Ramadan and the Possibility of Muslim Unity

3/4/2025

By: Ustadh ubaydullah evans

ALIM Resident Scholar

Friday marked the first night of the blessed month of Ramadan. Mashallah, it appears that the three principal ways of determining the matla’ produced the same result: a) Global moonsighting b) Local moonsighting c) Astronomical calculation.

I was genuinely pleased at this outcome. In years past, I would celebrate the diversity of opinion on this issue. “The fact that Muslims disagree on matters such as the beginning of Ramadan is proof of our sincerity. Each group is exhausting the full stock of its resources to determine God’s Will. Disagreement exists because these things matter to us.” In a certain sense, I would use the contentiousness of the Muslim community to explain what made us distinct in a time of widespread nihilism. That really strikes me as strange now.

Although I haven’t repudiated my initial embrace of intramural religious pluralism, this year’s ALIM Winter Program, held at MCC East Bay, was a reminder of the value of unity. Disagreement is inevitable. However, elevating disagreement to being a “distinguishing feature” and badge of honor might have been a miscalculation. We are stronger and more capable of realizing the objectives of our collective mission when we are united.

The month Ramadan is unquestionably one of the greatest shi’aar (symbols, outward manifestations) of the Muslim community. I’ve been a practicing Muslim for nearly 26 years and it never ceases to amaze me that such a large percentage of the global Muslim community engages such a demanding act of worship.

As one anthropologist put it, “Observance of fasting in Ramadan is what separates Islam from other world religions. Whereas many religious communities appear to be in a folkloric stage of their existence (when compared with earlier periods of relevance), Islam still exerts real influence on the lives of its adherents.” The fact that the devout fast is impressive in and of itself.

However, when one considers the Muslims who identify themselves as “mildly practicing” but still fast in the month of Ramadan, it’s actually kind of phenomenal. I’ve always been quietly amused at the reaction of people of other faiths when they hear a Muslim say, “...I’m not that religious but I’m fasting.” It usually takes a second to register... “if you’re doing something this personal and demanding and you’re not THAT religious! What do the “religious” people in your community do?” It’s true; fasting more than prayer, pilgrimage, and certainly Zakat, is where our Ummah expresses the greatest commonality in its cause.

{“Verily this community of yours is a single community, and I am your Lord so worship Me.”} [21:92]

Separated from the Prophetic advent by nearly 1400 years and now comprising a world civilization, the Ummah is still present.

In spite of our differences: methodological and theological, ethnic and historical, the global Muslim community still makes up one of the largest human communities in the world. I submit that to say the Ummah is bound by a common liturgy on the order of something approaching the Roman Catholic Church would be a stretch. Our community, historically and contemporaneously, has always been de-
centralized. However, I think we overlook what it means for this many human beings, in this many places, to perform the same act of worship, in basically the same way, at the same time.

What if that unifying ethic could be harnessed in ways that radically alter the exchange of resources, aid, and good will in the world?

While teaching at the Winter Program, Dr. Jackson—as an interlocutor of Shaykh Taha Jaber al-Alwani (may Allah have mercy on him), whose text we reviewed—asked: “Did the Prophet (upon him be peace) come to establish an Ummah or a state? And why are we so obsessed with the establishment of a state? A state is merely an 18 th century European expression of sovereignty.”

There’s a lot to unpack here. Suffice it to say, neither Shaykh Taha nor Dr. Jackson was discrediting political power as a legitimate religious concern. Quite the reverse, Shaykh Taha was asserting that building community is our religious obligation.

The Prophet (upon him be peace) established an Ummah. The establishment of states and polities are legitimate insofar as they serve the Ummah. The purpose of the Ummah is not to serve the ideal of a State. And there is much more that can be said here. However, for me this represented a paradigm shift.

The global Ummah is not a fictive notion because we lack a single sovereign state to which we all belong. The global ummah is as real as our recognition of our fraternal bonds and commitment to a common sense of mission. From that shared matla’ (literally “point of departure.” Pun intended!) everything from education to economics and government enters our collective sphere of endeavor.

If I’m being honest, thinking about the Ummah of the Prophet Muhammad (upon him be peace) as a unit of assembly and formation that supersedes national origin and even citizenship is ambitious. Statism, as a feature of the modern world, is so ingrained in our collective self-understanding that it’s nearly impossible to imagine anything different. However, if there ever were a people and if there ever was time in which they could begin re-conceiving their relation to one another, it might be a billion plus people engaging in ritual fasting at the exact same time.

Perhaps it’s more urgent to consider it this way: Is the current formation of the Ummah working for us? Are we not yet appalled enough at the utter cheapness of Muslim blood? Are we not yet humiliated enough at the impotence of the global Muslim community to defend the sanctity of the lives our brothers and sisters? We’re all fasting together. This is a rare civilizational achievement. Maybe the time has come to invest in it.

Ramadan Mubarak.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
USTADH UBAYDULLAH EVANS

Ustadh Ubaydullah Evans is ALIM’s first Scholar-in-Residence. He converted to Islam while in high school. Upon conversion, Ustadh Ubaydullah began studying some of the foundational books of Islam under the private tutelage of local scholars while simultaneously pursuing a degree in journalism from Columbia. Since then, he has studied at Chicagoland’s Institute of Islamic Education (IIE), in Tarim, Yemen, and Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, where he is the first African-American to graduate from its Shari’a program. Ustadh Ubaydullah also instructs with the Ta’leef Collective and the Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN) at times. As the ALIM Scholar-in-Residence, Ustadh Ubaydullah is a core instructor at the ALIM Summer Program. He teaches History of Islamic Law, Shama'il, and Aphorisims of Ibn Ata'illah along with other courses.

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