My Ummah

My Ummah is the second studio album of the British singer Sami Yusuf, released by Awakening Records on 6 July 2005, two years after his debut Al-Mu'allim. ^{1 2 3} It came out in two versions, a "music version" and a "percussion version", and the full album runs 63 minutes and 50 seconds. ¹

The album was recorded between 2003 and 2005 and produced by Sami Yusuf himself, who sings in English, Arabic, Turkish, Persian and Urdu. ^{2 3} The Arabic article describes it as a move away from the manner of Al-Mu'allim: the frame drum is no longer the only accompaniment, and the album combines several musical styles, from the strings of 'Munajat' to the ney of 'Muhammad'. ² Writing in Arab Media and Society, Christian Pond discussed the album's greater use of Western instruments, of genres such as rap, and of music videos close in style to those of Western pop stars, compared with the first album. ¹

The list runs: 'My Ummah' with its intro, 'Hasbi Rabbi', 'Ya Rasulallah', 'Try Not to Cry' with the group Outlandish, 'Muhammad', 'Make a Prayer', 'Eid Song', 'Free', 'Munajat' in Arabic, 'Mother' in Arabic, a second part of 'Muhammad', 'We Will Never Submit', 'Du'a', and two further versions of 'Mother', in English with Turkish and in English with Persian. ^{1 2} Videos were released for 'Hasbi Rabbi', for 'Munajat' in Arabic and Turkish, for 'Mother' in three languages and for 'Eid Song'. ²

'Ya Rasulallah' and the two 'Muhammad' songs are addressed to the Prophet, and the Arabic article notes that the album's songs took up human conditions such as poverty, the headscarf, terrorism and AIDS. ^{1 2} It names 'Hasbi Rabbi', built on an Afghan folk melody, as the album's most successful song, with a video filmed in England, India, Turkey and Egypt. ²

The English article reports sales of between five and eight million copies worldwide and attributes the two figures to different sources, Paul Temporal's 2011 book on Islamic branding and a 2014 Daily Sabah article; the museum keeps both, attributed, without choosing between them. ¹ The Guardian, reporting the label's account in 2012, gave lower figures, 3 million copies for Al-Mu'allim and 4 million for My Ummah, and recalled Time magazine calling Sami Yusuf "Islam's biggest rock star" after these two albums. ⁴ Awakening lists the album among its releases between Salawat (2004) and Nazeel Azami's Dunya (2006). ⁵

• English Wikipedia, 'My Ummah', revision 1336097958 of 1 February 2026. ¹
• Arabic Wikipedia, «أمتي ⁦(ألبوم)⁩», revision 77018220 of 19 October 2026. ²
• Wikidata item Q3331280. ³
• English Wikipedia article on Awakening Music. ⁵