booke

political islam 469does not totally control our social and political activities. If al-wal§"is articulated on a collective level, how does it affect the relationshipbetween the individual and his community, people, or nation butalso his tribe, clan, and family? Finally, how does the Book harmonisethe concept of al-wal§" with the notion of al-ta#§ruf, God’s will that‘nations and tribes have been created that they know each other (andnot despise each other)’? 133 Does al-wal§" govern al-ta#§ruf, or doesal-ta#§ruf govern al-wal§"?We begin by stating that al-wal§" expresses a form of social identitythat is realised first as a decision by an individual who wants to stayin a relationship with someone else. This can be a relationshipbetween a master and his pupil who (intentionally and voluntarily)decides to follow his master and to imitate his behaviour. We aretold that ‘to each is a goal to which God turns him (muwallÊh§); thenstrive together (as in a race) towards all that is good…’ ( Al-Baqara2:148). On a more advanced level, al-wal§" is expressed as socialbehaviour, which means that a person’s decision is now embodiedas social practice. If this social behaviour is shared by other people,for example, if the guidance and instructions by the leader of a groupare widely accepted and observed by each of its members, if theyconstitute ‘goals to which they strive together’ (2:148), al-wal§" isarticulated on the level of a community. The Book provides the termumma, as in 3:110. The community here shares the same goal, thatis, ‘to prescribe what is right and proscribe what is wrong’, while thecommunity also shares the same ideology, that is, ‘to believe inGod’. 134 The identity of this community is relatively stable. Differencesof opinion are permitted but they never deteriorate to the extent thatthey turn into antagonisms that endanger the group’s collective133‘O [humankind]! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female,and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know each other (not that youmay despise (each other). Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of God is (hewho is) the most righteous of you. And God has full knowledge and is well acquainted(with all things)’ ( Al-\ujur§t 49:13).134‘[Believers], you are the best community [khayr a ummat in ] singled out for people:you order what is right, forbid what is wrong, and believe in God…’ ($l #Imr§n3:110, AH); AhA: ‘Of all the communities raised among men you are the best’ andMP: ‘You are the best community that has been raised up for mankind’ translateumma as MS does, but YA: ‘You are the best of peoples’; MF, AB, AA: ‘the best nation"—show that the term is understood interchangeably as nation, peoples, community, oreven ‘a group of people within a community’ (Ambros, Dictionary, 28, on 7:164) etc.;MS, as always, denies such semantic imprecision in rendering the term and insiststhat the Book uses different terms for nation, peoples et al., but not umma.