Suleiman Hani – The Medina Model
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Mala hamdulillah Alhamdulillah wa salatu salam ala Rasulillah who are early he was * he woman Werner. Yesterday we mentioned in the talk about coexistence how there are irrefutable proofs from our history as believers and from history even before the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam of coexistence and harmony between people, meaning what meaning it's absolutely possible, there is no doubt regarding that. So when anyone like Richard Dawkins or others claims that religious people or people of faith cannot possibly coexist, what they are saying is historically inaccurate, and we have to continue refuting them for that. So we mentioned during the lifetime of Prophet Muhammad
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, salAllahu alayhi wasallam during his lifetime, and not just after him salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, there were proofs of coexistence and harmony. And so that is basically today's topic, the medina charter of hunting, I'm in the process of publishing a book about the subject of historical harmony. So peace between people of different faith groups, and specifically under Muslim communities. And so one of the primary issues that had to be focused on was the medina charter. And so the medina charter, as it's referred to, or the medina constitution, was written during the time of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam supposedly in the first year after the
Hijrah in Medina, and ultimately, an essentially the charter of the Constitution was to bring about and establish the rights and responsibilities of everyone being mentioned in the Constitution itself within the pact, and it included Muslims and non Muslims. So you look at examples like the American Constitution, what year was it written or created?
American history awkward. Who remembers
now, now 76.
You all fail American history now? I'm just kidding. 8717 87. So in 1787, which was not too long ago, you have the American Constitution, which basically exemplifies and reflects the different rights and responsibilities you have before that the Magna Carta. When was that?
Oh, no, he's asking us history questions.
1215. And you have the medina constitution, which was in 622, the first year after the digital. So we look at the Constitution of Medina, which the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam established and you see that it's very pluralistic in nature, meaning not theologically but rather, socially speaking, it's harmonious and establishes all types of relationships and protections and so on and so forth. And we look at the scholars who examined it very deeply and analyzed all the parts of the Constitution of Medina, which did not have the numbering system with it. So every clause according to the author, historian will be different. But ultimately, there are about 47 or 57 different
clauses. The scholar said that all of the points from the medina Constitution are found within the Quran within 11 Different ethics or principles. And they are number one, kindness. Number two, human dignity. Number three cooperation in that which is good. What are our other ability what Taqwa number four is reconciliation, number five is mutual recognition. Number six is wisdom. Number seven is a welfare. Number eight is justice. Number nine, mercy and compassion. Number 10 is peace. And number 11 is loyalty. Now, all I want to give you because I'm just introducing the medina charter and Dr. Jassa, and the others inshallah we'll be discussing some specifics. So I will be giving you
just some examples from the clauses themselves, because some people might have might not have researched it before or read about it before. Just so you have an idea of what it contains and consists of, we'll be mentioning several of the important clauses in sha Allah, the very first of which is clause number one, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi. Salam started it with this is a document from Muhammad the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam governing relations between the believers, the Muslims of Quraysh and Yathrib. Before was referred to as Medina and those who follow them and worked hard with them. They are one nation, one OMA, we'll go down and fast forward to clause 17.
Just so you have an idea of what we're talking about with pluralistic relationships. No Jew will be wronged simply for being a Jew. Meaning what there is no problem with having your own religious identity as an as a default or as an inception point for any issue of wrongdoing. Clause number 18. The enemies of the Jews of Medina who follow the who follow us will not be helped, meaning the Jews are
protected by us as Muslims, so anyone who follows us in order to attack them or have problems for them or find out more about them will not be helped by us. Clause number 19. And by the way, as we go through these very quickly, keep in mind all of the accusations that you hear from Islamophobes and people who are ignorant about religion not being pluralistic or Muslims not being pluralistic or not being able to coexist, and some of the things that you might think of might even come from some hardcore Muslims who don't have an understanding of how the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam lived himself. Clause number 19.
The peace of the believers of the state of Medina cannot be divided either in peace or war for all meaning what you cannot have a portion of the people of Medina in war with someone externally and the rest are just sitting there in peace. So if someone is waging war against anyone in Medina, they're waging war against everyone in Medina, Muslims or non Muslims, clause 21. Conditions of peace and war and the accompanying ease or hardships must be fair and equitable to all citizens alike. Even when they do wage war. They have to basically make sure that everyone is on board with that. Jews, Christians and Muslims, everyone is on board with the idea of war in its context and
peace and its context. We'll fast forward to clause 30. It illustrated the level of tolerance in the charter. Clause number 30 is significance in that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, the Jews and he mentioned some of the tribes are a community and OMA along with the believers meaning we are one community, to the Jews, their religion and to the Muslims their religion. Does anyone see any problem with this whatsoever? The fact that there is religious, religious pluralism within the lifetime of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam established by the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam for the OMA shows us that this is the way forward there is no problem as long as there is not
a force, as long as there's not any compulsion and forcing your religious views on others or them forcing their views on you. Clause 34 Prophet sallallahu Sallam had them right. Those who are in alliance with the Jews, meaning they have a good relationship with the Jews of Medina will also be given the same treatment as the Jews. So we respect the friends of our friends, clause 38. If anyone attacks anyone who is a party to this pact, then everyone in Medina must come to their health.
Clause 39. The parties to this pact must seek mutual advice and consultation. We find that that's not available, even here in the west and democracy. The fact that they are consulting everyone involved in the pact means that it is an open community. Ultimately, the final matter has to go back to someone and that is the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa salam. But there is consultation.
