THE MADINAH CHARTER: A STATE CONSTITUTION OR NOT?

THE MADINAH CHARTER: A STATE CONSTITUTION OR NOT?*)

By :

Muhammad Irham

ABSTRACT

The Constitution, as a fundamental law and a fundamental law of fundamental importance, often referred to as the "Modern Constitution," emerged alongside the growing development of the "representative democracy system and the concept of nationalism." Representative democracy emerged to fulfill the people's need for a legislative body. This body was expected to create laws to reduce and limit the dominance of the king's rights. This reasoning positioned the (written) constitution as a fundamental law superior to the king/president, while also containing the intention of strengthening the People's Representative Body. Long before Western thinkers proposed their findings on various constitutions, Islamic history had recorded that, since the time of the Prophet Muhammad, the first written constitution, later known as the Medina Constitution or Medina Charter, had been pioneered. Furthermore, if a text or agreement is to become a constitution or Basic Law, it must also have certain substance and criteria. Research methods: The type of research used is normative legal research, namely research conducted or aimed at written regulations and other legal materials which are secondary data found in libraries and other legal journals. Conclusion: From the discussion above, it can be concluded that the Medina Charter (the Medina Constitution) can also be called the constitution of a country, because the Medina Charter contains the minimum principles of a fundamental government. This is because it is a document of agreement between the people of Medina, consisting of Muhajirin, Ansar, Jews and their allies with the Prophet Muhammad SAW, which guarantees their rights, establishes their obligations and according to the fundamental principles of government that are binding to regulate the government under the leadership of Muhammad SAW.

Keywords: Charter of Medina, Constitution

1. Introduction

Plato wrote many books, the most important of which is Politeia or State, Politics or State Expert, Nomai or Law. Plato's understanding of the state is the desire for cooperation between humans to fulfill their interests. This unity is then called society and that society is the state. Next, JJ Rousseau in his book entitled "Du Contract Social" says; "humans are born free and equal in their rights, while law is an expression of the general will (of the people)". Rousseau's thesis deeply inspired the birth of "De Declaration des Droit de I'Homme et du Citoyen”, and through this declaration also inspired the formation of the French constitution (1791), especially regarding human rights. It was during this period that the concretization of the constitution in the written (modern) sense began. [2]

Long before Western thinkers put forward their findings on various constitutions, Islamic history has recorded that since the time of the Prophet Muhammad SAW, the first written constitution had been pioneered, which later became known as the Constitution of Medina or the Medina Charter. History shows that after the migration to Medina, Muhammad SAW created a political charter to regulate communal life in Medina, which was inhabited by various social groups. He viewed peIt was necessary to lay down the basic rules for communal life in Medina in order to create a unified life among the entire community. Then, a joint agreement was made to live together peacefully among the groups in Medina, both among the Islamic groups and with the Jewish groups. The agreements between the Muhajirin, Ansar and the agreement with the Jewish group were formally written in a document called shahifah.[4]

Furthermore, if a text or agreement is to become a constitution or basic law, then the text must also have certain substance and criteria. Many legal experts have formulated the substance and criteria of a constitution, including CF Strong, KC Wheare, and James Bryce., Jellineck, Miriam Budiardjo, and others.

1. Research methods
2. Types of Research and Research Approaches

The type of research used is normative legal research, namely research conducted or aimed at written regulations and other legal materials which are secondary data found in libraries and other legal journals.[6]

1. Research on legal principles, such as research on written positive law or research on legal rules that exist in society.
2. Research into legal systematics is carried out by examining the basic understanding of the legal system contained in statutory regulations.
3. Research into legal synchronization can be carried out either vertically (different degrees) or horizontally (same degree/equal).
4. Legal history research focuses more on legal developments. Each analysis conducted in this research will utilize comparisons with one or more legal systems.
5. Comparative legal research is research that emphasizes and looks for differences that exist in various legal systems.

Meanwhile, the research approach used is an approach that starts from legal principles, such as research on written positive law or research on legal rules that exist in society. Namely by reviewing written legal materials, legal theories. Furthermore, according to Peter Mahmud Marzuki, the approach to legal research consists of: the legal approach (statute approach), case approach (case approach), historical approach (historical approach), comparative approach (comparative approach), and conceptual approach (conceptual approach).Data Types and Data Sources

The data collection tool used in this research is a literature study where data is obtained from:Primary legal materials, which include the doctrines and theories related to the problem being researched.

1. Secondary legal materials, namely materials that provide explanations and are closely related to primary legal materials, can help analyze and understand primary legal materials. These primary legal materials include: books, research results, magazines, legal journals or general journals, articles, lecture notes and papers, and other materials related to the problem being studied.
2. Tertiary legal materials are legal materials that support primary and secondary legal materials, such as the General Dictionary of the Indonesian Language.
3. Data collection technique

In normative legal research, several data collection techniques can be used, including:

1. Collecting information to get an overview or information about similar research and related to the problem being researched.
2. Inventory of materials to obtain methods, techniques, or approaches to problem solving used as secondary data sources.
3. Visits to libraries, both regional libraries, faculty libraries and university libraries to obtain books, previous research results related to research problems, for example research reports, bulletins, brochures, and so on.
4. Data Analysis Techniques

In normative legal research, data management is essentially the activity of systematizing written legal materials. Systematization means classifying these written legal materials to facilitate analysis and construction.Discussion

