The Prophetic Biography: A Peacebuilding and Pluralism Governance Model

Abstract

This paper will be looking at the Prophetic Biography (Sirah) as a multifaceted historical experience of peacebuilding in a socially, religiously and tribally pluralistic society. Leaving the realms of narrative and devotional reading, the research takes the direction of historical-analytics in which the Sirah is seen as a practical socio-political system to manage diversity, control social relations, and alter conflict under circumstances of structural tension. The paper examines the most important historical moments connected with the community building and the structuring of internal and external relations, which are traced in the modern theoretical framework of peacebuilding, transformation of conflicts, and diversity governance. Going beyond chronological description, the paper aims at finding out the logic of social action and the ways in which relative stability and coexistence were generated within a complicated historical setting. The results have shown that the Prophetic Biography cannot be narrowed down to the levels of religion or ritual context but rather, it is an overall system of social, ethical and organizational activities that led to the sustainable governance of pluralism and the curbing of violence. The paper concludes that the analytical reading of these mechanisms, based on the historical background can be an important addition to the literature on the contemporary study of peace and coexistence under the condition that the strict limits of the methodology are followed in order not to carelessly apply the historical context to the present-day reality.