CHAPTER 1
WHAT’S HAPPENING

Back in the 1960s a musical calledJesus Christ Superstar was staged in many Western countries. Regardless of what is thought of the music and lyrics of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Weber and their interpretation of the life of Jesus Christ, their storyline was a mere caricature of the man for whom the musical was named. Christians did react, often picketing theatres where the show was staged but with little effect. Had anything even remotely similar been done in a Muslim country or in just about any country, referring to the Prophet Muhammad in such distorted terms, there would have been violence in the streets with those responsible for such ‘insult’ required to forfeit their lives. This is but one of the many differences between Muslim and nominal ‘Christian’ societies.

InSuperstar, one of the refrains which pounded out repetitiously was the line ‘What’s the buzz? Tell me what’s a-happening?’ While the musical, unlike its namesake, may not even rate a footnote in history, the question remains valid.

An analysis of change within Islam in the twentieth century shows that the worldwide community of believers has been increasing in religious cohesion. The term used for the whole community of Muslim believers isummah. The background to the term is instructive to understand the mindset of the movement.

Refugees from Mecca who fled from there to Medina with the Prophet Muhammad in the seventh century of the Common Era, formed the original Islamic community. They were known as themuhajirun. To these were addedansars (helpers) from Medina. These two groups severed their previous relationships with their families, friends and tribes and became united in the original brotherhood of Islam. Such social realignment was quite unprecedented in Arabian tribal history and had world changing ramifications. Membership within the community took precedence over all other relationships or activities and became irrevocable.

On the surfaceummah simply means the totality of all Muslim communities. But there is a second, more dynamic meaning within the term.

In the etymology of the termummah we find the verbamma which means ‘to proceed towards a given objective’. Thus unity and interdependence are the continuous dynamic objectives of the brotherhood of Islam…Furthermore theummah is continuously proceeding towards the state of Islam. The Muslim communities are therefore united in their final goal as well as in the paths that should be followed to attain this goal.1

Although the desire to be a single people of the world, united in piety, politics and culture has nev