A new Huffington Post UK article by Meliha Hayat highlights my recent peer-reviewed article titled “Religious Pluralism and Civic Rights in a ‘Muslim Nation’: An Analysis of Prophet Muhammad’s Covenants with Christians.” Hayat wrote the following:

When the Prophet Muhammad first established Islam in Medinah he drafted a charter entitled the Constitution of Medinah. It has been documented in history as the first ever democratic constitution which formed the basis of a multi-religious Islamic state in Medina. The Constitution accommodated to people of all backgrounds and faiths; Article 30 Guaranteed freedom of religion for both Muslim and non-Muslim minorities, Article 49 Prohibited fighting and bloodshed among the various communities of the state and Article 62 guaranteed all peaceful citizens safe and secure protection.

It was also recently revealed that untranslated writings by the Prophet Mohammed indicated Christians living within the “ummah” – Arabic for community – were protected and defended. Dr Craig Considine (author of the study) was quoted in The Independent stating that these findings could act “as a kind of medicine to cure the diseases of Islamic extremism and Islamophobia”.

So taking this all in to account, one must question which so called Islamic values was this man trying to protect? by taking an innocent life he violated the very values of his religion. It is unfortunate that the media chooses to highlight the actions of such people because it leads to the belief that these individuals are the true representation of the moderate majority. People that promote violence in the name of any faith should not be given the title of a believer because no faith be it Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism promotes such unmitigated violence and bloodshed.

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