Dr. Mahmoud Alshwaiyat
Associate Professor of Comparative
Jurisprudence and Islamic Studies
Kuwait International Law School (KILAW)

Abstract:

Despite all the development and progress that mankind has achieved in all aspects of economic, social and technological life and in academic fields. This has made the world a small village where it is easy to communicate with others in the simplest and easiest ways and the least expensive methods. This might have seemed a fantasy, but it is the reality of our contemporary world. However, the matter is completely different at the international level’s political regimes or ideological, religious or economic blocs. It is as if the international community has turned into a world dominated by the law of the jungle, where survival is for the fittest. There are no governing principles, no covenants to be preserved nor respected. the Medina Charter should be taken as a model as a historical root that establishes the theory of an ideal social contract, given that this document shows how to establish the values ​​of kindness, tolerance, social justice, and acceptance of the other regardless of his/her religious beliefs or political orientation. These values preserve people’s civil rights, religious beliefs and human dignity through coexistence and equality of rights and duties.
This study follows up and analyzes the principles and foundations contained in the Charter in order to benefit from it and build upon it to form an initial and solid ground for subsequent studies resulting in the preparation of such a global pact based on the historical roots of the social contract theory through its reliance on the Medina Charter as a practical application of this proposition. To achieve this end, this study included three sections and a conclusion. In the first section the concept of social contract theory and its historical dimension will be reviewed. In the second section, the Medina Charter will be studied to demonstrate its compatibility with the social contract theory. The third section explains the role of the Charter in laying the foundations and rules of the civil state in Islam as a model that can be generalized at the level of the international community as a whole.
All of the foregoing was presented by studying and analyzing the principles and foundations that regulate the relationship between people of the Islamic nation regardless of their geographical and ethnic origins. This is in addition to studying and analyzing the principles and foundations that regulate the relationship between the Islamic nation and other nations, regardless of their geographical origin, ethnic origin, religious belief, or their ideological orientation, in order to reach a level of coexistence that achieves the principle of justice and equality in dealing with others. The study is concluded with a number of results and recommendations that will form the ground for subsequent studies (theses or dissertations) that are adopted by graduate students in this prestigious academic institution.
Keywords: Bayʿah, separation of powers, Islamic civilization, citizenship right, acceptance of the other, the Islamic legal politics.

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