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The purpose of writing this chapter is to present abrief historical background dealing with the origins and developmentof diplomacy from the earliest times to the modern days and todiscuss the problems surrounding diplomacy. It may be askedhowever, that while the diplomacy of Prophet Muhammed was notpossibly derived or influenced, on account of the relative isolation ofArabia, by the ancient and early medieval diplomacy what therelevancy of it is for the Prophet's diplomacy? There may perhapsbe more than one answers to this question. But the one that appearsto be more pertinent here is that we may study it not as the onethat influenced the prophet 1 s diplomacy or to take it as a frame ofreference to his diplomacy but as a source from where to generateanalytical insights for the diplomacy of any country or anyresponsible ruling elite. Moreo·.rer, a study of the history ofdiplomacy in other contexts and other parts of the world and otherages will illuminate our path towards a better understanding of theProphet 1 s diplomacy because, after all, diplomatic practices insubstance may traverse the same general path as their purposes arebelieved to be more or less the· same in a normal state. This viewhas also been supported by Nicolson. While dealing with the historyof diplomacy Nicolson asserts, "Diplomacy is neither the invention northe pastime of some particular political system, but is an essentialelement in any reasonable relation between man and man and betweennation and nation". 1 This does not however mean that the specialspatialtemporal and civilizational conditions of Arabia and thesurrounding countries during the days of the prophet will be ignored.