعضُكُم بَعضًا ۚـ​

Humiliating, mocking, spying on others and backbiting; all these things break the 'Ummat-hood' by creating a division. All these things are prohibited. Respecting and honouring each other, which unite the Ummah, have been enjoined. Expecting ones own respect from others is prohibited because this does not form the Ummah rather ruins it. Ummah will be formed when everyone decides about himself that he is not worthy of respect and therefore does not seek respect but gives respect to others considering them worthy of it.

When self-sacrifice will be rendered then the Ummah will be made up. When the Ummah will be made up then the honour will be gained. Honour and dishonour are not in the frame of Russia and America. But they are in the hands of Allah and He had laid principles and regulations. Any individual, nation, family or class, which follows the principles and performs the deeds for shining, will be made to shine. Those adopting the path of destruction will be punished. Yahood, who are the progeny of Prophets, violated the rules, so Allah kicked them to pieces. The Sahaha RAA, who were the off springs of idolaters, adopted the principles meant for shining, so Allah made them shine. Allah has no kinship with anyone. He has principles and regulations.

Friends, devote yourselves whole heartedly for this efforts so that the Ummah of the Rasool :saws1: may regain the Ummat-hood. The true faith and imaan may come into it. It may become an Ummah having Zikr, Tasbeeh and Ta'leem, prostration before Allah, performance of services (Khidmah), tolerance and respect & honour for others. It may become an Ummah devoid of slander, disobedience, disgracing, mocking, spying and backbiting the brothers and friends. If this effort is made, in the way it ought to be, even at a single place; it will spread all over the world.

Now arrange to combine people of different nations, regions, classes and languages and send them in the path of Allah and get the adherence to the principles. Insha-Allah the work for the formation of the Ummah will be done, and Satan and nafs will not be able to cause any harm.



Source: http://www.islamibayanaat.com/Engli...omeAnUmmah-MaulanaMuhammadYusufKandolviRA.pdf

Thank-you, I have read all of it, well explained. By Allah's will, I will remember and not dispute with other Muslims. Have got nothing good to say, say nothing at all.

Sister h-n.

I love the Islamic concept of Ummah.
Unity is something Christians seem to have lost a long time ago. imsad

I am interested to hear how - from an Islamic perspective - Muslims should deal with differences in opinion and interpretation?
Clearly there are certain differences. That's apparent in discussions amongst members in this forum, but also when you study the opinions of different scholars and different hadiths.

How should Muslims respond to this?
Is it acceptable to respect each other's differences in opinion?

glo said:

I am interested to hear how - from an Islamic perspective - Muslims should deal with differences in opinion and interpretation?
Clearly there are certain differences. That's apparent in discussions amongst members in this forum, but also when you study the opinions of different scholars and different hadiths.

How should Muslims respond to this?
Is it acceptable to respect each other's differences in opinion?

Click to expand...

Please read the thread:

AabiruSabeel said:

Please read the thread:
Why are there differences of opinions among scholars?

Click to expand...

The link doesn't work, AabiruSabeel, so I haven't been able to read it.

But my question is not why there are different opinions by scholars - I have no problem with that.
My question is how should Muslims deal with that, and how does it affect the Ummah?

(Perhaps your thread does answer those questions. Like I said, I could not open the link.)

I have corrected the link now.

We have four main schools of Jurisprudence and we consider them all to be correct according to their methodology. We are tolerant of the differences and consider them to be a mercy for the Ummah. 'Umar bin 'AbdulAziz (RH), a Righteous Khalifah of the Muslims used to say: 'It would not please me more if the Companions of Muhammad :saws1: did not differ among them, because had they not differed there would be no leeway (for us).'