18 March 2026
Interreligious Relations (IRR) Issue 33 – Ummah in the Qur’ān: Reconciling Exclusive and Inclusive Visions of Ummah by Muhammad Haniff Hassan
Abstract:
This article offers an intervention into the longstanding tension between two visions of the ummah – one exclusive, defined by religious boundaries, and the other inclusive, encompassing broader communities of shared values. These two visions have traditionally been treated as contradictory and oppositional. The article begins by examining the Qur’ānic usage of the polyvalent term ummah, to explore its intended meanings, associated injunctions, and theological implications. It then explores the contemporary debate between the exclusivist and inclusivist interpretations, before proposing a reconciliation of the two visions. Drawing on social identity theory, the article contends that the two visions can be theologically regarded as two distinct identities that can be practiced concurrently. Furthermore, the article highlights how the Islamic intellectual tradition – through the framework of ijtihād – allows for interpretive flexibility and adaptability, thereby challenging the tendency among some Muslim scholars to consistently privilege the exclusive vision when the two appear to clash. This article seeks to reconsider this binary through a reconciliatory synthesis of the two visions of the ummah, offering a theological argument that is presently absent from the current literature, and making a humble contribution to the current corpus of contemporary Islamic knowledge.
Abstract:
This article offers an intervention into the longstanding tension between two visions of the ummah – one exclusive, defined by religious boundaries, and the other inclusive, encompassing broader communities of shared values. These two visions have traditionally been treated as contradictory and oppositional. The article begins by examining the Qur’ānic usage of the polyvalent term ummah, to explore its intended meanings, associated injunctions, and theological implications. It then explores the contemporary debate between the exclusivist and inclusivist interpretations, before proposing a reconciliation of the two visions. Drawing on social identity theory, the article contends that the two visions can be theologically regarded as two distinct identities that can be practiced concurrently. Furthermore, the article highlights how the Islamic intellectual tradition – through the framework of ijtihād – allows for interpretive flexibility and adaptability, thereby challenging the tendency among some Muslim scholars to consistently privilege the exclusive vision when the two appear to clash. This article seeks to reconsider this binary through a reconciliatory synthesis of the two visions of the ummah, offering a theological argument that is presently absent from the current literature, and making a humble contribution to the current corpus of contemporary Islamic knowledge.
