The following year, a dozen residents of Medina pledged their absolute loyalty to the Prophet and requested a teaching missionary. The Prophet immediately designated Musab, one of His most dedicated companions, to introduce the citizens of Medina to the fledgling faith. The initiatives of this emissary—may God bless his soul—were crowned with spectacular success, to the extent that he led a contingent of seventy-three new converts to Mecca during the pilgrimage the subsequent year. These individuals invited the Prophet and the Meccan Muslims to migrate to their city, promising to defend them and treat them as members of their own families.
Following the Prophets relocation to Medina, this sacred city witnessed the birth of an entirely new social atmosphere, one rooted in affection and brotherhood without any form of ethnic discrimination. Indeed, to better assimilate the “Muhajirun” (emigrants), the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—paired them through a formal pact of brotherhood with an equal number of Medinese citizens.
Anyone who reflects deeply on this fraternal friendship between the Muhajirun and the Ansar (residents of Medina)—which could never have been engineered through mere human effort but was rather guided by Divine Grace and Mercy—will easily grasp how these people triumphed over all their pagan, Christian, and Jewish adversaries despite their small numbers and scarce resources. The Ansar truly devoted their hearts and souls to their emigrant brothers.
The Holy Quran recounts this solemn unification in these highly commendatory terms: “Alms are also for the poor emigrants who were expelled from their homes and plundered of their property, while they sought the grace and pleasure of God, striving for the cause of God and aiding His Messenger. These are the truthful. And those who were settled in the homeland and adopted the faith before them, they love those who emigrated to them and find no hesitation in their hearts for what the emigrants were given, preferring them over themselves even if they were in desperate need. Whoever is saved from the covetousness of his own soul—those are the successful” (Surah Al-Hashr, verses 8-9).
It is pointless to try to prove in writing the superiority of this brotherhood regarding its nobility and purity compared to tribal or racial bonds. This fraternity, built upon mutual aid and justice, rendered them legal heirs to one another, taking precedence over blood relatives until a later Quranic revelation adjusted this specific inheritance rule: “Blood relatives now have a closer priority to one another in the Decree of God than the believers of Medina and the emigrants of Mecca; though you may still bequeath a portion of your wealth to your close allies as a kindness. This is formally written in the Book” (Surah Al-Ahzab, verse 6).
The Prophet Mohammed—peace and blessings be upon him—subsequently determined that total human advancement would be best achieved by coordinating faith and politics as two elements of a single entity. He gathered the representatives of the regional Muslims and non-Muslims alike—including Arabs, Jews, Christians, and others—and proposed the creation of a city-state in Medina. With their consensus, he established a written constitution, the very first of its kind globally, defining the rights and duties of citizens alongside the relationship between the head of state and the broader community.
=======================C) The First Foundations of the Islamic State
α – The Necessity of a Constitution
Islam completely overhauled the structural architecture of pre-Islamic society. It dismantled traditional family frameworks previously anchored solely on blood ties, replacing them with a community guided by an entirely new benchmark: faith. A structural analysis of traditional clan dynamics highlights the massive revolution achieved in this arena.
Previously, the patriarch was the central figure of the clan, with all other kinship-tied members revolving around him. Their dwellings or tents were arranged in a strict order of precedence based on their degree of lineage proximity.
The clan exercised absolute authority over a specific territory, which functioned as a heavily guarded perimeter. Foreigners lived nearby but outside these territorial boundaries, falling into three distinct categories: the mawla (clients), the halifs, and the jars (neighbors), who were tied to the clan by temporary alliances. These three social groups enjoyed clan protection without possessing equivalent civil rights.
Above the individual clans, a council known as the mala brought the chieftains together, though it possessed no executive power. Each clan preserved its complete sovereignty, rejecting the authority of any laws superior to its own. The Quraysh tribe was divided into ten major, entirely autonomous families that maintained neighborly relations and divided certain civic duties necessary for running the city of Mecca.
