The Prophet Muhammad A simple Guide to his Life
The Finality of Prophethood
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commands. Indeed, the answer to this question is
found in the
sirah
of the Prophet himself. When the
Prophet migrated to Madinah from Makkah, at that
time Jews and idolaters too lived there alongside
the
Muslims. Madinah’s society, in effect, was
multi-religious in character.
At that time the Prophet of Islam issued the
“Charter of Madinah.” This Charter, establishing
the
administrative leadership of the Prophet,
declared that the affairs of each religious group
would be decided according to its own religious
and tribal traditions. This gives us the principle that
a multi-religious society should be organised in a
way that the central administration rests largely in
the hands of the majority community, while each
religious cultural group will enjoy the right to
organize its internal matters according to its own
beliefs and traditions.
Again, the problem of producing a peaceful
atmosphere in a multi-religious society is not a
religious issue in itself. It is a different matter
altogether. It is not true that if each religious group
considered that other religious groups possessed
