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{{Short description|Non-Muslims living in an Islamic state}} | |||
{{TotallyDisputed}} | |||
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2018}} | |||
{{Otheruses4|dhimmi in the context of Islamic law|the neologism|dhimmitude}} | |||
{{Italic title}} | |||
A '''dhimmi''' (also '''zimmi''', {{lang-ar|'''ذمي'''}}, plural: '''اهل الذمۃ''', ''ahl al-dhimma'') is a "free" (i.e. non-]), non-] subject of a state governed in accordance with ] — Islamic law. A ''dhimmi'' is a person of the ''dhimma'', a term which refers in Islamic law to the pact of surrender contracted between non-Muslims and their Muslim conquerors. This status was originally only made available to non-Muslims who were ] (i.e. ]s and ]s), but was later extended to include ]s, ]s, and ultimately also ]s.<ref>Bat Ye'or (1985), p. 45</ref> The status of dhimmi applied to millions of people living from the ] to ] from the 7th century until modern times {{fact}}. Living in areas conquered by Muslims, these people were reduced to the status of ]<ref>Lewis (1984), p.62; Lewis (2002), p. 101</ref> and tributaries of a Muslim state.<ref>Al-Mawardi (2000), p. 158</ref> | |||
{{Fiqh |political}} | |||
'''''{{transl|ar|ALA|Dhimmī}}''''' ({{langx|ar|ذمي}} ''{{transl|ar|DIN|ḏimmī}}'', {{IPA|ar|ˈðimmiː|IPA}}, collectively {{lang|ar|أهل الذمة}} ''{{transl|ar|DIN|ʾahl aḏ-ḏimmah}}/{{transl|ar|ALA|dhimmah}}'' "the people of the covenant") or '''{{transl|ar|DIN|muʿāhid}}''' ({{lang|ar|معاهد}}) is a historical<ref name=Campo/> term for ] living in an ] with legal protection.<ref name=Campo>{{cite encyclopedia |title=dhimmi |encyclopedia=] |editor=Juan Eduardo Campo |pages=194–195 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |date=2010 |isbn=978-1-4381-2696-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OZbyz_Hr-eIC&dq=%22non-Muslims+who+live+within+Islamdom+and+have+a+regulated+and+protected+status.%22+%22Encyclopedia+of+Islam%22&pg=PA194|quote= Dhimmis are non-Muslims who live within Islamdom and have a regulated and protected status. ... In the modern period, this term has generally has occasionally been resuscitated, but it is generally obsolete.}}</ref><ref name="Modarresi">{{cite book|author=Mohammad Taqi al-Modarresi|author-link=Mohammad Taqi al-Modarresi|title=The Laws of Islam|year= 2016|publisher=Enlight Press|isbn=978-0994240989|url=http://almodarresi.com/en/books/pdf/TheLawsofIslam.pdf|access-date=22 December 2017|ref=Modarresi|language=en|archive-date=2 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190802163247/http://almodarresi.com/en/books/pdf/TheLawsofIslam.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{rp|470}} The word literally means "protected person",<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dhimmi|title=Definition of DHIMMI|website=www.merriam-webster.com}}</ref> referring to the state's obligation under '']'' to protect the individual's life, property, as well as freedom of religion, in exchange for loyalty to the state and payment of the '']'' tax, in contrast to the '']'', or obligatory alms, paid by the Muslim subjects.<ref>{{cite book |last=Glenn |first= H. Patrick |author-link=H. Patrick Glenn |year=2007 |title=Legal Traditions of the World |publisher=] |pages=218–219 |quote=A Dhimmi is a non-Muslim subject of a state governed in accordance to sharia law. The term connotes an obligation of the state to protect the individual, including the individual's life, property, and freedom of religion and worship, and required loyalty to the empire, and a poll tax known as the jizya, which complemented the Islamic tax paid by the Muslim subjects, called Zakat.}}</ref> ''Dhimmi'' were exempt from military service and other duties assigned specifically to Muslims if they paid the poll tax (''jizya'') but were otherwise equal under the laws of property, contract, and obligation.<ref>H. Patrick Glenn, ''Legal Traditions of the World''. ], 2007, p. 219.</ref><ref>The French scholar Gustave Le Bon (the author of ''La civilisation des Arabes'') writes "that despite the fact that the incidence of taxation fell more heavily on a Muslim than a non-Muslim, the non-Muslim was free to enjoy equally well with every Muslim all the privileges afforded to the citizens of the state. The only privilege that was reserved for the Muslims was the seat of the caliphate, and this, because of certain religious functions attached to it, which could not naturally be discharged by a non-Muslim." Mun'im Sirry (2014), ''Scriptural Polemics: The Qur'an and Other Religions'', p. 179. ]. {{ISBN|978-0199359363}}.</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Abou El Fadl|first1=Khaled|author-link=Khaled Abou El Fadl|title=The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam from the Extremists|date=2007|publisher=]|isbn=978-0061189036|page=204|quote = According to the dhimma status system, non-Muslims must pay a poll tax in return for Muslim protection and the privilege of living in Muslim territory. Per this system, non-Muslims are exempt from military service, but they are excluded from occupying high positions that involve dealing with high state interests, like being the president or prime minister of the country. In Islamic history, non-Muslims did occupy high positions, especially in matters that related to fiscal policies or tax collection.}}</ref> | |||
Historically, dhimmi status was originally applied to ], ], and ], who are considered "]" in ]. Later, this status was also applied to ], ], ], ], and ].<ref>{{cite book|author=Annemarie Schimmel|url=https://archive.org/details/empireofgreatmug00anne/page/107|title=The Empire of the Great Mughals: History, Art and Culture|publisher=]|year=2004|isbn=978-1861891853|page=|quote=The conqueror ] gave both Hindus and Buddhists the same status as the Christians, Jews and Sabaeans of the Middle East. They were all "dhimmi" ('protected people')|author-link=Annemarie Schimmel}}</ref><ref name="bonner">{{cite book|author=Michael Bonner|title=Jihad in Islamic History: Doctrines and Practice|publisher=]|year=2008|isbn=978-0691138381|page=89|jstor=j.ctt7sg8f|author-link=Michael Bonner}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Wael B. Hallaq|title=Sharī'a: Theory, Practice, Transformations|publisher=]|year=2009|isbn=978-0511815300|page=327|doi=10.1017/CBO9780511815300|author-link=Wael Hallaq}}</ref> | |||
Dhimmis were allowed to retain their religion and guaranteed their personal safety and security of property, in return for paying tribute to Muslims and accepting Muslim supremacy, which involved various restrictions and legal disabilities placed on them, such as prohibitions against bearing arms or giving testimony in courts in cases involving Muslims, and the requirement to wear distinctive clothing.<ref>Lewis (1984), p. 10</ref> Disarmed and unable to defend themselves in courts, dhimmis were vulnerable to the whims of rulers and the violence of mobs.<ref>Tritton (1970), p. 49</ref> | |||
Jews, Christians and others were required to pay the ''jizyah'', and forced conversions were forbidden.<ref name=Bon08>{{cite book|author=Michael Bonner|title=Jihad in Islamic History|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2008|pages= 89–90|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qxq7eykoJgoC&pg=PA89|quote=To begin with, there was no forced conversion, no choice between "Islam and the Sword". Islamic law, following a clear Quranic principle (2:256), prohibited any such things although there have been instances of forced conversion in Islamic history, these have been exceptional.|isbn=978-1400827381}}</ref><ref name=Wai03>Waines (2003) "An Introduction to Islam" ''Cambridge University Press''. p. 53</ref><ref name=Win02>Winter, T. J., & Williams, J. A. (2002). ''Understanding Islam and the Muslims: The Muslim Family Islam and World Peace''. Louisville, Kentucky: Fons Vitae. p. 82. {{ISBN|978-1-887752-47-3}}. Quote: The laws of Muslim warfare forbid any forced conversions, and regard them as invalid if they occur.</ref><ref name=Lapid>{{cite book|title=Islamic Societies to the Nineteenth Century: A Global History|author=Ira M. Lapidus|page=345}}</ref> | |||
During the rule of ], the tenth ], numerous restrictions reinforced the second-class citizen status of dhimmīs and forced their communities into ghettos.<ref name=Majid>{{cite book |first=Majid |last=Khadduri |author-link=Majid Khadduri |year=2010 |title=War and Peace in the Law of Islam |isbn=978-1616190484 |pages=196–198|publisher=Lawbook Exchange }}</ref> For instance, they were required to distinguish themselves from their Muslim neighbors by their dress.<ref>The ] itself set forth rules for dress that set Jews apart from the communities in which they lived.], ], 2013 {{isbn|978-0-857-85209-0}} pp. 47, xv, 24:'At ] 4:12 it is recorded that the ] slaughtered Jewish youths guilty of ] in wearing caps typical of Greek youths. The first of the other ] to impose a distinctive mode of dress on Jews was ], beginning with decrees set forth by the ] ] obliging non-Muslims (dhimmis) to wear distinctive marks, – buttons on their caps, patches on their sleeves, and generally honey-coloured garbs, – on their clothing in order to mark them off from members of the Muslim communities.'; ‘a twelfth century ] decreed the first of many edicts which required Jews to don peculiar garb. These outfits marked Jews as Otherly-to be shunned, despised, …and sometimes murdered… . But Jews also dressed differently in premodern Europe because their rabbis understood any emulation of non-Jews as a violation of the divine law as revealed by God to Moses atop Mount Sinai. The Five Books of Moses, after all, together called the Torah, clearly specify that Jews must adhere to a particular dress code-modesty, for example, and fringes. The very structure of the cosmos demanded nothing less. Clothing, too, served as a "fence" that protected Jews from the profanities and pollutions of the non-Jewish societies in which they dwelled. From this angle, Jews dressed distinctively as God's elect.'</ref> They were not permitted to build new churches or synagogues or repair old churches without Muslim consent according to the ].<ref name="World"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Pact of Umar |url=https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/pact-umar.asp}}</ref> | |||
The conditions of the ''dhimma'' resulted in a gradual acceptance of Islam by most ] ]s and ]s living under the Muslim rule, as well as in the Arabization of Christians. Most Zoroastrians converted rather rapidly, while the conversion of Christians took many centuries. In some places, like the ], ], and southern ], ] died out completely. Many ]s accepted Islam as well, but ] on the whole survived throughout Islamic lands. Although forced conversions also played a role, the key motive for conversion was the need to escape oppressive taxation and social inferiority.<ref name="conseq">Lewis (1984), p. 17–18; Stillman (1979), p. 27</ref> | |||
Under '']'', the ''dhimmi'' communities were usually governed by their own laws in place of some of the laws applicable to the ]. For example, the ] was allowed to have its own ],<ref name="Cohen"/> and the ] ] allowed its various dhimmi communities to rule themselves under ]. These courts did not cover cases that involved religious groups outside of their own communities, or capital offences. ''Dhimmi'' communities were also allowed to engage in certain practices that were usually forbidden for the Muslim community, such as the ].<ref>Al-Misri, ''Reliance of the Traveler'' (edited and translated by ]), p. 608. Amana Publications, 1994.</ref><ref>Al-Misri, ''Reliance of the Traveler'' (ed. and trans. Nuh Ha Mim Keller), pp. 977, 986. Amana Publications, 1994.</ref>{{sfn|Ghazi|Kalin|Kamali|2013|pp=240–241}} | |||
==Etymology== | |||
The word ''dhimmi'' is derived from the noun ''dhimma'', which in its turn comes from a verb ''dhamma'' meaning 'to blame, find blameworthy, criticize, find fault with, censure'. The term ''dhimma'' thus in its original meaning denotes an obligation or liability arising from a fault, blame or debt owed to another,<ref>Wehr (1976), p. 312</ref> and a ''dhimmi'' is someone who bears this obligation or liability. Later the term ''dhimma'' came to refer in Islamic law to the pact of surrender contracted between non-Muslim communities and their Muslim conquerors, and ''dhimmi'' to a person living under the terms of this pact. | |||
The idea that a defeated person is liable for a debt to their conqueror is consistent with an ancient principle of Arab customary law:<blockquote>According to an ancient Arab concept ... the victor in a fight who spares the life of an enemy taken prisoner does actually do the latter a good deed. This "good deed" - and this is highly noteworthy - involves however ... simultaneously, a legal claim to a "reward"...<ref>Bravmann (1967), p. 307</ref></blockquote> | |||
Some Muslims reject the ''dhimma'' system by arguing that it is a system which is inappropriate in the age of nation-states and democracies.<ref name="El Fadl">" the overwhelming majority of moderate Muslims reject the dhimma system as ahistorical, in the sense that it is inappropriate for the age of nation-states and democracies." {{cite book|last1=Abou El Fadl|first1=Khaled |author-link=Khaled Abou El Fadl |title=The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam from the Extremists|date=2007|publisher=HarperOne|isbn=978-0061189036|page=214}}</ref> There is a range of opinions among 20th-century and contemporary Islamic theologians about whether the notion of ''dhimma'' is appropriate for modern times, and, if so, what form it should take in an Islamic state. | |||
==Sources of ''dhimma''== | |||
The consensus opinion of ] justifies the imposition of tribute on non-Muslims who fall under the Muslim rule in terms of ] ] of the ]. <ref>Al-Mawardi (2000), p. 158; Bat Ye'or (2202), p. 51; Lewis (1984), p. 14</ref> The verse calls upon Muslims to fight against the “People of the Book” until they pay the ] head tax and are humbled (See ] for further information): | |||
There are differences among the Islamic ]s regarding which non-Muslims can pay jizya and have dhimmi status. The ] and ] Madhabs generally allow non-Muslims to have dhimmi status. In contrast, the ] and ] Madhabs only allow Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians to have dhimmi status, and they maintain that all other non-Muslims must either convert to Islam or be fought.{{dubious|date=November 2024}} | |||
<blockquote>Fight those who believe not in ] nor the Last Day, nor hold forbidden that which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the ] with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued. (Qur’an {{Quran-usc|9|29}})</blockquote> | |||
==The "Dhimma contract"== | |||
A classic precedent of ''dhimma'' was an agreement between ] and the Jews of ], an oasis near ]. Khaybar was the first territory attacked and conquered by the Muslim state ruled by Muhammad himself. When the Jews of Khaybar surrendered to Muhammad after a siege, Muhammad allowed them to remain in Khaybar in return for handing over to the Muslims one half of their annual produce. The Khaybar case served as a precedent for later Islamic scholars in their discussions on the issue of ''dhimma'', even though the second ] ] subsequently expelled the Jews from the oasis.<ref>Lewis (1984), pp. 10–11; Bat Ye'or (2002), p. 41</ref> | |||
Based on ]ic verses and Islamic traditions, ''sharia'' law distinguishes between Muslims, followers of other ], and ] or people belonging to other ] religions. As ], Jews and Christians have traditionally been considered "]", and afforded a special legal status known as ''dhimmi'' derived from a theoretical contract—"dhimma" or "residence in return for taxes". Islamic legal systems based on ''sharia'' law incorporated the ]s and courts of ], ], and ], as seen in the early ], ], ], and the ] system.<ref name="Weeramantry-138_2">{{Harvnb|Weeramantry|1997|p=138}}</ref><ref name=Sachedina>{{cite book|title=The Islamic Roots of Democratic Pluralism|author=Sachedina, Abdulaziz Abdulhussein|year=2001|publisher=]|isbn=978-0-19-513991-4|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/islamic_sac_2001_00_4172}}</ref>{{page needed|date=January 2016}} | |||
In Yemenite Jewish sources, a treaty was drafted between Muhammad and his Jewish subjects, known as ''kitāb ḏimmat al-nabi'', written in the 17th year of the ] (638 CE), which gave express liberty to the Jews living in Arabia to observe the Sabbath and to grow-out their side-locks, but required them to pay the '']'' (poll-tax) annually for their protection.<ref>], ''The Yemenites – History, Communal Organization, Spiritual Life'' (Selected Studies), editor: Menahem Ben-Sasson, Jerusalem 1983, pp. 288–299. {{ISBN|965-235-011-7}}</ref> Muslim governments in the Indus basin readily extended the ''dhimmi'' status to the Hindus and Buddhists of India.<ref>], ''The Venture of Islam Conscience and History in a World Civilization Vol 2''. ], 1958, p. 278.</ref> Eventually, the largest ] of ] applied this term to all Non-Muslims living in Muslim lands outside the ] surrounding ], ].<ref>al-Misri, Ahmad ibn Naqib (edited and translated from Arabic (with commentary) by Nuh Ha Mim Keller) (1994 revised ed.), p. 603.</ref> | |||
The ] supposedly concluded between caliph Umar I and the conquered Christians, was another source of regulations pertaining to dhimmis. The document enumerates the obligations and restrictions that the Christians purportedly proposed to the Muslim conquerors as conditions of surrender. <ref name="pactofumar">The provisions of the Pact of Umar are cited as translated in Stillman (1979), pp. 157–158</ref> However, Western ] doubt the authenticity of the Pact, arguing that it is usually the victors, not the vanquished, who propose, or rather impose, the terms of peace, and that it is highly unlikely that the people who spoke no Arabic and knew nothing of Islam could draft such a document. Academic historians believe that the Pact of Umar in the form it is known today was a product of later jurists who attributed it to the venerated caliph Umar I in order to lend greater authority to their own opinions. At least some of the clauses of the pact mirror the measures first introduced by the ] caliph Umar II or by the early ] caliphs.<ref> Tritton (1970); Lewis (1984), pp. 24–25; Bat Ye’or (1985), p. 48; Goddard (2000), p. 46</ref> | |||
