The Constitution of Medina

Shortly after arriving in Medina, the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ drew up a written document, often referred to today as the Constitution of Medina, establishing terms of cooperation and mutual obligation among the city's different groups — the Muslim migrants from Mecca (Muhajirun), the Muslims native to Medina (Ansar), and the city's Jewish tribes. The document addressed practical matters of shared life in a diverse city: mutual defense against outside attack, the settling of disputes, and an agreement that each community would retain its own religious practice and internal legal matters while cooperating on shared civic responsibilities. It named Muhammad ﷺ as the final authority for resolving disagreements between the parties. Historians frequently point to this document as an early example of a written agreement organizing a multi-religious community around shared civic principles rather than uniform belief, predating comparable documents in other traditions by centuries. Within the Islamic tradition itself, it is remembered as one of the clearest early examples of how the Prophet ﷺ moved from preaching to governing, establishing Medina as a functioning, organized community rather than simply a place of refuge.