9–11 Why is the Ummah important to Muslims?
Background knowledge for teachers Assessment for learning Ummah means community or the worldwide This section shows some of the outcomes achievable by community of Muslims. There is no living leader pupils of different abilities in the 9–11 age range. of the Ummah. Allah is the only one who Muslims follow. The Ummah aims to promote the welfare Description of achievement: of everyone in the Muslim community. The Ummah Expectations I can ... benefits from a shared language – most Muslims learn Arabic so they can read the Qur’an. The Almost all pupils • describe what the Ummah means Ummah supports the worldwide community of in this age group to Muslims Muslims by: Expected for • give some examples of what • supporting one another financially, for instance 9-year-olds difference religious commitments through the giving of Zakah make to some people’s lives • encouraging the members of the community to • describe three different ways in which take care of one another 3 the Ummah supports Muslim people • encouraging people to live the best life they can all over the world and not engage in wrong doing This unit uses interviews with young people to help pupils understand the significance of the Ummah in Many pupils in • make connections between belief the lives of Muslims and how the Five Pillars support this age group in the Ummah and teachings and the Ummah. Expected for sources of wisdom in Islam Through exploring identity and belonging using a 11-year-olds • describe some of the impacts of film clip, engaging in active reading and applying religious commitments on life their learning in thinking and writing tasks, pupils 4 • outline the challenges and benefits will be able to answer the unit question: Why is the of being part of the Ummah in Ummah important to Muslims? Britain today
The most able • explain the significance of the pupils in this Ummah to Muslims and express ideas Web support age group about this concept of community
W My Life, My Religion has a series of clips that • make connections between aspects of are suitable to use when teaching about Islam 5 the Ummah and similar ideas in other and the Ummah. communities See: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05pc1c9/clips NATRE members and RE Today subscribers can also This unit could help pupils in Scotland to achieve RME download the following from the RE Today website: 2–04b and 2–05a. • a copy of the magazine article on pp.30–31 • a copy of the active reading grid on p.28
• a PowerPoint presentation to support the teaching Links across the curriculum of this unit The activities in this unit support pupils to: • use simple organisational devices in non- narrative material Essential knowledge for pupils • ask questions to improve their understanding of the text Pupils should know: • identify the main ideas drawn from more than • the meaning of the Ummah one paragraph and summarise these • the significance of the Ummah in the lives of Muslims For those using RE Today units of work, this supports 2.8 What difference does it make to • examples of the Ummah in action (e.g. in the believe in Ahimsa, grace, and/or the Ummah? Five Pillars)
26 vity vity ti ti c c A 1 Expressing identity A 2 Active reading
Bring in a series of items that express some of the For these activities you will need each pair of pupils multiple identities that you, as a teacher have, to have a copy of the ‘Understanding Ummah’ activity for example: on pp.30–31. Explain to the pupils that you are going • a pile of books to show you are a teacher to find out about the importance of the Ummah to the Muslim community. Ask the pupils to work in pairs. • a photo to show your place as a partner, parent, sibling or child in your family Summarising • something to show your allegiance to a sporting team or musician or other hobby Read the text on p.30 to pupils and ask them to sum up what they have heard in one or two sentences. • something to show a group you belong to such as a book group, running club or choir Next give the text of p.30 to each pair. • a map or similar to express the significance of Ask them to: a particular location to you • underline any words that they think someone would Describe who you are to the pupils and how need to find out more about your identity is made up of many things including • write no more than five sentences that summarise membership of several communities. Explain that what they have read in this unit, we are going to learn about Muslim people and the importance of community to them. Digging deeper Show the opening clip from My Life, My Religion where Give each pair a copy of the two interviews on p.31. Sara has made a short clip expressing something of Ask each pupil to read one interview and summarise who she is. what they have found out using the active reading grid See: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02mwkl7 on p.28. After filling in the thinking frame, pupils explain Ask pupils to work in pairs to write about or draw four to their partner what they found out from their interview objects that show who Sara is, what is important to her and identify and describe similarities and differences. and what communities she belongs to. Ask them to meet Share their understanding of the significance of the up with another pair to present and justify their choices. Ummah for Muslims. How would the pupils express their own identity in 90 seconds? Which communities do they belong to and Defining how does that affect what they do? Ask pupils to work Go back to the words they underlined on p.30. individually to create a 90 second film or script Underline any words that require defining on p.31. of their identity. Using information gained, any books or additional resources, create a glossary of terms that could be added to the magazine article.
vity ti c A 3 Your community
As a class, identify between three and five features of the Ummah. Discuss what the purpose of each of these features is. Record their ideas in a table; Column 1 titled ‘Feature of the Ummah’ and Column 2 titled ‘Purpose of this feature’. Explain to your pupils that they, like Sara and Bilal and Fizzah, belong to one or more than one community. For some of them this might be a religious community but all of them belong to the school community. Ask the pupils to think about the features the class recorded about the Ummah. Can these features be found in your school? If this feature is found in school, how does it help the school community? If the feature is not found, how could it improve your school’s sense of community? Ask pupils to record their ideas around a picture representing your school.