And finally, clause 42. Any one individual or party or group who is wronged must be helped by everyone in this pact. And so the Prophet sallallahu ala you send them with this Medina charter, set the foundations for the companions and for the generations of Muslims to follow. And this is something that we must revive in our lives in our understanding of how relationships should be in an ideal society, Muslim or non Muslim, living side by side, there is no compromise in our faith. You're not compromising your religion by reaching out and making alliances with others. Rather, you're following the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, you'll find some people
thinking that the idea of alliances with others goes against the Quranic teachings that are talking to you who don't know. Surah Olia and this is a very narrow and ignorance perspective in that it does not include the exemplification of the Quran by the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam himself. You're not taking someone as an as an ally while they're attacking you or your brothers and sisters. No, you reaching out to people who are willing to live side by side not infringe on your rights, not harm, you not forced you to compromise on your hijab or not forced you to compromise on your prayer or forced you to consume something you don't want to consume. Rather they're willing,
they're open to having a treaty of peace of alliance of harmony, living side by side in order to establish a just and peaceful society. So when we look at the examples of people who are narrow minded, or they don't see what the Prophet salallahu Salam did, we have to remind them, and oftentimes, some of the people who are led to extremes in religion or outside of religion, they simply do not know. And so it is our duty as believers to raise the bar once again, raise the bar and raise the standard for yourself for knowledge, read and research learn before you assume learn before you incorporate learn before you implement learn before you start to judge about any matter
whatsoever. This is something that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was commanded to ask for more of in the Quran and this is the only thing he was he was commanded to ask for more of and that is knowledge will corrode. Visit me and say My Lord, Increase me in knowledge. My dear brothers and sisters we are living in a time of all
A lot of conflict of chaos of problems locally and globally. And people are looking at specific places around the world and saying all the problems are coming from here. All the problems are the are related to religion, all the problems are coming from this ethnicity or this group of people. The reality is when we look at the problems and the solutions, we see that Islam is comprehensive, and encompassing and extensive. And it covers all of these things if we implement it properly. And it begins with us as individuals, raising awareness where it needs to be raised, acting when we need to act being active in all types of campaigns. And a lot of times people who are shallow will say,
this does not affect me. How does Black Lives Matter affect us? We have other problems like Syria. Are you kidding me? When you talk about the problems and you talk about the solutions, and you look at the life of the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he was a an activist, not just for Muslim, but the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was constantly active for those who are oppressed, constantly seeking justice for anyone who society was ignoring or shunning. And it's not just one movement. And it's not an endorsement of every principle of one movement or ideology. But when there is a cause, there is an agreement with justice and with peace, whatever the causes, we seek to help.
And it does not matter if you think it has nothing to do with you or has to do with you. Everything is related. And if it truly has no connection to Islam, but Black Lives Matter does have a connection to Muslims in there, more than a third of Muslims in America are African American. So don't ever assume or think that this has nothing to do with you. It's not just shallow, it's ignorance, and it's severely ignorance. So when we talk about these problems, realize that if one minority is oppressed and you are silence, you are sinful in the sight of Allah subhana wa Tada. Again, if someone is being oppressed, and you are silent, you are sinful, why? Because you're
supporting the repression, you might not think you are, but your silence is support. And so we ask Allah subhanaw taala to make us of those who do revive the medina constitution, our lives, who do revive spiritual knowledge in our lives, who do raise the standard for knowledge in every aspect and field. And we ask Allah subhanaw taala to make us constant activist in that which is good. I mentioned in the last lecture, and I just want to repeat myself or reaffirm what I said, it is important for us as believers in times like this to combine the activist side and the educational and spiritual side. If you are lacking in one area, you need to seek advice from the experts and
professionals in the other area. Because there are many problems that stem from the issue of imbalance, where some people are activist but they have no religious boundaries are guidelines. So they end up falling into some errors. Their work is great, but sometimes we fall into error. And then you have people who are excelling in the spiritual side, but they have no activism, no servitude to humanity, they are lacking as well in that they are not following in the footsteps of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam but our OMA has come far. And in the last few years, we have seen a lot of change. And we have seen a growing tide of people who are developing and emerging and
starting to become active Alhamdulillah and this is great. And we cannot be negative and pessimistic where we are ignoring the fact and the credentials and the credit that should be given to groups and activists and different organizations and conferences and things like that. Rather we are realistically optimistic, in that we are looking forward with hope. And we are also combining it with pragmatism. We are moving forward actively. We ask Allah subhanaw taala to bless us and make us of those who are in servitude to humanity. And we ask Allah subhanaw taala to forgive us for shortcomings. And we ask Allah subhana wa Tada to allow us to revive Islam properly in our hearts
and to the communities around us. The Zachman located on it was salam alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh
The first question is, I have a Jewish friend and a Christian friend we got together we exchanged gifts. Am I doing something wrong or incorrect by making friendships with non Muslims? Jackalope it I don't know of any scholar that said anything is wrong with this. I really am saying this. I don't know of anyone who said there's any issue whatsoever with having Jewish Christian friends or acquaintances and exchanging gifts rather this is encouraged in Islam, the Prophet salallahu Salam encouraged us to give gifts and increase love and cooperation amongst one another.
If you can marry them, you can give them gifts right?
The second is can we learn something from the fact that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam immigrated to a place with different fates, choosing to come to coexist and live amongst them rather than establishing a purely Muslim dominant community elsewhere. There's no doubt that there's wisdom behind going to Medina and there are actually a lot of writings about the wisdoms of going to Medina. You can read about it, but ultimately, you had to go so they had to migrate where there were people anyway and there will also there was also a lot of tribalism and conflict in Medina that the Prophet salallahu Alaihe Salam as migration resolved, but absolutely there's a lot of wisdom in the
the Sahaba were taught by the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam how to live amongst people of other faiths and establish all
Types of harmony and coexistence on a practical everyday level low atom
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