In medieval Islamic societies, the '']'' (Islamic judge) usually could not interfere in the matters of non-Muslims unless the parties voluntarily chose to be judged according to Islamic law, thus the ''dhimmi'' communities living in Islamic states usually had their own laws independent from the ''sharia'' law, as with the Jews who would have their own ].<ref name="Cohen">{{cite book|title=Under Crescent and Cross: The Jews in the Middle Ages|author=Cohen, Mark R. |publisher=]|year=1995|isbn=978-0-691-01082-3 |page=74 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fgbib5exskUC&q=cohen+Under+Crescent+and+Cross|access-date=10 April 2010 |author-link=Mark R. Cohen }}</ref> These courts did not cover cases that involved other religious groups, or capital offences or threats to public order. By the 18th century, however, ''dhimmi'' frequently attended the Ottoman Muslim courts, where cases were taken against them by Muslims, or they took cases against Muslims or other ''dhimmi''. Oaths sworn by ''dhimmi'' in these courts were tailored to their beliefs.<ref name="al-Qattan-99">{{cite journal |author=al-Qattan, Najwa |title=Dhimmis in the Muslim Court: Legal Autonomy and Religious Discrimination |journal=] |volume=31 |issue=3 |pages=429–444 |year=1999 |issn=0020-7438 |doi=10.1017/S0020743800055501 |s2cid=159763960 }}</ref> Non-Muslims were allowed to engage in certain practices (such as the consumption of alcohol and pork) that were usually forbidden by Islamic law,<ref>{{cite book|first1=Muhammad|last1=Hamidullah|author-link=Muhammad Hamidullah|date=1970|title=Introduction to Islam|publisher=International Islamic Federation of Student Organizations|page=180}}</ref> in point of fact, any Muslim who pours away their wine or forcibly appropriates it is liable to pay compensation.{{sfn|Abdel-Haleem|2012|p=73}} Some Islamic theologians held that Zoroastrian "]", considered incestuous under ''sharia'', should also be tolerated. ] (1292–1350) opined that most scholars of the ] school held that non-Muslims were entitled to such practices, as long as they were not presented to sharia courts and the religious minorities in question held them to be permissible. This ruling was based on the precedent that there were no records of the ] ] forbidding such self-marriages among Zoroastrians, despite coming into contact with Zoroastrians and knowing about this practice.<ref>Jackson, Sherman A. (2005). (via ]). Retrieved 19 September 2011.</ref> Religious minorities were also free to do as they wished in their own homes, provided they did not publicly engage in illicit sexual activity in ways that could threaten public morals.<ref>Jackson, Sherman A. (2005). (via ]). Retrieved 19 September 2011.</ref> | |||
Modern historians also agree that discriminatory legislation enacted against Jews and non-] Christians in the ], as well as laws applying to Jews and Christians in the ] ], were also sources of dhimmi regulations, though ] never explicitly acknowledge these sources. <ref>Bat Ye’or (2003), p. 111; Lewis (1984), pp. 18–19; Stillman (1979), p. 26; Goddard (2000), p. 47</ref> In the 9th century, the Muslim historian ] drew the parallel between ''dhimma'' and the Byzantine legislation, writing that Jews had been the dhimmis of Christians. <ref>Bat Ye’or (1985), p. 68</ref> Numerous provisions of the ] of 438 and the ] of 529 migrated into the Islamic law virtually unchanged. Under the Byzantine rule, Jews were obliged not to pray loudly; their prayers were not to be audible in the nearby church. Building new synagogues (and repairing existing ones) was likewise prohibited, unless the buildings threatened to collapse and a special permission was obtained. Jews were banned from all public offices and the army; they were prohibited from criticizing Christianity, marrying a Christian, or owning a Christian slave. Furthermore, Jews paid special taxes, possibly the precursors of jizya. Amplified and expanded, these regulations were applied to Christians also, after Byzantine lands fell under Muslim rule.<ref>Bat Ye’or (2003), pp. 111–113</ref> | |||
There are parallels for this in ] and ].<ref>] (2007). ''Legal Traditions of the World: Sustainable Diversity in Law'' (3rd edition). New York City; Oxford: ]. {{ISBN|978-0-19-920541-7}}. pp. 217–219.</ref> According to law professor ] of ], "oday it is said that the dhimmi are 'excluded from the specifically Muslim privileges, but on the other hand they are excluded from the specifically Muslim duties' while (and here there are clear parallels with western public and private law treatment of aliens—Fremdenrecht, la condition de estrangers), 'or the rest, the Muslim and the dhimmi are equal in practically the whole of the law of property and of contracts and obligations'."<ref>] (2007). ''Legal Traditions of the World&: Sustainable Diversity in Law'' (3rd ed.). New York: Oxford: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-19-920541-7}}. p. 219.</ref> Quoting the Qur'anic statement, "Let Christians judge according to what We have revealed in the Gospel",<ref>{{qref|5|47|b=yl}}</ref> ] writes that Islam decentralized and "communalized" law and justice.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hamidullah|first=Muhammad|author-link=Muhammad Hamidullah|date=1986|title=Relations of Muslims with non-Muslims|journal=Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs|volume=7|issue=1|page=9|doi=10.1080/13602008608715960|issn=0266-6952|url=https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/istem/issue/26528/279243}}</ref> However, the classical ''dhimma'' contract is no longer enforced. ] over the Muslim world has been instrumental in eliminating the restrictions and protections of the ''dhimma'' contract.<ref>{{cite book|last=Lewis|first=Bernard|title=The Jews of Islam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W0EbKFRxrT4C|year=1984|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-00807-3 |page=184}}</ref> | |||
== Status of dhimmis == | |||
In his classic treatise on the principles of Islamic governance, the 11th-century ] scholar ] divided the conditions attached to ‘’dhimma’’ on top of the requirement to pay tribute into compulsory and desirable. The compulsory conditions included prohibitions on blasphemy against Islam, entering into sexual relations or marriage with a Muslim woman, proselytizing among Muslims, and assisting the enemies of Islam. The desirable conditions included a requirement to wear distinctive apparel, a prohibition to visibly display religious symbols, wine, or pork, ringing church bells, or loudly praying, a requirement to bury deads unobtrusively, and finally, a prohibition on riding horse or camels, but not donkeys. <ref name="mawardi161">Al-Mawardi (2000), p. 161</ref> The latter restrictions were largely symbolic in nature and were designed to highlight the inferiority of dhimmis compared to Muslims. <ref>Lewis (1984), p. 16</ref> The overarching principle in the treatment of dhimmis is encapsulated in the statement: "Islam is exalted, and nothing is exalted above it".<ref>Friedmann (2003), p. 35</ref> which is based on a ]ic verse (Qur'an {{Quran-usc|9|33}}) establishing the preeminence of Islam over other religions.<ref>Bat Ye’or (2002), p. 40</ref> In the words of the British historian ]:<blockquote>It is only very recently that some defenders of Islam began to assert that their society in the past accorded equal status to non-Muslims. No such claim is made by spokesman for resurgent Islam, and historically there is no doubt that they are right. Traditional Islamic societies neither accorded such equality nor pretended that they were so doing. Indeed, in the old order, this would have been regarded not as a merit but as a dereliction of duty. How could one accord the same treatment to those who follow the true faith and those who willfully reject it? This would be a theological as well as a logical absurdity.<ref>Lewis (1984), p. 4</ref></blockquote> | |||
===The Dhimma contract and Sharia law=== | |||
The treatment of dhimmis, including the enforcement of restrictions placed on them, varied over time and space, depending on both the goodwill of the ruler and the historical circumstances. The "dhimma" was the most oppressive in ], where Jews were subjected to what ] called “ritualized degradation”, <ref> Stillman (1979), p. 87</ref>as well as in ] and ]. <ref>Stillman (1979), p. 99; Lewis (1984) p. 39–40</ref> The periods when Islamic states were strong generally coincided with more relaxed attitude towards dhimmis; however, treatment of non-Muslims usually became harsher when Islam was weak and in decline. <ref>Lewis (1984), p. 32</ref> <ref name="stillman109">Stillman (1979), p. 109</ref> Over time, the treatment of dhimmis tended to develop in cycles, such that periods of when restrictions imposed on dhimmis were relaxed were immediately followed by the periods of pious reaction when such restrictions came to be enforced again. <ref>Lewis (1984), pp. 49–51</ref> | |||
{{Main|Sharia}} | |||
The ''dhimma'' contract is an integral part of traditional Islamic law. From the 9th century AD, the power to interpret and refine law in traditional Islamic societies was in the hands of the scholars ('']''). This separation of powers served to limit the range of actions available to the ruler, who could not easily decree or reinterpret law independently and expect the continued support of the community.<ref>Basim Musallam, ''The Cambridge Illustrated History of the Islamic World'', edited by ]. Cambridge University Press, 1996, p. 176.</ref> Through succeeding centuries and empires, the balance between the ulema and the rulers shifted and reformed, but the balance of power was never decisively changed.<ref>Hodgson, ''The Venture of Islam Vol 3'', 1961, pp. 105–108.</ref> At the beginning of the 19th century, the ] and the ] introduced an era of ] that included the domination of most of the Muslim lands.<ref>Hodgson, ''The Venture of Islam Vol 3'', 1961, pp. 176–177.</ref><ref>Sarah Ansari, ''The Cambridge Illustrated History of the Islamic World edited by ]''. Cambridge University Press, 1996, p. 90.</ref> At the end of the ], the European powers found themselves too weakened to maintain their empires.<ref>Hodgson, ''The Venture of Islam Vol 3'', 1961, pp. 366–367.</ref> The wide variety in forms of government, systems of law, attitudes toward modernity and interpretations of sharia are a result of the ensuing drives for independence and modernity in the Muslim world.<ref>Sarah Ansari, ''The Cambridge Illustrated History of the Islamic World edited by ]''. ], 1996, pp. 103–111.</ref><ref>], ''] Conscience and History in a World Civilization Vol 3''. ], 1961, pp. 384–386.</ref> | |||
Muslim states, sects, schools of thought and individuals differ as to exactly what sharia law entails.<ref>Otto, Jan Michiel. ''Sharia and National Law in Muslim Countries: Tensions and Opportunities for Dutch and EU Foreign Policy ''. Amsterdam University Press, 2008, p. 7.</ref> In addition, Muslim states today utilize a spectrum of legal systems. Most states have a mixed system that implements certain aspects of sharia while acknowledging the supremacy of a constitution. A few, such as Turkey, have declared themselves secular.<ref>Otto, ''Sharia and National Law in Muslim Countries'', 2008, pp. 8–9.</ref> Local and customary laws may take precedence in certain matters, as well.<ref>Otto, ''Sharia and National Law in Muslim Countries'', 2008, p. 29.</ref> Islamic law is therefore polynormative,<ref>Otto, ''Sharia and National Law in Muslim Countries'', 2008, p. 10.</ref> and despite several cases of regression in recent years, the trend is towards liberalization.<ref>Otto, ''Sharia and National Law in Muslim Countries'', 2008, p. 18. {{ISBN?}}</ref> Questions of human rights and the status of minorities cannot be generalized with regards to the Muslim world. They must instead be examined on a case-by-case basis, within specific political and cultural contexts, using perspectives drawn from the historical framework.<ref>Otto, ''Sharia and National Law in Muslim Countries'', 2008, pp. 37–39.</ref> | |||
===Religious aspects=== | |||
====Freedom of religion and forced conversions==== | |||
] (pictured) narrowly escaped death during the massacre of dhimmis in Cordoba]] | |||
The pledge of protection granted dhimmis the freedom to practice their religion and spared them forced conversions. Although Muslim authorities sometimes raised the question whether dhimmis should be forced to accept Islam, the prevailing opinion was that dhimmis had to be allowed to preserve their religion largely because they were an economic boon to the Muslim state. <ref>Lewis (1984), p. 9; Bat Ye'or (2002), p. 66</ref> Indeed, in the first several centuries after the Islamic conquest and subsequently in the ], forcible conversions were rare. Subsequently, rulers occasionally broke the pledge and dhimmis were forced to choose between conversion to Islam and death. Forced conversions occurred mostly in ], especially under the ]s, a militant dynasty with messianic claims, as well as in Persia, where Shi'a Muslims were generally less tolerant than their Sunni counterparts.<ref>Lewis (1984), pp. 94–95</ref> | |||
===The end of the Dhimma contract=== | |||
In the 12th century, rulers of the Almohad dynasty killed or forcibly converted Jews and Christians in ] and the Maghreb, putting an end to the existence of Christian communities in North Africa outside ].<ref>Lewis (1984), p. 52; Stillman (1979), p.77</ref><ref name="batyeor88">Bat Ye'or (2002), p. 88</ref> In an effort to survive under Almohads, most Jews resorted to practicing Islam outwardly, while remaining faithful to ]; they openly reverted to Judaism after Almohad persecutions passed.<ref>Stillman (1979), p.78</ref> During the ] massacre of 1148, the Jewish philosopher, theologian, and physician ] saved his own life only by converting to Islam; after Maimonides moved to Egypt, this conversion was ruled void by a ] who was a friend and patient of Maimonides.<ref>Lewis (1984), p. 100; Bat Ye'or (2002), p. 88</ref> As a result of Almohad persecutions and other forced conversions that took place in Morocco afterwards, several Muslim tribes in the Atlas Mountains, as well as many Muslim families in ], have Jewish origin.<ref name="batyeor88"/> | |||
The status of the ''dhimmi'' "was for long accepted with resignation by the Christians and with gratitude by the Jews" but the rising power of Christendom and the radical ideas of the French Revolution caused a wave of discontent among Christian dhimmis.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lewis |first=Bernard |title=The Jews of Islam |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W0EbKFRxrT4C |year=1984 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-00807-3 |page=62 }}</ref> The continuing and growing pressure from the European powers combined with pressure from Muslim reformers gradually relaxed the inequalities between Muslims and non-Muslims.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lewis |first=Bernard |title=The Jews of Islam |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W0EbKFRxrT4C |year=1984 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-00807-3 }} summary of pp. 62–66. See p. 62 (2nd paragraph), p. 65 (3rd paragraph)</ref> | |||
On 18 February 1856, the ] ({{langx|ota|خط همايونى|Hatt-i Humayan}}) was issued, building upon the 1839 edict. It came about partly as a result of pressure from and the efforts of the ambassadors of ], ] and the ], whose respective countries were needed as allies in the ]. It again proclaimed the principle of equality between Muslims and non-Muslims, and produced many specific reforms to this end. For example, the ''jizya'' tax was abolished and non-Muslims were allowed to join the army.<ref>Lapidus (1988), p. 599</ref><ref>Lapidus (2002), p. 495</ref> | |||
Forced conversions were especially common in Persia,<ref>Lewis (1984), p. 40</ref> putting a dent into the numbers of Christian and especially Jewish communities.<ref name="batyeor88"/> In 1656, ] ] expelled the Jews from Isfahan and compelled them to adopt Islam, although the order was subsequently withdrawn.<ref>Lewis (1984), p. 152; Littman (1979), p. 3</ref> In the early 18th century, Shia'a clergy attempted to force all dhimmis to embrace Islam, but without success. In 1830, all 2,500 Jews of ] were forcibly converted to Islam.<ref name="littman4">Littman (1979), p. 4</ref> In 1839, Jews were massacred in ] and survivors were forcibly converted. <ref>Littman (1979), p. 4; Lewis (1984), p. 168; Stillman (1979), p.76</ref> The same fate awaited the Jews of Barforoush in 1866, even though they were allowed to revert to Judaism after an intervention from the British and French ambassadors.<ref name="littman4"/> | |||
According to some scholars, discrimination against ''dhimmis'' did not end with the Edict of 1856, and they remained second-class citizens at least until the end of World War I.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Morris |first=Benny |title=Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881–2001 |publisher=Vintage Books |year=2001 |isbn=978-0679744757 |pages=13}}</ref> H.E.W. Young, the British Council in Mosul, wrote in 1909, "The attitude of the Muslims toward the Christians and the Jews is that of a master towards slaves, whom he treats with a certain lordly tolerance so long as they keep their place. Any sign of pretension to equality is promptly repressed."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Young |first=H. E. Wilkie |year=1971 |title=Mosul in 1909 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4282373 |journal=Middle Eastern Studies |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=229–235|doi=10.1080/00263207108700177 |jstor=4282373 }}</ref> | |||
The Almohads and Muslim authorities in Yemen practiced forcible conversion of children. This practice, though prohibited by the Islamic law, was based on the Muslim belief that every child is born a Muslim (see Qur'an {{Quran-usc-range|30|29|30}}).<ref name="batyeor88"/> Suspecting a lack of sincerity on part of Jews who were forcibly converted to Islam, Almohad rulers took Jewish children from their parents and raised those children as Muslims.<ref name="batyeor61">Bat Ye'or (1985), p. 61</ref> In Yemen, fatherless children were taken from their mothers and forcibly converted. Children who refused to convert were beaten and chained in dark vaults. This law was retroactive so that even elderly people who had escaped conversion in childhood after losing their fathers were obliged to convert to Islam.<ref>Bat Ye'or (2002), pp. 88–89</ref> | |||
===Views of modern Islamic scholars on the status of non-Muslims in an Islamic society=== | |||
Sporadic waves of forced conversion occurred at different times and places: for example, in ] in 1558-89, in ] in 1291 and 1338, and in ] in 1333 and 1344.<ref name="batyeor88"/> | |||
* The Iranian ] Muslim Ayatollah ] indicates in his book '']'' that non-Muslims should be required to pay the ], in return for which they would profit from the protection and services of the state; they would, however, be excluded from all participation in the political process.<ref>Hukuma Islamiyya, n.p. (Beirut), n.d., pp. 30ff.; Vilayat-i Faqih, n.p., n.d., pp. 35ff.; English version (from the Arabic), ''Islamic Government'' (U.S. Joint Publications Research Service 72663, 1979), pp. 22ff.; French version (from the Persian), Pour un gouvernement islamique (Paris, 1979), pp. 31ff. Another version in Hamid Algar, ''Islam and Revolution: Writings and Declarations of Imam Khomeini'' (Berkeley, 1981), pp. 45ff.</ref>{{failed verification|date=December 2020}} ] remarks about Khomeini that one of his main grievances against the Shah, ], was that his legislation allowed the theoretical possibility of non-Muslims exercising political or judicial authority over Muslims.<ref>Bernard Lewis, '']'' notes on p. 3</ref> | |||
