Islamic community

Ummah (Arabic: أمة‎‎) is an Arabic word meaning "community". It is distinguished from Sha'b (Arabic: شعب‎‎) which means a nation with common ancestry or geography. Thus, it can be said to be a supra-national community with a common history.

It is a synonym for ummat al-Islamiyah (Arabic: الأمة الإسلامية‎‎) (the Islamic Community), and it is commonly used to mean the collective community of Islamic peoples. In the Quran the ummah typically refers to a single group that shares common religious beliefs, specifically those that are the objects of a divine plan of salvation. In the context of Pan-Islamism and politics, the word Ummah can be used to mean the concept of a Commonwealth of the Believers (أمة المؤمنين ummat al-mu'minīn).

The word Ummah (pl. umam) means Nation in Arabic. For example the Arabic term for the United Nations in Arabic is الأمم المتحدة Al-Umam Al-Mutahedah, and the term الأمة العربية Al-Ummah Al-Arabeyah is used to refer to "The Arabic Nation".

The Word Ummah differs from the concept of a country or people. In it is greater context it is used to describe a larger group of people. For example, in Arabic the world شعب Sha'ab ("people") would be used to describe the citizens of Turkey. However, the term Ummah is used to describe the Turkic Nation as a whole, which includes Turkey, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and other countries and ethnic groups in Central Asia.

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