Muhammad and The Jews — Page 46
MUHAMMAD ANb THB JEWS 2. The other articles were added from time to time as the need arose. 1 3. In view of our observations above, the articles pertaining to the Jews and the declaration of Medina as baram were concluded after 7 /628. The force of logic, therefore, leads us to believe that the ummah was formed towards the concluding period of the Apostle's life and not immediately after his arrival in Yathrib. The Apostle died in 11/632. The Sabifah is actually not the constitution of a state ; it lays the guiding principles for building a multi-cultural and multi-religious ummah in which the dominant group will always be Muslim. 2 Having established the Muslim dominance, the Sabifah also secures the following privileges for the dominant group : 1. The functions of the final court of appeal will be discharged by the Apostle. 3 2. The question of war and peace is the prerogative of the Apostle. 4 The non-Muslims included in the ummah will have the following rights : 1. The security of God is equal for all the groups. 5 2. Non-Muslim members of the ummah have equal political and cultural rights with the Muslims. There will be complete 1 Watt, Muhammad at Medina, p, 227. 2 Muhammad Hamidullah, The First Written Constitution in the World 2nd. Ed. (Lahore 1968), and R. B. Sergeant, "The Constitution of Medina'', have misunderstood the document. 3 "Whenever there is anything about which you differ, it is to be referred to God and to Muhammad (peace be upon Him). " (Article 23). The text of the Sabifah is given by lbn Hisham (pp. 341-344), Hamidullah's text (pp. 41-54) has been compared with lbn Abi Khaithamah, Ibn Kathir and Abil "'Ubayd. See also Watt's Muhammad at Medina (pp. 221-225). 4 "No one of them may go out (on a military expedition) without the permission of Muhammad (peace be upon Him) but he is not prohibited from taking ven- geance for wounds. Whosoever shed blood shall be personally responsible for it as the member of his house, except where a person has been wronged. God is with those who observe this document scrupulously'; (Article 36). 5 "The security (dhimmah) of God is one; the humblest of them can, by extending his protection to anyone, put the obligation on all of them; the believers are brother to one another (mawiili) as against all peoples" (Article 15). 46