Al-Qalam 
CITIZENSHIP & A CITY-STATE IN MEDINA
This column, by Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool, returns after a short break. The focus remains on his experiences of engaging the Muslim world; in the majority heartlands, and where Muslims are the minority.
Through 2022 we have been exploring the central themes that came into focus when the Arab Spring and its subsequent defeat posed significant questions to the Muslim mind. Why do we have a persistent missing middle in terms of strategy and statecraft? Why is the Ummah beholden to binary rather than complex thinking? Are these the reasons for the contemporary weakness in the state of the Ummah? We have attempted to show that while this is an ummaticdeficiency, it is certainly not an Islamic one!
In mining the Islamic Scripts, the Qur’an, the Prophetic Tradition, and the Maqasid al Shariah (the intents of our law), we indeed have all the critical components to see from the Qur’an an art of war utilized by the Prophet (s) to resist in Mecca and construct a nation-state in Medina; we discern from our Scripts and the Arabic language a vocabulary for socio-political and economic transformation, and we learn that our maqasid are all about achieving the public good founded on enduring values.
What we want to achieve in this column is to show that while all of these are scriptural, they are by no means theoretical. They were indeed practical and achievable: the revolution started with the hijra and consolidated in Medina and spread beyond. It was led by the Prophet (s) and showed this to the early believers as a study of piety founded on justice.
The crucial concepts of the Civil State (Dawlah Madāniyyah), Shura (the Politics of Mutual Consultation), the values of inclusion, equality, rights and freedoms, and the exercise of the popular will, are neither theoretically abstract, nor untested ideals. They are concepts and values given practical effect and human application as the Prophet (s), after the Hijra, set about building a new society in Medina. The Muslim idealisation of Medina al Munawara (The Enlightened City) goes beyond the adoration of the Prophet (s) but remains the reference point for the abiding values of Islam – from the ibadat (worship) to the muamalāt (worldly). It is in the desire to emulate – not imitate – this experience that Muslims transpose and apply the values and intents to today’s context.
Makkah was a major testing ground for the early Muslims. Islam was cradled in a society in which there was no freedom of belief; a deep level of tribalism and ethnic chauvinism that, on the one hand, was blind to any truth and demanded absolute loyalty, and on the other, victimised and oppressed those who were different; enslaved people as the foundation of the economic system; institutionalised misogyny, both in the femicide at birth and in their treatment in marriage and society; and lastly ensured political and social exclusion.
The Hijra to Medina was an escape from these experiences and the opportunity to build a qualitatively better society through the establishment in practice of the best values of the Qur’an, even as the Qur’an was being revealed. Despite continued wars by the overlords of Makkah to destroy and destabilise the emerging state of Medina, the critical achievements in Medina were that the Prophet (s) was able to create both the essence of citizenship and the underpinnings of what constitutes a community, a nation, and a society:
• At the core of this community was the peace between the tribes of Aws and Khazraj, who had been in conflict, under the identity of the Ansār (the helpers).
• At its heart was the unity of the Ansār and the Mahājirun (the Emigrants) as the community of Muslims; and
• At its best, was the inclusive spirit that the Prophet (s) actualised through treaties between the Muslims and the Jews, Christians and even the polytheists and those suspected of hypocrisy (the Munāfiqīn).
The idea of these unities was not that the various entities were undifferentiated or the same. It was that each component was different yet were bound by the rights and obligations of citizenship. These were enshrined in the Charter of Medina, often referred to as its Constitution. This provided for:
• Inclusion = All inhabitants of Medina are equal citizens and the Charter states that: “The Jews of Banu Awf will be treated as one community with the believers. The same applies to the Jews of Banu al Najjar.”
• Equality Before the Law = All inhabitants shall be judged by the same law equally: “When you differ on anything, the matter shall be referred to God and the Prophet (s). They are judged by the same law …”.
• Freedom of Belief = Each is allowed the free practice of their faith, but it should not threaten the public good: “The Jews have their own religion and so do Muslims. This will also apply to their freedmen”; and
• Equality of Obligations = the establishment of rights are commensurate with duties and responsibilities: “The parties to this treaty are bound to help each other in the event of an attack on Yathrib … The Jews must pay with the Muslims.”
Lastly, if we place the Prophet’s (s) last sermon in its historical context, we will see that this is one of the earliest declarations of human rights and social justice. The Prophet (s) addressed core universal values in a society where those values were forgotten and systematically violated. These include equality, restoring women’s dignity, justice, closing the gap between the rich and the poor, stopping bloodshed, and fighting racism:
• The Perfection of the Religion = The Prophet quoted this from the Quran (5:3) to indicate the completion of his mission.
• The Sacredness of the Human Being = The Prophet (s) reiterated the inviolability of people.
• The Destruction of Ignorance = the sermon represented a break with that which came from Jāhiliyyah, the age of ignorance.
• The Mutuality of Rights with Women = the sermon spoke about duties to women, but also about how men and women have rights over and towards each other.
• The Equality of People = people are born from a single origin, and only righteousness and God-consciousness separates people; and
• No Prejudice or Discrimination is Tolerated = there is no superiority of one person over another based-on ethnicity and race (Arab & non-Arab or Black & white).
This sermon was the culmination of a haj (pilgrimage) in which men and women participated, in which the diversity of Muslims was celebrated, in which the equality of people was symbolised by the equality of dress (the ihram), and where everyone strove for piety despite race, ethnicity, class or gender. This was the definition of citizenship, dramatized through the haj and emphasized through the sermon.
Indeed, Medina should be celebrated for more than housing the grave of the Prophet (s). It should be celebrated as the epitome of his civilizational project, the enactment of the values he espoused, the seat of his governorship of the City-State of Medina, and the headquarters of both his small and large jihads.
Subsequent columns, Insha’Allah, will extrapolate from this and the afore-going ones, the possible models of the state that could be consistent with the central values of Islam that we have distilled.
