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The Constitution of Medina (دستور المدينة, Dustūr al-Madīna), or also known as the Umma Document, is a set of documents dealing with tribal affairs during the Islamic prophet Muhammad's time in Medina. The term "Constitution of Medina" is generally considered imprecise because the text neither established a state nor enacted Qur'anic statutes. The original documents have been lost, but their contents are believed to have been preserved, first by Ibn Ishaq (d. 150 AH/767 CE) in his Biography of Muhammad, and later by Abu 'Ubayd al-Qasim ibn Sallam (d. 224 AH/838 CE) in his Kitab al-Amwal. No evidence was provided by Ibn Ishaq to establish the authenticity of the documents, such as the chain of transmission, nor did he disclose the details of their discovery or how and when exactly these documents came into effect. Nevertheless, scholars from both the Western and Islamic worlds widely accept the authenticity of the text. This acceptance is based on its inclusion of non-Muslims and its portrayal of the Quraysh (from whom all caliphs originated) as enemies of God, a view inconsistent with later Islamic periods. Other factors include the perceived archaic style of the text, its abundance of unexplained allusions that were considered to be likely understood only by contemporaries, and its apparent inclination towards tribal law over developed Islamic norms. This unanimity among scholars, however, does not extend to various aspects of the "Constitution". Disagreements persist on whether the documents resulted from negotiated settlements or were merely unilateral edicts by Muhammad, the identity of participants (including uncertainty about the inclusion of the three major Jewish tribes of Medina—Banu Qaynuqa, Banu Nadir, and Banu Qurayza), the quantity of documents, the precise timing of its creation (or that of its constituent parts), and the appropriate approach to its translation, among other issues. Background According to traditional Islamic belief, in Muhammad's last years in Mecca, a delegation from Medina from its twelve important clans invited him as a neutral outsider to serve as the chief arbitrator for the entire community. There had been fighting in Medina involving mainly its pagan and Jewish inhabitants for around 100 years before 620. The recurring slaughters and disagreements over the resulting claims, especially after the Battle of Bu'ath in which all the clans had been 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 the authority to adjudicate in disputed cases. The delegation from Medina pledged themselves and their fellow citizens to accept Muhammad into their community and to protect him physically as if he was one of them. After emigration to Medina, Muhammad drafted the constitution, "establishing a kind of alliance or federation" of the eight Medinan tribes and Muslim emigrants from Mecca and specifying 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: the Jews and the other "Peoples of the Book". According to chroniclers such as Ibn Sa'd al-Baghdadi (785-845 CE), the composition of the population of Medina at that time consisted of two supergroup local Arab tribes, the Aus and the Khazraj, with eight clans and 33 other smaller groups under them. Meanwhile, the Jewish tribes at least consisted of around 20 groups, with the most well-known tribes Qaynuqa, Nadhir, and Qurayza among them, (who are not mentioned in the agreement). Content The constitution formed the basis of a multi-religious Islamic state in Medina. Historical sources No copy of the Constitution of Medina has ever been found. We only know of its existence from excerpts included in early Muslim sources. The earliest excerpt is "Al-Sīrah Al-Nabawiyyah" of Ibn Hisham (early 800s CE), which claims to republish material found in the lost "Sīrat Rasūl Allāh" of Ibn Ishaq (mid 700s CE). This report, however, was transmitted without any chain of authority; which means it does not satisfy the acceptance criteria of hadith scholars. Later Muslim writings—such as those by Sayyid al-Nas and Abu ‘Ubayd's Kitab al-Amwal—also claim to preserve material from the Constitution of Medina. According to L. Ali Khan, scholars do not agree on whether the constitution was a single document or "a compilation of multiple agreements reached at different times". According to mid-20th century scholar, Robert Bertram Serjeant, the 'Constitution of Medina' consists of "eight distinct documents ... issued on various occasions over the first seven years or so of Muhammad's Medinan period". In its first recension, Serjeant hypothesizes that the 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 encouraged of Muhammad's adherents to face the Meccan forces they eventually fought at Uhud. He also suggests that 3:101–104 of the Qur'an may refer to the constitution. Character, authenticity and questions The document has "assumed an oversized significance" in the "modern Muslim imagination", and Muslim authors have celebrated it as having "lit the torch of freedom", establishing a pluralistic community, "the first of its kind in the intellectual and political history of human civilization" (L. Ali Khan); "the first written constitution in the world" (M. Hamidullah); being obviously superior to other constitutions because of its being "based on divinity" (Shaakir bin Moulana Yaseen Rahim). Professional historians have been less effusive, saying it is "more accurately described it as the 'municipal charter'” (Gemeindeordnung) (Julius Wellhausen, Saïd Amir Arjomand); or as a "unilateral proclamation" by Muhammad, whose "purpose was purely practical and administrative", rather than a treaty in the modern sense (Bernard Lewis). Authenticity Endorsing its authenticity are Patricia Crone ("there are good reasons to accept as broadly authentic"), Ahmed Al-Dawoody ("This document has generally been regarded as authentic....", referring to the version found in Ibn Hisham's sira), Bernard Lewis ("most" of the document "is of undoubted authenticity"), Tom Holland ("the Constitution of Medina is accepted by even the most suspicious of scholars as deriving from the time of Muhammad"). But the document's historicity has been questioned by at least one historian (Robert G.Hoyland), others believe such a document did exist during the time of Muhammad—but that it did not survive and we cannot be certain of its contents. Dating One 20th-century scholar, W. Montgomery Watt, suggested that the Constitution of Medina must have been written in the early Medinan period (i.e., in 622 CE or shortly thereafter), because if the document had been drafted any later, then it would have both had a.... Discover the Fred Medina popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Fred Medina books.