Without clan backing, an individual was completely helpless. The Prophet Mohammed—peace and blessings be upon him—experienced this vulnerability firsthand before migrating to Medina, where he drafted a written document divided into clauses in the year 1 of the Hijra (623 AD). This charter governed the evolving life of the Muslim community while integrating the local Jewish tribes. Regarding these tribes, the Prophets approach mirrored this Quranic guidance: “Say: ‘O People of the Scripture, let us come to a common agreement between us and you: that we worship none but God, associate no partners with Him, and that none of us take others as lords instead of God.’ If they turn away, say: ‘Bear witness that we are Muslims, submitting to Him alone'” (Surah Ali Imran, verse 64).
This treaty, which laid down the very first structural blocks of the Islamic state, was defined by a liberal spirit and exemplary tolerance. It stands as the worlds earliest written constitution, a charter that enshrined mutual, fraternal support among all members of the community.
b – Signification of the Constitution of Medina
Using contemporary terminology, the word “Constitution” perfectly fits this historical archive. Although it functioned in some ways as a constitutional declaration, the text synthesized everything a modern constitution defines: the foundational guidelines organizing a states relationship with its citizens and its external diplomacy.
Regarding this constitution, which God—Glory to Him Alone—inspired the Holy Prophet to write, it is enough to state that Islamic society was founded from its very inception upon constitutional structures.
Naturally, these foundations were vital for the execution of Islamic jurisprudence. This simple reminder dismisses the allegations of those who turn a blind eye to this glaring historical reality. Despite this historical truth, certain critics claim that Islam is merely a spiritual faith connecting man to his Creator, lacking the structural foundations necessary to build a functioning state. This is nothing more than an outdated tactic employed by specialists in cultural subversion and agents of colonialism to hinder the progress of Islam within Muslim societies.
In short, the birth of Islamic society took place directly within the structural scaffolding of a modern state, and this historic charter serves as undeniable proof.
Furthermore, the document exposes the equitable treatment that the Holy Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—extended to the Jewish populations. This fairness would have yielded great cross-community rewards between Muslims and Jews had the latter not succumbed to traditional betrayals shortly thereafter.
It is worth noting that this historical text establishes several foundational principles in Islamic jurisprudence, including:
The first clause indicates that Islam alone secures the unity of Muslims, ensuring that all individual differences dissolve within this collective framework. Moreover, this clause acts as the primary tenet required to build a healthy, unified Muslim society.
The second and third clauses demonstrate that mutual assistance and social solidarity are defining characteristics of the Muslim community. All Muslims are collectively responsible for one another regarding matters of both this earthly life and the hereafter. The entire system of Islamic law is built essentially upon this shared responsibility, defining the exact mechanisms to apply solidarity and mutual aid among Muslims.
The sixth clause indicates that equality among Muslims is an unalterable principle that must be respected and enacted across all facets of life. We need only look at the specific application the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—enshrined in this clause.
This means that the privilege of protection, asylum, or hospitality granted by any Muslim—regardless of how humble they might be within the social hierarchy, and even if extended to a foreigner or someone of a different faith—must be strictly honored and cannot be challenged. No individual, even a person of supreme authority, can deny them this right. Scholars unanimously confirm this principle by citing the following prophetic tradition: “During the conquest of Mecca, the Prophets cousin, Umm Hani, the daughter of Abu Talib, approached the Holy Prophet to ask for the privilege of offering asylum and protection to a man pursued by her brother Ali. The Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—immediately replied with absolute reassurance: ‘We protect whomever you have protected, O Umm Hani!'”
The eleventh clause stipulates that the sole just and equitable arbiter to whom Muslims must turn is the Book of God alongside the Tradition of the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—the two divine fountains guaranteeing human fulfillment in this world and the next.
Other clarifications deserve specific attention. Indeed, while the Constitution of Medina preserved the internal autonomy of individual tribes, which continued to manage themselves according to their customs, it entirely stripped them of their external diplomatic authority. All contracting parties were placed on an equal footing.