Constitution of Medina

The Charter of Medina or of Yathrib (Arabic: صحيفة المدينة‎‎, Ṣaḥīfat al-Madīnah; or: ميثاق المدينة, Mīthāq al-Madīnah), also known as the Constitution of Medina or of Yathrib (دستور المدينة, Dastūr al-Madīnah), was drafted by the Islamic prophet Muhammad shortly after his arrival at Medina (then known as Yathrib) in 622 CE (or 1 AH), following the Hijra from Mecca. This was the first written constitution in the history of the world.

The preamble declares the document to be "a book [kitab] of the prophet Muhammad to operate between the believers [mu'minin] and Muslims from the Quraysh tribe and from Yathrib and those who may be under them and wage war in their company" declaring them to constitute "one nation [ummah wāḥidah] separate from all peoples". The constitution established the collective responsibility of nine constituent tribes for their members actions, specifically emphasising blood money and ransom payment. The first constituent group mentioned are the Qurayshi migrants, and then eight other tribes. Eight Jewish groups are recognized as part of the Yathrib community, and their religious separation from Muslims is established. The Jewish Banu Ash shutbah tribe are inserted as one of the Jewish groups, rather than with the nine tribes mentioned earlier in the document. The constitution also established Muhammad as the mediating authority between groups and forbids the waging of war without his authorization.

The constitution formed the basis of a multi-religious Islamic state in Medina.

The constitution was created to end the bitter intertribal fighting between the rival clans of Banu Aws and Banu Khazraj in Medina, and to maintain peace and cooperation among all Medinan groups. Establishing the role of Muhammad as the mediating authority between these two groups and all others in Medina was central to the ending of Medinan internal violence and was an essential feature of the constitution. The document ensured freedom of religious beliefs and practices for all citizens who "follow the believers". It assured that representatives of all parties, Muslim or non-Muslim, should be present when consultation occurs or in cases of negotiation with foreign states. It declared "a woman will only be given protection with the consent of her family", and imposed a tax system for supporting the community in times of conflict. It declared the role of Medina as a ḥaram (حرم, "sacred place"), where no blood of the peoples included in the pact can be spilled.

The division of the constitution into numbered articles is not in the original, and therefore numbering of clauses differs in different sources.

Background

In Muhammad's last years in Mecca, a delegation from Medina, consisting of the representatives of the twelve important clans of Medina, invited him as a neutral outsider to Medina to serve as the chief arbitrator for the entire community. There was fighting in Medina mainly involving its pagan and Jewish inhabitants for around a hundred years before 620. The recurring slaughters and disagreements over the resulting claims, especially after the Battle of Bu'ath in which all the clans were involved, made it obvious to them that the tribal conceptions of blood-feud and an eye for an eye were no longer workable unless there was one man with authority to adjudicate in disputed cases. The delegation from Medina pledged themselves and their fellow-citizens to accept Muhammad into their community and physically protect him as one of themselves.

After emigration to Medina, Muhammad drafted the Charter of Medina, "establishing a kind of alliance or federation" among the eight Medinan tribes and Muslim emigrants from Mecca, which specified the rights and duties of all citizens and the relationship of the different communities in Medina (including that of the Muslim community to other communities, specifically the Jews and other "Peoples of the Book").

Sources

Scholars do not possess the original document but rather a number of versions can be found in early Muslim sources. The most widely read version of the charter is found in the pages of Ibn Ishaq's Sirah Rasul Allah (see Wikisource), while alternative copies are located in Sayyid al-Nas and Abu ‘Ubayd's Kitab al-Amwal. The historical authenticity of the document is acknowledged by both Muslim and Western scholars.

Montgomery Watt suggests that the charter must have been written in the early Medinan period. He supports his view by arguing that had the document been drafted later, it would have had a favorable attitude towards Quraysh, and given Muhammad a prominent place. Hubert Grimme believes the charter was drafted in the post-Badr period, while Leone Caetani argued that the document was complete before the Battle of Badr.

According to RB Serjeant, verses 101–4 of sura 3 of the Qur'an make reference to the charter. He proposes that this section of the Qur'an underwent recension (a hypothesis first proposed by Richard Bell). In its first recension, this text sanctioned the establishment of a confederation. In its second, it admonished the Aws and Khazraj to abide by their treaty. In its third, in conjunction with the proceeding verses, it is an encouragement of Muhammad's adherents to face the Meccan forces they eventually fought at Uhud. He states that even if this proposal of three recensions be unacceptable, it must be affirmed that these verses make reference to the two different treaties.

Expulsion of Banu Qaynuqa

Main article: List of expeditions of Muhammad

According to Islamic tradition, the Invasion of Banu Qaynuqa also known as the expedition against Banu Qaynuqa, occurred in 624 AD. The Banu Qaynuqa were a Jewish tribe expelled by the Islamic prophet Muhammad for allegedly breaking the treaty known as the Charter of Medina by pinning the clothes of a Muslim woman, which lead to her being stripped naked. A Muslim killed a Jew in retaliation, and the Jews in turn killed the Muslim man. This escalated to a chain of revenge killings, and enmity grew between Muslims and the Banu Qaynuqa, leading to the siege of their fortress. The tribe eventually surrendered to Muhammad, who initially wanted to kill the members of Banu Qaynuqa but ultimately yielded to Abdullah ibn Ubayy's insistence and agreed to expel the Qaynuqa.

