Ismaili Ta'wil of al-Umma — The Community: How the Quranic Concept of al-Umma (The Muslim Community — 'You Are the Best Community Brought Forth for Humanity,' 3:110) Is Read in Ismaili Ta'wil as the Da'wa Community Connected Through Walayah Rather Than the Political or Legal Islamic Polity, Why Ismaili Theology Holds That Being Formally Muslim Without Walayah Does Not Make One Part of the Truly Understood Umma, and How the Ahl al-Bayt Are the Core of the Real Umma

In Ismaili ta'wil, al-Umma (الأُمَّة — The Community, the Nation; from *a-m-m*: to aim at, to lead; *umm* [mother] shares the root; *umma* = a community unified by a common direction/aim/leadership; the Quran uses *umma* in multiple senses: [1] 2:128 'our Lord — make us submissive [muslimayni] to You and from our progeny a community [umma] submissive to You'; [2] 3:110 'kuntum khayra ummatin ukhrijat lil-nas ta'muruna bil-ma'ruf wa-tanhawna 'an al-munkar wa-tu'minuna billah' [you are the best community brought forth for humanity — you command good, forbid evil, and believe in God]; [3] 3:104 'let there be among you a community [umma] that calls to good, commands right, and forbids wrong'; [4] 2:134 'that is an umma that has passed; they have what they earned and you have what you earn'; [5] 43:22 'we found our fathers on an umma [a path/community]'; the diversity of *umma* meanings: in the Quran, *umma* means: [a] a community of people [most common]; [b] a path or way [43:22]; [c] a period of time [12:45]; [d] an individual who embodies a full tradition [Ibrahim alone is called an umma — 16:120: 'Ibrahim was an umma']; classical Islamic political theology: the *umma* is the totality of Muslims; membership is determined by the shahada [profession of faith]; the umma is the subject of Islamic governance; Sunni political theology: the caliphate is the leadership of the umma; the caliph must be from Quraysh [Sunni position]; Shi'a position: the leadership of the umma must be from the Ahl al-Bayt/Imam; Ismaili ta'wil of al-umma: [1] the umma as da'wa community: in Ismaili ta'wil, the 'best community brought forth for humanity' [3:110] is not the totality of those who make the shahada but the da'wa community that lives in walayah with the Imam; the criteria for membership in the 'best community' are not formal [reciting the shahada] but substantive [commanding good = ta'wil activity; forbidding evil = rejection of zahirism without batin; believing in God = through walayah]; [2] Ibrahim as an umma: 16:120 calls Ibrahim alone an umma [a community of one]; Ismaili ta'wil reads this as: Ibrahim was a Natiq whose prophetic capacity constituted a complete community; similarly, the Imam contains within himself the essential structure of the da'wa community; where the Imam is, the da'wa is; [3] the umma and the Imam's absence: when the Imam is in satr [concealment], the da'wa community maintains the umma-structure through the Da'i al-Mutlaq and the chain of da'wa authority; the umma does not dissolve in the Imam's absence because the da'wa-chain preserves its structure; [4] the broader umma and the da'wa community: the totality of Muslims forms the zahiri umma; the da'wa community forms the batin umma; the zahiri umma can grow to encompass most of humanity; the batin umma is smaller but contains the walayah-depth that makes it the 'best community'; [5] the umma's geographic non-boundary: the Ismaili da'wa has always been international — spreading from Ifriqiya to Egypt to Yemen to Khorasan to India; the da'wa community's umma transcends political borders; this reflects the Quranic umma's character as defined by shared direction [toward the Imam's walayah] not shared territory) is the Ismaili theology of community membership.