The Ummah, the Sunnah of the Prophet and the Caliph: The Sunni View

Abstract

The essay discusses three important aspects at the very beginnings of Islam in the transition from a pre-islamic society to an Islamic society. The purpose
of this work is to examine and contrast the main differences between these two types of society. Were there any changes which took place and which were they?
In the first place the article considers the formation of the ancient and of
the new society. The pre-islamic society had its basis in the tribe, a group composed of individuals who recognized a common ancestor, that is, by common blood. The Islamic society, eventually called “Ummah”, is formed exclusively
by those who believe in Allah as the only God, Creator of all that exists. Members of the Ummah also accept Muhammad as His messenger. It has little or nothing to do with blood ties. This criterion was applied in a very peculiar way to the Jewish tribe of the banu Awf in Medina. There are different opinions as to whether the Jewish tribe was or was not part of the Islamic Ummah. It is very enlightening to see how the Prophet provided a solution to this question. Such individuals were incorporated into the Ummah as “believers”. In this way, there never was a purely political, a secular Ummah, nor a plural religious community.
In regard to the concept of “Sunnah”, the traditional or ancestral unwritten law of the preislamic society, did it continue to exist in Islamic times? Here we notice an important change. The Islamic Sunnah has a divine origin, it is not human law. Every innovation introduced by Muhammad to the old Sunnah has a Divine sanction, who obeys Muhammad obeys God. All the rituals of Islam, for instance, in regard to the pilgrimage, prayers, alms and fasting, were inspired by God and passed on to Muhammad. The same applies to decisions the Prophet took with regard to the social life of the Islamic community. The Muslims were paying attention to what the Prophet said and did in relation to the life of the community. In this way the concept of Prophetic Sunnah had to be present from the very beginnings of Islam and cannot be considered a late innovation introduced by the Islamic jurists to force the caliph, the political authority to submit the religious
Law.
Finally, in the transition from the pre-islamic Sayyid or Sheikh to the Caliph we notice a gradual change from one who is a primus inter pares to one who has the legitimate power to use physical force, or violence, to impose his will. But here the most important question is to see if the caliph, sometimes called “caliph of God”, had the right or authority to legislate, to create a body of laws with the same validity of those of the Prophet. In other words, is the caliph, or the political government, independent, superior or does he have to submit to religious law? There seems to be a consensus that the true Islamic government and ruler have to submit to the dictates of religious Law, to be considered a legitimate government or ruler. There is a discussion however, and different opinions as to whether or not verbal submission to Islam is sufficient or if a ruler has to has to practice more than that. This debate continues until today but without reaching a single common opinion.