Impact of Political Strategies of Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) in the early Islamic Governance System

Abstract

The life of the people was not safe and Meca was religious and trade hub of that time with fragility for the peace of society. The city was governed by strong Quresh families who used to make decisions for their power retention and earning wealth. The life of common men in the city was ignored and the poor people had limited rights to enjoy their life with freedom. In that dark age, Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) opened his eyes and started his mission of spirituality and unity of Good with peace and his ethics. This paper is principally aimed at closely examining these political strategies of Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W). We will examine how through his leadership and policies, he established a successful and stable government when the situation was one of chaos. We shall consider his constitution, his treaties, his military judgments and his judicial system. The qualitative research approach that will be applied to this piece of work will be rooted in the historical interpretation and the interpretation of the texts to discuss the politics of Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W). The literature review and the content analysis of classical Islamic sources will be the primary research method. The research will be founded on the primary literature, which includes the Quran, the authenticated books of the Hadith (Prophetic tradition), including Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim and the texts about early history, including Sirat Rasul Allah (The Biography of the Prophet) by Ibn Hisham and the Kitab al-Maghazi (The Book of the Military Campaigns) by al-Waqidi. The in-depth analysis reveals the prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) political policies were a direct and holistic response to the inefficiency of the Jahiliyyah system. The fundamental plan was the Medina constitution. It was the proclamation of a single political group (Ummah) out of the disintegrated tribes of Medina (Hamidullah, 1974).  The critical framework it offers in the solution of the contemporary political crises is its pluralistic citizenship, participatory leadership and absolute accountability principles. Prophet statecraft remains a powerful source of how to construct fair and ethical governments at any point in time.