By: Spahic Omer
According to several authentic hadiths or traditions of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, during the event of the Mi’raj (ascension into heaven), the Prophet met Musa.
The latter asked if Almighty Allah had ordained something for the Prophet’s followers during the auspicious occasion of the Mi’raj. The Prophet answered that fifty daily prayers had been ordained.
To that, Musa retorted that the Prophet’s followers would not be able to perform so many prayers, so he advised the Prophet to return to Allah and ask for a remission in the number. The Prophet did as advised, but Musa continuously insisted on making repeat visits and requesting further leniency, because the Prophet’s followers would not be able to cope.
This, too, the Prophet heeded, returning to Allah again and again. In the end, when the daily prayers were reduced to only five, Musa still wanted the Prophet to ask for further reduction. However, the Prophet replied:
“I feel ashamed now of repeatedly asking my Lord for reduction. I accept and resign to His Will (i.e. that five daily prayers become an obligation)” (Safiur Rahman Mubarakpuri, the Sealed Nectar).
It is fascinating to recognize that in their conversations, Musa was looking at the issue of prayer through the prism of the character of his followers who were mere “people” (qawm), whereas Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was doing the same through the prism of the character of his followers who were “ummah.”
Musa knew whom he had and Muhammad ﷺ knew whom he has. Musa knew he could never rely on his faithless and rebellious people, but Muhammad ﷺ knew he could trust his obedient and accomplished ummah.
While there was nothing that could galvanize the people of Musa, Muhammad ﷺ understood that the institution of prayer will be that center of gravity around which all aspects of the arduous processes of personality-refinement and ummah-building will revolve.
Muhammad ﷺ further knew that prayer will be his ummah’s greatest asset, making the ummah, in turn, the greatest asset of all humanity. And just as prayer has been ordained at the highest levels of the metaphysical existence, the highest levels of one’s personal and collective (ummah) existence can only be achieved through it.
Definitely, for the ummah, the sky (heaven) is the limit, but for mere peoples and nations, the trivialities of earthly life and matter.
The idea of a people (qawm or nation) and the idea of an ummah
There are two major Qur’anic terms used interchangeably with regard to the prophethoods of Musa and Muhammad ﷺ: a people (qawm or nation) and an ummah. A people (or a nation) is defined as just human beings or persons making up a group or assembly linked by common worldly interests, such as a culture, tradition, ethnic group, or a sense of kinship.
A people is also the mass of a community as distinguished from a special class. This means that, considering that man is by nature a social being, the existence of a people as a group linked by naturally common characteristics is a biological-cum-existential necessity to which anybody: good or bad, competent or otherwise, can belong.
Unless someone is racist or harbors nationalistic tendencies – both of which are abominable traits – there is nothing inherently special about one people over another. Peoples or nations are generally what they are, not what they want to be.
In its quintessential and most profound meaning, an ummah, on the other hand, is a category, or a community, of people who transcend the naturally common worldly concerns and measures, and subscribe to the standards of a higher order, such as faith, righteousness and good work. Within the scope of an ummah, the significance of a nation (qawm) is relative and operates subserviently to the implications of the significance of an ummah.
Accordingly, the creation of an ummah is the ultimate goal, while the existence of a nation is an expedient means. The former, moreover, is a privilege and honor, which must be consciously chosen and earned, whereas the latter connotes a utility and engineered label, which can be inherited and even manipulated.
It goes without saying that the members of an ummah are unavoidably the members of a nation or nations, while the members of a nation are not necessarily the members of an ummah.
The people of Prophet Musa
The Qur’an keeps referring to the Children of Israel as no more than a people (nation), or the people of Prophet Musa. Musa, too, persistently addresses them as “his people.” Not even once does the Qur’anic discourse call them an ummah.
Moreover, to give emphasis to its intent, the Qur’an on a couple of occasions refers to the small group of believers among the Children of Israel – during Musa’s time and afterwards – as an ummah, calling to mind the prestige they as a larger group were required to achieve, but did not.
