The scope of the Doctrine  Ummat in Multi-cultural Societies

There has been heated disputes among thinkers and commentators over the scope of the doctrine ‘Ummat’ which has its roots in the Qur’an. The main concern of this study is to expound the scope of the concept of this term with regard to multi-cultural societies.The term ‘multi-cultural’ societies is a relative concept and the discussion can be based on two genera assumptions. The first is that the community is made up of a variety of ethnic groups having different cultures and speaking different languages and all of them are Muslims. The second is that the community is made up of Muslims and non-Muslims. Consequently, the area of meaning of ‘ummat’ varies in relation to each of the mentioned assumptions. If the word ‘ummat’ is to be associated with certain faith, it includes only Muslims and thus this will be consistent with the first assumption. In this case, the community in the second sense cannot come under the word ummat, as a result of which it will be difficult to create what may be called “a single nation” within these societies. But when the idea ‘ummat’ is taken to have a wider sense than associating it with faith, then the ideological gap between Muslims and non-Muslims living within a multi-cultural society will not be an obstacle for changing them into, or considering them as, a single community