The civil system of Medina passed through various stages of development in a short period of ten years and became a great Islamic state, the boundaries of whose rule extended from the borders of Iraq and Syria in the north to Yemen and Hadramaut in the south, and from the Red Sea in the west to the Persian Gulf and the Iranian Empire in the east, and scientifically, the rule of Islam was established over the entire Arabian Peninsula.
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A Nationwide State and a Central Government
Although the Islamic state was initially based on Arab tribal traditions, it soon transformed into a nationwide state and a central government. This was a completely new political experience for the Arabs; because according to tribal traditions and Bedouin nature, they were accustomed to being divided into different tribal and political units.
These political units were independent and autonomous, which on the one hand were the embodiment of the concept of tribal independence, but on the other hand were also responsible for political chaos and the consequent continuation of political unrest, military conflict and regional hatred. The Arabs not only lacked centralization; rather, they were devoid of the concept of a central and national government, as these ideas could have become an obstacle to their arbitrary tribal independence.
They could not accept the rule of any “other”. It is the political miracle of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) that he transformed the enemy Arab tribes into a united nation and established a central government in place of their countless political units, which was obeyed by all the Arab inhabitants, both Bedouin and urban.
The biggest reason for this was that now, instead of “tribe and blood”, “Islam and the Faith” was the basis of society and government. The political ideology of the Islamic government was now Islam and only Islam. Even those who did not fully agree with this political ideal had to accept the political supremacy of this state for some reason.
When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) set out on the path of migration, a verse from Surah Isra’il was often on his blessed tongue: Translation: “O Allah! Enter (into a new destination) with truth and goodness, and grant victory from wherever you have brought him out (to spread the religion to a new place).” (Surah Bani Isra’il: 80).
The Establishment of the Islamic State
Thus, Allah Almighty accepted his prayer and granted him victory for the establishment of the Islamic state. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was staying at the house of Hazrat Abu Ayyub Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him) when he concluded the Treaty of Medina. For this purpose, he gathered the Muhajirin, Ansar, Jews, Christians and other tribes. He (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) held some discussions.
After that, he (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) had a document written on this occasion. Early historians have called it a Sahifa. It was a decree of the ruler of the time, as well as a declaration of all the people, which was signed by these people. Both Muslims and polytheists participated in it. Dr. Hamidullah has called it the first written constitution. He writes:
“Medina was still in a state of turmoil and tribal conflicts. The Arabs were divided into twelve tribes of Aws and Khazraj, and the Jews were in ten tribes of Banu An-Nadir, Banu Qurayza, etc., and there had been fighting among them for generations, and some Arabs had allied with some Jews and had become rivals of the rest of the Arabs and their allies.
Both had become fed up with the continuous wars, and some of the people there were looking for military aid from non-tribes, especially the Quraysh; but the peace-loving classes were gaining ground in the city and a large group was preparing to make Abdullah bin Ubay bin Salul king; Even according to Bukhari and Ibn Hisham, the preparation of its crown city was entrusted to the craftsmen.
Undoubtedly, the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) had tried to create centralization by appointing twelve Muslims as Naqeebs from the twelve tribes in the Pledge of Aqaba, but regardless of this, each tribe there had its own rule and would settle its affairs in its own sahban. There was no central urban system. Within three years, some people in the city had converted to Islam through the efforts of trained missionaries; but religion was still a private institution, it had no political status there, and people of different religions lived in the same house. In these circumstances, the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) came to Medina, where at that time there were several urgent needs:
1- Determining the rights and duties of themselves and the local residents.
2- Organizing the settlement and livelihood of the Meccan emigrants.
3- With these same objectives in mind, the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) compiled a document a few months after his migration to Medina, which is mentioned in the same document as the Kitab wa Sahifa, which means the Code of Conduct and the Book of Obligations. In fact, this was to declare the city of Medina as a civil property for the first time and to compile a constitution for its management. (The Best Writings of Dr. Hamidullah: Compiled by Qasim Mahmud, p. 253).
This agreement contains separate provisions for Muslims, Jews and different tribes. This was actually the initial structure of the city-state of Medina. It should be clearly kept in mind that the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) did not want to establish a limited state like the city-states of Greece; rather, he (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) laid the foundation of a universal state, which began with a few streets of Medina and continued to expand at a speed of 900 kilometers per day. At that time, it was a state of one million square miles when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) passed away. (Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): Dr. Hamidullah)
The concept of this universal state was furthered by Sayyiduna Abu Bakr Siddique (may Allah be pleased with him) and Sayyiduna Umar bin Al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) and within a hundred years it spread to three continents.
The following issues arise in this agreement or document regarding the local government system:
Education and training facilities.