The Children of Israel did not merit the status of an ummah because they persisted in rebelling against Allah and betraying Musa. So much so that Musa at one point lamented: “O my people (qawm), why do you vex and insult me while you certainly know that I am the messenger of Allah to you?”
Allah then affirmed that only after they themselves had deviated, did He cause their hearts to deviate, and that He did not guide them solely on account of His guidance being incompatible with their reputation as “the defiantly disobedient people” (al-Saff 5).
In consequence, Musa did not feel that his people truly belonged to him, nor that he belonged to them. There endured a spiritual and psychological cleft between them. For Musa, his people remained nothing but an assemblage of human beings that made up a socio-cultural group. They remained alienated from each other, much like Dhul Qarnayn and the three random nations (qawm) he encountered on his voyages (al-Kahf 86-93).
Hence, when Musa and his people were fleeing from Egypt, pursued by Pharaoh and his ruthless army, facing the obstacle of the Red Sea, Musa proclaimed that Allah was with “him.” Though accompanied by multitudes, Musa did not say that Allah was with “them” or “us.”
Despite standing side by side, confronting the same adversary, Musa and his people were spiritually estranged. They were never completely in sync and their perspectives never fully aligned.
And right there, during the most critical moment of his prophetic career, Musa felt alone. Allah was the only one he had faith in and could rely upon. Nevertheless, he chose to keep a distance between his people and Allah. After coming to terms with their spiritual deficiencies, Musa felt that they were undeserving of anything better.
Therefore, when speaking of the highest spiritual dominion, Musa only mentioned himself: “Indeed, with me (not with “us”) is my Lord; He will guide me (not “us”)” (al-Shu’ara’ 62). This response seems all the more remarkable when contrasted with the preceding exclamation of the Children of Israel, wherein they used the pronoun “we”: “Those with Musa said: ‘Indeed, we are to be overtaken!” (al-Shu’ara’ 61). Without a doubt, Musa’s decision to meet his people’s pronoun “we” with his pronoun “me” highlights the intense estrangement in their relationship.
Henceforth, Musa’s relationship with his people steadily declined, leaving Musa to endure and wish for a swift turn of events. Regrettably, things were going from bad to worse.
Musa controlled his emotions and showed compassion towards his people, remembering their past sufferings under the oppressive regime of Egypt. He acknowledged their mistakes and misbehavior by simply labelling them as “ignorant” and admitting that “they had brought injustice upon themselves.”
Musa conveyed the message that if Pharaoh was mistreating them and acting unfairly towards them physically, they were also inflicting harm upon themselves spiritually. They were their own oppressors. If Musa could help them with regard to the former, he could not do much concerning the latter. In the absence of self-initiated spiritual growth, no one else could aid the Children of Israel.
Finally, when they betrayed Musa by refusing to enter the Promised Land, for which the entire prophethood enterprise of Musa had been initiated, enough was enough. It was right then and there that Musa declared, once and for all, that his people would never be able to progress from the low level of a nation to the commendable level of an ummah.
Musa announced his disassociation from the rebellious segments of his people, calling them defiant wrongdoers. Musa’s declaration indirectly also conveyed that his people were not fully prepared to carry out the laudable duties of the Abrahamic Covenant, lacking the necessary basic requirements.
Such was the rigor and nobility of the Covenant that it surpassed the abilities of a nation. That feat could only be achieved by an ummah. And since there was no ummah other than the ummah of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ that ever afterwards could fit the bill, it was the same ummah – as history and the living legacy of Islamic civilization could authenticate – that truly fulfilled the Covenant.
Musa addressed Almighty Allah after the overwhelming sections of his corrupted people had rejected the opportunity to enter the Promised Land and begin building the foundations of an ummah: “O my Lord! I have power only over myself and my brother: so separate us from this defiantly disobedient people!” (al-Ma’idah 25).
