Quote · 1 AH
Every subtribe will be left with their own responsibilities they had before Islam: they shall take care of their own blood-money disputes, their own prisoners of war, and their own poor.
~1 AH (622-623 CE), in the early Madani period · 1 AH
Strength of the report
The constitution is not preserved with a full chain of narrators (isnad) in any early source; Ibn Ishaq transmits it in full without an isnad, and only one phrase is separately attested with an isnad in Musnad Imam Ahmad. Some have therefore doubted it was ever issued, though most modern scholars consider it authentic on the strength of its archaic language and its naming of many otherwise-unknown subtribes, which would be an unlikely thing to fabricate.
Not long after the Prophet ﷺ arrived in Madinah, built the first mosques, and paired the Muhajirun with the Ansar through the muakha, he ﷺ promulgated a written constitution governing the whole of Yathrib. It named around 40 Muslim subtribes of the Quraysh (Muhajirun) and Yathrib (the Aws, the Khazraj, and their sub-clans) as well as roughly a dozen Jewish tribes, and set out terms for the pagans of Yathrib who remained at this stage. Notably the document still calls the city "Yathrib," not yet "Madinah," and does not yet use the later terms "Muhajirun"/"Ansar" as fixed titles, a sign, along with its archaic language and its listing of many now-obscure subtribe names, that it is an early and authentic document. It is preserved in full by Ibn Ishaq, though without a complete chain of narrators (isnad); Musnad Imam Ahmad separately preserves one phrase of it with an isnad. The constitution can be grouped into clauses for the Muslims, for the Jews, for the pagans, and for the community as a whole.
Outcome: Established the first Islamic state: a single political federation uniting the Muslims (Muhajirun and Ansar), the Jewish tribes, and the pagans of Yathrib under terms of mutual defense, internal legal autonomy, and referral of disputes to the Prophet ﷺ.
The constitution defined relationships on the basis of theology rather than lineage for the first time in Arabia: the Ansar, Muhajirun, and any future convert became one ummah regardless of tribal background, so that a former slave like Bilal ibn Rabah RA and a nobleman like Abu Bakr RA stood as equals within it. It demonstrated the Prophet ﷺ's justice toward the Jews of Madinah, granting them a status "along with" (ma'a) the believers rather than beneath them, full internal autonomy over their own affairs, and an equal share of both the burden and the benefit of defending the city. It made official, in writing, what was already the reality: the Prophet ﷺ as the de facto and accepted ruler of Madinah, to whom disputes between the constitution's different communities would be referred. It guaranteed a broad (though not unlimited) freedom of religion, held every subject, Muslim or not, equally accountable for crime, and let each tribe keep its own pre-Islamic customary law (urf) wherever it did not conflict with the shariah. It contains no mention of jizya, since the verses legislating it had not yet been revealed. Together with the building of the mosque and the muakha pairing, it completed the formation of the first Islamic state.
The First Year in Madinah·Chapter 8 of 12The Constitution
See the whole storyOther events recorded in 1 AH. Their order within the year is not established; use the storyline above for the sequence.
Every subtribe will be left with their own responsibilities they had before Islam: they shall take care of their own blood-money disputes, their own prisoners of war, and their own poor.
All of the Muslims shall unite against those who do injustice, even if it be one of their own.
The dhimmah granted by the Muslims is the same, and even the lowliest of them can give protection.
The Muslims from the Quraysh and Yathrib, and those who join them, are one ummah, and this ummah is unto itself, to the exclusion of the rest of mankind.
Between the two shall be mutual support against those who fight the subjects of this constitution, and the Jews will spend along with the Muslims as long as they are being fought.
The two refers to the Muslims and the Jews, the constitution's two named ummahs of Madinah.
اليهود أمة مع المؤمنين
All of these Jews are one ummah, along with the Believers.
This followed the Constitution naming each of Madinah's roughly twelve Jewish tribes individually.
Any Jew who wishes to embrace Islam shall be helped and protected, and no injustice shall be done to him.
No Jew shall leave Madinah without my permission.
No mushrik shall offer protection to the Quraysh, even in return for life or money, nor shall he in any way come between the Quraysh and the Believers.
The interior of Yathrib is a Haram for the subjects of this constitution. This is the Haram: bounded at east and west by the two labba, and at south and north by the mountains of Ayr and Thawr.
Whatever disagreement occurs between the peoples of this constitution which leads to internal fasad shall be decided by Allah and His Messenger.
It will not be allowed for any Believer who agrees to this constitution, and believes in Allah and the Last Day, to help or support any rebel. Whoever does so will have the curse of Allah, the angels, and all of mankind, and no good deed will be accepted from him.
Whoever leaves Madinah shall be safe, and whoever stays in Madinah shall be safe, except for anyone who does an injustice or sin. And Allah will protect those who are pious and righteous, and Muhammad ﷺ is His Messenger.