contributed. During this era of great Islamic cul-
observed. Worldly authority was wielded by the
ruling elites, while the ulama wielded authority
in religious matters, especially the law. Non-Mus-
lims in the dar al-Islam remained the majority in
most regions until the 12th or 13th century. They
were legally “protected” people under Islamic law,
known as ahl al-dhimma, or simply dhimmis.
Although Muslims developed local loyalties
and identities wherever they lived, and the dar
al-Islam was beset by intracommunal tensions
and conflicts that led to political fragmentation,
the ideal of the communal solidarity of believers
endured. It even withstood invasions by crusad-
ers and Mongols and sectarian challenges posed
by the k
haWariJ
and the Shia. The Shia especially
became a significant political threat to the ideal of
a unified umma between the 10th and 12th cen-
turies. They held that the community had gone
astray after Muhammad’s death in 632, and they
asserted that its moral virtue and authenticity
could be fully restored only under the leadership
of the Imams, divinely inspired descendants of the
Prophet’s household (
ahl
al
-
bayt
). Nevertheless,
the major branches of s
hiism
have sought ways to
negotiate coexistence with s
Unnism
throughout
much of their history, and efforts at rapproche-
ment continue to the present day. The umma ideal
took root outside the Middle East in sub-Saharan
Africa, India, and beyond. This more globalized
aspect of communal solidarity was embodied
in transregional networks involving the move-
ment of goods, people, and ideas, as reflected
in the biographies of famous Muslim scholars,
Sufis, warriors, and travelers such as i
bn
b
attUta
(1304–77).
The third phase in the development of the
concept of the umma, that of European colonial-
ism and the modern nation-state, began in the
18th century and continues to the present. During
this time the last vestiges of transregional Muslim
political rule were wiped away with the fall of
the m
Ughal
dynasty
in 1857 and of the o
ttoman
dynasty
in 1922. The title of caliph was discon-
tinued, the authority of the ulama was weakened,
and the dar al-Islam as a large contiguous territory
under centralized Muslim government became
but a memory. The colonial era saw many Muslim
lands ruled by non-Muslims, and, even with inde-
pendence, the governments and laws of newly cre-
ated nation-states, with few exceptions, emulated
the secular policies of Europe. The umma ideal,
however, did not disappear. Islamic
reneWal
and
reForm
movements
, inspired and led by men such
as J
amal
al
-d
in
al
-a
Fghani
(d. 1897), m
Uhammad
a
bdUh
(d. 1905), and m
Uhammad
r
ashid
r
ida
(d. 1935). The renewal of the unity of the
umma,
particularly in the face of secular and leftist politi-
cal currents during the cold war era, was a factor
that led to the creation of international bodies
such as the m
Uslim
W
orld
l
eagUe
(1962) and the
o
rganization
oF
the
i
slamic
c
onFerence
(1969).
It is also evident in the formation of transnational
daawa
movements such as the t
ablighi
J
amaat
,
launched in the 1920s, and support given by Mus-
lim organizations and states for Muslim victims of
conflicts, political persecution, and natural disas-
ters around the world. Cooperation among Mus-
lim states with s
aUdi
a
rabia
in the organization of
the hajj is another way in which the umma ideal is
affirmed today. Local and global ties among Mus-
lims in the modern era have also been strength-
ened by both mechanized forms of transportation
and the print and electronic media.
Restoring the umma ideal in a more political
sense is a foundational aspect of radical Islamist
ideology, as expressed in the writings of s
ayyid
q
Utb
(d. 1966) and a
bU
al
-a
la
m
aWdUdi
(d.
1979), and is embraced by radical
Jihad
move
-
ments
, many of which want to unify Muslims
against secular regimes and create theocratic
governments based on the sharia. This message is
used by h
amas
to rally Muslims against Israel and
by U
sama
bin
l
adin
to justify the terrorist attacks
of al-Qaida.
See also
caliphate
; c
ompanions
oF
the
p
rophet
;
conversion
; c
rUsades
;
dar
al
-i
slam
and
dar
al
-
harb
;
dhimmi
; i
slamic
government
;
pan
-i
slamism
;
s
Unnism
;
tawhid
.
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