Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet

The Constitution of Madinah and The Mayflower Compact

By Susan L. Douglass and Aiyub Palmer

Overview:

This lesson introduces students to the Constitution of Madinah, written in 622 CE, and draws parallels with the Mayflower Compact of 1620 CE. Although these two documents are separated by a thousand years of history, they both represent religious communities establishing a charter for self-governance following an experience of persecution and migration to a new land. The lesson gives students access to two primary source documents.

Objectives:

Students should be able to:

• Describe the historical setting of the Constitution of Madinah and the Mayflower Compact.
• Compare the purposes of the Constitution of Madinah and the Mayflower Compact.

Procedure:

1. Have students read Student Handout 1: "The Constitution of Madinah" and Student Handout 2: The Mayflower Compact in groups.
   
   
2. Using Student Handout 3: Document Comparison, have students use a two-column chart to answer the following questions concerning each document in the handout.
   
   
   • Who were the participants in the agreement? Describe them.
     
     
   • What was the situation that brought about the need to create a pact?
     
     
   • What solutions do each of the documents propose for living in peace together?
   
   
   
3. Have students compare their answers to the questions on both sides of the two-column sheet. Then, on a separate piece of paper, have students list similarities between the two documents and the situations that engendered them.
   
   
4. Next, have each student present their observations and create a master list of similarities between the two documents and the historical situations that brought them into being.