1. Constitutional Theory

According to KC Wheare, in political discourse, the word "constitution" is usually used in at least two senses. First, it is used to describe a country's entire constitutional system, a collection of various regulations that shape, regulate, or direct government, or a constitution in the narrow sense.[11] This set of regulations is not enforced in isolation. It is part of the overall constitutional system or constitutional structure of a country, both legal and non-legal. Thus, the constitution establishes the main institutions of government, such as the legislature, executive, and judiciary, while determining the composition and method of appointment of these institutions is often left to ordinary law (ordinary law).[13]

James Bryce “defines a constitution as a framework of political society (the state) organized by and through law. In other words, the law establishes permanent institutions with recognized functions and established rights.” A constitution can also be said to be a collection of principles that regulate the power of government, the rights of the governed (the people), and the relationship between the two. A constitution can be a written record, a constitution can be found in the form of a document that can be changed or amended according to the needs and developments of the times. Or the foundations of the constitution can be set out in one or two basic laws while the rest depends on the authority of the power of custom or custom.A set of rules that provide limitations on the power of rulers.

• A document about the division of tasks and also the officers of a political system.
• A description of state institutions

1. A description concerning human rights issues.[16]
2. State organization, for example the division of powers between the legislative, executive and judicial bodies; the division of powers between the federal government and state governments; procedures for resolving cases of violation of jurisdiction by one of the government bodies and so on.
3. Human rights
4. Prosuder changes the Constitution
5. Sometimes they contain prohibitions on changing certain characteristics of the Constitution.

1. About the Country

A country is a form of large group life with a large number of members so that it can be classified into the type "secondary group"National life as a form of group life has similarities with other forms of life such as villages, hamlets, forests, and so on.[18] There are two kinds of characteristics of the state as a form of social interaction that are not possessed by other forms of social interaction that are not states, namely (1) The state has extensive power.ehigher than other forms of social interaction, (2) The state has a higher position than other forms of social interaction.[20]

1. Socrates

All humans desire a life of safety, tranquility, and freedom from disturbances that destroy human dignity. At that time, those who longed for tranquility went to the hills and built forts, and they gathered there in groups. This group was what Socrates called -Polis (a city only). An organization that regulates the relationships between people within it. polis it is not only a question of the organization, but also about the personalities of the people around him. Socrates considered polis identical to society and society is identical to the state.

1. Plateau

Plato wrote many books, the most important of which is Politeia or State, Politics or State Expert, Nomai or Law. Plato's understanding of the state is the desire for cooperation between humans to fulfill their interests. This unity is then called society and that society is the state. Plato in his book politikos describes matters of government. In his book Nomoi describe the state and law by reaching the world of reality.

In Politics (The Statesman), Plato had already given considerable attention to law as an instrument of state administration. However, the function and position of law in Plato's ideas were not the same as the rule of law in modern times. In PoliticsThe law does not apply to the ruler (king) or president, only to the people. The law applies only unilaterally, that is, to those who are governed. The law does not need to be applied to the ruler (king) because he is a chosen person who is wise, prudent, and knowledgeable in the science of government, making it impossible for him to abuse his position and authority.Aristotle

Among the books written by Aristotle are Ethics, which contains teachings about justice and about the state he wrote in the book PoliticsPlato laid the foundation for the teachings of idealism, while Aristotle developed the teachings of Realism (reality). According to Aristotle, a nation is a combination of families that form a large group. Happiness in a nation will be achieved if individual happiness is achieved. Conversely, if humans want to be happy, they must have a nation, because humans need each other for their lives. The nation ensures the prosperity of its citizens, therefore the nation is a tool for groups of people to behave according to good order in society. Thus, the nation is also an organization of power.

From the various definitions above about the state, the essence of the state is actually an organization of power, created by a group of people, this organization has authority that can impose its will on all people covered by the organization to maintain the interests and provide for the prosperity of its citizens.

1. Charter of Madina (Constitution of Madina)

The Madina Charter is divided into one preamble and 10 chapters, the preamble contains "In the name of God, the Most Gracious and Most Merciful. This is a written charter from Muhammad SAW, among those who believe and embrace Islam (which originates) from Qureisy and from Yathrib, and those who follow them, unite themselves and fight with them” Chapter I on the formation of the Ummah (society) 1 article, Chapter II on Human Rights (the Medina community consisting of various groups) Article 2 – article 10, Chapter III on the Unity of the Same Religion article 11 – article 15, Chapter IV on the unity of all citizens (the Medina community) article 16 – article 23, Chapter V on the protection of minority groups, article 24 – article 35, Chapter VI on the rights and obligations of citizens, article 36 – article 38, Chapter VII on protecting citizens, article 39 – article 41, Chapter VIII on the leader of state (head of state), article 42 – article 44, Chapter IX on the politics of peace, article 45 – article 46, and Chapter X closing 1 article.[23]

1. Conclusion

From the discussion above, it can be concluded that the Medina Charter (the Medina Constitution) can also be called a state constitution, because the Medina Charter contains the minimum principles of a fundamental government. This is because it is a document of agreement between the people of Medina, consisting of Muhajirin, Ansar, Jews and their allies with the Prophet Muhammad SAW, which guarantees their rights, establishes their obligations and according to the fundamental principles of government that are binding to regulate the government under the leadership of Muhammad SAW.

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