* The Egyptian theologian ], chairman of the ],<ref name="chair">{{Cite news|title=Qatar-based cleric calls for Egypt vote boycott|date=11 May 2014|author=AFP (news agency) |newspaper=Yahoo News|url=https://uk.news.yahoo.com/qatar-based-cleric-calls-egypt-vote-boycott-192234858.html#9K9eVKw|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140616031315/https://uk.news.yahoo.com/qatar-based-cleric-calls-egypt-vote-boycott-192234858.html|archive-date=16 June 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> has stated in his ] program ''Sharia and Life'', which has an estimated audience of 35 to 60 million viewers:<ref>{{cite book |title=The People Want: A Radical Exploration of the Arab Uprising|author=Gilbert Achcar|year=2013|page=112|publisher=University of California Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-CxxOnASaMAC&pg=PA112 | |||
|isbn=978-0520956544}}</ref> "When we say ''dhimmis'' (''ahl al-dhimma'') it means that they are under the covenant of God and His Messenger and the Muslim community and their responsibility (''ḍamān''), and it is everyone's duty to protect them, and this is what is intended by the word. At present many of our brethren are offended by the word ''dhimmis'', and I have stated in what I wrote in my books that I don't see anything to prevent contemporary Islamic ] from discarding this word ''dhimmis'' and calling them non-Muslim citizens."<ref>لما نقول أهل الذمة يعني أهل ذمة الله يعني هم في عهد الله وعهد رسوله وعهد جماعة المسلمين وضمانهم، الجميع عليه أن يحميهم، فهذا هو المقصود من الكلمة. الآن يتأذى منها الكثير من أخواننا كلمة أهل الذمة، وأنا ذكرت فيما كتبت في كتبي أنني أنا لا أرى أي مانع أمام الاجتهاد الإسلامي المعاصر أن يحذف كلمة أهل الذمة هذه ونسميهم المواطنون من غير المسلمين , Aljazeera.net</ref> | |||
*Another Egyptian Islamist, ] argued the concept of dhimmi must be re-interpreted in the context of ]. Al-Awa and other Muslim scholars based this on the idea that while the previous ''dhimma'' condition result from the ], the modern Egyptian state results from a joint Muslim-Christian campaign to end the ]. In modern-day Egypt, he argues, the constitution replaces the ''dhimma'' contract.<ref>{{cite book|title=Political Islam, Citizenship, and Minorities: The Future of Arab Christians|author=Andrea Zaki Stephanous|pages=160–161|quote="Both Muslims and al-dhimmiyun struggled for the liberation of this land for more than a century and, because of the blood that was shed by both, a new order was created...In the modern state, the constitution took the place of the al-dhimmi contract."}}</ref> | |||
* ], a 20th-century ] scholar writes that dhimmis should be treated "in a good and decent manner". He addresses the argument that good treatment of dhimmis was abrogated by Quranic verse 9:29<ref>Quran 9:29—"Fight those who do not believe in Allah or in the ] and who do not consider unlawful what Allah and His Messenger have made unlawful and who do not adopt the religion of truth from those who were given the Scripture—fight until they give the jizyah willingly while they are humbled."</ref> by stating that, in the literal sense, this verse is not in conflict with good treatment of dhimmis.<ref>{{cite web|author1=Muhammad Husayn Tabataba'i|author-link1=Muhammad Husayn Tabataba'i|title=Surah Al-Baqarah, verses 83–88|url=http://www.almizan.org/|website=almizan.org|access-date=1 January 2016|language=ar, en|quote=as-Sadiq (a.s) said: "Verily Allah sent Muhammad (s.a.w.) with five swords: So (there is) a sword against a dhimmi (free non-Muslim subject of an Islamic country). Allah said: and speak to men good (words); it was revealed about the dhimmis, then it was abrogated by another verse, Fight those who do not believe in Allah... (9:29) (al-'Ayyashi) The author says: In this tradition the Imam has taken the "speech" to mean behavior. We say: Do not speak to him but good; what we mean is: Do not deal with him but in a good and decent manner. This meaning will apply only if we take the word, "abrogated" in its terminological sense. But it may also be taken in its literal sense (as we shall explain under the verse: Whatever signs We abrogate or cause to be forgotten ...2:106); and in that case this verse will not be in conflict with that of the fighting. It should be pointed out that such uses of words in their literal meanings (as against their terminological ones) are not infrequent in the traditions of the Imams.}}</ref> | |||
* ], a Pakistani theologian, writes in '']'' that certain directives of the Quran were specific only to Muhammad against peoples of his times, besides other directives, the campaign involved asking the polytheists of Arabia for submission to Islam as a condition for exoneration and the others for jizya and submission to the political authority of the Muslims for exemption from ] and for military protection as the dhimmis of the Muslims. Therefore, after Muhammad and ], there is no concept in Islam obliging Muslims to wage war for propagation or implementation of Islam.<ref>], '']'', Chapter: The Islamic Law of Jihad, Dar ul-Ishraq, 2001. {{OCLC|52901690}} </ref><ref>"Misplaced Directives", {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060813123204/http://www.renaissance.com.pk/ |date=13 August 2006 }}, ], Vol. 12, No. 3, March 2002.{{cite web |url=http://www.renaissance.com.pk/martitl2y2.html |title=March_Content2002 |access-date=5 October 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061115065145/http://www.renaissance.com.pk/martitl2y2.html |archive-date=15 November 2006 }}</ref> | |||
* The Iranian Shia jurist Grand Ayatollah ] states in ''Selection of the ]'' that the main philosophy of jizya is that it is only a financial aid to those Muslims who are in the charge of safeguarding the security of the state and dhimmis' lives and properties on their behalf.<ref>, Grand Ayatollah Makarim Shirazi, p. 10, vol. 2, on verse 9:29 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061118113944/http://library.tebyan.net/books1/1016.htm |date=18 November 2006 }}</ref> | |||
* Prominent Islamic thinkers like ] and ] have based their justification for full citizenship of non-Muslims in an Islamic states on the precedent set by Muhammad in the ]. They argue that in this charter the People of Book, have the status of citizens (''muwatinun'') rather than dhimmis, sharing equal rights and duties with Muslims.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|author1=Muhammad Muslih|author2=Michaelle Browers|title= Democracy |encyclopedia=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World|editor=John L. Esposito|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=2009|url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195305135.001.0001/acref-9780195305135-e-0185|url-access=subscription|doi=10.1093/acref/9780195305135.001.0001|isbn=978-0195305135}}</ref> | |||
* Legal scholar L. Ali Khan also points to the ] as a way forward for Islamic states in his 2006 paper titled ''The Medina Constitution''. He suggests this ancient document, which governed the status of religions and races in the first Islamic state, in which Jewish tribes are "placed on an equal footing with Muslims" and granted "the freedom of religion," can serve as a basis for the protection of minority rights, equality, and religious freedom in the modern Islamic state.<ref>Khan, Ali, ''Commentary on the Constitution of Medina'' in ''Understanding Islamic Law: From Classical to Contemporary'', Edited by Aminah Beverly McCloud and Hisham Ramadan, Alta Mira Press, 2006, pp. 205–208. {{ISBN?}}</ref><ref>{{cite SSRN |title=The Medina Constitution|first=Ali|last=Khan|date=17 November 2006|ssrn = 945458}}</ref> | |||
* ], Professor of Islamic Studies at the ], advocates the inclusion of academic disciplines and Islamic society, along with traditional Islamic scholars, in an effort to reform Islamic law and address modern conditions. He speaks of remaining faithful to the higher objectives of sharia law. He posits universal rights of dignity, welfare, freedom, equality and justice in a ] and ] Islamic (or other) society, and proposes a dialogue regarding the modern term "citizenship," although it has no clear precedent in classical ]. He further includes the terms "non-citizen", "foreigner", "resident" and "immigrant" in this dialogue, and challenges not only Islam, but modern civilization as a whole, to come to terms with these concepts in a meaningful way with regards to problems of racism, discrimination and oppression.<ref>Ramadan, Tariq, ''Radical Reform: Islamic Ethics and Liberation'', Oxford University Press, 2009, pp. 268–271. {{ISBN?}}</ref> | |||
==Dhimmi communities== | |||
====Restrictions on practice==== | |||
Although dhimmis were allowed to perform their religious rituals, they were obliged to do so in a manner not conspicuous to Muslims. Display of non-Muslim religious symbols, such as crosses or icons, was prohibited on buildings and on clothing (unless mandated as part of '']''). Loud prayers were forbidden, as was the ringing of bells or the trumpeting of ]s. According to one ], ] said: "The bell is the musical instrument of the Satan." (] {{Muslim-usc|24|5279}}) | |||
Jews and Christians living under early Muslim rule were considered dhimmis, a status that was later also extended to other non-Muslims like Hindus and Buddhists. They were allowed to "freely practice their religion, and to enjoy a large measure of communal autonomy" and guaranteed their personal safety and security of property, in return for paying tribute and acknowledging Muslim rule.<ref>Lewis (1984), pp. 10, 20.</ref> Islamic law and custom prohibited the enslavement of free dhimmis within lands under Islamic rule.<ref>Lewis (2002), p. 92</ref> Taxation from the perspective of dhimmis who came under the Muslim rule, was "a concrete continuation of the taxes paid to earlier regimes"<ref name="Cahen">Cl. Cahen in '']'', Jizya article</ref> (but much lower under the Muslim rule<ref>Lewis 1984 p. 18</ref><ref name="Lewis p57"/>). They were also exempted from the ] tax paid by Muslims. The dhimmi communities living in Islamic states had their own laws independent from the Sharia law, such as the Jews who had their own ].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Under Crescent and Cross: The Jews in the Middle Ages|author=Mark R. Cohen|publisher=]|year=1995|isbn=978-0-691-01082-3|page=74|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fgbib5exskUC&q=cohen+Under+Crescent+and+Cross|access-date=10 April 2010|author-link=Mark R. Cohen}}</ref> The dhimmi communities had their own leaders, courts, personal and religious laws,<ref name="Lewis 1984, p. 27">Lewis (1984), p. 27</ref>{{sfn|Esposito|1998|p=34|ps=. "They replaced the conquered countries, indigenous rulers and armies, but preserved much of their government, bureaucracy, and culture. For many in the conquered territories, it was no more than an exchange of masters, one that brought peace to peoples demoralized and disaffected by the casualties and heavy taxation that resulted from the years of Byzantine-Persian warfare. Local communities were free to continue to follow their own way of life in internal, domestic affairs. In many ways, local populations found Muslim rule more flexible and tolerant than that of Byzantium and Persia. Religious communities were free to practice their faith to worship and be governed by their religious leaders and laws in such areas as marriage, divorce, and inheritance. In exchange, they were required to pay tribute, a poll tax (''jizya'') that entitled them to Muslim protection from outside aggression and exempted them from military service. Thus, they were called the "protected ones" (''dhimmi''). In effect, this often meant lower taxes, greater local autonomy, rule by fellow Semites with closer linguistic and cultural ties than the hellenized, Greco-Roman élites of Byzantium, and greater religious freedom for Jews and indigenous Christians."}} and "generally speaking, Muslim tolerance of unbelievers was far better than anything available in Christendom, until the rise of secularism in the 17th century".<ref name="Buntzie Ellis Churchill 2008, pp. 146">Bernard Lewis and Buntzie Ellis Churchill, ''Islam: The Religion and the People'', Wharton School Publishing, 2008, p. 146.</ref> "Muslims guaranteed freedom of worship and livelihood, provided that they remained loyal to the Muslim state and paid a poll tax".<ref name="World"/> "Muslim governments appointed Christian and Jewish professionals to their bureaucracies",<ref name="World"/> and thus, Christians and Jews "contributed to the making of the Islamic civilization".<ref name="World"/> | |||
Dhimmis had the right to choose their own religious leaders: ] for Christians, ]s and ] for Jews. However, the choice of the community was subject to the approval of the Muslim authorities, who sometimes blocked candidates or took the side of the party that offered the larger bribe. <ref>Stillman (1979), pp. 37–39</ref> | |||
However, dhimmis faced social and symbolic restrictions,<ref name="Lewis 1984, p. 26">Lewis (1984), p. 26</ref> and a pattern of stricter, then more lax, enforcement developed over time.<ref name="Lewis 1984 pp. 49–51">Lewis (1984) pp. 49–51.</ref> ], a historian of Islam, writes that during the era of the High Caliphate (7th–13th Centuries), zealous Shariah-minded Muslims gladly elaborated their code of symbolic restrictions on the dhimmis.<ref name="Hodgson p488">{{Cite book|title=The Venture of Islam: The classical age of Islam|author=Marshall G.S. Hodgson|publisher=]|year=1977|isbn=978-0226346830|page=448|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=18b-K9AMLlwC|access-date=7 July 2012}}</ref> | |||
Dhimmis were prohibited from ] on pain of death. Neither were they allowed to obstruct the spread of Islam in any manner. Other restrictions included a prohibition on publishing or sale of non-Muslim religious literature and a ban on teaching the Qur’an. <ref name="pactofumar"/> | |||
From an Islamic legal perspective, the pledge of protection granted dhimmis the freedom to practice their religion and spared them ]s. The dhimmis also served a variety of useful purposes, mostly economic, which was another point of concern to jurists.<ref>Lewis (1984)</ref>{{page needed|date=December 2015}} Religious minorities were free to do whatever they wished in their own homes, but could not "publicly engage in illicit sex in ways that threaten public morals".<ref>{{cite book|title=Islam and the Blackamerican: Looking Toward the Third Resurrection|author=Sherman A. Jackson|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2005|isbn=978-0-19-518081-7|page=145|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nprKYM8sleYC&q=ankiha+fasida&pg=PA144|access-date=10 April 2010}}</ref> In some cases, religious practices that Muslims found repugnant were allowed. One example was the Zoroastrian practice of ]uous "self-marriage" where a man could marry his mother, sister or daughter. According to the famous Islamic legal scholar Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya (1292–1350), non-Muslims had the right to engage in such religious practices even if it offended Muslims, under the conditions that such cases not be presented to Islamic Sharia courts and that these religious minorities believed that the practice in question is permissible according to their religion. This ruling was based on the precedent that Muhammad did not forbid such self-marriages among Zoroastrians despite coming in contact with them and having knowledge of their practices.<ref>Jackson, p. 144</ref> | |||
As required by the Pact of Umar, dhimmis had to bury their dead without loud lamentations and prayers. <ref name="pactofumar"/> Incidents of harassment of dhimmi funeral processions by Muslims, involving pelting with stones, battery, spitting, or cursing, even by Muslim children, were common regardless of place and time. <ref>Stillman (1979), pp. 304–305; see also Stillman (1979), pp. 201–203, for examples of specific incidents.</ref> | |||
The Arabs generally established garrisons outside towns in the conquered territories, and had little interaction with the local dhimmi populations for purposes other than the collection of taxes. The conquered Christian, Jewish, Mazdean and Buddhist communities were otherwise left to lead their lives as before.<ref>Hodgson, ''The Venture of Islam Vol 1'', 1958, pp. 227–229.</ref> | |||
====Places of worship==== | |||
According to Islamic law, the permission for dhimmis to retain their places of worship and build new ones depended upon the circumstances in which the land fell under the Muslim rule. According to the unanimous opinion of Islamic scholars as expressed by the ] jurist ], dhimmis could not use churches and synagogues if their land was conquered by attack. In such lands, as well as in towns founded after the conquest, or where inhabitants voluntarily converted wholesale to Islam, Islamic law does not allow dhimmis to build new churches and synagogues, or expand or repair existing ones, even if they fall into ruin. If the country submitted by capitulation, al-Nawawi wrote, dhimmis were permitted to build new houses of worship only if the capitulation treaty stated that dhimmis remained owners of their land. In observance of this prohibition, Abbasid caliphs ], ] and ] ordered the destruction, in their realms, of all churches and synagogues built after the Islamic conquest. In the 11th century, the ] caliph ] oversaw over the demolition of all churches and synagogues in Egypt, Syria and Palestine, including the ] in Jerusalem. However, al-Hakim subsequently allowed the rebuilding of the destroyed buildings. Nevertheless, dhimmis sometimes managed to expand churches and synagogues and even build new ones, albeit at the price of bribing local officials in order to get permissions. <ref>Bat Ye’or (2002), pp. 83–85</ref> | |||
===Christians=== | |||
There was no consensus in Islamic jurisprudence as to whether it was permissible for dhimmis to repair churches and synagogues. The Pact of Umar puts an obligation on dhimmis not to "restore, by night or by day, any that have fallen into ruin", <ref name="pactofumar"/> and ] adhered to this view. <ref>Ibn Kathir, ''''. URL accessed on ], ]</ref> At the same time, ] wrote that dhimmis may "rebuild dilapidated old temples and churches". <ref>Al-Mawardi (2000), p. 162; see also Bat Ye’or (1985), p. 179</ref> As in the case of building new houses of worship, the ability of dhimmi communities to repair churches and synagogues usually depended upon its relationship with local Muslim authorities and its ability to pay bribes. | |||
