The Origin of the Covenants

Since the advent of Islam in its birthplace of present-day Saudi Arabia, Muslims have traveled and settled in all corners of the earth.

In the year 610 CE, Prophet Muḥammadﷺ received revelation from God (Allāh) at the age of forty years old, and spent the remainder of his life calling people to monotheism. The revelations he received were compiled into the Holy Quran (Qurʾān), which has remained preserved and unaltered since its revelation. The teachings of God in the Quran, and the life of the Prophetﷺ which embodied these teachings, are as revolutionary today as they were when the Quran was first revealed.

Principles of pluralism

The Prophetﷺ outlined key principles for the peaceful relations between Muslim and non-Muslim communities by enacting Covenants.

Islam’s proliferation throughout the world for over a millennium has culminated in a mosaic of varying cultures and traditions within the global Muslim community, largely due to a foundation of pluralistic principles formalized by Prophet Muḥammadﷺ during Islam’s early expansion.

The Prophetﷺ outlined key principles for peaceful relations between Muslim and non-Muslim communities by enacting Covenants. In their earliest versions, the Covenants were written on pieces of leather. They were dated and sealed by the Prophetﷺ to further solidify the Muslim community’s promise to uphold these trusts until the end of time. These Covenants covered the rights of communities in matters of freedom of belief, property, wealth, marriage and religious places of worship, and were issued to Christian, Jewish, Zoroastrian and Samaritan communities, among others.

Carrying the Prophet’s legacy

The practice of granting treaties of protection to non-Muslim communities was continued after the Prophet’sﷺ death by the first four Caliphs (Khulāfā’) of Islam. The issuance of treaties by Muslim rulers to govern the relationships between Muslims and non-Muslims has been unanimously confirmed by Muslim jurists and by Muslim and non-Muslim historians.

Today, the surviving copies of the Covenants of the Prophetﷺ and his Companions are some of the best-preserved evidence that attest to the sanctity of pluralism in the Islamic tradition.

The First Covenant: The Constitution of Medina

Prophet Muḥammadﷺ wrote numerous Covenants during his lifetime, the most famous being the Constitution of Medina. In the early days of Islam, Prophet Muḥammadﷺ and the first Muslims faced terrible persecution for their beliefs from the ruling Quraysh tribe in their home city of Mecca (Makkah) in Arabia. This led the Prophetﷺ and the Muslims to make the journey from Mecca to a tribal settlement known at the time as Yathrib, which would later be known as the city of Medina (Madīnah). In Arabic this journey is known as the Hijra (Ḥijrah) and it marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar Muslims have used for well over a millennium.

Unifying a diverse community

The Constitution offered by the Prophetﷺ outlined the mutual rights and obligations of the Muslims and the Jews as members of one community.

The success of the Constitution of Medina was in the integration of the Meccan Muslims into Yathrib, which at the time was home to Jewish and Arab tribes and torn by intertribal fighting. The Constitution offered by the Prophetﷺ outlined the mutual rights and obligations of the Muslims and the Jews as members of one community or ummah, including the right of each person to practice their religion. It was a transformative moment for the Jewish and Arab populations of Yathrib, who ceased their intertribal fighting, and along with the Muslim emigrants from Mecca, united. Under the leadership of the Prophetﷺ, the settlement grew into the diverse and thriving city of Medina.

A template for coexistence

The Covenants form an important part of the life and legacy of Prophet Muḥammadﷺ, Islamic history and Muslim communities across the world.

These principles for peaceful coexistence were subsequently enshrined in various Covenants. The Prophetﷺ and his successors issued them to various religious communities during their lifetime and each were binding until the end of time.

The most revered copies of the Prophet’sﷺ Covenants are those that were sent to the Christians of St. Catherine’s Monastery in Mount Sinai in Egypt and to the Christians of Najran, a community that was based in present-day Saudi Arabia. In the ancient world, both the Christians of St. Catherine’s Monastery and the Christians of Najran were incredibly important communities. The copies made from the original documents are some of the most well-preserved Covenants discovered to date.

Today, as they did then, the Covenants form an important part of the life and legacy of Prophet Muḥammadﷺ, Islamic history and Muslim communities across the world.

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