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The Qur'an says that man is the noblest of all the creation.7
The entire universe is made for him and is subservient to
his purposes. Among all the creation he alone is endowed with
moral and rational powers and is charged with the grave and all
important responsibility of subduing nature and pressing it in
the service of good ends. Iqbal, while comparing the decline
of both the Orient and Occident in his Javed Nama refers to
this as below:
ISLAMIC STATE AT MEDINA 63
To the Westerners Intellect is the equipment of life ;
To the Easterners Love-Intuition is the hidden truth of
the Universe. Intellect grows acquainted with truth
through Love-Intuition, while Love-Intuition gets
stabilized through Intellect. Arise and draw the pattern
world with difference, a world where Intellect is wedded
with Love-Intuition.
To put it in other words, scientific reason without positive
moral creativity is a misguided devilish exercise while 'Ishq (love)
without 'Aql (intelligence) is not only sterile but even pure self-
deception. The same is expressed by Dr. Fazlur Rahman in the
following words :
". . . partly man's essential task is to reconstruct a
scientific picture of the objective reality and partly to
proceed to interfere in it and create a moral order on the
basis of this scientific knowledge. This second activity
cannot exist without but must supervene on the first,
i.e. the scientific pursuit without harnessing it for the
creation of a good order."9
Man, according to the teachings of Islam, is charged with
this double responsibility and to this the Qur'an refers when it
says :
"We offered this trust to the skies, the earth and the
mountains but they refused to undertake it and were
afraid of it but man accepted it, doubtless man is fearless
and unaware." 1 0
Now if this balance is not maintained bztween these two extremes,
men cannot be the best creature referred to in the Qur'an,
rather they become selfish and enemies to one another.11
64 MUHAMMAD NAZEER KAKA KHEL
MU'AKHAT (BROTHERHOOD)
We have seen somewhere else40 how the Muslim Umma
emerged and achieved its cohesion on spiritual, social, economic
and political planes at Mecca. The need for its integration on /
social, economic and political planes was earnestly felt when a
state was founded at Medina which embraced heterogeneous
elements with divergent social, political and professional out-
looks.* 1 , In order to assimilate the migrants in the new environ-
ISLAMIC STATE AT MEDINA 73
ment, avoid differences among the members of the new political
set up, solve the immediate economic problems of the
emigrants for providing them some measure of social security
and give practical lesson to the world of the Qur'anic concept
of Brotherhood of Muslims, the Prophet instituted M ~ ' d k 6 ~ t
among the Muslims.42
The brotherhood instituted by Muhammad (peace be
upon him) was not merely in name. The Ansar not only
extended their cooperation and sincere advice to their brethren
in faith from Mecca but also readily agreed as partners to share
their houses, properties and fruits with them.43 The pairing
up of Muslims into brotherhood raised the moral prestige of
Ansar and contributed to the material welfare of the Muhajirin
They loved each other more than brothers because it was a
brothzrhood for the sake of Allih and not a brotherhood for the
sake of tribal and family interests or a brotherhood based on
blood relationship. Referring to the fraternal relations of the
Ansiir and MuhiijirIn, the Qur,iin says :-
And those who made their abode in the city and entered
the faith before them love those who migrated to them
for the sake of refuge and find in their hearts no need for
that which had been given to them, but prefer (Muhgji-
rln) above themselves, though poverty become their lot.
And whoso s saved from his own avarice, such are they
who are successful.4 4
The institution of Brotherhood which, later on, culminated
in universal brotherhood united the Muslim Umma into a single
whole. This brotherhood was governed not by considerations
of common ties of blood or economic necessities but by the
Ideology of Islam which held them together. The Holy Qur'an
74 MUHAMMAD, NAZEER KAKAKHEL
help ,and equality: He shall mot be. wronged nor shall his
enemies be sided against him.
17. The peace of the believers is indispensible. No
believer shall make peace to the exclusion of others in a fight'
in the way of Allah except on equality and justice among them,
18. In any expedition made with us (the parties) shall
take turns with us.
19. The believers shall avenge the blood of another shed
in the path of Allah. The God-fearing believers enjoy the best
and the most upright guidance.
20. No polytheist shall take the property or person of
Quraysh under his protection nor shall he intervene in his favour
against a believer.
, ,
21. Whosoever kills a believer without a just cause shall
be subject to .rebliation, unless the representatives . of the
murdered are satisfied with blood money. The believers shall
be Against the murderer as one and nothing is permissible to
them except to take action against him.
22. It is not permissible for a believer w-h~
approves what
is written in this document and believes in Albh and the Day
of Judgement to help an evil-doer or shelter him. On the
~ a of y Judgement the curse and anger of Allah shall2be
upon him ' ~-
l .h ohelps and shelters him.
23 Any thing which you may disagree upon is to be
*
only himseif and his family members except where a man has
been wronged. God will guarantee this agreement.
37. The Jews shall bear their own expenses and
Muslims their own. Each must help the other against any one
who attacks the people of this document. They must seek
mutual advice and consultation. And loyalty is a protection
against treachery. A man is not liable for his ally's misdeeds.
The wronged must be helped.
38. The Jews shall bear the expenses with the Muslims
as long as they continue at war.
