Wasatiyyah

During the beginning of Islam, the Muslims were influenced by the way of life and practices of two communities. The first community were the Jews and the non-believers who we bent on earthly and physical interests. The second community were the Christians and, who laid importance on spirituality and forgot about worldly affairs. When Islam emerged, its teachings harmonised these two extremes and laid importance on worldly affairs and the after-life, including the spiritual and physical aspects in a balanced and united manner. Hence, in order to bring about the realization of the best followers, Allah SWT and the Prophet SAW urged Muslims not to be extreme in carrying out the ibadah just for the sake of after-life and thus neglecting worldly affairs1.

The history of Rasulullah during the development of a nation and Islamic civilization in Madinah illustrates a clear picture of wasatiyyah. The community of Madinah comprised of different ethnicity and religions including the Christians, Jews and the Islam as well. At that time, the prophet was a leader of Madinah and he managed to lead the city without being biased to the people regardless of their religion. He created the Madinah constitution which its provisions provide freedom of religion and justice for all. Therefore, the Muslim nation has to abide by wasatiyyah because this is the only way of securing justice.
The term of wasatiyyah has been mentioned obviously in a verse; “Thus We have made you a middle nation that you may be witnesses to the people, and that the Apostle may be a witness to you…….” 2
The Quranic expression ‘ummatan wasatan’ is the key word that becomes the reference for all scholars on the issue of wasatiyyah from which the word wasatiyyah derived from. Both, the expression and the term, were generally translated as a moderate nation and moderation respectively.

Definition of wasatiyyah
The term ‘wasatiyyah’ comes from the