According to historians Lewis and Stillman, local Christians in Syria, Iraq, and Egypt were ] and many may have felt better off under early Muslim rule than under that of the ] of ].<ref name="conseq" >Lewis (1984), pp. 17–18; Stillman (1979), p. 27.</ref> In 1095, ] urged western European Christians to ] of the Christians of ]. The subsequent ] brought ] Christians into contact with Orthodox Christians whose beliefs they discovered to differ from their own perhaps more than they had realized, and whose position under the rule of the Muslim ] was less uncomfortable than had been supposed. Consequently, the Eastern Christians provided perhaps less support to the Crusaders than had been expected.<ref name=autogenerated2>Courbage and Fargues (1995), pp. 44–46.</ref> When the Arab East came under Ottoman rule in the 16th century, Christian populations and fortunes rebounded significantly. The Ottomans had long experience dealing with Christian and Jewish minorities, and were more tolerant towards religious minorities than the former Muslim rulers, the ]s of ].<ref name=autogenerated5>Courbage and Fargues (1995), pp. 57–58.</ref> | |||
However, Christians living under Islamic rule have suffered certain legal disadvantages and at times ]. In the Ottoman Empire, in accordance with the ''dhimmi'' system implemented in ] countries, they, like all other Christians and also Jews, were accorded certain freedoms. The dhimmi system in the Ottoman Empire was largely based upon the ]. The client status established the rights of the non-Muslims to property, livelihood and freedom of worship but they were in essence treated as ]s in the empire and referred to in Turkish as '']'', a pejorative word meaning "]" or "]". The clause of the Pact of Umar which prohibited non-Muslims from building new places of worship was historically imposed on some communities of the Ottoman Empire and ignored in other cases, at discretion of the local authorities. Although there were no laws mandating religious ghettos, this led to non-Muslim communities being clustered around existing houses of worship.<ref name="́gostonMasters2010">{{cite book|last1=A ́goston|first1=Ga ́bor|last2=Alan Masters|first2=Bruce|title=Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QjzYdCxumFcC&pg=PA185|access-date=15 April 2016|year=2010|publisher=]|isbn=978-1-4381-1025-7|pages=185–186}}</ref><ref name="Balakian">{{Cite book | author-link = Peter Balakian | last = Balakian | first = Peter | title = The Burning Tigris: The Armenian Genocide and America's Response | place = New York | publisher = ] | year = 2003 | isbn = 978-0-06-019840-4 | pages = | url = https://archive.org/details/burningtigrisarm00bala/page/25 }}</ref> | |||
====Blasphemy==== | |||
Blasphemy against Islam, which included defamation of Muslim holy texts, denial of the prophethood of Muhammad, and disrespectful references to Islam, on part of dhimmis was a capital crime. <ref name="mawardi161"/> Scholars of the Hanbali and Maliki schools, as well as the Shi’ites, prescribe a death penalty for blasphemy, while Hanafis and to some extent Shafi’is advocate flogging and imprisonment in some cases, reserving the death penalty only for habitual and public offenders. <ref>Lewis (1984), p. 39</ref> | |||
In addition to other legal limitations, dhimmis, including the Christians among them, were not considered equals to Muslims and several prohibitions were placed on them. Their testimony against Muslims was inadmissible in courts of law wherein a Muslim could be punished; this meant that their testimony could only be considered in commercial cases. They were forbidden to carry weapons or ride atop horses and camels. Their houses could not overlook those of Muslims; and their religious practices were severely circumscribed (e.g., the ringing of church bells was strictly forbidden).<ref name="́gostonMasters2010"/><ref name = "Akçam">{{Cite book | first = Taner | last = Akçam | author-link = Taner Akçam | title = A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility | place = New York | publisher = Metropolitan Books | year = 2006 | isbn = 978-0-8050-7932-6| title-link = A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility }}</ref> | |||
Many dhimmis were executed as a result of accusations that they insulted Islam. <ref>Stillman (1979), p. 103; Lewis (1984), p. 40</ref> Although some deliberately sought martyrdom, many blasphemers were insane or drunk; it was not uncommon was the blasphemy accusation to be made due to political considerations or private vengeance, and the fear of a blasphemy charge was a big factor in the fearful and subservient attitude of dhimmis toward Muslims.<ref>Lewis (1984), p. 40</ref> As ] put it describing his visit to Egypt: " scarcely ever dare to utter a word of abuse when reviled or beaten by the meanest Arab or Turk; for many a Jew have been put to death upon a false and malicious accusation of uttering disrespectful words against the Kuran or the Prophet".<ref>{{cite book|author=Lane, Edward William|title=An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians|location=London|year=1871|pages=p. 305}} Quoted in Lewis (1984), p. 40</ref> Accusations of blasphemy provoked acts of violence against the entire dhimmis communities, as it happened in ] in 1876, ] in 1876, ] in 1889, ] in 1895, ] in 1895, or ] in 1911. <ref>Bat Ye’or (1985), p. 60</ref> | |||
=== |
===Jews=== | ||
Because the early Islamic conquests initially preserved much of the existing administrative machinery and culture, in many territories they amounted to little more than a change of rulers for the subject populations, which "brought peace to peoples demoralized and disaffected by the casualties and heavy taxation that resulted from the years of Byzantine-Persian warfare".{{sfn|Esposito|1998|p=34|ps=. "They replaced the conquered countries, indigenous rulers and armies, but preserved much of their government, bureaucracy, and culture. For many in the conquered territories, it was no more than an exchange of masters, one that brought peace to peoples demoralized and disaffected by the casualties and heavy taxation that resulted from the years of Byzantine-Persian warfare. Local communities were free to continue to follow their own way of life in internal, domestic affairs. In many ways, local populations found Muslim rule more flexible and tolerant than that of Byzantium and Persia. Religious communities were free to practice their faith to worship and be governed by their religious leaders and laws in such areas as marriage, divorce, and inheritance. In exchange, they were required to pay tribute, a poll tax (''jizya'') that entitled them to Muslim protection from outside aggression and exempted them from military service. Thus, they were called the "protected ones" (''dhimmi''). In effect, this often meant lower taxes, greater local autonomy, rule by fellow Semites with closer linguistic and cultural ties than the hellenized, Greco-Roman élites of Byzantium, and greater religious freedom for Jews and indigenous Christians."}} | |||
Dhimmi communities were subjected to the payment of taxes in favor of Muslims — a requirement that was central to ''dhimma'' as a whole. Sura ] stipulates that ''jizya'' be exacted from non-Muslims as a condition required for jihad to cease. Failure to pay the ''jizya'' could result in the pledge of protection of a dhimmi's life and property becoming void, with the dhimmi facing the alternatives of conversion, enslavement or death (or imprisonment, as advocated by ], the chief '']'' — religious judge — of Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid).<ref name="lewis1415"/> | |||
], argues that the Jewish dhimmis living under the caliphate, while allowed fewer rights than Muslims, were still better off than in the Christian parts of Europe. Jews from other parts of Europe made their way to ], where in parallel to Christian sects regarded as heretical by Catholic Europe, they were not just tolerated, but where opportunities to practice faith and trade were open without restriction save for the prohibitions on proselytization.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.twbookmark.com/books/52/0316566888/press_release.html|title=The Ornament of the World by María Rosa Menocal|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051109071705/http://www.twbookmark.com/books/52/0316566888/press_release.html|archive-date=9 November 2005}}</ref> | |||
The importance of dhimmis as a source of revenue for the Muslim community is illuminated in a letter ascribed to Umar I and cited by Abu Yusuf: "if we take ] and share them out, what will be left for the Muslims who come after us? By God, Muslims would not find a man to talk to and profit from his labors." <ref> Lewis (1984), pp. 30–31; see Bat Ye’or (1985), p. 170, for a full English translation of the letter</ref> The two main taxes imposed on dhimmis are known as '']'' — a ] — and '']'' — a land tax. Early chronicles use these terms indiscriminately; only later did the ''kharaj'' emerge as a tax payable by a farmer regardless of his religion. <ref>Lewis (2002), p. 81</ref> | |||
] states: | |||
In an important early account, Malik's ] reports that the jizya was collected from men only, dhimmis were exempt from ], and additional taxes were to be levied against dhimmis who travelled on business: <blockquote>"The ] is that there is no jizya due from women or children of ], and that jizya is only taken from men who have reached puberty. The people of dhimma ... do not have to pay any zakat ... This is because zakat is imposed on the muslims to purify them and to be given back to their poor, whereas jizya is imposed on the people of the Book to humble them...If in any one year they frequently come and go in muslim countries then they have to pay a tenth every time they do so, since that is outside what they have agreed upon, and not one of the conditions stipulated for them. This is what I have seen the people of knowledge of our city doing." ({{Muwatta-usc|17|24|46|}})</blockquote> | |||
{{Blockquote|Generally, the Jewish people were allowed to practice their religion and live according to the laws and scriptures of their community. Furthermore, the restrictions to which they were subject were social and symbolic rather than tangible and practical in character. That is to say, these regulations served to define the relationship between the two communities, and not to oppress the Jewish population.<ref name=lewis>Lewis, Bernard W (1984). ''The Jews of Islam''</ref>|}} | |||
Most Islamic scholars agree that ''jizya'' must be levied only upon adult males. This can be viewed as sign of mildness. Another interpretation is that jizya was only paid by men because it was an exchange for the dhimmi's life: as it was only the adult males whose lives were forfeit in defeat, so only they had to pay the jizya. | |||
Professor of Jewish medieval history at ], ], notes: | |||
The 8th-century scholar ] advised that dhimmis must not be burdened above their capacity or caused to suffer.<ref name="lewis1415"/> ], however, dissents, demanding "the poll tax to be paid by dying people, the old, … the blind, monks, workers, and the poor, incapable of practicing a trade." The latter view was often applied in practice, as contemporary non-Muslim sources give witness of taxation even of dead persons, widows, and orphans. Al-Nawawi demands that the unpaid amount of poll tax remain a debt to the dhimmi’s account until he becomes solvent. <ref name="batyeor6971"/> In the Ottoman Empire, dhimmis had to carry a receipt certifying their payment of jizya at all times, upon pain of imprisonment. | |||
{{Blockquote|The legal and security situation of the Jews in the Muslim world was generally better than in Christendom, because in the former, Jews were not the sole "infidels", because in comparison to the Christians, Jews were less dangerous and more loyal to the Muslim regime, and because the rapidity and the territorial scope of the Muslim conquests imposed upon them a reduction in persecution and a granting of better possibility for the survival of members of other faiths in their lands.<ref>{{cite book |title=On Jewish History in the Middle Ages|last=Ben-Sasson |first=Haim Hillel |year=1969 |location=Tel Aviv |page=36}} Quoted in Mark R. Cohen's ''Under Crescent and Cross: The Jews in the Middle Ages'', Princeton University Press (1995), pp. xvii–xviii (Cohen's translation).</ref> |}} | |||
All taxes paid by Muslims were usually doubled for dhimmis. <ref name="batyeor6971">Bat Ye’or (2002), pp. 69–71</ref> | |||
The resulting tax burden on dhimmis was thus higher than that on Muslims who paid '']'' — mandatory alms, <ref name="lewis1415">Lewis (1984), pp. 14–15</ref> and according to Norman Stillman: "''Jizya'' and ''kharaj'' were a crushing burden for the non-Muslim peasantry who eked out a bare living in a subsistence economy." <ref>Stillman (1979), p. 28</ref> Ultimately, the taxation was a critical factor that drove many dhimmis to accept Islam. <ref name="conseq"/> | |||
According to the French historian ], Islam has "shown more toleration than Europe towards the Jews who remained in Muslim lands."<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Cahen |first=Claude |editor=] |editor2=Th. Bianquis |editor3=] |editor4=E. van Donzel |editor5=] |editor6=] |editor7=Ch. Pellat |editor8=] |editor9=J. Burton-Page |editor10=C. Dumont |editor11=V.L. Ménage|encyclopedia=] |title=Dhimma|year=1954 |publisher=Brill Academic Publishers |isbn=978-90-04-07026-4|location=Leiden, Netherlands|pages=227–231}}</ref> | |||
===Legal aspects === | |||
====Prohibition on testimony==== | |||
The testimony of dhimmis was not admissible in cases involving a Muslim; on the other hand, Muslims could testify against dhimmis.<ref>Friedmann (2003), pp. 35–36</ref> This legal disability put dhimmis in a precarious position where they could not defend themselves against false accusations leveled by Muslims, except by hiring Muslim witnesses and bribing ''qadis''. Apart from breeding corruption, the prohibition on non-Muslim testimony deepened the rift between communities, as dhimmis sought to reduce the possibility of conflict by limiting contact with Muslims.<ref>Bat Ye’or (2002), p. 74</ref> | |||
Comparing the treatment of Jews in the ] and ], ] notes that, in contrast to Jews in Christian Europe, the "Jews in Islam were well integrated into the economic life of the larger society",<ref name="mark.r.cohen">{{cite book|first=Mark |last=Cohen |title=Under Crescent and Cross: The Jews in the Middle Ages|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=1995|isbn=978-0-691-01082-3}}</ref> and that they were allowed to practice their religion more freely than they could do in Christian Europe.<ref name="mark.r.cohen"/> | |||
====Punishment for murder of a dhimmi==== | |||
In all schools of ], except the ], the maximum punishment for the murder of a dhimmi, if perpetrated by a Muslim, was the payment of blood money; no death penalty was possible. For ] and ] schools of jurisprudence, the value of a dhimmi's life was one-half the value of a Muslim's life; in the Shafi'i school, Jews and Christians were worth one-third of a Muslim and Zoroastrians were worth just one-fifteenth. The Hanafi school, which represents the majority of Sunni Muslims, however, believes that the murder of a dhimmi must be punishable by death, citing a hadith according to which ] ordered the execution of a Muslim who killed a dhimmi.<ref>Bat Ye’or (2002), p. 75</ref> | |||
According to the scholar Mordechai Zaken, ]tains (also known as aghas) in tribal Muslim societies such as the Kurdish society in ] would tax their Jewish subjects. The Jews were in fact civilians protected by their chieftains in and around their communities; in return they paid part of their harvest as dues, and contributed their skills and services to their patron chieftain.<ref>], ''Jewish Subjects and their tribal chieftains in Kurdistan: A Study in Survival'', Brill: Leiden and Boston, 2007.</ref> | |||
A peculiar practice developed in ], where Arab tribes collected jizya from Jews, offering them protection. If a Muslim from one tribe killed a Jew protected by another tribe, then the other tribe could retaliate ''by killing a Jew protected by the tribe of the murderer.'' As a result, two Jews were murdered, while no direct sanctions were imposed on the Muslims.<ref>Bat Ye’or (2002), p. 79</ref> | |||
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===Hindus and Buddhists=== | ||
By the 10th century, the ] of ] had invaded the ], and spread Islam in Northwestern parts of India.<ref>Hodgson, ''The Venture of Islam Vol 2'', 1961, p. 275.</ref> At the end of the 12th century, the Muslims advanced quickly into the ].<ref>Hodgson, ''The Venture of Islam Vol 2'', 1961, p. 276.</ref> In one decade, a Muslim army led by Turkic slaves consolidated resistance around ] and brought northern India, as far as ], under Muslim rule.<ref>Hodgson, ''The Venture of Islam Vol 2'', 1961, p. 278.</ref> From these Turkic slaves would come sultans, including the founder of the ]. By the 15th century, major parts of Northern India was ruled by Muslim rulers, mostly descended from invaders. In the 16th century, India came under the influence of the ]. ], the first ruler of the Mughal empire, established a foothold in the north which paved the way for further expansion by his successors.<ref>MHodgson, ''The Venture of Islam Vol 3'', 1961, pp. 24–25.</ref> Although the Mughal emperor ] has been described as a universalist, most Mughal emperors were oppressive of native Hindu, Buddhist and later Sikh populations.<ref>Hodgson, ''The Venture of Islam Vol 3'', 1961, pp. 65–67.</ref> ] specifically was inclined towards a highly fundamentalist approach.<ref>Hodgson, ''The Venture of Islam Vol 3'', 1961, p. 60.</ref> | |||
The general rule in Islamic law is that a difference in religion is an obstacle to inheritance, so that neither dhimmis can inherit from Muslims, nor Muslims can inherit from dhimmis. However, some jurists maintain that a Muslim can inherit from a dhimmi, while a dhimmi cannot inherit from a Muslim. ] scholars went so far as to argue that if a dhimmi dies leaving even one Muslim heir, all the estate belongs to the Muslim heir at the expense of any dhimmi heirs. This provision was a subject of frequent complaints from ]. <ref>Lewis (1984), pp. 26–27; see also Friedmann (2003), p. 35</ref> | |||
==Restrictions== | |||
===Bearing arms and military service=== | |||
There were a number of restrictions on dhimmis. In a modern sense the dhimmis would be described as second-class citizens.<ref name=Majid>{{cite book |first=Majid |last=Khadduri |author-link=Majid Khadduri |year=2010 |title=War and Peace in the Law of Islam |isbn=978-1616190484 |pages=196–198|publisher=Lawbook Exchange }}</ref> According to historian ], from very early times Muslim rulers would very often humiliate and punish dhimmis (usually Christians or Jews that refused to convert to Islam). It was official policy that dhimmis should “feel inferior and to know ‘their place".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=18b-K9AMLlwC|title= | |||
