Yahya - Justice and Tolerance in the Qur'an (2003)

THE PROPHETS HAVE BROUGHT JUSTICE
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their lives in peace and security, both during the Blessed
Period of the first community of Islam and in succeeding
ages when just administrators reigned.
In the Period of the Prophet Muhammad
(pbuh), Contracts Signed with the People of
the Book and the Pagans Secured
Justice in Society
After the migration of the Prophet (pbuh) from Mecca to
Medina, he encountered many different communities. At that
period, Jews, Christians and pagans who held power were all
living together. Under such circumstances, the Prophet
Muhammad (pbuh) united the cosmopolitan structure to
secure social unity and peace by making social agreements—
either by sending letters or holding face-to-face meetings—
with more than a hundred communities, and thus achieved
social compromise. 5 Prof. Thomas Arnold stresses the
importance of the social unity established by the Prophet
Muhammad (pbuh) in these words:
Arabia that had never before obeyed one prince, suddenly exhibits a
political unity and swears allegiance to the will of an absolute ruler.
Out of the numerous tribes, big and small, of a hundred different
kinds that were incessantly at feud with one another, Muhammad's
word created a nation. 6
As is related in many verses in the Qur'an, living in peace
with people of other religions is perceived as good by Islam.
In one verse, God commands Muslims to believe in all the
holy books revealed by Him and respect their beliefs:
So call and go straight as you have been ordered to. Do