By taking these courses of action, the future of the Children of Israel was set in stone and their fate was sealed. It was their lot to forever be a people, playing a minor role in the grand narrative of civilization and operating as its footnote.
From Musa’s treacherous people then to Zionism today
So, when Musa met Muhammad ﷺ on the sixth heaven, his disloyal and untrustworthy people were the only precedent he could consider, and based on that, he could only form judgments. Musa exhibited a sort of dread concerning his people, holding a long-lasting belief that circumstances could never be different.
This mindset did not only apply to his people; rather, it encompassed a broader view that suggested all other communities and their prophets were similarly trapped in an unalterable reality.
Musa was mostly correct, though. As a result – by way of illustration – Jews’ dealings with Jesus, the last prophet of the Children of Israel and the penultimate prophet overall, are well documented, with Jesus calling them hypocrites, traitors and children of the devil. They also never stopped plotting against the Seal of Prophets, Muhammad ﷺ, trying to undermine his prophetic legitimacy and to kill him, as they had done before, directly or indirectly, to a plethora of prophets.
Even today, the most criminal and immoral sections of humanity, in the form of Zionism, are descendants of the Children of Israel who were supposed to follow Musa and the other Israelite prophets. Their crimes, along with those of their allies worldwide—including such as claim to be followers of Jesus—have brought the world to the brink of apocalyptic extinction.
Without a doubt, the Zionists who continually spread mischief and commit genocides in the name of Judaism and their prophets are nothing but the aberrations of history, religion, culture and civilization. Standing as a stark contrast to these standards, they are humanity’s anomaly.
Musa could not fathom the exception of Muhammad’s ﷺ ummah, as he was blinded, so to speak, by the extent of the religious infidelity and cultural stagnation of his people. It was as if he was not fully aware of the miraculous nature of Muhammad’s legacy and the remarkable religious and cultural yields of his ummah.
Or maybe he was aware, but the psychological scars of his interactions with his people were so deep and so sore that he felt passing a piece of advice to Muhammad ﷺ, in any case, would prove to be more advantageous than not.
It is because of all this that it was Muhammad ﷺ and his ummah who fulfilled the Abrahamic covenant, rather than any segment of Jewry—an idea that the latter tries very hard to manufacture and impose as a false narrative on their own community and people in general. Since Jews were neither capable nor willing to do so, the responsibility fell on Muhammad ﷺ as a younger brother of the Semitic family. His ummah embraced the challenge, living up to all its stipulations.
It is furthermore because of all this that the course of Islamic civilization has been consistently shaped by Muslim’s interactions and exchanges with Jews. This course is currently heavily influenced by the controversial establishment of the illegal state of Israel, which must be seen as a global enterprise best described as the Western geopolitical bastard imposed on a land that does not belong to either the West or Jews.
Finally, the reciprocal influences between Jews and Muslims will be significant moving forward, especially as some major signs of the Day of Judgment’s approach will occur when relations between Jews and Muslims reach a peak of distrust, leading to global calamities.
It seems as though the extraordinary encounter that took place between Muhammad ﷺ and Musa in the celestial realm was an indication of the most significant and impactful chapter that would unfold on the earthly plane.
The chapter, featuring a relationship between a people and an ummah, would be marked by the outcomes of the perennial confrontations between the inadequacies that come with being just a people and the potencies that are inherently found in an ummah.
The ongoing Gaza genocide is part of the proceedings in modern times, exposing evildoers, frauds and traitors on both sides, while simultaneously inspiring the most virtuous among us, thereby gradually forging a path towards ultimate triumph.
Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and his ummah
Both the Qur’an and Prophet Muhammad ﷺ refer to Muslims as an ummah. In addition, they are regularly given a range of praiseworthy descriptions, attesting to their qualities that pertain to faith, piety, obedience, high moral standards and excellence not only in discharging their spiritual, but also worldly, assignments.
However, one thing is certain: as a community of believers, Muslims are never depicted as a mere people (qawm).
