『メディナ憲章』に關する若干の考察

Abstract

It is well known that Ibn Ihaq handed down to us the so-called "Constitution of Medina" which was an agreement contracted between Prophet Muhammad and people of Medina after the Hijra (emigration of Muhammad to Medina). This document has already been studied by various Western scholars including W. M. Watt and R. B. Sergeant, both of whom suggest that it comprises several distinctly separate documents. The Ibn Ishaq text was the only one available for these scholars, but it should be noted that other texts, different in some parts, are preserved in Kitab al-Amwal by Abu 'Ubayda and also in unpublished manuscripts of a book by Ibn Zanjuyah. Furthermore, the isnad (but not the matn) of the Constitution transmitted by Ibn Abl Haythama is also available. Most Muslim historians and traditionalists who quote many hadith from Ibn Ishaq do not cover the whole text in their books. Al-Tabari, for example, describes a short but important account of only one part of the document, and Muslim historians and others also present only a few hadith about some parts of the document. Considering all of the information now available, one may conclude that the original agreement was only the first part of the text； that is, the part concerning blood money, and that the other parts were added later.