Ummah, a community

The word Ummah, which is one of the cornerstone terms used in Islamic literature, represents the quintessence positive qualities of life which this religion propagates.

Symbolically, the word Ummah represents nurturing qualities to deepen the human bondage. In literal sense, Ummah means "to be or become a mother, to nationalize, etc." Simply put, Ummah is a term which tends to invoke that collective feeling among all followers of Islam to work for the betterment of the world.

Though the Quran uses the word Ummah in different ways, going by the versions of leading Islamic scholars, Ummah primarily denotes groups of people from past and future. Ummah is an Arabic word meaning community or nation. In the context of Islam, the word Ummah (often spelt ummahh) is used to underline the community of the believers (ummaht al-mu'minin), and thus the whole Islamic world. The phrase ummah wahida in the Quran (the "One Community") gives the call to all followers of Islam in the world to unify.

The first reference of Ummah probably comes from an early Constitution of Madinah. It refers to a crucial negotiation between Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) in 622 AD with the leading clans of Madinah explicitly refers to Jewish and pagan citizens of Madinah as members of the Ummah.