Umma refers to community or nation in Arabic. When used, it means the Arab world or collective nation of states. In Islamic context it refers to Diaspora of believers; the Muslim world. Modern-day Islamism when using the term Islamic Ummah is referring to the everyone in those lands and countries resided in by Muslims and which at one time were controlled by the caliphate. Islamic law (Shariah) applies to the citizens of these cities while non-Muslims are subjected to Dhimmi limitations (Mandaville pp4, 2001).
The idea of Muslim Diaspora brings with it such things as travel and a desire for home. In addition most Muslims not living in their homelands are a minority group in the places they have traveled to. This for the Muslim means a necessity to familiarize oneself with unfamiliar circumstances while engaging in new cultures that may cause adjustments to one’s traditions, beliefs and values (Mandaville pp 115, 2001)
The fact that most Muslims are minorities in the Diaspora can be a stigma of foreignness. It can also be an avenue for discrimination especially with the focus on terrorism where in some cases having a Muslim name is associated with acts of terrorism. While this association is not always correct, the Muslim Diaspora has sometimes been used as a means of perpetuating terrorism since many of the terrorism attacks are creations of fundamentalist Islam movements.
The presence of Umma has enabled new information and much larger information reaching Muslim and non-Muslims alike through the various new communication media available. This is helpful to the Muslims because it provides an avenue for staying in focus with their Muslim beliefs and values even when the environment does not make it easy to stay so. It however has been used in negative ways to harm and destroy by those with anti-Western ideas.
Islam travels in many regions of the world especially the west (Europe and North America) and in these areas there is an increase in literature on Islam in the west and there is generally high translocal space. The social and political environment of the west is also one that provides for and is conducive to debate. These areas have been used by Umma to propagate various Muslim political agendas and ideas. For example in the early 1950s the Hizbut Tahrir/al-Muhajimum movement whose origins were in the Middle East traveled around British University campuses promulgating anti-Semitic ideas. This group was formed by strict advocates of the caliphate political system.
The young Muslims UK is another group whose aim is to create Islam teachings that are in line with the needs and circumstances of Muslims in the Diaspora in the UK. The Tablighi Jamal-founded in India, involves itself in activities that focus on traveling ‘missionary’ work among communities of Muslims worldwide. Their emphasis is on the importance of collective harmony and purity at a personal spiritual level (Mandaville, Pp 116, 2001).
These are important organizations for the contemporary Muslim since most Muslims in the Umma due to migration to new social and cultural environments begin to have Islam redefined for them. Further, being removed from an environment where Islam is the main feature to an environment where it is a minor issue heightens the awareness of Islam and fellow Muslims also become more important (Mandaville pp 117, 2001).
It also provides an opportunity for the Muslim to really scrutinize and think about Islam and the social relevance of Islam in light of other happenings around the world. The Umma also provides a window or point of interface for the Muslim society and the non-Muslims in the society where they (the Muslims) are found. The mosque in the Netherlands is more than a place for prayer it has found significance in mediating between the Muslim Diaspora and the larger society. The mosque offers instruction in the Dutch language, financial aid and other social services aimed at being an interface between Islam and Dutch society.
The Iranian-exile media in Los Angeles serves a similar purpose. Though many Iranians living in Los Angeles left their land to flee Khomeini’s Iranian Revolution. With time the religious, symbols have lost their negative connotations and become a source of nostalgia for Iran. This has led to a type of discourse where the Islamist polities of Khomeini can be attacked in one program and the next can focus on the beauty of the call to prayer (Mandaville pg 118, 2001). Umma is therefore very significant in Muslim contemporary affairs and can be used as a tool for understanding Islam and dealing with anti-Islamist views.
Works cited
Mandaville PG, 2001. Transnational Muslim Politics: Reimaging the Umma. Routledge ISBN 0415246946 pp. 4, pp. 115-118.