Traditional Muslim sources view these episodes as a violation of the Charter of Medina. Muhammad himself regarded this as casus belli. Western historians, however, do not find in these events the underlying reason for Muhammad's attack on the Qaynuqa. According to F.E. Peters, the precise circumstances of the alleged violation of the Charter of Medina are not specified in the sources. According to Fred Donner, available sources do not elucidate the reasons for the expulsion of the Qaynuqa. Donner argues that Muhammad turned against the Qaynuqa because, as artisans and traders, they were in close contact with Meccan merchants.

Weinsinck views the episodes cited by the Muslim historians, such as the story of the Jewish goldsmith, as having no more than anecdotal value. He writes that the Jews had assumed a contentious attitude towards Muhammad, and as a group possessing substantial independent power, they posed a great danger. Wensinck thus concludes that Muhammad, strengthened by the victory at Badr, soon resolved to eliminate the Jewish opposition to himself. Norman Stillman also believes that Muhammad decided to move against the Jews of Medina after being strengthened in the wake of the Battle of Badr.

Quraysh in the document

Muhammad's Quraysh (or Quraish) tribe appear in the document as both a principal constituent of the community and as the enemy. This is because in some places the Quraysh referred to are the followers of Muhammad, referred to as "migrants" or "believers", while in other places Quraysh refers to those members of the tribe who expelled Muhammad and his followers from Mecca (the Qurayshi capital).

Analysis

Bernard Lewis claims that the charter was not a treaty in the modern sense, but a unilateral proclamation by Muhammad. One of the constitution's more interesting aspects was the inclusion of the Jewish tribes in the Ummah because although the Jewish tribes were "one community with the believers," they also "have their religion and the Muslims have theirs."

L. Ali Khan says the Charter of Medina was a social contract derived from a treaty and not from any fictional state of nature or from behind the Rawlsian veil of ignorance. The contract was built upon the concept of one community of diverse tribes living under the sovereignty of one God.

An analysis of the Charter of Medina was written by Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri, who argues that it is the first written charter. He has published an e-book of the 63 constitutional articles.

The Charter of Medina also instituted peaceful methods of dispute resolution among diverse groups living as one people but without assimilating into one religion, language, or culture. Welch in Encyclopedia of Islam states: "The constitution reveals Muhammad's great diplomatic skills, for it allows the ideal that he cherished of an ummah (community) based clearly on a religious outlook to sink temporarily into the background and is shaped essentially by practical considerations."

Tom Holland writes "The Constitution of Medina is accepted by even the most suspicious of scholars as deriving from the time of Muhammad. Here in these precious documents, it is possible to glimpse the authentic beginnings of a movement that would succeed, in barely two decades, in prostrating both the Roman and the Persian Empires."

Significance of the Ummah

Another important feature of the Constitution of Medina is the redefinition of ties between Muslims. The Charter of Medina sets faith relationships above blood-ties and emphasizes individual responsibility. Tribal identities are still important, and are used to refer to different groups, but the "main binding tie" for the newly created ummah is religion. This contrasts with the norms of pre-Islamic Arabia, which was a thoroughly tribal society, although Serjeant postulates the existence of earlier theocratic communities. According to Denny, “Watt has likened the Ummah as it is described in the document to a tribe, but with the important difference that it was to be based on religion and not on kinship”. This is an important event in the development of the small group of Muslims in Medina to the larger Muslim community and empire.

Rights of non-Muslims

The non-Muslims had the following rights on the condition they "follow" the Muslims:

1. The security of God is equal for all groups,
2. Non-Muslim members will have the same political and cultural rights as Muslims. They will have autonomy and freedom of religion.
3. Non-Muslims will take up arms against the enemy of the nation and share the cost of war. There is to be no treachery between the two.
4. Non-Muslims will not be obliged to take part in religious wars of the Muslims.

Reforms

Main article: Early reforms under Islam

See also

• Islam and secularism
• Al-Risalah al-Huquq
• Muhammad in Medina
• Ummah
• List of expeditions of Muhammad

Main sources

• Hamidullah, Muhammad. The First Written Constitution in the World: An Important Document of the Time of the Holy Prophet, 3rd. ed. 1975, Ashraf Press; Lahore, Pakistan.
• Walker, Adam, "Constitution of Medina", in Muhammad in History, Thought, and Culture: An Encyclopedia of the Prophet of God (2 vols.), Edited by C. Fitzpatrick and A. Walker, Santa Barbara, ABC-CLIO, 2014, Vol I, pp. 113–115.
• Encyclopaedia of Islam. Ed. P. Bearman et al., Leiden: Brill, 1960–2005.
• Guillaume, A. The Life of Muhammad: A Translation of Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah. Oxford University Press, 1955. ISBN 0-19-636033-1
• Donner, Fred M.. "Muhammad's Political Consolidation in Arabia up to the Conquest of Mecca". Muslim World 69: 229–47, 1979.
• Firestone, Reuven. Jihad: The Origin of Holy War in Islam. Oxford University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-19-512580-0
• Ben-Zvi, Yitzhak. The Exiled and the Redeemed. Jewish Publication Society, 1957
• Peters, Francis E. Muhammad and the Origins of Islam. State University of New York Press, 1994. ISBN 0-7914-1875-8
• Stillman, Norman. The Jews of Arab Lands: A History and Source Book. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1979. ISBN 0-8276-0198-0
• Watt, W. Montgomery. Muhammad, Prophet and Statesman, Oxford University Press.

External links

• Full text with alternate translations
• The Constitution of Medina