In accordance with the Pact of Umar, dhimmis had no right to bear arms of any kind. <ref name="pactofumar"/> The few exceptions to this rule were some Jewish tribes in the ] and in the ]. <ref> Bat Ye’or (1985), p. 62</ref> Despite the prohibition to carry weapons, Muslim jurists allowed using a dhimmi as an auxiliary soldier "as one would use a dog". <ref>Al-Mawardi (2000), p. 66; the expression in quotes is from al-Sarakhsi, translated in Lewis (1984), p. 199; see also Friedmann (2003), p. 36</ref> In the border provinces, dhimmis were sometimes recruited for military operations. In such cases, they were exempted from ''jizya'' for the year of service;<ref>"Djizya (i)", '']'' Online</ref> however, they were not entitled to a share in the booty, receiving only a fixed stipend. <ref>Lewis (1984), p. 199</ref> | |||
The Venture of Islam: Conscience and History in a World Civilization. 3 vols|page=1:268|isbn= | |||
9780226346861|last1= | |||
Hodgson|first1= | |||
Marshall G. S.|date= | |||
15 May 2009|publisher= | |||
University of Chicago Press}}</ref> | |||
Although ''dhimmis'' were allowed to perform their religious rituals, they were obliged to do so in a manner not conspicuous to Muslims. Loud prayers were forbidden, as were the ringing of church bells and the blowing of the ].<ref>Karsh 29.</ref> They were also not allowed to build or repair churches and synagogues without Muslim consent.<ref name="World"/> Moreover, dhimmis were not allowed to seek converts among Muslims.<ref name="Griffith">{{cite book |title=The Church in the Shadow of the Mosque: Christians and Muslims in the World of Islam |publisher=Princeton University Press |author=Sidney H. Griffith |year=2010 |isbn=978-0691146287}}</ref>{{page needed|date=January 2016}} In the ] Egypt, where non-Mamluk Muslims were not allowed to ride horses and camels, dhimmis were prohibited even from riding donkeys inside cities.<ref>Stillman (1979), p. 471</ref> Sometimes, Muslim rulers issued regulations requiring dhimmis to attach distinctive signs to their houses.<ref>Al-Tabari, ''Ta'rikh al-Rusul wa 'l-Muluk'', translated in Stillman (1979), p. 167.</ref> | |||
===Personal safety and massacres=== | |||
Although ] quotes ] with "One who kills a man under covenant will not even smell the fragrance of Paradise" and ''dhimma'' was supposed to guarantee safety to non-Muslims, the position of dhimmis was overall insecure. <ref> Lewis (1984), p. 32</ref> Being prohibited from bearing arms, dhimmis were at the mercy of Muslims in matters of personal safety. The obligation to look after the security of dhimmis lay on the authorities, and although the latter usually managed to protect dhimmis from Muslim violence, such protection frequently failed at times of public disorder. <ref name="lewis36">Lewis (1984), p. 36</ref> In the Maghreb during changes of reign and periods of instability, Jewish quarters were pillaged and their inhabitants either massacred or abducted for ransom. <ref name="batyeor61">Bat Ye’or (1985), p. 61</ref> | |||
Most of the restrictions were social and symbolic in nature,<ref name="Lewis 1984, p. 26"/> and a pattern of stricter, then more lax, enforcement developed over time.<ref name="Lewis 1984 pp. 49–51"/> The major financial disabilities of the dhimmi were the jizya poll tax and the fact dhimmis and Muslims could not inherit from each other.<ref name="Lewis 1984, p. 26"/> That would create an incentive to convert if someone from the family had already converted.<ref name="World">{{cite book |title=Introducing World Christianity |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |author=Heather J. Sharkey |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-4443-4454-7 |page=10}}</ref> ] states that the "payment of the poll tax seems to have been regular, but other obligations were inconsistently enforced and did not prevent many non-Muslims from being important political, business, and scholarly figures. In the late ninth and early tenth centuries, Jewish bankers and financiers were important at the 'Abbasid court."<ref name="Lapidus">{{Cite book| last = Lapidus | first = Ira M. | author-link=Ira M. Lapidus | title = A History of Islamic societies | publisher = ] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kFJNBAAAQBAJ| year = 2014|pages=155–156| isbn = 978-0521514309 }}</ref> The jurists and scholars of Islamic sharia law called for humane treatment of the dhimmis.<ref>Lewis (1984), p. 16.</ref> | |||
The outbreaks of violence, including massacres and expulsions, directed against dhimmis became more frequent beginning from the late 18th century. In 1790, Jews were massacred in ] and then in 1828, in Baghdad. In mid-19th century a wave of violence and forced conversions of Jews swept across Persia: in 1834, Jews were massacred in ], in 1839 in ], and in 1867 in ]. Other outbreaks followed in Morocco, ], ], Libya, and other ]. <ref>Lewis (1984), p. 168</ref> In 1860, 5,000 Christians were massacred in Damascus. <ref>Stillman (1979), p. 104</ref> In the 19th-century Iraq, especially in the area of ], both Jews and Christains lived in the state of constant insecurity. <ref>Stillman (1979), p. 102</ref> Jewish quarters were destroyed in 1912 in ] and as late as in 1948 in ]. <ref name="batyeor61"/> | |||
A Muslim man may marry a Jewish or Christian dhimmī woman, who may keep her own religion (though her children were automatically considered Muslims and had to be raised as such), but a Muslim woman cannot marry a dhimmī man unless he converts to Islam. Dhimmīs are prohibited from converting Muslims under severe penalties, while Muslims are encouraged to convert dhimmīs.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Dhimmi|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/dhimmi|access-date=16 December 2021|website=Encyclopedia.com}}</ref> {{unreliable source?|date=September 2021}} | |||
===Enslavement=== | |||
An exception to the right of personal freedom guaranteed by the ''dhimma'' was the practice of enslavement of young non-Muslim boys for the ruler’s slave army. The practice goes back to the Abbasids, who recruited such slave warriors mainly from non-Muslim ] populations; descendants of those slaves later formed the ] dynasties.<ref>Lewis (2002), p. 90</ref> The Ottoman Empire practiced a similar system, known as ], by annually enslaving young boys from the Christian population of its ] provinces, to muster ] troops. | |||
===Jizya tax=== | |||
===Social and psychological aspects=== | |||
{{Main|Jizya}} | |||
====Humiliation==== | |||
Payment of the ''jizya'' obligated Muslim authorities to protect dhimmis in civil and military matters. Sura 9 (]), ] stipulates that ''jizya'' be exacted from non-Muslims as a condition required for jihad to cease. Islamic jurists required adult, free, healthy males among the dhimma community to pay the jizya, while exempting women, children, the elderly, slaves, those affected by mental or physical handicaps, and travelers who did not settle in Muslim lands.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last1 = Mirza|editor-first1 =Mahan |editor2=Gerhard Bowering |editor3=Patricia Crone |display-editors=etal|title = The Princeton encyclopedia of Islamic political thought|date = 2013|publisher = ]|location = Princeton, N.J.|isbn = 978-0691134840|page = 283|quote = Free adult males who were not afflicted by any physical or mental illness were required to pay the ''jizya''. Women, children, handicapped, the mentally ill, the elderly, and slaves were exempt, as were all travelers and foreigners who did not settle in Muslim lands.}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Alshech|first1=Eli|title=Islamic Law, Practice, and Legal Doctrine: Exempting the Poor from the ''Jizya'' under the Ayyubids (1171–1250)|date=2003|journal=Islamic Law and Society|volume=10|issue=3|pages=348–375|doi=10.1163/156851903770227584|quote=...jurists divided the dhimma community into two major groups. The first group consists of all adult, free, sane males among the dhimma community, while the second includes all other dhimmas (i.e., women, slaves, minors, and the insane). Jurists generally agree that members of the second group are to be granted a "blanket" exemption from ''jizya'' payment.}}</ref> According to ] dhimmi should be imprisoned until they pay the jizya in full.<ref name="lewis1415">Lewis (1984), pp. 14–15.</ref> Other jurists specified that dhimmis who don't pay jizya should have their heads shaved and made to wear a dress distinctive from those dhimmis who paid the jizya and Muslims.<ref>{{cite book|author=]|title=The Book of Revenue: Kitab Al-Amwal|year=2003 |page=xix|publisher=Garnet & Ithaca Press |isbn=978-1859641590 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LXVBBdEFySsC&pg=PR19}}</ref> | |||
Humiliation was inherent to the condition of dhimmis. The final word of Sura ], which gives the Qur'anic basis for the dhimmi's status, is ''sa:ghiru:na'' (from ''saghir'' ‘tiny, paltry’), meaning ‘made small, belittled, diminished, humbled, ridiculed' or 'adopting a cringing, grovelling manner’.<ref>Wehr (1976), p.515,516</ref> In his commentary on Sura ], Ibn Kathir writes that dhimmis must be: <blockquote>disgraced, humiliated and belittled. Therefore, Muslims are not allowed to honor the people of the ''dhimma'' or elevate them above Muslims, for they are miserable, disgraced, and humiliated.<ref>{{cite web|author=Ibn Kathir|title=Tafsir|url=http://www.tafsir.com/default.asp?sid=9&tid=20986|accessdate=2006-05-14}}</ref></blockquote> Consequently, for Muslims, humiliation of dhimmis was a religious duty that served as a proof of the triumph of Islam.<ref>Bat Ye'or (2002), p. 89</ref> As a 14th-century Egyptian scholar Ibn Naqqash put it: "he prior degradation of the infidels in this world before the life to come — where it is their lot — is considered an act of piety."<ref>Ibn Naqqash, English translation in Bat Ye'or (1985), p. 188</ref> In the Arab society, where honor plays a critical role, denigration of dhimmis was supposed to reduce them to the lowest level of human life, helping to generate many conversions among dhimmis of upper classes.<ref>Bat Ye'or (2002), p. 90; Stillman (1979), p. 73</ref> ] comments:<blockquote>The Qur'an and tradition often use the word ''dhull'' or ''dhilla'' (humiliation or abasement) to indicate the status God has assigned to those who reject Mohammad, and in which they should be kept for so long as they persist in that rejection.<ref name="lewis14">Lewis (1984), p. 14</ref></blockquote> | |||
Lewis states there are varying opinions among scholars as to how much of a burden jizya was.<ref name="lewis1415"/> According to ]: "''jizya'' and '']'' were a "crushing burden for the non-Muslim peasantry who eked out a bare living in a subsistence economy."<ref>Stillman (1979), p. 28</ref> Both agree that ultimately, the additional taxation on non-Muslims was a critical factor that drove many dhimmis to leave their religion and accept Islam.<ref name=autogenerated1>Lewis (1984), pp. 17–18; Stillman (1979), p. 18</ref> However, in some regions the jizya on populations was significantly lower than the zakat, meaning dhimmi populations maintained an economic advantage.<ref>Klorman (2007), p. 94</ref> According to Cohen, taxation, from the perspective of dhimmis who came under Muslim rule, was "a concrete continuation of the taxes paid to earlier regimes".<ref name="Cahen"/>{{page needed|date=January 2016}} ] observes that the change from Byzantine to Arab rule was welcomed by many among the dhimmis who found the new yoke far lighter than the old, both in taxation and in other matters, and that some, even among the Christians of Syria and Egypt, preferred the rule of Islam to that of Byzantines.<ref name="Lewis p57">Lewis (2002) p. 57</ref> ] states, "the Christians were probably better off as dhimmis under Muslim-Arab rulers than they had been under the Byzantine Greeks."<ref>], ''Islamic Political Thought: The Basic Concepts'', p. 51. Quote: "The Christians were probably better off as dhimmis under Muslim-Arab rulers than they had been under the Byzantine Greeks."</ref> In some places, for example Egypt, the jizya was a ] for Christians to convert to Islam.<ref name="World"/> | |||
As recommended by many Muslim scholars, jizya was to be collected in a humiliating procedure:<blockquote>he collector remains seated and the infidel remains standing..., his head bowed and his back bent. The infidel must place money on the scales, while the collector holds him by his beard and strikes him on both cheeks.(])<ref>Al-Nawawi, ''Minhadj'', quoted in Bat Ye’or (2002), p. 70</ref></blockquote> | |||
<blockquote>Jews, Christians, and Majians must pay the jizya…on offering up the jizya, the dhimmi must hang his head while the official takes hold of his beard and hits on the protruberant bone beneath his ear …(])<ref>Kitab al-Wagiz fi Fiqh Madhab al-Imam al-Safi’i, English translation cited in Andrew Bostom (2005), p. 199.</ref></blockquote><blockquote>Following this the emir will strike the dhimmi on the neck with his fist; a man will stand near the emir to chase away the dhimmi in haste; then a second and a third will come forward to suffer the same treatment as well as all those to follow. All will be admitted to enjoy this spectacle. (]) <ref>Ahmad ad-Dardi el-Adaoui. Fetowa : ‘Réponse à une question’ Translated into French by François-Alphonse Belin. Journal Asiatique, 4th ser. 19 (1852): 107-8. English translation from Bat Ye’or (1996), p. 361-362.</ref></blockquote><blockquote>On the day of payment they shall be assembled in a public place … They should be standing there waiting in the lowest and dirtiest place. The acting officials representing the law shall be placed above them and shall adopt a threatening attitude so that it seems to them, as well as to the others, that our object is to degrade them by pretending to take their possessions. They will realize that we are doing them a favor in accepting from them the jizya and letting them go free. They then shall be dragged one by one for the exacting of payment. When paying, the dhimmi will receive a blow and will be thrown aside so that he will think that he has escaped the sword through this. This is the way that the friends of the Lord, of the first and last generations, will act toward their infidel enemies, for might belongs to Allah, to His Prophet, and to the believers. (])<ref>Georges Vajda. “Un Traité maghrébin ‘Adversus Judaeos’. Ahkam ahl al-Dhimma du Shaykh Muhammad b. Abd al-Karim al-Maghili.” In Etudes d’Orientalisme dédiées à la mémoire de Lévi-Provençal. 805-813. Paris: Masionneuve & Larose. English translation from Bat Ye’or (1996), p. 361</ref></blockquote><blockquote>The dhimmis posture during the collection of the jizya – by walking on their hands, reluctantly; on the authority of Ibn ’Abbas (]). <ref>Tabari, Ja:mi ’al-Baya:n …, ed. M. Sha:kir (Beirut, 1421/2001), vol. 10. Pp. 125-6. English translation from Andrew Bostom (2005), p. 128.</ref></blockquote> | |||
Some scholars have tried compute the relative taxation on Muslims vs non-Muslims in the early Abbasid period. According to one estimate, Muslims had an average tax rate of 17–20 dirhams per person, which rose to 30 dirhams per person when in kind levies are included.<ref name=bonney/> Non-Muslims paid either 12, 24 or 48 dirhams per person, depending on their taxation category, though most probably paid 12.<ref name=bonney>{{cite book|title=Jihad: From Qur'an to Bin Laden|author=]|publisher=]|year=2004|page=84}}</ref> | |||
Some scholars explicitly link this ritual to the interpretation of Sura {{Quran-usc|9|29}}, that jizya was not merely to be a tax, but also a symbol of humiliation:<ref name="lewis14"/> <blockquote> submissively … by coercion … directly, not trusting the trickery of an intermediary … by force … without resistance … in an unpraiseworthy manner … while you stand sits with the whip in front of you the money while he has dirt on his head. (]'s ] on Sura ])<ref>From Al-Suyuti’s Durr al-Manthu:r … (Beirut, n.d.), vol. 3, p.228. English translation from Andrew Bostom (2005), p. 127.</ref></blockquote>Abu Yusuf, however, advises against the mistreatment of dhimmis during jizya collection, saying that "they should be treated with leniency".<ref>Lewis (1984), p. 15</ref> The annual payment ritual was not followed in parts of the ], where jizya was collected from individuals by representatives of the dhimmi communities themselves.<ref name="batyeor6971"/> | |||
Dhimmis were frequently referred to by derogatory names, both in the official and in the everyday speech. In the Ottoman Empire, the official appellation for dhimmis was "raya", meaning "a herd of cattle". In the Muslim parlance, "apes" was the standard epithet for the Jews, while Christians were frequently denoted as "pigs". These animalistic parallels were rooted in the Qur'anic verses describing some People of the Book being transformed into apes and pigs (Qur'an {{Quran-usc|5|60}}).<ref>Stillman (1979), p. 214; "Kird" ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'' Online</ref> | |||
The importance of dhimmis as a source of revenue for the ] is illustrated in a letter ascribed to Umar I and cited by Abu Yusuf: "if we take dhimmis and share them out, what will be left for the Muslims who come after us? By God, Muslims would not find a man to talk to and profit from his labors."<ref>Lewis (1984), pp. 30–31.</ref> | |||
Echoing a saying attributed to Muhammad (] {{Muslim-usc|26|5389}}), Hasan al-Kafrawi, an 18th century scholar, advises that "if you encounter one of them on the road, push him into the narrowest and tightest spot".<ref>{{cite web | title=Jewish History Sourcebook: Islam and the Jews: The Status of Jews and Christians in Muslim Lands, 1772 CE| url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/jewish/1772-jewsinislam.html| accessdate=2006-05-13}}</ref> Both Muslim sources and European travelers to the Middle East describe humiliations and insults of dhimmis, and especially of the Jews. <ref name="lewis14"/> <ref> Bat Ye’or (1985), p. 64; see Lewis (1984), pp. 164–166, Stillman (1979), pp. 315–316 for some specific examples.</ref> Throwing of stones at dhimmis was a favorite amusement of Muslim children in many places from early times until nowadays.<ref name="lewis36">Lewis (1984), p. 36</ref><ref>Bat Ye’or (1985), p. 64</ref> | |||
The early Islamic scholars took a relatively humane and practical attitude towards the collection of ''jizya'', compared to the 11th century commentators writing when Islam was under threat both at home and abroad.<ref name="Lewis 1984 p. 15">Lewis (1984), p. 15.</ref> | |||
====Distinctive clothing==== | |||
:''See also ]'' | |||
For dhimmis to be clearly distinguishable from Muslims in public, Muslim rulers often prohibited dhimmis from wearing certain types of clothing, while forcing them to put on highly distinctive garments, usually of a bright color. To increase the debasement of non-Muslims, the clothes usually had to be made of rough fabrics and were often incongruous. Although ] for non-Muslims was not spelled out in Islamic holy texts, Muslim scholars still agreed that dhimmis must not wear the same clothing as Muslims do; frequently, these scholars cited the Pact of Umar in which Christians supposedly took an obligation to "always dress in the same way wherever we may be, and ... bind the zunar round our waists". Al-Nawawi required dhimmis to wear a piece of yellow cloth and a belt, as well as a metallic ring, inside public baths.<ref>Al-Nawawi, ''Minhadj'', quoted in Bat Ye’or (2002), p. 91</ref> | |||
