A Reassessment of Diplomatic Interactions and Islamic Laws of Nations in The International System

Abstract

Abstract The discourse on the evolution of the principles of international laws and laws amongst nations have always taken a Eurocentric approach. The common argument and perspectives is that contemporary international law evolved from the Christendom to the Spanish School and Grotius, while downplaying the influence of the Islamic law of nations in shaping issues of acculturation, accommodation, rules of engagement in war relating to international law. This paper tends to x-ray and investigate the impact of the Islamic law of nations, from the the Treaty of Hudaibiyyah to the Siyar of Muhammad ibn Shaybani. It tries to highlight the relevance of the Muslim East and its concrete contributions to Laws and treaties of the Middle Ages to recent times and also argues, using existing literature, that the European Christian society only adopted what already existed in the Muslim, Islamic laws and tried to Christianise them overtime. The paper finds that further investigation and interrogation will reveal much more of the influence of the Islamic laws on contemporary laws of relations amongst nations and beyond.