The term ummah has more than one meaning in Islam. The Quran refers to the ummah as a people singled out by God to receive a prophecy or to play a role in God's divine plan. In the Quran's account, God has created many different ummahs in many different times for many different peoples, sending messengers to each. Most ummahs rejected God's message, and the messenger, but the Muslim ummah accepted God's messenger, changing the cycle of history. (Some Jews and Christians also remained uncorrupted in their acceptance of the messengers sent to them [surah 3:113].)

The Quran also refers to the ummah as a form of citizenship. This civil sense of the term dates to surahs revealed after the Hijra. Shortly after Muhammad and his followers immigrated to Medina at the request of the city's leaders, the Prophet brokered a ceasefire between the warring factions of the town and created a constitution. Called the Constitution of Medina, it declared that the residents of Medina and the surrounding area, both Muslims and Jews, would form a distinct ummah.