Prof. Dr. Aslam Syed: The Constituion of Medina

Reflexion
Datum: Montag, 26. Mai 2008, 19.00 – 21.00 Uhr
Referent: Prof. Dr. Aslam Syed
Thema: Living together. The Constitution of Medina – A Prototype for modern communities?

The first Islamic state was founded not in the shadow of swords, as is commonly believed in some circles, but in the security of a social contract, called the „Constitution of Medina“. By all counts, the Medina Constitution lit the torch of freedom by establishing a Free State for a pluralistic community composed of Muslims, Jews, and pagans. This unprecedented Free State, the first of its kind in the intellectual and political history of human civilization, was founded by the Muslims’ Prophet Muhammad in 622, that is, more than thirteen hundred years before the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) envisaged a modern pluralistic, religiously tolerant Free State.
What was the intention of the Constitution of Medina? What about the relationship between Muslims and Jews at that time? Can this Constitution be a prototype for modern communities? We would like to discuss these and further questions about the living together of people of different cultures and religions.

The Expert of this discussion will be Prof. Dr. Aslam Syed from the Humboldt-University Berlin. He completed his Ph.D. in Columbia University in the United States. He main topics are „Islam and the West“, „Sufism“ and „History of Islam“.