The Lesson of Medina

As the prophet Muhammad was growing in popularity he asked his followers to go and live in Yathrib, an oasis about a hundred and fifty miles from Mecca. Inevitably Muhammad stepped on commercial interests with his message of social responsibility and tolerance and was forced to flee for his own life to Yathrib. In those days a city was the state--the nation, if it existed at all, was usually a confederation of city-states. Since Yathrib was populated by so many of his followers Muhammad quickly became a head of state; he renamed the city Medina and continued to convert followers. The powers of Mecca became more hostile than ever and waged war against Medina, which Mohammad and his followers defended at great sacrifice and success. War, however, was not Muhammad's way so he turned to diplomacy with the first pilgrimage to Mecca. He was not allowed into the city but he and his followers could not be ignored and he negotiated a peace with Mecca and would be allowed to complete his pilgrimage in the following year. This was originally seen as capitulation by some of his followers but Muhammad rode out the storm and emerged as a great leader and unifier; Islam flourished in those years benefiting many. The lesson of Medina is that prosperity grows by planting seeds in fertile earth, nurturing the seedlings and protecting them from ravaging forces.

Plato had a similar view many years earlier when he wrote his Republic the city-state was the basic unit of his republic. In retrospect it makes perfect sense to germinate the idea of a unifying identity at this level. Cities and their surrounding areas were isolated from outside influences much like a garden is isolated from the rest of nature.

The nation and "nation building" are relatively recent outgrowths of this original concept of a unifying identity. The unity provided by the nation-state has never fully supplanted the unity of the city-state or regional identity in many places--Flanders, Scotland, the Basque region, Chechnya and Nepal to name but a few. To a large extent the nation-state can only be successful if it allows its regions and cities to continue to develop their own identities.

A constitution is the glue of a nation--it defines the identity and the bounds within which a region may develop. The experience of the United States was not unique. The question of how much control States would cede to a fledgling federal republic was the greatest struggle in creating our own constitution. Leadership, diplomacy and compromise prevailed on a scale comparable to Muhammad and the nation was born. The issue of slavery was so contentious it had to be deferred for eighty years.

The above are basic facts that should be understood by most people and certainly by anyone who purports to want to bring democracy to the people of another land.

Yet as I read the report of the commission on Iraq and listen to the generals, legislators, pundits and officials of state I hear nothing about establishing democracy in a city, nothing about how the constitution puts the cart before the horse. The seeds of democracy must be planted in the cities. Pick one you can defend and allow it to flourish. This is the best we can do. It is what the British attempted in Basra. It is happening in the Kurdish North. It could have happened in Falluja. It will never happen at the point of a gun.

Of course I may be missing something in our agenda. We may be trying to isolate Iran or maintain a supply of oil but these are not particularly righteous reasons to die, they are not articulated and they don't seem to be consistent with our own identity or values. The one other reason for our presence is to fight the war on terror. I have heard the expression that it is better to fight this war there than on our shores. That reason is, of course, a red herring. Nothing we are doing in Iraq is making us safer here; in fact the very notion of safety is the antithesis of the courage we value so highly. Such a notion is purely a political ploy. It is particularly disheartening to contemplate that such a war should be staged in a place that has never been involved in terror other than as the victims of Saddam Hussein and now this war.

The lesson of Medina is a lesson for the ages. I provide it here in the hope that someone will hear it again and apply it in Iraq. I don't expect that it will be the U.S. government; I hope it will be the leadership in Iraq.