What is social structure? What is social structure?

What is social structure?

What is social structure?

• The people in a society considered as a

system organized by a characteristic pattern of relationships; social structure is social

organization based on established patterns of social interaction between different

relationships. Social structure varies between countries and can play a key role in

interaction between countries.

Social structure has influence on the followings:

• Socialization

• Status Expectations

• Legal Regulations

• Ideology

Islamic usage and origin

• Al-Ummah al-Wāhidah in the Quran (ةدحااوةماأ "One Community") refers to all of the Islamic world as it existed at the time.

• The Qur’an says: "You [Muslims] are the best nation brought out for Mankind, commanding what is

righteous ( فاوراعام Ma'rūf, lit. "recognized [as good]") and forbidding what is wrong (ركنام Munkar, lit.

"recognized [as evil]")" [Al-i Imran 3:110].

• The usage is further clarified by the Constitution of

Medina

Ummah in Macca

• The first Muslims did not need to make a break with traditional Quraysh customs since the vision for the new community included moral norms that were not unfamiliar to the tribal society of Mecca.

• However, what distinguished this

community from the tribes was its focus

of the place of those morals within a

person's life.

Ummah in Madina

• Hz. Muhammad and the first converts to Islam al-

Muhajirun (immigrants) were welcomed in Medina by the Ansar (Helpers), a group of Pagans who had converted to Islam.

• Despite Medina already being occupied by numerous the arrival of Hz Muhammad and his followers provoked no opposition to Medina's residents.

• Hz. Muhammad composed the document/Constitution of Medina with the various Arab tribal leaders and Jewish tribes in order to form the Meccan immigrants and the Medinan residents into a single community, the ummah.

• the Constitution of Medina ensured that the ummah was composed of a variety of people and beliefs such as

Judaism essentially making it to be supra tribal.

Membership of Principles of ummah

• The membership of the ummah was based on two main principles.

– to worship God alone

– in order to worship God properly one must be in a guided community.

• The essentials of the new society were the

new relations between human beings and God and between human beings and one another.

The society was held together by the Prophet.

Main Segments of Islamic Social Structure

• Muhajirun

• Muhajirun were the early, initial Muslims who followed the prophet Muhammad on his Hijra (withdrawal from Mecca to Medina).

• Ansar

• Ansar denotes the Medinan citizens that helped the prophet Muhammad and the Muhajirun on the arrival to the city after the migration to Medina

• and fought in the cause of Islam.

• they belonged to two main tribes, the Banu Khazraj

and the Banu Aus.

Mawaly

• Mawaly or mawālá (يلاااوام ) is a term in classical Arabic used to address non Arab Muslims such as Persians, Turks, Africans Babras and Kurds converted to Islam.

• Originally the term mawla (singular of mawaly) referred to a party with whom one had an egalitarian relationship, such as a relative, ally, or friend, but the term eventually came to designate a party with whom one had an unequal relationship, such as master, and patron, and slave, freedman, and client.

• The influx of non Arab converts to Islam created a new difficulty in incorporating them into tribal Arab society.

The solution appeared to be the contract of wala', through which the non Arab Muslims acquired an Arab patron.

The Ulama

• There is an encouragement in Qur’an to go deep in scholarship.

• The word “ulama” is plural of “alim”

 The place of “ulama” has always been important in the Ummah

 They have been perceived representatives of the prophet.

 In early Islamic times, this notion was very strong and those who were in the status of ulama would be appointed as judges.

 The ulama were most concerned with preserving, interpreting and applying the Qur’an and to maintain the norms of the prophet’s original umma.

 Ulama are very concerned with the contemporary problems of umma.

 Their assessments of issues, personal opinions as well as collective discussions, from theological doctrine to criminal punishments established a basis for religious and social order.