Provision of employment, housing and necessities of life
The Holy Quran has repeatedly pointed out that humans are the children of Adam and Eve and are the family of Allah on earth. Humans naturally want to live together and all the resources of the world have been created for our benefit. Therefore, the clear and straightforward way is for us to hold firmly to the rope of Allah. A great detail of duties and rights is before us. The Teacher of the Book and Wisdom, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, has explained and explained them.
After the order of migration, there was a flood of migrants in Medina and eventually the number of migrants in Medina increased many times compared to the local residents. (Sahih Bukhari).
The Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) had prepared a comprehensive plan for the settlement of these newcomers from the very beginning. After studying the details of this plan in depth, it is understood that fourteen hundred years ago, the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) had brought about a great revolution in colonization and town planning. Providing housing and work to such a large number of new settlers with such limited resources was not an easy matter.
Then, people of different races, classes, regions and having different social and cultural backgrounds were coming and gathering in Medina. To absorb all of them socially in such a way that neither a sense of poverty and alienation arose in them, nor did any deterioration occur in the environment of Medina, nor did tendencies of lawlessness and moral misconduct arise… as usually happens in such situations… This is such a living and enduring achievement of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), which deserves special attention and study by sociologists.
It is worthy of note that experts can undoubtedly learn a lot from the biography of the Prophet (peace be upon him) to deal with the complex cultural, political and ethical problems arising from the pressure of population in modern cities. The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) was the first to inform the world of the secret that urban planning is not just about building alleys and markets in the middle of stone and brick buildings; rather, it is also essential to provide a harmonious and healthy cultural environment that gives rise to high human values by providing physical comfort, spiritual growth, religious satisfaction and peace of mind and becomes the cause of the development and growth of human civilization.
A Suitable Site for the Construction of the Capital City
After the establishment of the Islamic state of Medina, a suitable site for the construction of the capital city was selected and a large plot of land had already been acquired for this purpose. The first phase of the construction of the capital city was completed with the construction of the mosque and houses for the wives of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). The second phase began with the construction of short houses (quarters) for the newly arrived migrants; this was the reason why these two phases of construction and the project took a year or a little more.
Medina al-Rasul was, in a sense, a “migratory settlement”, not all migrants lived there. (Tabaqat Ibn Sa’d) It is possible that when the population of Medina increased, the chain of houses and constructions spread and merged with the nearby settlements of Banu Sa’ida, Banu Najjar, etc. during the time of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). Otherwise, the policy of the state was that only the emigrants should be settled in the colony of Medina. When the Banu Salamah, who lived in Awali, requested to come and settle in Medina, he rejected it and instructed them to stay in their village.
It was also an important part of the state’s colonization scheme that the caravans of the emigrants who left their homeland for the sake of Allah and came to Medina should be provided with official accommodation; rather, these newcomers were accommodated in government guesthouses and their food and other needs were also managed by the government. Later, it was the government’s duty to provide these people with a place or place for permanent residence, just as it was the responsibility of the Islamic government to provide bread, clothing, and housing for the refugees.
Temporary accommodation for the migrants was arranged by setting up camps inside the mosque or in rows. If the number of migrants was large or the caravan consisted of an entire tribe, they were usually accommodated in tents outside the city; so that permanent accommodation could not be reasonably arranged, two methods of settlement were adopted. First, either a wealthy Ansari Muslim was asked to arrange accommodation for a migrant in his home; but it should be noted that this was done only in the early days when the Islamic state was not properly formed and was not yet organized.
Large houses were usually built to accommodate the migrants. These houses consisted of several rooms, one room was given to a family; however, in such houses, the kitchen etc. were shared. It is estimated that the houses that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) officially built for separate accommodation in the colony of Medina were three-room houses. (Taken from Adab al-Mufrad: Imam Bukhari).
Expansion of the City
The construction process continued continuously for a while, until after the expulsion of Banu Qaynuqa (3 AH), a significant number of houses came into the hands of Muslims, and the housing shortage was largely eliminated, but this problem did not end; because the number of newcomers was much greater than the housing facilities and it was increasing day by day; therefore, this problem was serious until 2 AH (the conquest of Banu Qarizah),
after which the sources of income for the Islamic government were also created, the economic condition of the Muslims also improved to some extent, and many houses for the Jews were also found, so the seriousness of the matter was reduced to a large extent; however, the work of settlement continued after the conquest of Mecca and even after that, since the decree of the obligation of migration was abrogated with the conquest, the arrival of migrants to Medina stopped; However, many people came to Medina and settled there even after the conquest of Mecca, and there was a steady stream of people coming to seek education, etc. (The Education System of the Prophet’s Covenant: Dr. Hamidullah)۔
By the end of the Prophet’s (peace be upon him) lifetime, the city of Medina had spread to Batha in the west, Baqi’ al-Gharqad in the east, and the homes of Bani Sa’ida in the northeast. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) now stopped building more houses there. This step of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) is of immense importance in terms of urban planning.
