The Present and Former Muslim Ummah
The word “Islam” stands for submission before the Sovereignty of Almighty Allah (SWT), as proclaimed by His prophets throughout human history. The number of these holy men, as mentioned earlier, is reported to be 124 thousand. However, irrespective of the exact figure, it is generally accepted by scholars of the Qur’an that five of them are the most prominent and most notable. These include Prophet Nuh (AS), Prophet Ibrahim (AS), Prophet Musa (AS), Prophet Isa (AS), and Prophet Muhammad (SAW).
Out of these, Prophet Nuh (AS) was probably not endowed
with any Divine Scripture. Prophet Ibrahim (AS) did receive some sort of
scriptures, but there was no formal law or Shari‘ah in them. Similarly, the
Zabur or Psalms of Prophet Dawood (AS) and the Injeel or Gospel of Prophet Isa
(AS) contained nothing that can be described as law; instead, they were
composed of hymns and exhortations, respectively. It follows that, among the
known Divine Revelations, only two can be
described as “Books,”
in the sense
that they contained Shari‘ah, — the Torah (or Tauraat)
and the Holy Qur’an. The former is the name given to the “Five Books of Moses,”
also called the Pentateuch, which are included in the beginning of the Old
Testament. The latter, i.e., the Holy Qur’an, is the final and ultimate Book as
revealed to Prophet Muhammad (SAW).
It is significant to note that the Torah was revealed to
Prophet Musa (AS) as a guidance only for the Israelites, whereas the Qur’an —
being the last of Revelations — describes itself as “The Guidance” for the
whole humanity, for all times to come.
The main conclusion of the above discussion, however, is
that there had been only two Muslim “Ummahs” during the entire period
of known human
history. This is
because the genesis of such a
community is always preceded by — and is the direct result of — a Shari‘ah
being given to a messenger and through him to his followers. Since there had
been only two versions of the Divine Law that we can be sure about, i.e., the
Mosaic Law and the Shari‘ah of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), it follows that there
had been only two Muslim Ummahs — the Israelites or the Jews who were the
previous Ummah, and the community of the followers of Prophet Muhammad (SAW),
which constitutes the current and final Ummah.
Next, we shall discuss the common features and
distinguishing characteristics of these two communities, along with a brief
review of their history and the present state of their affairs. The relevance
of this topic is based upon the fact that, according to the predictions of
Prophet Muhammad (SAW), the Muslims and the Jews of the world — as custodians
of Divine Revelations — are going to act as two key players with regard to the
ultimate destiny of mankind.
Certain pointers of the Qur’an and detailed prophecies
in the Hadith literature predict the events that would happen before the end of
the world, that is, they foretell the final acts of the global drama. It is
vital to comprehend these predictions with reference to their proper
background, not only to clear our minds of any distrust or doubt, but also to
prevent any feeling of bewilderment when that which has been promised does take
place.
Another reason for discussing the history of the
previous Ummah, as will
be elucidated shortly,
is the stunning resemblance between the history of
Jews and that of Muslims, a fact that was also foretold by Prophet Muhammad
(SAW).
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