39. The jauf (interior) of Yathrib shall be sacred for the
people of this document.
40. The protected neighbours (Jar) is as sacred as the
protector himself as long as he does not harm and does not
act treacherously.
41. No women shall be given protection without the
consent of her family.
42. If any dispute or controversy likely to cause trouble
should arise among the people of this document, it must be
referred to Allah and Muhammad. Allah will guarantee the
observance of this document.
43. Quraya should neither be given protection nor
support.
44. Between them is help against whoever suddenly
attacks Yathrib.
45. When they are called to make peace, they conclude -
and accept it ; they, in turn, summon to the like of that. It is
.,ISLAMIC STATE AT MEDINA 18
for them upon the believers whoso wars about religion. Every
one shall have his portion from his side.
46. The Jews of Aus, both their clients and they them-
selves, are in the same position as belongs to the people of this
document in pure loyalty from the people of this document.
47. Loyalty is a protection against treachery. He who
acquires it for himself should do so. Allih is the most upright
and trust fulfiller of what is written in this document. This
writing will not protect the unjust and the sinner. The man who
goes out for fighting is safe and the man who stays in the city
is safe, unless he has been unjust and has sinned. Allah is the
protector of him who is good and Godfearing and Muhammad
(peace be upon him) is the Messenger of Allah.
ROLE OF THE CONSTITUTION IN THE
DEVELOPMENT OF THE CITY-STATE
A careful examination of the various articles of the
constitution of the city-state of Medina would reveal that it
was not merely a treaty of alliance but a written constitution
laying down the foundation of the Islamic state at Medina and
regulating the relationship between the Muhajirin and the
Ansar, on the one hand, and between them and the Jews, on the
other hand. With the exception of the Jews who constituted an
Umma of their own, the adherents to the documents were
united into a single coherent body called the Muslim Umma,
the body that had already substituted at Mecca the community
of faith in place of blood ties. The changes wrought through
the constitution of Medina on the life of the Arabs were
profound. The main grouping now was no longer the tribe
but the association of the believers i i an umma established at
Mecca in its embryo. The umma established first at Mecca
82 MUHAMMAD NAZEER' KAKAKHEL
Yusuf ' Abbas Hashmi. A Note on As'ad b. Zurarah " Journal Pakistan Historical
Society, vol : XII, NO. 111, July 1964.
Muhammzd Sa'id Ansari. Siyar Sshabah. Azamgarh, 2nd ed. 1968 pp. 250-51.
Ibn Ishaq, op. cit. p. 198.
Al-Bukhari, vol : I, p. 7, vo1 : 11, p. 1071 Ibn Ishaq, op. cit., p. 199.
Al-Baladhuri, Futuh al-Buldan. p. 33.
Muhammad ' Izzali Darwazah. Tarikh al-Jins al-'Arab, vol : IV, pp. 124-25.
Ibn Ishaq. op. cit. p. 203.
Ibid, pp. 204-5. See also Al-Tabari, p. 1221.
Al-Azraqi. Akhmr Makka, p. 429 Ibn Ishaq, op. cit. p. 208.
Ilyas Ahmad, op. cit. p. 77.
The Rise of Muslim Umma, op. cit.
Qur'an. XXII : 39 See also Ibn Ishaq, op. cit. pp. 212-13.
T. W. Arnold. Tho Preaching of Islam, Lahore 1956, p. 21.
Qur'an. I1 : 143. XXII : 78.
Ibid, VIII : 30, Sea also al-Tabari, Torikh, p. 1229.
Ibid. XXII : 39. IV :97-103, VIII : 30, L11 : 30-31.
Syed Amir Ali, The Spirit of Islam. p. 51.
Al-Samhudi. Wafa al- Waf* op. cit. p. 218.
Montgon=ry Watt. Muhammad at Medina. p. 158.
The Ris: of Musiim Umma, op. citi
Jawwad 'Ali. Tarikh al-'Arab Qabl al-Islam, vol : IV, pp. 287-88.
Al-Bukhari. vol : I, pp. 533-34, Ibn Ishaq. p. 234. Ibn Sa'd. AI-Tabagar al-Kubra,
vol : I, pp. 238-39.
Al-Bukhari, op. cit.
Ibn Kathir, Al-Bidayah wa'l-Nihayah, vol : 111, pp. 2 2 6 2 8 .
Qur'an. LIX : 9.
Ibid, ILI : 103, XV : 47.
Ibid, XLIX : 10.
Ibld. IX : 11, XXXIII : 5. V : 2.
Ibid. XLIX : 13.
Mishkat al-Masabih, Delhi 1932. p. 422.
Bsrtrand Russel. Hurrzr Society in Ethics and Politics. N. York, 1965, p. 153.
Hamidullah, First Written Constitution in the World, Lahore. 1958.
Ibn Ishaq, pp. 231-32, Ibn Hisham. pp. 219-21. Montgomery Watt, Muhammad
ai Medina, pp. 221-225.
The text has been translated tne in light of the sources cited in reference N o : 52
above in addition to Majid Khadduri's War andpeace in the Lou of Islam, pp. 2 0 6 9 .
Qur'an, 111: 110.
55. Ibid. 11v 143: XXII : 78.
88 MUHAMMAD NAZEER KAKA KHEL