The Teachings of the Prophet

a head of state. In this capacity he declared in this charter that all the inhabitants of Madinah would enjoy equal rights. A clause of the charter read: Lil-yahud dinuhum wa lil-muslimin dinuhum, that is, “For Jews their religion, for Muslims theirs.” (Sirat Ibn Hisham, vol.1, p. 503) Everyone would be free to follow the religion and culture of his or her choice: the affairs of the Muslims would be decided according to the Shariah, while the affairs of the Jews and idolaters would be decided according to their traditions, laws and customs. While in Madinah one day, the Prophet saw a funeral procession passing through a street in the town. At that time the Prophet was seated, but on seeing the funeral, he stood up out of respect. One of his companions said: “O Prophet, that was the funeral of a Jew. Why are you giving so much respect to a deceased non-Muslims?” The Prophet replied: A’laysat nafsan, that is, “Was he not a human being?” (Sahih al-Bukhari, hadith no. 1312) This example set by the Prophet of Islam shows that irrespective of religion or tradition, all men and women are equally worthy of respect.