27 vity vity ti ti c c A Five Pillars of Islam A Writing to improve 4 and the Ummah 5 understanding
Before embarking on this activity, pupils will Below are two suggested writing activities. You can either choose need to have learnt about the Five Pillars the writing style that links with the learning you are doing in of Islam. If this is not something you have English or choose a writing activity suitable for individual pupils. taught about before, the pupils will need to Alternatively, you could create a different activity linked to the be introduced to them first. You might look at writing style you are studying in English. Both of these tasks allow Opening Up Islam pp.25–29 for this. Remind pupils to apply what they have learnt about the Ummah and the pupils of the Five Pillars of Islam: apply their learning to the different writing tasks. The second task • Shahahdah, declaration of faith may be suitable for less able or younger pupils. • Salah, prayer Newspaper article • Zakah, giving of money Ask pupils to write an article about the Ummah to be placed in a local newspaper or magazine. In the article they must include: • Sawm, fasting • an explanation of what the Ummah is and what it means • Hajj, pilgrimage to Makkah to Muslims Arrange pupils to work in pairs. Give each • two or three examples of the Ummah in action in the local area pair a copy of p.29 either as a whole or cut up into separate cards. Each card describes • technical language with definitions, referring to their glossary something about how following that pillar • key features of a newspaper article reflects being part of the Ummah. A postcard describing the Ummah Firstly, ask pupils to identify which of the Ask pupils to write a postcard to Sara, Fizzah or Bilal thanking descriptions relates to which of the Five Pillars them for helping them to understand the Ummah through their film of Islam, either by sorting the cards or writing or article. In the postcard they must include: the names of the pillars on the sheet. There are • a description of what the Ummah is two cards per pillar. • examples they have seen or learnt about that show the Ummah Next, ask pupils to choose which three of all in action the quotes relate most to the Ummah and write a paragraph to explain their ideas. • technical language with definitions, referring to their glossary
Activity 2: Active reading
The three most important things about the Ummah: Why was the Ummah important to Bilal/Fizzah?
Name of interviewee:
Three important words and their meanings: Three questions you would like to ask:
28 Photocopiable by purchasing institutions Activity 4: The Ummah in the Five Pillar cards W
One way I feel part of the Ummah is Jummah prayers on Friday bring the by sharing one belief that ‘There is no whole community together. We pray the god except Allah and that Muhammad same thing but also all hear the words is the messenger of Allah.’ We remind of the Imam. This goes on around the ourselves of this at least five times a day whole world. I can go to Jummah prayers during prayer. wherever I am in the world.
All pilgrims complete the same rituals. It is great to be able to support other Men dressed identically in ihram and Muslims financially. My money is not just women in clean clothes. These rituals for me and my family. I need to share remind us we are part of one worldwide it with those who are having a difficult community, completing our pilgrimage time. Allah tells us to do this as part of with about three million other members of one community. the Ummah.
The fact that a declaration of our belief is Muslims are reminded to care about the first thing that a baby hears at birth each other by fasting. It reminds us that and the last thing I hope to hear before everyone is our responsibility – all our I die, makes me feel part of the Ummah. brothers and sisters in the Ummah, not We all share these beliefs and they are just the family we live with. We need to so important that we want to hear them care about everyone. at the beginning and the end of our lives.
Everyone hopes to go on this journey. It might take me all my life to be able When we pray, whoever we are, we to save up and to make myself ready pray using the same movements, we for this journey by sorting out any use the same words, we pray facing disagreements. However long it takes, I Makkah. Imagine the whole Ummah will pursue this dream – a shared dream doing the same thing – it’s so powerful! with everyone else in the Ummah.
The paying of our contribution during During this special month, fasting is Ramadan brings the community together. really hard but it helps me to know a little We often pay ours through our local bit of what it is to be less fortunate. I love Mosque. Our whole community is the fact that we all do this, however rich encouraged to look after people, to do or poor we are across the whole world. this good deed. It is a joy and a duty.
29 Photocopiable by purchasing institutions What community do you belong to? What similarities or differences does it have to the Ummah? We would love to hear about your community for our magazine.
