Diplomacy in Islam (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9784162708080)

The purpose of writing this chapter is to present a

brief historical background dealing with the origins and development

of diplomacy from the earliest times to the modern days and to

discuss the problems surrounding diplomacy. It may be asked

however, that while the diplomacy of Prophet Muhammed was not

possibly derived or influenced, on account of the relative isolation of

Arabia, by the ancient and early medieval diplomacy what the

relevancy of it is for the Prophet's diplomacy? There may perhaps

be more than one answers to this question. But the one that appears

to be more pertinent here is that we may study it not as the one

that influenced the prophet 1 s diplomacy or to take it as a frame of

reference to his diplomacy but as a source from where to generate

analytical insights for the diplomacy of any country or any

responsible ruling elite. Moreo-.rer, a study of the history of

diplomacy in other contexts and other parts of the world and other

ages will illuminate our path towards a better understanding of the

Prophet 1 s diplomacy because, after all, diplomatic practices in

substance may traverse the same general path as their purposes are

believed to be more or less the- same in a normal state. This view

has also been supported by Nicolson. While dealing with the history

of diplomacy Nicolson asserts, "Diplomacy is neither the invention nor

the pastime of some particular political system, but is an essential

element in any reasonable relation between man and man and between

nation and nation". 1 This does not however mean that the special

spatialtemporal and civilizational conditions of Arabia and the

surrounding countries during the days of the prophet will be ignored.