To make things yet more emphatic, the nonbelieving segments of those to whom Prophet Muhammad ﷺ had been sent – in particular the polytheistic Quraysh of Makkah – are referred to as belonging to the people (qawm) who refused to follow Muhammad ﷺ.
For instance, the Qur’an says: “So what is (the matter) with those people (qawm) that they can hardly understand any statement?” (al-Nisa’ 78); “But your people (qawm) have denied it while it is the truth. Say: ‘I am not over you a manager’” (al-An’am 66); “And the Messenger has said: ‘O my Lord, indeed my people (qawm) have taken this Qur’an as (a thing) abandoned” (al-Furqan 30).
The Qur’an also tends to brand the complete Quraysh tribe as a people (qawm), whom Prophet Muhammad ﷺ had targeted first with his prophetic mission, and who later, after responding differently to the mission, became divided into two categories: believers (ummah) and non-believers (remaining just a people and so, an unfulfilled potential).
The Qur’an says for example: “Or do they say: ‘He invented it’? Rather, it is the truth from your Lord, (O Muhammad ﷺ), that you may warn a people (the Quraysh as qawm) to whom no warner has come before you (so) perhaps they will be guided” (al-Sajdah 3); “That you may warn a people (the Quraysh as qawm) whose forefathers were not warned, so they are unaware” (Ya Sin 6).
According to the Qur’an – it follows – the Quraysh and then every other tribe, nation, or community were simply groups of people with spiritual and civilizational potential. Through Islam, they were given the chance to awaken and become enlightened, evolving into an ummah that will embrace at once spiritual fulfilment and cultural advancement.
Otherwise, they would have remained dormant. Unrefined and unfulfilled, they would have promoted prejudice and close-mindedness, while neglecting social and cultural inclusivity, and would have advocated for discriminatory and dogmatic individualism, rather than embracing a universal existential and spiritual perspective.
Put another way, Islam aims to rescue the world from the fetters of the minimalism and crudeness of mere tribes, nations and peoples, leading it to the liberty and sophistication of a universal ummah whose cosmopolitan ethos is celebrated and also optimized for attaining the highest degrees of righteousness and virtue.
In reality, nations are the means for an ummah, additionally functioning as its building blocks. Without adequately cultivating the former, the latter cannot be realized. However, if nurtured incorrectly for their own sake, nations not only fail to reach their potentials, but also become a threat. Instead of contributing to the realization and sustainability of an ummah, they can undermine and even destroy it.
Muslims as the best ummah
These messages are emphasized in two verses of the Qur’an where Muslims are described not only as an ummah, but also the best ummah ever. In the first verse, the Qur’an stresses that, as the best ummah, Muslims serve as a beacon of hope and a source of inspiration.
It also brings attention to a fundamental aspect of the Muslim ummah identity, which is the combination of faith in Allah with the responsibility to promote good and prevent wrongdoing.
The Qur’an says: “You are the best ummah produced (as an example) for mankind. You enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and believe in Allah” (Alu ‘Imran 110). In the second verse, the Qur’an underscores the significance of Muslims as the best ummah and a benchmark for others.
As part of this role, they will be witnesses to the nations (the entirety of mankind) which, while persisting in the inadequate state of mere nations and peoples, did not embrace or become part of the best ummah.
The mantle of the best ummah stands for a proof of Muslims’ faithful internalization and practice of Islam. Which means that it is not a choice, but rather a responsibility, to become the best ummah. Or else, Prophet Muhammad ﷺ will be a witness against his followers for failing in their both religious and civilizational duties.
In any case, Muslims have a choice: they can meet the standards of the best ummah and testify against others, or falter and be testified against by their prophet. The Qur’an says: “And thus we have made you a middle and justly balanced (i.e. the best) ummah that you will be witnesses over the nations and the Messenger will be a witness over you” (al-Baqarah 143).
Source: IslamiCity
