Abstract
This article examines the Prophet Muḥammad’s covenant with Yūḥannah, Prince of Aylah, and illustrates the role it plays in understanding religious pluralism and civil rights as envisioned in Prophet Muḥammad’s dream of a “Muslim Nation”. The article also briefly makes use of other covenants contracted between the Prophet and other Arab Christian tribes. The covenants reveal Prophet Muḥammad’s desire for religious pluralism and the granting of rights to all people, regardless of religion, creed, or personal practices. Although Prophet Muḥammad’s covenants with the Christians of his time are used as a framework of analysis in this article, these documents have not received as much attention as they deserve, as few researchers in our time have shown interest in them. Early manuscripts and historical sources, both Arab and Western, are referenced in order to explore the circumstances and consequences of these early correspondences between Islam’s final Prophet and contemporary Arab Christians. The findings of this investigation are significant in that the covenants serve as critical milestones and reminders in light of current discussions about relations between Muslims and Christians. The contents of the covenants can also be used as models for improving relations between Muslims and Christians in religiously diverse communities the world over.
Highlights
Examples of religious pluralism and peaceful international diplomacy are rare in world history, and they are much scarcer in the history of the Middle East
This article explores Prophet Muh. ammad’s covenant with the Christian community under the leadership of Yuh. annah ibn Ru’bah, Prince and Bishop of Aylah, and uses it as a framework of analysis to examine the Prophet’s vision of a “Muslim Nation”: how he conceptualized what is presently understood as religious pluralism and civil rights
I agree with Morrow in that the greatest potential for establishing religious tolerance in society lies in recognizing the Prophet Muh. ammad’s covenants as prime examples of religious tolerance in action (Morrow 2013)
Summary
Examples of religious pluralism and peaceful international diplomacy are rare in world history, and they are much scarcer in the history of the Middle East. This article explores Prophet Muh. ammad’s covenant with the Christian community under the leadership of Yuh. annah ibn Ru’bah, Prince and Bishop of Aylah, and uses it as a framework of analysis to examine the Prophet’s vision of a “Muslim Nation”: how he conceptualized what is presently understood as religious pluralism and civil rights. I agree with Morrow in that the greatest potential for establishing religious tolerance in society lies in recognizing the Prophet Muh. ammad’s covenants as prime examples of religious tolerance in action (Morrow 2013). These covenants practically implemented Qur’anic verses and Prophetic H. These covenants practically implemented Qur’anic verses and Prophetic H. adıth in relations between communities with differing belief systems, and they provide us with an understanding of what Islamic religious tolerance looks like
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