Re-examining the Hijrah as a Moral Code for Political Formation of State in Islam

Abstract

 The epoch-making migration of the nascent Muslim group under the leadership of Prophet Muhammad from Makkah to Madinah in the 6th century has not only been extensively discussed but well documented by Muslim historians and scholars of Islam to denote its significance in the evolutionary process of the Islamic faith. Many of these scholarly efforts are devoted to teach practical lessons of life to Muslims with little or no cognizance given to its place as a veritable template for State formation. Yathrib an obscured city in the southern part of hijaz emerged not just as a state of founders and settlers but the religiopolitical capital of Islam upon the entrance of the Prophet in 622 C:E. Madinah as the new name of the city became the launching pad for the expansion of the creed as it contends with earlier creeds and civilization in the adjoining Arabian/ Persian sub-continent. An examination of leadership vacuum, migration, tribal affiliation, warfare, superior balance of power and other factors which aided the formation of the state of Madinah as well as the dynamics of state building in the immediate period of formation is the core of this paper. The moral imperatives are also examined as precept for modern theories of state formation.