Majmuat al-Wathaiq al-Siyasiyya lil-Ahd al-Nabawi wal-Khilafa al-Rashida
- Author died
- 1424 AH
- Editions
- Dar al-Nafa'is
Majmuat al-Wathaiq al-Siyasiyya lil-Ahd al-Nabawi wal-Khilafa al-Rashida (Collection of Political Documents of the Prophetic Era and the Rightly Guided Caliphate) is a historical and documentary sourcebook compiled by the Indian scholar Muhammad Hamidullah (d. 1424 AH / 2003 CE) . The work gathers, classifies, and annotates the official political treaties, letters, pacts, safe-conducts, and diplomatic communications from the pre-Hijra period, the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, and the era of the Rightly Guided Caliphs .
Background and Publication
The compilation originated from Hamidullah's doctoral dissertation submitted to the University of Paris (the Sorbonne) in 1935, which was published in French under the title La diplomatie musulmane à l'époque du Prophète et des Khalifes Orthodoxes .
Hamidullah prepared an expanded Arabic edition titled Majmuat al-Wathaiq al-Siyasiyya lil-Ahd al-Nabawi wal-Khilafa al-Rashida, which was first printed in Cairo by Lajnat al-Talif wal-Tarjama wal-Nashr in 1941 . It underwent multiple revised printings and editions, including editions by Dar al-Irshad in Beirut (such as the third edition in 1969) and multiple subsequent editions by Dar al-Nafais (including the fourth in 1403 AH / 1983 CE, the fifth in 1405 AH, the sixth in 1407 AH / 1987 CE, and the seventh in 1422 AH / 2001 CE) .
Structure and Scope
The book is arranged into four major parts, followed by supplementary apparatus :
- Part One (Pre-Hijra Period): Covers political and preliminary pacts prior to the migration, including the Pledges of al-Aqaba .
- Part Two (Post-Hijra Prophetic Period): Opens with Document 1, the text agreed upon between the Muhajirun, the Ansar, and the Jewish tribes of Medina (the Constitution of Medina) . It includes documents concerning the sacred precinct of Medina, relations and treaties regarding Mecca and Quraysh, Jewish communities (such as Khaybar and Tayma), and diplomatic communications with the Byzantine Empire, Abyssinia, the Ghassanids, Egypt (al-Muqawqis), the Sasanian Empire, Bahrain, Yamama, Oman, Najran, and Yemen . It also gathers treaties with various Arab tribes (including Juhayna, Damrah, Aslam, Khuza'a, and Tayy), correspondence relating to the Ridda wars during the Prophet's lifetime, and concludes with the sermon of the Farewell Pilgrimage .
- Part Three (The Rightly Guided Caliphate): Contains documents and letters from the caliphates of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, Umar ibn al-Khattab, Uthman ibn Affan, and Ali ibn Abi Talib . It includes military correspondence, such as letters sent by Sad ibn Abi Waqqas during the conquest of Iraq and Persia and letters of Amr ibn al-As in Egypt, as well as peace treaties concluded with cities in Iran, Armenia, the Levant, Palestine, the Maghrib, and Nubia, ending with a letter sent by Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan to Emperor Constans II .
- Part Four (Appendices): Collects supplementary documents, such as covenants attributed to the Prophet regarding Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians, a letter of condolence to Muadh ibn Jabal, and other disputed or supplementary texts .
The book concludes with a glossary of uncommon terms (Sharh al-Alfaz), a bibliography of primary sources (Tadhkirat al-Masadir), indexes of proper names, places, and lineages, an appendix of addenda and corrigenda, and reproductions of historical inscriptions, document facsimiles, and geographical maps of military engagements and regional borders .
Method and Reception
Hamidullah extracted the texts from early Islamic historical, hadith, legal, and literary sources—such as the Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal, the Sahih of al-Bukhari, the Musannaf of Abd al-Razzaq al-Sanani, and the works of al-Mawardi and Ibn Khaldun . He collated variant narrations of each document, recorded manuscript variants and differences across sources in footnotes, and cross-referenced original parchment letters discovered in modern times, such as those addressed to al-Muqawqis, al-Mundhir ibn Sawa, and the Negus . He also documented early rock inscriptions, such as the early inscriptions on Mount Sal' in Medina .
The work has been characterized by researchers as one of the most precise and comprehensive reference works compiled on the written diplomatic and administrative heritage of early Islam .
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