The concept of ummah is often misrepresented in Western discourse as a transnational Muslim solidarity that undermines the nation-state. Kwame Anthony Appiah critiques ummah as “toxic cosmopolitanism,” claiming it prioritizes religious loyalty over universal moral obligations. However, this critique oversimplifies ummah and ignores its historical evolution, particularly among marginalized Muslim communities facing structural injustice. This study critically engages Appiah’s cosmopolitanism, highlighting its Eurocentric assumptions and its detachment from political struggle, which fail to address systemic exclusion and the lived experiences of racialized Muslim minorities.
Through a field study of Indonesian Muslim immigrants at Al-Falah Mosque in Philadelphia, this research examines ummah as an ethical practice of recognition and resilience. By centering lived experience, it challenges reductionist portrayals and argues that ummah functions as an alternative cosmopolitanism—a moral praxis of solidarity, liberation, and justice in response to systemic exclusion.