UNDERSTANDING The Ummah Fizzah and Bilal share with us what being a member of the Ummah, the worldwide community of Muslims, means to them.
elcome to the latest of our series of articles looking into Sharing what you have W different communities and why these communites are Muslims are asked by their religion to give some of their money so important to their members. Most of us believe we belong to help those less fortunate, as a sign of thanks to Allah. Allah to a community or, usually, more than one community whether is referred to by 99 beautiful names, three of which are: Allah it is a school, a family, a swimming club, cubs, where we live the Giver of All, the Satisfier of All Needs, the Generous One. or the team we support. For many Muslims, the most important Zakah, the third pillar of Islam, requires Muslims to give £1 community they belong to is the Ummah, the worldwide from every £40, 2½% during the time of Ramadan. Charity is community of Muslims, united by their belief in Allah. also given at other times of year too. At Eid ul Adha, Muslims also donate so that food is given to those in need. This is called Many Muslims think of the Ummah as being like a worldwide Qurbani. It is the giving of a sacrifice of an animal or of money family of Muslims, people who all believe the same thing, to show submission to Allah. This sacrifice or money is then they even call one another brothers or sisters. They all have distributed to those in need. These practices bring the Ummah one shared language – whatever language they use in their together: everyone is involved, the richer help the poorer, everyday lives, all Muslims learn Arabic so they can read the everyone remembers God. Qur’an – it makes it much easier when a whole community has a shared language. Probably the most important part of the Ummah is that everyone is equal whether you are rich or Pilgrimage poor, a female or a male, a child or an adult, black or white. Muslims all hope to go on the Hajj (pilgrimage) to Makkah. The Ummah encourages people to care for one another, to The Hajj shows them what the Ummah really is. Everyone is live a good life and to support other Muslims financially. It equal with people wearing simple white clothes and completing is estimated that in Britain, during the month of Ramadan in each aspect of the pilgrimage together. Whether richer or 2016, £100 million was donated to charitable causes – poorer, black or white, male or female, everyone completes the the equivalent of £38 per second! same journey together. However not all Muslims can go on the Hajj to Makkah. There are 2 billion Muslim people and only about 3 million per year go to Makkah for the Hajj. But there Prayer is unity in aspiring to go, and in facing the Ka’bah every time Muslims pray, so the Ummah is strengthened by the fact that the The Ummah is united by prayer. Muslims all pray in the same Ka’bah is the centre of the world for all Muslims. language, Arabic, with the same body language, facing the In the Qur’an it says, ‘You have been the best of communities same place and addressing the prayer to one God. brought forth for humankind: commanding good, forbidding The timing of their prayer moves around the world as the evil, and believing in Allah.’ (Surah Ali `Imran: 110). I wonder earth rolls around the sun. if this sums up the Ummah? What community do you belong to? What similarities or differences does it have to the Ummah? We would love to hear about your community for our magazine. 30 Photocopiable by purchasing institutions We spoke to Bilal about What do you do regularly what the Ummah means that makes you feel part of the Ummah? to him as a teenager I pray in groups, read Qu’ran to kids and living in London. make sure my community is clean and Why is the Ummah safe. When I see the wide presence of important to you? Muslims around the world and when I go The Ummah is important to me as a to the Middle East to see the Holy Sites, I Muslim because it means we should stick feel part of a big community. The Ummah together and know who to seek for help, makes me feel amazing, knowing people also it ensures a special bond between will have my back no matter what. It Muslims. A sense of safety if you will. makes sure that I am filling my mind with education and that is the best feeling.
How do people know you belong to the Ummah? What are your responsibilities ‘The Ummah is People know I belong to the Ummah as part of the Ummah? important to me as because of the way I dress, my respect I always help out in the community; that means teaching kids how to read Arabic, a Muslim because it for all people, not just Muslims but non- Muslims too. I am self-controlled and read the Qu’ran, telling them stories and means we should stick respectful, Aklaq, to other children of teaching them how to pray. I also make together and know who God. I feel part of the Ummah through the sure there are no extreme ideas and most to seek for help’ special greetings we give one another, for importantly help non-Muslims understand example, As-salamu alaykum, when I am what real Islam is. talking about religion or praying together peacefully in the mosque side by side. It doesn’t matter what tradition you are, we are all under the same umbrella, followers of Muhammad (pbuh).
Fizzah is a teenage What do you do regularly girl attending school in that makes you feel part of the Ummah? London. We asked her I attend my mosque regularly as well as about being part of the a Saturday Islamic school which gives Ummah and what it me a sense of being part of a bigger means to her. team. I also take part in various activities such as sports tournaments, stage plays, Why is the Ummah workshops and interfaith meetings. important to you? Being part of the Ummah makes me feel It gives me a sense of belonging to safe and wanted by people who are a family with a common goal. It also experiencing the same things as I am. It gives me a voice based on my religion, also brings a closer connection through not my colour, ethnicity or any other the things we have in common which identifying factor. can help others understand the message Islam wants to convey. How do people know you belong to the Ummah? What are your responsibilities ‘Being part of the Ummah I think my hijab distinguishes me as part as part of the Ummah? makes me feel safe and of the Muslim Ummah and I see it as my It is important to always give a good wanted by people who outward Islamic identity, differentiating impression as I feel I am a representative me from others. The unity shown by of Islam in everything I do, from my are experiencing the Muslims around the world with our same things as I am’ manners all the way through to my common goal of worshipping our Lord, appearance. This is an important part Allah, makes me feel connected with of a Muslim’s life and one that I take one collective voice, the voice of the particular care in ensuring I do this to Ummah. the best of my ability.
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