The Gatherer - Al-Jāmiʿ

Al-Jāmiʿ, The Unifier

Linguistically, jam` (the root of Al-Jaami`) means to bring something together, as opposed to dividing or taking something apart: yajma`uh (he brings it together), jam`an (a congregation), jamma`ah (he collected them together) and so on. So Friday, for example, is youm Al-jumu`ah: the day that brings people together or the day that people come together on. When we talk about scholarly consensus in Islam, the word for that is i’jmaa`. If we open our senses, we cannot help but be amazed at the way that God Almighty has brought things together: the way our bodies contain blood, water, and other substances and how perfectly they work together; the way that God has also brought opposites together, such as hot and cold in one being (we can be feeling cold on the outside but our insides are warm); and how things that are similar yet dissimilar are brought together on this earth, such as different kinds of trees, animals and landscapes. God Almighty mentions His attribute of jam` (bringing together) many times in the Qur’an, most frequently with the Day of Judgment. God can bring everyone, from the beginning of time until the end of time, together in one place at one time. This is one of the reasons why this Name is so great, and this is why His ‘bringing together’ is divine and different to any way that we bring things together. A human being can claim to bring together different things (although these things have been provided by God), yet no one can claim to bring together everyone in the manner that we will be brought together on the Day of Judgment. Finally, God Almighty brings together on a spiritual, internal level is by bringing the hearts together.

Read more