Draft: this lesson was written with AI help and has not yet been read by a human editor.
1 What your class asks
This lesson asks you to identify faiths that live side by side in a diverse society, to judge why a society marks a commemoration, to explain why it matters to learn about neighbours' beliefs, and to explain how a person's beliefs can affect the way he relates to others. The museum offers one commemoration in Canada, one historical agreement and one teaching of the Islamic tradition; your class adds the other faiths of your own community. 1
Curriculum expectations, with their official codes
- B1.2 evaluate the importance of celebrations and commemorations in human experience […]
- B1.3 identify various world religions and belief traditions that coexist within a diverse society, and explain why it is important to learn about them
- B3.4 explain how individual religious beliefs can affect the ways in which people relate to others
2 Before you start
A thought to carry into the lesson.
3 The lesson
What does a society gain by knowing its neighbours' faiths?
Compare what each source shows: a month of learning, a treaty, a report about faith and a brother. Ask who is speaking, who is promised what, and what the people involved would need to know about each other for the arrangement to work.
Go deeper
Read one clause closely in the Constitution of Medina, as al-Mubarakpuri gives it in The Sealed Nectar. The Prophet agreed with the Jews a treaty that left them complete freedom in religion and property. The Banu Awf and other Jews had their religion, and they formed one community with the believers. They bore their own expenses, and the Muslims bore theirs 2 3. Between them was support against whoever fought the people of the document, and support for the wronged 2 3. The book says Medina and its surroundings became a state founded on concord, with Medina as its capital and the Prophet ﷺ as its head 3. Among the sixteen clauses it lists, God's protection is one, and the Jews who follow the believers have support and assistance, neither wronged nor allied against 4 5.
How do we know?
There are three kinds of source here. One is a modern biography, The Sealed Nectar. It summarises the text of the treaty and does not give all of its wording, and the museum presents the clauses as a summary of Ibn Hisham's account 4 6. The museum's record adds that the sources preserve parts of the document through Ibn Ishaq and others, and that the reports differ in the order and detail of its clauses, so each clause needs a source. One is the Government of Canada's page on Canadian Islamic History Month, which says it was first established in 2007 and does not name the parliamentary instrument that created it 7. One is a report of Anas ibn Malik (may God be pleased with him) in the Book of Faith of Sahih Muslim, of which the museum records the place and the chapter heading 8.
Think about it
The Sealed Nectar describes a treaty in which each community keeps its own religion and bears its own expenses, and the Canadian page describes a month that invites all Canadians to dialogue and understanding. The Sahih Muslim chapter heading speaks of a "Muslim brother". Before you say how one person's belief affects the way he relates to neighbours of another faith, what would you need to find out from these sources, and why?
Into the museum
- Canadian Islamic History Month: how the Government of Canada's page describes it, and its campaigns in recent years.
- The Constitution of Medina: the sixteen clauses the book lists and the clauses on the Jews.
- Muslim 45: the report as the museum records it, with its book and chapter in Sahih Muslim.
Try this
Read Canadian Islamic History Month and the Constitution of Medina. Make a two-column list: what each source asked neighbours to know or to do, and what it left to each community.
4 Carry it further
Where this lesson leads in the museum.
5 Check yourself
Nothing here is marked or sent anywhere. It is for you.
In your own words: what does Canadian Islamic History Month have to do with this lesson?
Compare with the card
A month to learn about neighbours. According to the Government of Canada's page on commemorations, Canadian Islamic History Month falls every October in Canada and was first established in 2007, as a time to recognise, celebrate and reflect on the history, culture and contributions of Muslims in Canada. The federal page presents it as a chance for dialogue and inclusion. Why might a country set aside a month to learn about one community?
In your own words: what does The Constitution of Medina have to do with this lesson?
Compare with the card
One city, several communities. Al-Mubarakpuri writes in The Sealed Nectar that in Medina the Prophet concluded a treaty among the believers of Quraysh and Yathrib and those who followed them, which made the believers one community. He adds that the Prophet agreed with the Jews a treaty leaving them complete freedom in religion and property. The museum's record cautions that the sources preserve only parts of the document and differ on the order and detail of its clauses. What would members of each community need to know about the others?
I can now
Notes
- 1. Ontario Ministry of Education, The Ontario Curriculum: Social Sciences and Humanities
- 2. al-Raheeq al-Makhtum — Safi al-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri, p.192
- 3. al-Raheeq al-Makhtum — Safi al-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri, p.193
- 4. al-Raheeq al-Makhtum — Safi al-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri, p.187
- 5. al-Raheeq al-Makhtum — Safi al-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri, p.188
- 6. al-Sira al-Nabawiyya — Ibn Hisham, 1/502-503
- 7. Government of Canada: Commemorations and campaigns — Combatting Islamophobia (Canadian Heritage)
- 8. Sahih Muslim