Its importance can only be appreciated by those who have had the opportunity to closely study the immoral and chaotic society of modern industrial cities. He (peace be upon him) did not allow the new city (Medina) to exceed a certain limit, and set the maximum limit of this city at (500) five hundred cubits, and said that if the population of the city exceeds this limit, a new city should be built. He (peace be upon him) also took two steps in his life, following this principle.
One was to issue an order to transfer the excess population to Yatu and other lands, so that on the one hand an agricultural revolution could be brought about and on the other hand a place for the new people to live. On the other hand, the conquered settlements of Qurayzah and Nadir were spread to other villages in Madinah; so that on the one hand, the possibilities of social inequalities could be eliminated and on the other hand, a healthy and prejudice-free society could be created. It is no exaggeration to say that the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) achieved amazing success in his objectives (An-Nasa’i, Kitab al-Salaat).
Today, in some Western countries, by following the basic principles of town planning that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) had tried out fourteen hundred years ago, some success has been achieved in reducing the intensity of social unrest and cultural chaos.
The Objectives of the City Government
The objectives of the city government in the present era are as follows:
1- Arrangement of the city’s streets and highways, construction of markets, and residential arrangements.
2- Supply and distribution of drinking water.
3- Arrangement of sewage, garbage disposal.
4- Establishment of education, treatment, other welfare institutions, and playgrounds.
5- Arrangement of the city’s beautification and entertainment venues.
6- Accountability of financial resources and works for these works.
From the hadiths of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), we find many principles of the local government system. As far as the accountability department is concerned, Al-Farabi, Mawardi and Tusi are in agreement with it.
Mawardi has written about the characteristics of the accountability department that it is a department between the justice department and the police department. The duty of the ombudsman is to promote good deeds and prevent bad deeds.
The Quranic term Maroof has three types
Rights of Allah
Rights of the servants
Actions and deeds that are related to both.
In Madinah al-Nabi (peace be upon him), the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) himself used to do this work. Whenever the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) went out to the markets of Madinah, he would stop at various places, measure and weigh, check the scale, detect adulteration in things, investigate defective goods, prevent overselling, and prevent artificial shortages of used goods;
In this regard, the hadiths narrated by Sayyiduna Hazrat Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), Hazrat Ubaidah bin Rifaa (may Allah be pleased with him), Hazrat Abu Saeed Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him), Hazrat Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him), Hazrat Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him), Hazrat Anas (may Allah be pleased with him), Hazrat Abu Umama (may Allah be pleased with him), Hazrat Abdullah bin Masood (may Allah be pleased with him), Hazrat Aisha Siddiqah (may Allah be pleased with her), Hazrat Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) and other companions (may Allah be pleased with him) determine the principles.
The construction and maintenance of roads and bridges
In the local government system, the most important work is the construction and maintenance of roads and bridges, as well as the construction of new highways and their planning for the future. Some people enclose roads for personal purposes, some build permanent walls, and clear rulings are found in Islamic jurisprudence about this; There is a narration in Sahih Muslim that Hazrat Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: When you disagree on a road, its width should be seven cubits, and there cannot be a street less than that.” (Sahih Muslim)۔
The Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) has prohibited littering the roads. He (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) has declared removing even the smallest obstacle from the roads to be a charity. He has ordered the planting of shade trees on the roads. Abu Laith Samar Qandi (may Allah have mercy on him) writes in one of his fatwas that “It is not appropriate for a sensible person to spit or wipe his nose on the road, or to do anything that would damage the feet of a pedestrian on the road. The law of the right to comfort does not allow any building to be built on the road.”
A major problem in the present era is traffic, and the teachings of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) provide guidance on this. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) forbade sitting and talking on the roads and obstructing the road. He (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) maintained the freedom of the road even for animals. In the city-state of Medina, drinking water was provided by purchasing wells from the Jews. Before Islam, there was no sewage system in the streets of Medina. Toilets were not common in that era; but when the population of cities began to increase due to the arrival of Muslims, solutions to these problems were sought.
Drinking in the city the provision of water was made official, and fresh water wells and springs for drinking were scarce in Medina. Hazrat Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him), who himself lived in the colony of Medina, purchased a fresh water well called Bir Rumaan from the Jews and dedicated it to the people of Medina, as per the order of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). (Sahih Bukhari, Chapter on Virtues)۔
Islam places great emphasis on the purity of the body and soul and the cleanliness of the exterior and interior. The commands of ablution, purification, and bathing are links in this chain. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) built mosques and issued instructions to build ablution rooms there. After the general mood of Islam and this command of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), baths were built in every house. Ablution rooms were built with every mosque. (Ibn Majah)
We find the statements of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) about the rights of the shade, by implementing them, many problems of human society are solved. In Sahih Muslim, it is narrated by Hazrat Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) bin Malik, “No Muslim is a Muslim until he wishes for his neighbor what he wishes for himself.”
