Significant Development of the Concept of Ahl-Dhimmah on Religious Rights in Early Islamic State

Abstract

This article aims to explain the effect of historical development in the early Islamic history regarding to treatment of plural society on religious rights. This issue is not a new issue since as early as the formation of the Islamic state of Medina, communities of different religions have already existed. Therefore, to understand the model of managing the affairs of non-Muslim religious beliefs through the historical lens of the Prophet Muḥammad PBUH and the Ṣaḥabah RAH have become important for the ummah. This research is library research using a historical approach to obtain data, drawing upon Islamic sources, i.e. the Holy Qur’ān, the Prophetic Traditions and selected opinions of Muslim scholars to explore the conceptual framework that Muslim jurists develop their ruling with regard to issue encounter Muslim and non-Muslims affairs. Then for conducting analysis, a descriptive and analytical approach based on selected themes was used. As a result, this study shows that the combination of the guidance of Wahy and the contract signed by the Prophet Muhammad PBUH and the Ṣaḥabah RAH with ahl-Dhimmi in several occasion have significance effects on development of religious rights rule. However, ceasefire agreement between the Caliphc Umar al-Khattab and non-Muslims named Syurūṭc Umariyyah gave inspiration for Muslim jurist to provide a social conduct of religious rights for non-Muslims through genre Islamic jurisprudence later on.