Constitution of Medina

The Constitution of Medina (دستور المدينة, Dustūr al-Madīna), or also known as the Umma Document, is a set of documents dealing with tribal affairs during the Islamic prophet Muhammad's time in Medina. The term "Constitution of Medina" is generally considered imprecise because the text neither established a state nor enacted Qur'anic statutes. The original documents have been lost, but their contents are believed to have been preserved, first by Ibn Ishaq (d. 150 AH/767 CE) in his Biography of Muhammad, and later by Abu 'Ubayd al-Qasim ibn Sallam (d. 224 AH/838 CE) in his Kitab al-Amwal. No evidence was provided by Ibn Ishaq to establish the authenticity of the documents, such as the chain of transmission, nor did he disclose the details of their discovery or how and when exactly these documents came into effect.

Nevertheless, scholars from both the Western and Islamic worlds widely accept the authenticity of the text. This acceptance is based on its inclusion of non-Muslims and its portrayal of the Quraysh (from whom all caliphs originated) as enemies of God, a view inconsistent with later Islamic periods. Other factors include the perceived archaic style of the text, its abundance of unexplained allusions that were considered to be likely understood only by contemporaries, and its apparent inclination towards tribal law over developed Islamic norms.

This unanimity among scholars, however, does not extend to various aspects of the "Constitution". Disagreements persist on whether the documents resulted from negotiated settlements or were merely unilateral edicts by Muhammad, the identity of participants (including uncertainty about the inclusion of the three major Jewish tribes of Medina—Banu Qaynuqa, Banu Nadir, and Banu Qurayza), the quantity of documents, the precise timing of its creation (or that of its constituent parts), and the appropriate approach to its translation, among other issues.