In this one holy saying, cleanliness, health, decency, good character, peacemaking, compassion, and selflessness are mentioned so many things that all the rules of civil life can be adhered to with excellence.
Before the migration, illegal activities were common in Medina. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) strictly forbade it. The minimum width of a street or alley was set at seven cubits, or “arms”, in case of a dispute. (Sahih Muslim) The streets in the inner cities of Medina were generally narrow, so the alleys in Medina were narrow but straight.
Although the houses of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and other companions (may Allah be pleased with them all) were small, in general he (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) preferred spacious houses and said, “Happy is the one whose dwelling is spacious and whose neighbors are good.” (Imam Bukhari, Chapter on Adab al-Mufrad)
Taking care of one’s health is a fundamental principle of Islamic life. Islam has given cleanliness and hygiene the status of half of faith. The command to keep the house, every place outside the house, one’s body and one’s clothes clean has been repeated many times. Mosques have been presented as models of cleanliness.
It has been ordered to keep government buildings clean. It is known from the hadeeths that some Bedouins would spit on the walls of a mosque, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) would clean the place with his own hands. The system of ablution and ghusl, the commandments of cleanliness, keeping pastures, threshing floors, riverbanks, and recreational areas clean, are in accordance with the principles of hygiene and are also an expression of decency.
Under the principle of hygiene, emphasis has been placed on the purity of food and drink in the local government system, there are strict penalties and threats of punishment for those who commit adulteration, the rules for keeping drinking water clean and draining waste water also come under the same heading, there are also facilities for treating diseases related to the same heading, among them, preventive measures against epidemics and the responsibility of preventing them at all times lies with the civic government.
The arrangement of shade, lawns, and public recreation areas
The arrangement of shade, lawns, and public recreation areas is also in accordance with Islamic teachings. For example, in Surah Abbas, the divine statement is: “We have produced from the earth grain, and grapes, and herbs, and olives, and palm trees, and dense gardens, and fruits, and fodder, all of which we have made for you and your cattle.” (Surah Abbas, verses 32-27)
At the time of the migration, Medina was called the land of gardens, and the people here were very fond of gardens. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) tried to minimize the damage to the date palm trees there when building the city and the mosque. Date palm trees are mentioned in the books of Hadith near the gate of the Prophet’s Mosque (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), where there was also a bathhouse and ablution room, and a well was also located.
Opposite the main gate of the Prophet’s Mosque (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), there was a vast and lush garden of Hazrat Abu Talha Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him), called Bir Ha, where the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) used to sit and rest. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) would often visit. (Sahih Bukhari, Nasa’i, Ibn Majah)
There was no problem of drainage in Medina; because the city was on a high slope, often a mountain river or stream would pass through it, so the buildings and structures were made safe by damming them.
After the migration, a separate market or bazaar was built in Medina to facilitate buying and selling. It is believed that this market must have been established after the expulsion of Banu Qaynuqa (3 AH); because before that, Abdur Rahman bin Auf (may Allah be pleased with him) and other Muslim traders used to do their business in the market of Qaynuqa. (Sahih Muslim)۔
The market of Medina was not far from the Prophet’s Mosque (peace be upon him). The market was particularly spacious and had become a very prosperous and commercial center by the end of the Banuwa era. The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) made great efforts to promote trade, the most important of which was this statement of his (peace be upon him).
“There is no tribute in the market of Medina” (Futuh al-Bulandan, Biladhuri). During the pre-Islamic period, there were major obstacles to trade due to the system of khafarah and the step-by-step collection of tribute. The Prophet (peace be upon him) issued this order in view of various political and military interests, which had far-reaching consequences. In fact, in this way, the Prophet (peace be upon him) did not end the curse of tribute; rather, after the conquest of the Arabian Peninsula, the entire country, like Medina, was allowed to have free imports and exports, thus paving the way for international free trade. Modern research has provided irrefutable evidence that free international trade is essential not only for nations and peoples, but also for the material development of the entire human race, through which the people can be benefited by keeping the prices of goods in balance internationally, and thus nations can become prosperous.
Establishment of educational institutions
The Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) has laid great emphasis on education, including these things. The first curriculum in the history of Islam was set by the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) laid the foundation of the first residential school of Islam by building a platform at the time of the construction of the Prophet’s Mosque; where he (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) himself used to teach. During his caliphate, Hazrat Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) established a school in the mosque and made the government responsible for its maintenance and expenses. Today, the responsibilities of the civil government in the modern era also include the dissemination of education and training in the arts.
The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said that knowledge is the heritage of the prophets, a Muslim should take it from wherever he finds it.
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