The Concept of 'Contractual Citizenship' in the Charter of Medina (622 C.e.): A Contemporary Interpretation

Abstract

This paper focuses on the notion of religiosity of the umma of believers, within a central legal document of the history of Islam, the Charter of Medina of 622 C.E. More specifically, it aims at reading the Charter under the light of today’s call, in order to draw a notion of “contractual citizenship” (of religious minorities) in harmony not only with the early Islamic tradition but also with international declarations recently signed by Catholic and Muslim religious leaders. For this reason, the paper tries first to highlight the religious and political meanings of the Charter for Muḥammad and his contemporaries; then to demonstrate that under Islamic law agreements between different religious groups are morally and religiously valuable and thus that striving to conclude them is beneficial for the entire community; and lastly, to extract from the Charter some legal principles regulating relationships between the umma and minority groups, to draw a new interpretation suitable for the contemporary and globalized Muslim society.