THE MADINAH CHARTER IN LIGHT OF A MODERN CONSTITUTION

Abstract

The impetus for writing this article came from the notion of Muhammad Hamidullah, a renowned twentieth-century Islamic scholar. He has described the Madinah Charter as the world's first written constitution. As the modern constitutions contain certain fundamental features embedded within them, such as the separation of powers, the rule of law, which includes the fundamental rights and liberties of the people, supremacy of the constitution, and custom of the country, this article examines the objectives and fundamental features of the Madinah Charter. The research methodology adopted in this article is a doctrinal analysis by referring to the Madinah Charter as discussed in the book by Hamidullah, The Prophet's Establishing A State And His Succession. From the objectives and fundamental features of the Madinah Charter, the article extracts some similarities between the objectives and fundamental features embedded in a modern constitution. This brings out the argument of whether the Madinah Charter can be recognised as the world's first written constitution despite not being categorised as a modern constitution.