The jurist Abu Yusuf, the chief judge of the caliph ], rules as follows regarding the manner of collecting the jizya<ref name="Lewis 1984 p. 15" /> | |||
Regulations on dhimmi clothing varied frequently to please the whims of the ruler. Although the initiation of such regulations is usually attributed to Umar I, historical evidence suggests that it was the Abbasid caliphs who pioneered this practice. In 807, ] ordered that Jews should wear high cone caps and yellow belts, the first prototypes of the ]; Christians had to wear blue belts. These distinction marks became obsolete in 849 when ] ordered dhimmis to put a yellow veil on their heads and shoulders and wear a wide belt. He also required them to wear small bells in public baths. In the 11th century, the ] caliph ] ordered Christians to put on half-meter wooden crosses and Jews to wear wooden ] around their necks. In the late 12th century, Almohad ruler ] ordered the Jews of the Maghreb to wear dark blue garments with long sleeves and saddle-like caps. His grandson ] made a concession after appeals from the Jews, relaxing the required clothing to yellow garments and turbans. In the 16th century, Jews of the Maghreb could only wear sandals made of rushes and black turbans or caps with a red piece of garment on it.<ref name="cloth">Bat Ye’or (2002), pp. 91–96</ref> | |||
{{Blockquote|No one of the people of the dhimma should be beaten in order to exact payment of the jizya, nor made to stand in the hot sun, nor should hateful things be inflicted upon their bodies, or anything of that sort. Rather they should be treated with leniency.}} | |||
] sultans were similarly diligent and inventive in regulating the clothings of their non-Muslim subjects. In 1577, ] issued a ] forbidding Jews and Christians from wearing dresses, turbans, and sandals. In 1580, he changed his mind, restricting the previous prohibition to turbans and requiring dhimmis to wear black shoes; Jews and Christians also had to wear red and black hats, respectively. Observing in 1730 that some Muslims took to the habit of wearing caps similar to those of the Jews, ] ordered the hanging of the perpetrators. ] personally helped to enforce his decrees regarding clothes. In 1758, he was walking incognito in ] and ordered the beheading of a Jew and an ] seen dressed in forbidden attire. The last Ottoman decree affirming the distinctive clothing for dhimmis was issued in 1837 by ]. Discriminatory clothing did not exist only in those Ottoman provinces where Christians were in majority, e.g. in Greece and the Balkans.<ref name="cloth" /><!--In Persia, Zoroastrians were obliged to wear torn caps.--> | |||
In the border provinces, dhimmis were sometimes recruited for military operations. In such cases, they were exempted from jizya for the year of service.<ref>"Djizya (i)", '']'' Online</ref> | |||
====Riding==== | |||
Dhimmis were forbidden to ride horses or camels; they were only allowed to ride donkeys and only on packsaddles, a prohibition that has its roots in the Pact of Umar.<ref name="pactofumar"/> In the 18th century, Damanhuri, rector of ], summed up the consensus of Islamic jurists: "Neither Jew nor Christian should ride a horse, with or without saddle. They may ride asses with a packsaddle." <ref>Bat Ye’or (2002), p. 97</ref> An additional requirement for dhimmis was not ride astride, but only sidesaddle, like a woman. <ref>Lewis (1984), p. 36</ref> In the ] Egypt, where non-Mamluk Muslims were not allowed to ride horses and camels, dhimmis were prohibited even from riding donkeys inside cities.<ref>Stillman (1979), p. 471</ref> The same prohibition imposed on dhimmis was recorded in the 19th century in Damascus,<ref name="batyeor68">Bat Ye’or (1985), p. 63</ref> as well as in ].<ref>Stillman (1979), p. 417</ref> | |||
===Administration of law=== | |||
European travelers passing through the Middle East in the 18th and 19th centuries left ample evidence of the careful enforcement of prohibitions on horseback riding. Danish traveler ] wrote in 1761 that in Egypt, Jews and Christians were forced to alight while passing the houses of notable Muslims and when meeting such notables in the street. <ref>Bat Ye’or (2002), p. 98</ref> A Frenchman visiting Cairo in 1697 recorded the same situation. In Yemen and in the rural areas of Morocco, Lybia, Iraq, and Persia, dhimmis had to dismount from a mule when passing a Muslim. <ref name="batyeor68"/> | |||
Religious pluralism existed in medieval Islamic law and ]. The religious laws and courts of other religions, including Christianity, Judaism and Hinduism, were usually accommodated within the Islamic legal framework, as exemplified in the ], ], ] and Indian subcontinent.<ref name="Weeramantry-138">{{cite book|last=Weeramantry|first=Judge Christopher G.|title=Justice Without Frontiers: Furthering Human Rights|year=1997|publisher=]|isbn=978-90-411-0241-6|page=138}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Islamic Roots of Democratic Pluralism|first=Abdulaziz Abdulhussein|last=Sachedina|year=2001|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-513991-4|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/islamic_sac_2001_00_4172}}</ref> In medieval Islamic societies, the qadi (Islamic judge) usually could not interfere in the matters of non-Muslims unless the parties voluntarily chose to be judged according to Islamic law. The dhimmi communities living in Islamic states usually had their own laws independent from the Sharia law, such as the Jews who had their own Halakha courts.<ref>{{cite book|title=Under Crescent and Cross: The Jews in the Middle Ages|author=Mark R. Cohen|publisher=]|year=1995|isbn=978-0-691-01082-3|page=74|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fgbib5exskUC&q=cohen+Under+Crescent+and+Cross|access-date=10 April 2010|author-link=Mark R. Cohen}}</ref> | |||
Dhimmis were allowed to operate their own courts following their own legal systems. However, dhimmis frequently attended the Muslim courts in order to record property and business transactions within their own communities. Cases were taken out against Muslims, against other dhimmis and even against members of the dhimmi's own family. Dhimmis often took cases relating to marriage, divorce or inheritance to the Muslim courts so these cases would be decided under sharia law. Oaths sworn by dhimmis in the Muslim courts were sometimes the same as the oaths taken by Muslims, sometimes tailored to the dhimmis' beliefs.<ref name="al-Qattan-99 2">al-Qattan (1999)</ref> | |||
====Dwelling places==== | |||
The dhimmis’ obligation not to build houses higher than those of Muslims is one of the clauses of the Pact of Umar, <ref name="pactofumar"/> supported as a desirable condition of ‘’dhimma’’ by the consensus opinion of Islamic scholars. <ref>Al-Mawardi (2000), p. 161</ref> The rule was not always enforced; for example, no such laws were recorded in Muslim Spain, and in Tunisia Jews owned fine houses. <ref>Bat Ye’or (1985), p. 62</ref> Sometimes, Muslim rulers issued regulations requiring dhimmis to attach distinctive signs to their houses. In the 9th century, Abbasid caliph ] ordered dhimmis to nail wooden images of devils to the doors of their homes. <ref>Al-Tabari, ''Ta'rikh al-Rusul wa 'l-Muluk'', translated in Stillman (1979), p. 167</ref> At about the same time in Tunisia, a ''qadi'' of the ] dynasty compelled dhimmis to nail onto their doors a board bearing the sign of a monkey. <ref>Al-Maliki, ''Riyad an-Nufus'', translated in Bat Ye’or (1985), p. 186; see also "Kird", Encyclopaedia of Islam Online (2006)</ref> In ], Jews had to hang a piece of cloth out of their houses so that they could be distinguished from those of Muslims. <ref>Bat Ye’or (1985), p. 64</ref> | |||
Muslim men could generally marry dhimmi women who are considered People of the Book, however Islamic jurists rejected the possibility any non-Muslim man might marry a Muslim woman.<ref>Al-Mawardi (2000), p. 161; Friedmann (2003), p. 161; Lewis (1984), p. 27.</ref> Bernard Lewis notes that "similar position existed under the laws of Byzantine Empire, according to which a Christian could marry a Jewish woman, but a Jew could not marry a Christian woman under pain of death".<ref name="Lewis 1984, p. 27"/> | |||
Dhimmis were seldom prohibited from living in certain places, but there were some exceptions. In Morocco, where beginning from the 15th century and especially since the early 19th century, Jews were confined to ]s — walled quarters, similar to ]an ]s. Jews were also forced to live in separate quarters in Persia. Neither Jews, nor Christians were allowed to live in Hejaz after Umar I had expelled them. <ref>Lewis (1984), p. 28</ref> | |||
== |
==Relevant texts== | ||
Islamic jurists reject the possibility that a dhimmi man (and generally any non-Muslim) may marry a Muslim woman.<ref>Al-Mawardi (2000), p. 161; Friedmann (2003), p. 161; Lewis (1984), p. 27; Bat Ye'or (1985), p. 62</ref> Based on the Quranic verses {{Quran-usc|2|221}}, {{Quran-usc|60|10}}, and {{Quran-usc|5|5}}, the consensus opinion is that such a marriage would lead to an incompatibility between the superiority of a woman by virtue of her being a Muslim and her unavoidable subservience to a non-Muslim husband. As some Muslim scholars put it, marriage is like enslavement, with the husband being the master and the wife being the slave, and thus just like dhimmis are prohibited from having Muslim slaves, so dhimmi men are not allowed to have Muslim wives. Following the same logic, Muslim men were allowed to marry women of the "]" because the enslavement of non-Muslims by Muslims is allowed.<ref>Friedmann (2003), pp. 161–162</ref> Touching a sensitive point of the Muslim psyche, this prohibition was enforced with the utmost rigor,<ref>Lewis (1984), p. 27</ref> with any violations of it, including a sexual relationship between a non-Muslim man and a Muslim woman, being punishable by death.<ref>Bat Ye'or (1985), p. 62; Friedmann (2003), p. 163</ref> All schools of ], with the exception of ], treated dhimmis who married or engaged in sexual relations with Muslim women like adulterers, for whom the punishment is death by ].<ref>Al-Mawardi (2000), p. 243</ref> In cases when a non-Muslim wife converts to Islam, while her non-Muslim husband does not, their marriage is annulled.<ref>Friedmann (2003), pp. 163–164</ref> | |||
===Quranic verses as a basis for Islamic policies toward dhimmis=== | |||
===Shi'a ritual purity=== | |||
Lewis states | |||
Shi'a Islam devotes much attention to the issues of ritual purity — tahara. Shi'a jurists have commonly deemed the Non-Muslims to be ritually unclean— ] — so that certain physical contact with them or things they touched with wet hands would require Shi'as to wash themselves before doing regular prayers. Opinions of modern Shi'a scholars range from ]'s view that all non-Muslims are unclean<ref>Lewis (1984), p. 34</ref> to the position held by ] that Jews and Christians are clean.<ref> URL accessed on ], ]</ref> In Persia, where Shi'ism is dominant, these beliefs brought about restrictions that aimed at limiting physical contact between Muslims and dhimmis. Persian Muslims sought to limit contact with non-Muslims by requiring them to settle in separate parts of the city, banning them from public baths, or demanding them not to go out in rain or snow.<ref>Lewis (1984), pp. 33–34; Bat Ye’or (2002), p. 103; Littman (1979), p. 3</ref> | |||
* ] "Let there be no compulsion in religion: ...",{{qref|2|256|s=y}} means non-Muslims should not be forced to adopt Islam<ref name="Lewis14">Lewis (1984) p. 13</ref> | |||
* The phrase "Unto you your religion, and unto me my religion.", from {{qref|109|6|c=y}} has been used as a "proof-text for pluralism and coexistence".<ref name="Lewis14" /> | |||
* {{qref|2|62|c=y}} has served to justify the tolerated position accorded to the followers of ], ], and ] under Muslim rule.<ref name="Lewis14" /> | |||
===Hadith=== | |||
==Consequences of ''dhimma''== | |||
Over the course of many centuries, ''dhimma'' gradually led to the conversion of most Zoroastrians and Christians to Islam, but had a limited impact on the Jews. Zoroastrianism was the first to crumble after the Muslim conquest of ]. Closely associated with the power structures of the Persian Empire, Zoroastrian clergy quickly declined after it was deprived of the state support.<ref name="conseq">Lewis (1984), p. 17–18; Stillman (1979), p. 27</ref> | |||
A hadith by Muhammad, "Whoever killed a {{transl|ar|DIN|muʿāhid}} (a person who is granted the pledge of protection by the Muslims) shall not smell the fragrance of Paradise though its fragrance can be smelt at a distance of forty years (of traveling).",<ref>{{Bukhari|bukhari|6914|b=yl}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first1=Yaser|last1=Ellethy|date=2014|title=Islam, Context, Pluralism and Democracy: Classical and Modern Interpretations ''(Islamic Studies Series)''|publisher=]|isbn=978-1138800304|pages=124–125}}</ref> is cited as a foundation for the right of non-Muslim citizens to live peacefully and undisturbed in an ].<ref name="Tahir-ul-Qadri1">{{cite book|first1=Muhammad|last1=Tahir-ul-Qadri|author-link=Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri|date=2011|title=Fatwa on Terrorism and Suicide Bombings|pages=98–99|publisher=]|isbn=978-0-9551888-9-3|title-link=Fatwa on Terrorism}}</ref> Anwar Shah Kashmiri writes in his commentary on ] ''Fayd al-Bari'' on this hadith: "You know the gravity of sin for killing a Muslim, for its odiousness has reached the point of disbelief, and it necessitates that forever. As for killing a non-Muslim citizen , it is similarly no small matter, for the one who does it will not smell the fragrance of Paradise."<ref name="Tahir-ul-Qadri1"/> | |||
For Christians, the process of conversion was slower — it is possible that as late as at the time of the ] Christians still constituted a majority of the population — but no less inexorable. The switch from a dominant to an inferior position proved too difficult for many Christians and they converted to Islam in large numbers to avoid oppression. Christianity disappeared altogether in ], ], and ], when it was subjected to persecution by the Almohads. Christians continued to live in ], ], and ], but their numbers were still reduced to a tiny minority. The relative resiliency of Christians in those countries stemmed from their subordinated position in the Byzantine Empire, which made them more amenable to accepting Muslim supremacy; he suggests that many of them felt better under the early Muslim rule than under the Byzantines.<ref name="conseq" /> | |||
A similar hadith in regard to the status of the dhimmis: "Whoever wrongs one with whom a compact (treaty) has been made '''' and lays on him a burden beyond his strength, I will be his accuser."<ref>Majid Khadduri: ''War and Peace in the Law of Islam'', p. 175</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = al-Zuḥaylī | first = Wahbah | author-link = Wahbah al-Zuhayli | title = ʾĀthar al-ḥarb fī l-fiqh al-Islāmī : dirāsah muqārinah | publisher = Dār al-Fikr | location = ] | year = 1998 | isbn = 978-1-57547-453-3 | page = 708 }} Quote: «» Translation:</ref> | |||
Jews, were the least affected. Accustomed to survival in adverse circumstances after many centuries of Roman and Byzantine persecutions, Jews saw the Islamic conquests as a just another change of rulers; this time, not necessarily for the worse. Voluntary conversion among the Jews was rare, and they managed to preserve their religion all over the Muslim lands.<ref name="conseq" /> | |||
===Constitution of Medina=== | |||
==''Dhimma'' in the modern world== | |||
The enforcement of the laws of the dhimma was widespread in the Muslim world until the mid-nineteenth century, when the ] significantly relaxed the restrictions placed on its non-Muslim residents.<ref>Spencer (2005), p. 51</ref> These relaxations occurred gradually as part of the ] reform movement, which began in ] with the accession of the Ottoman Sultan ].<ref>"1839-61", Online</ref> | |||
The ], a formal agreement between Muhammad and all the significant tribes and families of Medina (including Muslims, Jews and pagans), declared that non-Muslims in the ] had the following rights:<ref>Ahmed (1979), pp. 46–47.</ref> | |||
On ], ], an edict called the ] was put forth by the Sultan that, in part, proclaimed the principle of the equality of all subjects regardless of religion. Part of the motivation for this was the desire to gain support from the ], whose help was desired in a conflict with ]. <ref>"1839 Nov. 3", Online</ref> | |||
# The security (''dhimma'') of God is equal for all groups,<ref>Article 15, as quoted in Ahmed (1979), pp. 46–47.</ref> | |||
# Non-Muslim members have equal political and cultural rights as Muslims. They will have autonomy and freedom of religion.<ref>Article 25, as quoted in Ahmed (1979), pp. 46–47.</ref> | |||
# Non-Muslims will take up arms against the enemy of the ] and share the cost of war. There is to be no treachery between the two.<ref>Article 37, as quoted in Ahmed (1979), pp. 46–47.</ref> | |||
# Non-Muslims will not be obliged to take part in religious wars of the Muslims.<ref>Article 45, as quoted in Ahmed (1979), pp. 46–47.</ref> | |||
===Khaybar agreement=== | |||
On ], ], another edict was issued called ], which built upon the 1839 edict. It came about partly as a result of pressure from and the efforts of the ambassadors of England, France, and Austria, whose respective countries were needed as allies in the ]. It again proclaimed the principle of the equality of Muslims and non-Muslims, and produced many specific reforms to this end. For example, the ''jizya'' tax was abolished and non-Muslims were allowed to join the army. <ref>"1856, Feb. 18", Online</ref><ref>Lapidus (1988), p. 599</ref><ref>Lapidus (2002), p. 495</ref> | |||
A precedent for the dhimma contract was established with the agreement between Muhammad and the Jews after the ], an oasis near ]. ] was the first territory attacked and conquered by Muslims. When the Jews of Khaybar surrendered to Muhammad after a siege, Muhammad allowed them to remain in Khaybar in return for handing over to the Muslims one half their annual produce.<ref name="Lewis">Lewis (1984), pp. 10–11</ref> | |||
Today, the laws of the dhimma are enforced only sporadically in the Muslim world.<ref>Spencer (2005), p. 59</ref> | |||
== |
===Pact of Umar=== | ||
{{Main|Pact of Umar}} | |||
*] | |||
