Editing Political aspects of Islam (section)

===Islamic State of Medina===
The [[Constitution of Medina]] was drafted by Muhammad. It constituted a formal agreement between Muhammad and all of the significant tribes and families of [[Yathrib]] (later known as [[Medina]]), including [[Muslims]], [[Jews]], [[Christians]],<ref>R. B. Serjeant, "Sunnah Jāmi'ah, pacts with the Yathrib Jews, and the Tahrīm of Yathrib: analysis and translation of the documents comprised in the so-called 'Constitution of Medina'", ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies'' (1978), 41: 1-42, [[Cambridge University Press]].</ref> and [[Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia|Arab Pagans]].<ref>See:
*Reuven Firestone, ''Jihād: the origin of holy war in Islam'' (1999) p. 118;
*"Muhammad", ''Encyclopedia of Islam Online''</ref><ref>Watt, William Montgomery. ''Muhammad at Medina''</ref><ref>R. B. Serjeant. "The Constitution of Medina." ''Islamic Quarterly'' 8 (1964) p.4.</ref> This constitution formed the basis of the first [[Islamic state]]. The document was drawn up with the explicit concern of bringing to an end the bitter intertribal fighting between the clans of the Aws ([[Banu Aus|Aus]] and [[Khazraj]]) within Medina. To this effect it instituted a number of rights and responsibilities for the Muslim, Jewish, Christian, and Pagan communities of Medina, bringing them within the fold of one community: the ''[[Ummah]]''.<ref>Serjeant (1978), page 4.</ref>

The precise dating of the Constitution of Medina remains debated but generally scholars agree it was written shortly after the ''[[Hegira|hijra]]'' (622 CE).
{{#tag:ref|W.M. Watt argues that the initial agreement was shortly after the hijra and the document was amended at a later date specifically after the battle of Badr (AH [anno hijra] 2, = AD 624).<ref>Watt, William Montgomery. ''Muhammad at Medina''. pp. 227-228</ref>|group=Note}}
{{#tag:ref|R. B. Serjeant argues that the constitution is in fact eight different treaties which can be dated according to events as they transpired in Medina with the first treaty being written shortly after Muhammad's arrival.
<ref>R. B. Serjeant. "The Sunnah Jâmi'ah, Pacts with the Yathrib Jews, and the Tahrîm of Yathrib: Analysis and Translation of the Documents Comprised in the so called 'Constitution of Medina'." in ''The Life of Muhammad: The Formation of the Classical Islamic World'': Volume iv. Ed. Uri Rubin. Brookfield: Ashgate, 1998, p. 151</ref>
<ref>see same article in ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies'' 41 (1978): 18 ff. See also Caetani. ''Annali dell’Islam, Volume  I''. Milano: Hoepli, 1905, p.393.</ref> |group=Note}}
{{#tag:ref| Julius Wellhausen argues that the document is a single treaty agreed upon shortly after the hijra, and that it belongs to the first year of Muhammad’s residence in Medina, before the battle of Badr in 2/624. Wellhausen bases this judgement on three considerations; first Muhammad is very diffident about his own position, he accepts the Pagan tribes within the Umma, and maintains the Jewish clans as clients of the Ansars<ref>see Wellhausen, Excursus, p. 158.</ref><ref>Julius Wellhausen. ''Skizzen und Vorabeiten'', IV, Berlin: Reimer, 1889, p 82f</ref>|group=Note}}
{{#tag:ref| Moshe Gil, a skeptic of Islamic history, argues that it was written within five months of Muhammad's arrival in Medina.<ref>Moshe Gil. "The Constitution of Medina: A Reconsideration." ''Israel Oriental Studies'' 4 (1974): p. 45.</ref>|group=Note}} 
It effectively established the first Islamic state. The Constitution established: the security of the community, religious freedoms, the role of Medina as a ''[[haram]]'' or sacred place (barring all violence and weapons), the security of women, stable tribal relations within Medina, a [[tax system]] for supporting the community in time of conflict, parameters for exogenous political alliances, a system for granting protection of individuals, a [[judicial system]] for resolving disputes, and also regulated the paying of [[Blood money (term)|blood money]] (the payment between families or tribes for the slaying of an individual in lieu of ''[[Eye for an eye|lex talionis]]'').{{citation needed|date=July 2017}}