Covenants Treaties Contracts

QCRC intends to undertake work in understanding the Quran while drawing parallels with modern treaties and contemporary legal terminology. Since the Quran’s legal structure is fundamentally covenant-based, focused work is required to highlight the same. QCRC thus represents a pioneering endeavor in this direction. The Quran is perhaps one of the only religious books that teaches its followers how to draft covenants and contracts. It insists that oral understandings be put in writing. The Author of the holy book goes on to make upholding contracts an integral feature of the faith in addition to the recognized elements of belief and rituals.

The word Mithaq or agreement appears in the Quran several times. In some places, the covenant is mentioned as Ahd Allah. In other words, all agreements between a believer and third parties are effective agreements pursuant to the Quran, which we seldom appreciate. Thus, the agreements of buying and selling property, the contracts of sale of goods, the agreements of insurance, the arrangements of carriage of goods, the agreements of lease of property, the agreements of employment, and the like all need to be upheld.

In the same vein, modern laws, rules, and regulations passed in a country should be upheld, as they are subsets of the constitution, a social contract, or a master social covenant between citizens and the state. In other words, anyone who believes in the Quran, regardless of the country they reside in, has a duty and obligation to follow and abide by the laws of the land (unless the law is in outright violation of the Quran) as they stem from the master covenant between the state and its citizens.

The Message Bearer (PBUH), who received the contents of the Quran, fulfilled and upheld covenants, treaties, pacts, and promises, even with non-believers. As a party to a contract, there is no distinction maintained between the treatment of a believer and a non-believer.

Treaties have been one of the most significant tools of international relations both in ancient and modern times. In today’s age, international treaties have become the cornerstone of global order, cooperation, and dominance. Everything around us, namely the environment, space, water, trade, movement of goods, shipping, aviation, human rights, terrorism, drug trafficking, etc., are regulated by extensive multilateral treaties and legal instruments. Almost all Muslim states are also parties to most of these treaties. All believers of the Quran must implement the treaties their states accede to and sign. In other words, a good believer must be a responsible citizen of their country and the world.