How did Corporations become better at belonging than US?

There is something I have noticed in conversations between people who work for competing companies that I find genuinely fascinating.

Two employees can find themselves debating the merits of their respective employers with the enthusiasm of founders. “We are better at this.” “At least we don't do what you do.” “We've overtaken you in this market.” Listen to the conversation without knowing who they are, and you could reasonably assume that both have substantial equity in the businesses they are defending.

In reality, neither owns the company.

Their employment relationship is usually much simpler. They provide their skills, time and performance in exchange for remuneration and opportunity. When they perform well, the organisation may reward and promote them. When their contribution is no longer required, circumstances change, or someone else can fulfil the role more effectively, the organisation can move on. This is not necessarily criticism of corporations; it is simply the nature of the commercial relationship.

What interests me is how effectively modern organisations have managed to create a sense of belonging strong enough that an employee begins speaking about someone else's corporation as “we”.

There is actually something for Muslim communities to learn from this.

Human beings clearly need belonging. We want to be part of something larger than ourselves, to contribute towards a shared purpose and to feel that its successes are somehow our successes. Good organisations understand this and deliberately cultivate culture, language, symbols, values and shared objectives around that need.

Yet Allah gave the believer an identity and belonging far deeper than anything employment can provide:

﴿إِنَّمَا الْمُؤْمِنُونَ إِخْوَةٌ﴾

“The believers are but brothers.”
(al-Ḥujurāt 49:10)

And the Messenger of Allah ﷺ described the believers in their mutual love, mercy and compassion as being like a single body: when one part suffers, the rest responds with sleeplessness and fever.

That is not corporate language borrowed to manufacture belonging. It describes an actual bond created by īmān.

Perhaps the issue, then, is not that people identify strongly with the organisations for which they work. There can be something healthy about loyalty, professionalism and taking ownership of one's responsibilities. The question is whether our strongest sense of “we” has gradually become attached to institutions that employ us rather than the faith that defines us.

There is something worth learning here for those of us involved in building Muslim institutions as well. If corporations can make people feel deeply connected through a shared mission, culture and meaningful participation, then our masājid, schools and community organisations should be asking why Muslims sometimes interact with Islam primarily as consumers of services rather than members of a community to which they genuinely belong and for which they feel responsible.

A job can give us a role, an income and worthwhile work, and we should fulfil that trust with excellence. But it should never need to carry the weight of telling us who we fundamentally are.

Allah has already given us an answer to that question.

Your brother
Sajid Umar
Location: 'somewhere en route to the hereafter'
20/03/1448 (AH) - 02/09/2026