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  • Essay / Constitution of Medina - 1813

    This article supports the view that the so-called "Constitution of Medina" claimed to be important in that it provided a policy prescription or provisions for the creation of a state or a Muslim government. This approach posits that a contextual understanding of the conditions underlying the creation of the document supports the argument that the Qur'an omits overt provisions regarding such a form of government or state. This article will first examine the context of the debate, while alluding to the nature of Mohammad's prophetic mission in order to primarily establish Mohammad's inherent lack of overt political ambition and stance, thereby rejecting claims that a A clear policy prescription was present in the first training. of Islam. This approach will then examine the contextual meaning of the "Constitution of Medina", in order to address the idea that the community established in Medina reflects an Islamic ideal to which Muslims can, or should, aspire. This article will then examine the nature of the Qur'an as it relates to issues of governance and political concerns, in order to fully highlight the inherent lack of political ethos and absence of overt provisions for the creation of a state or a Muslim government. This article supports the idea that Mohammad sought to inspire a political movement that would exist consciously and diametrically in relation to "non-Islamic" forms of social arrangements, instead understanding Mohammad's mission and Qur'anic revelation as an attempt to reaffirm the beliefs monotheists and inner interiority. focused spirituality. It has become somewhat axiomatic to suggest that Mohammad embodies both the positions of "prophet and statesman", as reflected in the title of Watt's (1961) article in the middle of the article.. ....uny Press: New York)Rahman, S (1984) The Islamic State in Theory and Practice, Islamic Studies, Vol. 23, pp. 389-417Romanides, J (1968) Islamic universalism and the Constitution of Medina. Accessed online at: http://www.romanity.org/htm/rom.14.en.islamic_universalism_and_the_constitution_of_medin.html, Last accessed: March 10, 2014Rubin, U (1985) The 'Constitution of Medina' Some Notes, Studia Islamica, Flight. . 62, pp. 5-23Serjeant, R (1978) The pacts of the Sunnah Jami'ah with the Jews of Yathrib and the Tahrim of Yathrib: Analysis and translation of the documents included in the so-called "Constitution of Medina", Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Vol. 41, pp. 1-42. Watt, W (1961). Muhammad: Prophet and statesman. (Oxford University Press: London and New York) Wellhausen, J (1889) The Constitution of Medina of Muhammad, (Skizzen et Vorarbeiten: Berlin)