The ], traditionally believed to be between caliph ] and the conquered Jerusalem Christians in the seventh century, was another source of regulations pertaining to dhimmis. However, Western ] doubt the authenticity of the pact, arguing it is usually the victors and not the vanquished who impose rather than propose, the terms of peace, and that it is highly unlikely that the people who spoke no Arabic and knew nothing of Islam could draft such a document. Academic historians believe the Pact of Umar in the form it is known today was a product of later jurists who attributed it to Umar in order to lend greater authority to their own opinions. The similarities between the Pact of Umar and the ] and ] of the ] suggest that perhaps much of the Pact of Umar was borrowed from these earlier codes by later Islamic jurists. At least some of the clauses of the pact mirror the measures first introduced by the ] caliph ] or by the early ] caliphs.<ref>Lewis (1984), pp. 24–25.</ref> | |||
*] | |||
*] | |||
==Cultural interactions and cultural differences== | |||
*] | |||
During the Middle Ages, local associations known as '']'' clubs developed across the Islamic lands. There were usually several futuwwah in each town. These clubs catered to varying interests, primarily sports, and might involve distinctive manners of dress and custom. They were known for their hospitality, idealism and loyalty to the group. They often had a militaristic aspect, purportedly for the mutual protection of the membership. These clubs commonly crossed social strata, including among their membership local notables, dhimmi and slaves – to the exclusion of those associated with the local ruler, or ].<ref>], ''] Conscience and History in a World Civilization Vol 2''. ], 1961, pp. 126–127.</ref> | |||
*] | |||
*] | |||
Muslims and Jews were sometimes partners in trade, with the Muslim taking days off on Fridays and Jews taking off on Saturdays.<ref>], ''] Conscience and History in a World Civilization Vol. 1''. ], 1961, p. 302.</ref> | |||
*] | |||
*] | |||
Andrew Wheatcroft describes how some social customs such as different conceptions of dirt and cleanliness made it difficult for the religious communities to live close to each other, either under Muslim or under Christian rule.<ref>Wheatcroft (2003) p. 73.</ref> | |||
*] | |||
*] | |||
== In modern times == | |||
*] | |||
The dhimma and the jizya poll tax are no longer imposed in Muslim majority countries.<ref name="El Fadl"/><ref name=iwt738>{{cite book|title=Islam in the World Today|date=2010|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=978-0801445712|page=738|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-dM4hPlxMw8C&pg=PA738|author=Werner Ende|author2=Udo Steinbach }}</ref> In the 21st century, jizya is widely regarded as being at odds with contemporary secular conceptions of citizens' civil rights and equality before the law, although there have been occasional reports of religious minorities in conflict zones and areas subject to political instability being forced to pay jizya.<ref name="ipt-p283">{{cite book|title=The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought|date=2012|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0691134840|pages=283–284|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q1I0pcrFFSUC&pg=PA283|author=Matthew Long (jizya entry author)}}</ref> | |||
In 2009 it was claimed that a group of militants that referred to themselves as the ] imposed the ''jizya'' on ] minority ] after occupying some of their homes and kidnapping a Sikh leader.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20090417/world.htm#6|title=The Tribune, Chandigarh, India – World|website=www.tribuneindia.com}}</ref> | |||
In 2013, the ] in ] occupied the town of ] immediately following ] on 3 July, and reportedly imposed ''jizya'' on the 15,000 Christian ] living there.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/sep/10/egypts-muslim-brotherhood-convert-islam-or-pay-jiz/|title=Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood to Coptic Christians: Convert to Islam, or pay 'jizya' tax|newspaper=]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aina.org/news/20130913143703.htm|title=Two Christians Murdered in Egypt for Refusing to Pay Jizya to Muslims|website=www.aina.org}}</ref> However, in autumn of that same year Egyptian authorities were able to retake control of the town following two prior failed attempts.<ref name="Guardian92013">{{cite news |author=Patrick Kingsley |date=16 September 2013 |title=Egyptian authorities recapture Islamist-held town: Morsi supporters had held Delga since his overthrow in July and unleashed a campaign of terror against Christian minority |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/16/egyptian-police-recapture-islamist-town-delga |accessdate=20 September 2013 |newspaper=The Guardian |location=Minya province}}</ref> | |||
In February 2014, the ] (ISIL) announced that it intended to extract jizya from Christians in the city of ], Syria, which it controlled at the time. Christians who refused to accept the dhimma contract and pay the tax were to have to either convert to Islam, leave or be executed. Wealthy Christians would have to pay half an ounce of gold, the equivalent of ]664 twice a year; middle-class Christians were to have to pay half that amount and poorer ones were to be charged one-fourth that amount.<ref name="raqqa">{{cite magazine|url=https://world.time.com/2014/02/28/al-qaeda-in-syria-extorts-christians/|title=Al-Qaeda Rebels in Syria Tell Christians to Pay Up or Die|magazine=Time|last1=Baker|first1=Aryn}}</ref> In June 2014 the ] reported that ISIL claims to have collected jizya and fay.<ref name="ISWJune30">{{cite web|last1=Caris|first1=Charlie|title=The Islamic State Announces Caliphate|url=http://iswiraq.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/the-islamic-state-announces-caliphate.html|publisher=Institute for the Study of War|access-date=1 July 2014}}</ref> On 18 July 2014 ISIL ordered the Christians in ] to accept the dhimma contract and pay the jizya or convert to Islam. If they refused to accept either of the options they would be killed.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-28381455 |title=Iraqi Christians flee after Isis issue Mosul ultimatum |date=18 July 2014 |publisher=BBC |access-date=30 December 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140724045752/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-28381455 |archive-date=24 July 2014 }}</ref> | |||
==See also== | |||
{{Portal|Islam}} | |||
* {{annotated link|Dhimmitude}} | |||
* {{annotated link|Gentile}} | |||
* {{annotated link|Islam and other religions}} | |||
* {{annotated link|Ger toshav}} | |||
* {{annotated link|Jizyah}} | |||
* {{annotated link|Musta'min}} | |||
* {{annotated link|Persecution of Buddhists}} | |||
* {{annotated link|Persecution of Christians}} | |||
* {{annotated link|Persecution of Hindus}} | |||
* {{annotated link|Persecution of Jews}} | |||
* {{annotated link|Persecution of Sikhs}} | |||
* {{annotated link|Religious discrimination}} | |||
* {{annotated link|Zunnar}} | |||
==Notes== | ==Notes== | ||
{{Reflist|30em}} | |||
<div class="references-small"><references /></div> | |||
== |
==References== | ||
{{Refbegin|30em}} | |||
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* {{cite book|last=Ahmad |first=Barakat |author-link=Barakat Ahmad |year=1979 |title=Muhammad and the Jews |publisher=Vikas Publishing House}} | |||
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* {{cite book | author=Bat Ye'or | title=The Dhimmi: Jews and Christians under Islam | publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson University Press | location=Madison/Teaneck, NJ | year=1985 | id=ISBN 0838632629}} | |||
* {{Cite journal|first = Muhammad| last=Abdel-Haleem|author-link=Muhammad Abdel-Haleem |title = The jizya Verse (Q. 9:29): Tax Enforcement on Non-Muslims in the First Muslim State|journal = Journal of Qur'anic Studies|date = 2012|issn = 1465-3591|volume = 14|issue = 2| pages=72–89|doi = 10.3366/jqs.2012.0056}} | |||
* {{cite journal | last = Bravmann | first = Meïr M. | year = 1966 | title = The ancient background of the Qur’ānic Concept Al-Ğizyatu ‘an Yadin | journal = Arabica | volume = 13}} | |||
* {{cite |
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* Bosworth, C. E. (1982). ''The Concept of Dhimma in Early Islam'' In Benjamin Braude and B. Lewis, eds., ''Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Empire: The Functioning of a Plural Society'' 2 vols., New York: Holmes & Meier Publishing. ISBN |
* Bosworth, C. E. (1982). ''The Concept of Dhimma in Early Islam'' In Benjamin Braude and B. Lewis, eds., ''Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Empire: The Functioning of a Plural Society'' 2 vols., New York: Holmes & Meier Publishing. {{ISBN|0-8419-0520-7}} | ||
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* {{cite book|first=Hugh |last=Goddard |title=A History of Christian-Muslim Relations |location=Chicago |publisher=New Amsterdam Books |year=2000 |isbn=978-1-56663-340-6}} | ||
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* {{cite journal | last = Littman | first = David | authorlink = David Littman (historian) | year = 1979 | title = Jews Under Muslim Rule: The Case Of Persia | journal = The Wiener Library Bulletin | volume = XXXII|issue=New series 49/50}} | |||
* {{cite book |last=Karsh |first=Ephraim |title=Islamic Imperialism: A History |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-300-10603-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/islamicimperiali00kars }} | |||
* {{cite book | author=] | title=The Ordnances of Government (''Al-Ahkam al-Sultaniyya w’al-Wilayat al-Diniyya'') | publisher=Garnet Publishing | location=Lebanon | year=2000 | id=ISBN 1859641407}} | |||
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* {{cite book|last=Lapidus |first=Ira M. |title=A History of Islamic Societies|publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-521-77933-3|edition=2nd }} | ||
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* {{cite book |first=Bernard |last=Lewis |author-link=Bernard Lewis |title=The Arabs in History |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-19-280310-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/arabsinhistory00bern }} | ||
* {{cite book|first=Bernard |last=Lewis |title=The Jews of Islam |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton |year=1984 |isbn=978-0-691-00807-3|title-link=The Jews of Islam }} | |||
* {{cite encyclopedia | last = Viré| first = F | editor = P.J. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, ], E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs | encyclopedia =] Online| title = Kird | publisher = Brill Academic Publishers | id = ISSN 1573-3912}} | |||
* {{cite book | |
* {{cite book | last=Esposito | first=John L. | author-link= John Esposito | date=1998 | title=Islam: The Straight Path | publisher=] | isbn=978-0-19-511233-7 | title-link=Islam: The Straight Path }} | ||
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* {{cite book | first=Robert | last=Spencer | title=The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) | publisher=Regnery Publishing, Inc. | year=2005 | id=ISBN 0895260131}} | |||
* {{cite book|author=Al-Mawardi |title=The Ordinances of Government (''Al-Ahkam al-Sultaniyya w'al-Wilayat al-Diniyya'') |publisher=Garnet Publishing |location=Lebanon |year=2000 |isbn=978-1-85964-140-8|author-link=Al-Mawardi }} | |||
* {{cite book |first=Tudor |last=Parfitt |author-link=Tudor Parfitt |title=Israel and Ishmael : Studies in Muslim-Jewish Relations |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-312-22228-4 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/israelandish_xxxx_2000_000_6874787 }} | |||
* {{cite book|first=Samantha|last=Power |title=A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide |publisher=Harper Perennial |location=New York |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-06-054164-4|title-link=A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide }} | |||
* {{cite journal|first=Najwa |last= al-Qattan |title=Dhimmis in the Muslim Court: Legal Autonomy and Religious Discrimination |journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies |volume=31 |issue=3 |pages=429–444 |year=1999|issn=0020-7438|doi=10.1017/S0020743800055501|s2cid= 159763960 }} | |||
* {{Cite book|title = War and Peace in Islam: The Uses and Abuses of Jihad|author = Ghazi Muhammad|author-link = Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad|publisher = The Islamic Texts Society Cambridge|year = 2013|isbn = 978-1-903682-83-8|last2 = Ibrahim|first2 = Kalin|author3-link = Mohammad Hashim Kamali|first3 = Mohammad Hashim|last3 = Kamali|url = http://rissc.jo/books/War-Peace-Islam.pdf|ref = CITEREFGhaziKalinKamali2013|access-date = 21 May 2016|archive-date = 9 July 2017|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170709055514/http://rissc.jo/books/War-Peace-Islam.pdf|url-status = dead}} | |||
* {{cite book |first=Norman |last=Stillman |title=The Jews of Arab Lands: A History and Source Book |url=https://archive.org/details/jewsofarablands00stil |url-access=registration |publisher=Jewish Publication Society of America |location=Philadelphia |year=1979 |isbn=978-1-82760-198-4 }} | |||
* {{cite book |first=Arthur S. |last=Tritton |author-link=Arthur Stanley Tritton |title=The Caliphs and their non-Muslim Subjects: a Critical Study of the Covenant of Umar |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.175667 |publisher=Humphrey Milford/Oxford University Press |location=London |year=1930 }} | |||
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Viré|first=F |editor=P.J. Bearman |editor2=Th. Bianquis |editor3=] |editor4=E. van Donzel |editor5=W.P. Heinrichs |encyclopedia=] Online|title=Kird |publisher=Brill Academic Publishers |issn=1573-3912}} | |||
* {{cite book|last=Waines |first=David |title=An Introduction to Islam |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-521-53906-7}} | |||
* {{cite book|first=Hans |last=Wehr |title=A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic |editor=J. Milton Cowan |publisher=Spoken Language Services, Inc. |location=Ithaca, New York |year=1976 |isbn=978-0-87950-001-6}} | |||
* {{cite book|first=Andrew |last=Wheatcroft |title=Infidels: A History of the Conflict between Christendom and Islam |publisher=Penguin Books |year=2003|isbn=978-0-14-025738-0}} | |||
{{Refend}} | |||
==Further reading== | ==Further reading== | ||
{{refbegin|30em}} | |||
* {{cite book | first=Jamsheed | last=Choksy | title=Conflict and Cooperation: Zoroastrian Subalterns and Muslim Elites in Medieval Iranian Society | location=New York | year=1997}} | |||
* Nabil Luka Babawi: ''Les droits et les devoirs des chrétiens dans l'état islamique et leurs conséquences sur la sécurité nationale'', thèse de doctorat. {{ISBN?}} | |||
* {{cite book | first=Antoine | last=Fattal | title=Le statut légal des non-musulmans en pays d’Islam (in French) | location=Beirut | year=1958}} | |||
* {{cite book | first=Karl | last=Binswanger |title=Untersuchungen zum Status der Nichtmuslime im Osmanischen Reich des 16. Jahrhunderts | journal= Diss. Phil.| language=de| location= München|date= 1977| isbn=978-3-87828-108-5 }} | |||
* {{cite book | author=Goitein, S. D. |authorlink=Shelomo Dov Goitein| title=The Mediterranean Society: The Jewish Communities of the Arab World as Portrayed in the Documents of the Cairo Geniza (4 vols.) | location=Berkeley and Los Angeles | year=1967-71}} | |||
* {{cite book|first=Jamsheed |last=Choksy |title=Conflict and Cooperation: Zoroastrian Subalterns and Muslim Elites in Medieval Iranian Society |location=New York |year=1997}}{{ISBN?}} | |||
* Mark. R. Cohen: ''Under Crescent and Cross: The Jews in the Middle Ages.'' Princeton University Press, 1994.{{ISBN?}} | |||
* {{cite book|first=Antoine |last=Fattal |title=Le statut légal des non-musulmans en pays d'Islam| language=fr |location=Beirut |year=1958}}{{ISBN?}} | |||
* ] and ], eds, ''The legal status of ḏimmī-s in the Islamic West (second/eighth-ninth/fifteenth centuries)'' (Turnhoult, 2013).{{ISBN?}} | |||
* {{cite journal | first=Yohanan | last=Friedmann | title=Classification of Unbelievers in Sunnī Muslim Law and Tradition | journal=Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam | issue= 22 |date=1998 |ref= pp. 163–195 }} | |||
* {{cite book|author=Goitein, S. D. |author-link=Shelomo Dov Goitein|title=The Mediterranean Society: The Jewish Communities of the Arab World as Portrayed in the Documents of the Cairo Geniza (4 vols.) |url=https://archive.org/details/mediterraneansoc0002goit |url-access=registration |location=Berkeley and Los Angeles |year=1967–71|isbn=978-0520018679 }} | |||
* {{cite book |first=Martin |last=Gilbert |author-link=Martin Gilbert |title=In Ishmael's house: a History of Jews in Muslim Lands|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven, Conn.|year=2010|isbn=978-0300167153}} | |||
* Nicola Melis, "Il concetto di ğihād", in P. Manduchi (a cura di), ''Dalla penna al mouse. Gli strumenti di diffusione del concetto di ğihād'', Angeli, Milano 2006, pp. 23–54. {{ISBN?}} | |||
* Nicola Melis, "Lo statuto giuridico degli ebrei dell'Impero Ottomano", in M. Contu – N. Melis – G. Pinna (a cura di), ''Ebraismo e rapporti con le culture del Mediterraneo nei secoli XVIII–XX'', Giuntina, Firenze 2003. | |||
* Nicola Melis, ''Trattato sulla guerra. Il Kitāb al-ğihād di Molla Hüsrev'', Aipsa, Cagliari 2002.{{ISBN?}} | |||
* Mohammad Amin Al-Midani: "La question des minorités et le statut des non-musulmans en Islam." In: ''La religion est-elle un obstacle à l'application des droits de l'homme?.'' colloque tenu les 10–11 décembre 2004 à Lyon. | |||
* M. Levy-Rubin: "Shurut 'Umar and its alternatives: the legal debate on the status of the dhimmis." In: ''Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam.'' 30/2005 | |||
* Pessah Shinar: "Some remarks regarding the colours of male Jewish dress in North Africa and their Arabic-Islamic context." In: ''].'' 24/2000, pp. 380–395 | |||
{{refend}} | |||
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==External links== | ||
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* . {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090108230817/http://www.guidedones.com/metapage/non_muslims/Qislamtol10.htm |date=8 January 2009 }}. | |||
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* from the of the | |||
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* . {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010401012040/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/med/lewis1.html |date=1 April 2001 }}. | |||
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Latest revision as of 07:50, 15 December 2024
Non-Muslims living in an Islamic state
Dhimmī (Arabic: ذمي ḏimmī, IPA: [ˈðimmiː], collectively أهل الذمة ʾahl aḏ-ḏimmah/dhimmah "the people of the covenant") or muʿāhid (معاهد) is a historical term for non-Muslims living in an Islamic state with legal protection. The word literally means "protected person", referring to the state's obligation under sharia to protect the individual's life, property, as well as freedom of religion, in exchange for loyalty to the state and payment of the jizya tax, in contrast to the zakat, or obligatory alms, paid by the Muslim subjects. Dhimmi were exempt from military service and other duties assigned specifically to Muslims if they paid the poll tax (jizya) but were otherwise equal under the laws of property, contract, and obligation.
