The primary objective of this study is to assess the long-term ramifications of the covenants of the prophet and early Caliphs on the future of Islamic thought, philosophy and law. There is a steady increase in the use of non-Muslim sources by historians to gain a more comprehensive understanding of early Islamic history. This is because non-Muslim communities, and Christians in particular, had an established tradition of historical writing and of preserving manuscripts, digging into their archives may shed new light on the early history of Islam. Though the discovery of Christian Chronicles would indeed be of great historical interest, what is particularly important is the non-Muslims’ recensions of letters and covenants which the Prophet Muḥammad and the rightly guided Caliphs had granted them. There is unanimity among historians of early Islam that the Prophet and the early Caliphs wrote letters to the non-Muslim communities of their time.
The major significance of this study is that it comes at a time when ignorance among Muslims is rife. These covenants help addresses several of the contemporary issues of Muslims as they promote tolerance and co-existence and their terms and conditions are applicable until the Day of Judgment.