Similarities between religion and nationalism are well known but not well understood. They can be explained by drawing on Pierre Bourdieu's sociological theory in order to consider symbolic interests and the strategies employed to advance them. In both religion and nationalism, the “strategy of the prophets” relies on charisma while the “strategy of the priests” relies on cultural capital. In 20th-century Egypt, nationalism permitted intellectuals whose cultural capital was mainly secular, such as Naguib Mahfouz, to become “priests of the nation” in order to compete with the ʿulamaʾ for prestige and influence. However, it severely limited their autonomy, particularly after Nasser took power and became a successful nationalist prophet. Mahfouz's novel Al-Karnak, which explores the fate of the Nasser regime's political prisoners and the effects of Egypt's 1967 military defeat, reflects this limitation. Under a nationalist regime, the film adaptation of the novel contributed to Mahfouz's heteronomy.

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This study offers a sociolegal interpretation of the ancient extant document generally referred to in modern scholarship as the “Constitution of Medina,” showing it to be a three-part composite document written between 622 and 627. Each part has considerable formal coherence as a legal deed. The first part was the deed of foundation of Muhammad's umma, not yet a community of individual believers but a confederation of clans and their clients unified in the struggle in the path of God. The execution of capital punishment for murder was transferred from the clans to the community. The second part guaranteed religious freedom to Jewish confederates, thus laying the foundation of the later Muslim system of religious pluralism; it created the first Muslim sanctuary (ḥarām) and introduced elements of individual responsibility. The third part, here considered a supplement to the second, concerned the defense of the city of Medina against the Quraysh and added one new Jewish clan to the confederation. Taken together, the three parts of the Constitution of Medina transformed the pagan cult of vengeance into holy warfare.