In modern times it has manifested itself in various...

In modern times it has manifested itself in various pan-Islamic movements going back to Jamal al-Din al-Afghani in the nineteenth century. The unity of the Islamic community lies, however, primarily in ethical and spiritual realities within the hearts of the true believers, who emphasize the Quranic dictum that “Verily the believers are brothers” (49:9).

Yet although this theme is repeated endlessly in sermons in mosques and elsewhere on various religious occasions, in practice some Muslims have made a mockery of it. This sense of unity and brotherhood, which also includes of course sisterhood, has become weakened by many ethnic, sectarian, and personal factors over the ages, especially in modern times.

Besides seeing themselves as an ummah ordered by God to “call to the good,” Muslims also see themselves as the “middle community” in the world on the basis of the famous Quranic verse in which Muslims are addressed as follows: “Thus We have appointed you a middle community (ummah wasat.ah) that you may be witnesses unto the people and the messenger may be a witness unto you” (2:143). This verse can be and in fact has been understood in many ways.

On the most external level, it means that Islam was destined to occupy the middle belt of the classical world from the Mediterranean to the China Sea, with many non-Muslim communities and peoples to the north and south. On a theological level and within the Abrahamic family, Muslims interpret this verse to mean that while Judaism emphasizes laws for this world and Christianity otherworldliness, Islam came to emphasize the middle ground, to strike a balance between this world and the next.

Another interpretation, which is primarily ethical, is that “middle community” means that God chose for Muslims the golden mean, the avoidance of extremes in ethical and religious actions. Yet another meaning of this verse, with global implications, is that Muslims constitute “the middle community,” because they have been chosen by God to create a balance between various communities and nations.

This last interpretation, however, does not at all mean that Muslims see themselves as the chosen people in the Jewish sense of the term. On the contrary, Muslims see all communities, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, to have been chosen by God, given their own sacred institutions and rites, and held responsible to Him.