The Political Development of the Concept of the Elite (al-Jama'a) in the First Hijri Century
Amjad Al-Zoubi, Department of Humanities, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Philadelphia University, Amman, Jordan.
Abstract
The Islamic Elite, al-Jama'a, formed the basic unit of the political idea in the building of the state, which was contrary to the Qurashi community. The development of al-Jama'a was inclusive for all the social components of the Madina, city-state, in the presence of the Prophet (pbuh), who was both a holy prophet, delivering the message of Allah, and a worldly commander. His death led to the transition to a new form of al-Jama'a, which was drafted in Saqifat Bani Sa'idah. This new form underlined the superiority and presence of Quraish, a presence that was very dominant in the so-called "Omar's Shura (consultation)", the Six-Member Council. It also led to a new path characterized by the election of Uthman as the third Caliph and the subsequent complications that took place, and got to conflict, arbitration, and sedition. The Umayyad Caliphate came as a new implementation of the "eliteness" of al-Jama'a, claiming its representation and formalizing its political legitimacy to rule under the cover of religion. This religious cover has been maintained and come to be referred to as ahl as-sunnahwa l-jamāʻah "people of the tradition of Muhammad and the consensus of the Ummah."
The preliminary questions that the research raises are the following: What is the meaning of al-Jama'a? Is there a basis for it in the Quran or Sunnah? Had this concept been used in the early Islamic era? What did it mean? To what extent had the idea of al-Jama'abeen utilized as a political-religious concept in the conflict between Ali and Muawyah until the fall of the Umayyad Caliphate? These questions are the main topic in the research, which claims that the concept of al-Jama'a is an authoritarian/ruling concept that has been employed in a religious context. The methodology is based on the historical method of research, using primary sources and tracing the concept of al-Jama'a.
This research concludes that the division experienced by the Islamic Elite (al-Jama'a) has to do with human power, expressing human nature whose main feature is difference and the division has nothing to do with religion as it has been promoted. The collective conscious, however, could not stand and didn’t acknowledge this “difference;” hence the religious cover has been maintained to explain or justify this division.
Key words: Elite (Jama'a), Sedition, Saqifah, the Umayyad Caliphate, Islamic History, the first Hijri Century.