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Chapter 8 - The Kitāb al-Umma, or Ṣaḥīfat al-Madīna

from Part II - Islamic Jurisprudence (Fiqh) and Related Genres

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2024

By
Rehanna Nurmohamed
Edited by
Omar Anchassi  and
Robert Gleave
Omar Anchassi
Affiliation:
Universität Bern, Switzerland
Robert Gleave
Affiliation:
University of Exeter
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Summary

This chapter discusses and translates the Kitāb al-Umma or Ṣaḥīfat al-Madīna, also known as the ‘Umma-document’ or the ‘Constitution of Medina,’ exploring its place in modern historiography and in particular its controversial possible implications for the study of the emergence of Islam as a distinct religious tradition. The Kitāb al-Umma is one of the oldest documentary sources of Islamic history, and its historicity is almost universally accepted in modern scholarship. The Kitāb belongs to the period shortly after the migration (hijra) of the Prophet to Medina, specifically to c. 1/622, when the Prophet concluded a series of treaties between the Emigrants (muhājirūn), the Helpers (anṣār), and the main Arab and Jewish tribes of Medina, to establish one Umma, ‘a community of believers.’

Keywords

Believers (muʾminūn)Muslims/submitters (muslimūn)Kitāb al-UmmaṢaḥīfat al-MadīnaConstitution of MedinaEarly Islam.
Type
Chapter
Information
Islamic Law in Context
A Primary Source Reader
 , pp. 86 - 94
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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References

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