Historically, dhimmi status was originally applied to Jews, Christians, and Sabians, who are considered "People of the Book" in Islamic theology. Later, this status was also applied to Zoroastrians, Sikhs, Hindus, Jains, and Buddhists.
Jews, Christians and others were required to pay the jizyah, and forced conversions were forbidden.
During the rule of al-Mutawakkil, the tenth Abbasid Caliph, numerous restrictions reinforced the second-class citizen status of dhimmīs and forced their communities into ghettos. For instance, they were required to distinguish themselves from their Muslim neighbors by their dress. They were not permitted to build new churches or synagogues or repair old churches without Muslim consent according to the Pact of Umar.
Under Sharia, the dhimmi communities were usually governed by their own laws in place of some of the laws applicable to the Muslim community. For example, the Jewish community of Medina was allowed to have its own Halakhic courts, and the Ottoman millet system allowed its various dhimmi communities to rule themselves under separate legal courts. These courts did not cover cases that involved religious groups outside of their own communities, or capital offences. Dhimmi communities were also allowed to engage in certain practices that were usually forbidden for the Muslim community, such as the consumption of alcohol and pork.
Some Muslims reject the dhimma system by arguing that it is a system which is inappropriate in the age of nation-states and democracies. There is a range of opinions among 20th-century and contemporary Islamic theologians about whether the notion of dhimma is appropriate for modern times, and, if so, what form it should take in an Islamic state.
There are differences among the Islamic Madhhabs regarding which non-Muslims can pay jizya and have dhimmi status. The Hanafi and Maliki Madhabs generally allow non-Muslims to have dhimmi status. In contrast, the Shafi'i and Hanbali Madhabs only allow Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians to have dhimmi status, and they maintain that all other non-Muslims must either convert to Islam or be fought.
The "Dhimma contract"
Based on Quranic verses and Islamic traditions, sharia law distinguishes between Muslims, followers of other Abrahamic religions, and Pagans or people belonging to other polytheistic religions. As monotheists, Jews and Christians have traditionally been considered "People of the Book", and afforded a special legal status known as dhimmi derived from a theoretical contract—"dhimma" or "residence in return for taxes". Islamic legal systems based on sharia law incorporated the religious laws and courts of Christians, Jews, and Hindus, as seen in the early caliphate, al-Andalus, Indian subcontinent, and the Ottoman Millet system.
In Yemenite Jewish sources, a treaty was drafted between Muhammad and his Jewish subjects, known as kitāb ḏimmat al-nabi, written in the 17th year of the Hijra (638 CE), which gave express liberty to the Jews living in Arabia to observe the Sabbath and to grow-out their side-locks, but required them to pay the jizya (poll-tax) annually for their protection. Muslim governments in the Indus basin readily extended the dhimmi status to the Hindus and Buddhists of India. Eventually, the largest school of Islamic jurisprudence applied this term to all Non-Muslims living in Muslim lands outside the sacred area surrounding Mecca, Arabia.
In medieval Islamic societies, the qadi (Islamic judge) usually could not interfere in the matters of non-Muslims unless the parties voluntarily chose to be judged according to Islamic law, thus the dhimmi communities living in Islamic states usually had their own laws independent from the sharia law, as with the Jews who would have their own rabbinical courts. These courts did not cover cases that involved other religious groups, or capital offences or threats to public order. By the 18th century, however, dhimmi frequently attended the Ottoman Muslim courts, where cases were taken against them by Muslims, or they took cases against Muslims or other dhimmi. Oaths sworn by dhimmi in these courts were tailored to their beliefs. Non-Muslims were allowed to engage in certain practices (such as the consumption of alcohol and pork) that were usually forbidden by Islamic law, in point of fact, any Muslim who pours away their wine or forcibly appropriates it is liable to pay compensation. Some Islamic theologians held that Zoroastrian "self-marriages", considered incestuous under sharia, should also be tolerated. Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya (1292–1350) opined that most scholars of the Hanbali school held that non-Muslims were entitled to such practices, as long as they were not presented to sharia courts and the religious minorities in question held them to be permissible. This ruling was based on the precedent that there were no records of the Islamic prophet Muhammad forbidding such self-marriages among Zoroastrians, despite coming into contact with Zoroastrians and knowing about this practice. Religious minorities were also free to do as they wished in their own homes, provided they did not publicly engage in illicit sexual activity in ways that could threaten public morals.
There are parallels for this in Roman and Jewish law. According to law professor H. Patrick Glenn of McGill University, "oday it is said that the dhimmi are 'excluded from the specifically Muslim privileges, but on the other hand they are excluded from the specifically Muslim duties' while (and here there are clear parallels with western public and private law treatment of aliens—Fremdenrecht, la condition de estrangers), 'or the rest, the Muslim and the dhimmi are equal in practically the whole of the law of property and of contracts and obligations'." Quoting the Qur'anic statement, "Let Christians judge according to what We have revealed in the Gospel", Muhammad Hamidullah writes that Islam decentralized and "communalized" law and justice. However, the classical dhimma contract is no longer enforced. Western influence over the Muslim world has been instrumental in eliminating the restrictions and protections of the dhimma contract.
The Dhimma contract and Sharia law
Main article: ShariaThe dhimma contract is an integral part of traditional Islamic law. From the 9th century AD, the power to interpret and refine law in traditional Islamic societies was in the hands of the scholars (ulama). This separation of powers served to limit the range of actions available to the ruler, who could not easily decree or reinterpret law independently and expect the continued support of the community. Through succeeding centuries and empires, the balance between the ulema and the rulers shifted and reformed, but the balance of power was never decisively changed. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Industrial Revolution and the French Revolution introduced an era of European world hegemony that included the domination of most of the Muslim lands. At the end of the Second World War, the European powers found themselves too weakened to maintain their empires. The wide variety in forms of government, systems of law, attitudes toward modernity and interpretations of sharia are a result of the ensuing drives for independence and modernity in the Muslim world.
Muslim states, sects, schools of thought and individuals differ as to exactly what sharia law entails. In addition, Muslim states today utilize a spectrum of legal systems. Most states have a mixed system that implements certain aspects of sharia while acknowledging the supremacy of a constitution. A few, such as Turkey, have declared themselves secular. Local and customary laws may take precedence in certain matters, as well. Islamic law is therefore polynormative, and despite several cases of regression in recent years, the trend is towards liberalization. Questions of human rights and the status of minorities cannot be generalized with regards to the Muslim world. They must instead be examined on a case-by-case basis, within specific political and cultural contexts, using perspectives drawn from the historical framework.
The end of the Dhimma contract
The status of the dhimmi "was for long accepted with resignation by the Christians and with gratitude by the Jews" but the rising power of Christendom and the radical ideas of the French Revolution caused a wave of discontent among Christian dhimmis. The continuing and growing pressure from the European powers combined with pressure from Muslim reformers gradually relaxed the inequalities between Muslims and non-Muslims.
On 18 February 1856, the Ottoman Reform Edict of 1856 (Ottoman Turkish: خط همايونى, romanized: Hatt-i Humayan) was issued, building upon the 1839 edict. It came about partly as a result of pressure from and the efforts of the ambassadors of France, Austria and the United Kingdom, whose respective countries were needed as allies in the Crimean War. It again proclaimed the principle of equality between Muslims and non-Muslims, and produced many specific reforms to this end. For example, the jizya tax was abolished and non-Muslims were allowed to join the army.
According to some scholars, discrimination against dhimmis did not end with the Edict of 1856, and they remained second-class citizens at least until the end of World War I. H.E.W. Young, the British Council in Mosul, wrote in 1909, "The attitude of the Muslims toward the Christians and the Jews is that of a master towards slaves, whom he treats with a certain lordly tolerance so long as they keep their place. Any sign of pretension to equality is promptly repressed."
Views of modern Islamic scholars on the status of non-Muslims in an Islamic society
- The Iranian Shi'a Muslim Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini indicates in his book Islamic Government: Governance of the Jurist that non-Muslims should be required to pay the poll tax, in return for which they would profit from the protection and services of the state; they would, however, be excluded from all participation in the political process. Bernard Lewis remarks about Khomeini that one of his main grievances against the Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was that his legislation allowed the theoretical possibility of non-Muslims exercising political or judicial authority over Muslims.
- The Egyptian theologian Yusuf al-Qaradawi, chairman of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, has stated in his Al Jazeera program Sharia and Life, which has an estimated audience of 35 to 60 million viewers: "When we say dhimmis (ahl al-dhimma) it means that they are under the covenant of God and His Messenger and the Muslim community and their responsibility (ḍamān), and it is everyone's duty to protect them, and this is what is intended by the word. At present many of our brethren are offended by the word dhimmis, and I have stated in what I wrote in my books that I don't see anything to prevent contemporary Islamic ijtihad from discarding this word dhimmis and calling them non-Muslim citizens."
- Another Egyptian Islamist, Mohammad Salim al-Awa argued the concept of dhimmi must be re-interpreted in the context of Egyptian nationalism. Al-Awa and other Muslim scholars based this on the idea that while the previous dhimma condition result from the Islamic conquest, the modern Egyptian state results from a joint Muslim-Christian campaign to end the British occupation of Egypt. In modern-day Egypt, he argues, the constitution replaces the dhimma contract.
- Muhammad Husayn Tabataba'i, a 20th-century Shia scholar writes that dhimmis should be treated "in a good and decent manner". He addresses the argument that good treatment of dhimmis was abrogated by Quranic verse 9:29 by stating that, in the literal sense, this verse is not in conflict with good treatment of dhimmis.
- Javed Ahmad Ghamidi, a Pakistani theologian, writes in Mizan that certain directives of the Quran were specific only to Muhammad against peoples of his times, besides other directives, the campaign involved asking the polytheists of Arabia for submission to Islam as a condition for exoneration and the others for jizya and submission to the political authority of the Muslims for exemption from capital punishment and for military protection as the dhimmis of the Muslims. Therefore, after Muhammad and his companions, there is no concept in Islam obliging Muslims to wage war for propagation or implementation of Islam.
- The Iranian Shia jurist Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi states in Selection of the Tafsir Nemooneh that the main philosophy of jizya is that it is only a financial aid to those Muslims who are in the charge of safeguarding the security of the state and dhimmis' lives and properties on their behalf.
- Prominent Islamic thinkers like Fahmi Huwaidi and Tarek El-Bishry have based their justification for full citizenship of non-Muslims in an Islamic states on the precedent set by Muhammad in the Constitution of Medina. They argue that in this charter the People of Book, have the status of citizens (muwatinun) rather than dhimmis, sharing equal rights and duties with Muslims.
- Legal scholar L. Ali Khan also points to the Constitution of Medina as a way forward for Islamic states in his 2006 paper titled The Medina Constitution. He suggests this ancient document, which governed the status of religions and races in the first Islamic state, in which Jewish tribes are "placed on an equal footing with Muslims" and granted "the freedom of religion," can serve as a basis for the protection of minority rights, equality, and religious freedom in the modern Islamic state.
- Tariq Ramadan, Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Oxford, advocates the inclusion of academic disciplines and Islamic society, along with traditional Islamic scholars, in an effort to reform Islamic law and address modern conditions. He speaks of remaining faithful to the higher objectives of sharia law. He posits universal rights of dignity, welfare, freedom, equality and justice in a religiously and culturally pluralistic Islamic (or other) society, and proposes a dialogue regarding the modern term "citizenship," although it has no clear precedent in classical fiqh. He further includes the terms "non-citizen", "foreigner", "resident" and "immigrant" in this dialogue, and challenges not only Islam, but modern civilization as a whole, to come to terms with these concepts in a meaningful way with regards to problems of racism, discrimination and oppression.
Dhimmi communities
Jews and Christians living under early Muslim rule were considered dhimmis, a status that was later also extended to other non-Muslims like Hindus and Buddhists. They were allowed to "freely practice their religion, and to enjoy a large measure of communal autonomy" and guaranteed their personal safety and security of property, in return for paying tribute and acknowledging Muslim rule. Islamic law and custom prohibited the enslavement of free dhimmis within lands under Islamic rule. Taxation from the perspective of dhimmis who came under the Muslim rule, was "a concrete continuation of the taxes paid to earlier regimes" (but much lower under the Muslim rule). They were also exempted from the zakat tax paid by Muslims. The dhimmi communities living in Islamic states had their own laws independent from the Sharia law, such as the Jews who had their own Halakhic courts. The dhimmi communities had their own leaders, courts, personal and religious laws, and "generally speaking, Muslim tolerance of unbelievers was far better than anything available in Christendom, until the rise of secularism in the 17th century". "Muslims guaranteed freedom of worship and livelihood, provided that they remained loyal to the Muslim state and paid a poll tax". "Muslim governments appointed Christian and Jewish professionals to their bureaucracies", and thus, Christians and Jews "contributed to the making of the Islamic civilization".
However, dhimmis faced social and symbolic restrictions, and a pattern of stricter, then more lax, enforcement developed over time. Marshall Hodgson, a historian of Islam, writes that during the era of the High Caliphate (7th–13th Centuries), zealous Shariah-minded Muslims gladly elaborated their code of symbolic restrictions on the dhimmis.
From an Islamic legal perspective, the pledge of protection granted dhimmis the freedom to practice their religion and spared them forced conversions. The dhimmis also served a variety of useful purposes, mostly economic, which was another point of concern to jurists. Religious minorities were free to do whatever they wished in their own homes, but could not "publicly engage in illicit sex in ways that threaten public morals". In some cases, religious practices that Muslims found repugnant were allowed. One example was the Zoroastrian practice of incestuous "self-marriage" where a man could marry his mother, sister or daughter. According to the famous Islamic legal scholar Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya (1292–1350), non-Muslims had the right to engage in such religious practices even if it offended Muslims, under the conditions that such cases not be presented to Islamic Sharia courts and that these religious minorities believed that the practice in question is permissible according to their religion. This ruling was based on the precedent that Muhammad did not forbid such self-marriages among Zoroastrians despite coming in contact with them and having knowledge of their practices.
The Arabs generally established garrisons outside towns in the conquered territories, and had little interaction with the local dhimmi populations for purposes other than the collection of taxes. The conquered Christian, Jewish, Mazdean and Buddhist communities were otherwise left to lead their lives as before.
Christians
According to historians Lewis and Stillman, local Christians in Syria, Iraq, and Egypt were non-Chalcedonians and many may have felt better off under early Muslim rule than under that of the Byzantine Orthodox of Constantinople. In 1095, Pope Urban II urged western European Christians to come to the aid of the Christians of Palestine. The subsequent Crusades brought Roman Catholic Christians into contact with Orthodox Christians whose beliefs they discovered to differ from their own perhaps more than they had realized, and whose position under the rule of the Muslim Fatimid Caliphate was less uncomfortable than had been supposed. Consequently, the Eastern Christians provided perhaps less support to the Crusaders than had been expected. When the Arab East came under Ottoman rule in the 16th century, Christian populations and fortunes rebounded significantly. The Ottomans had long experience dealing with Christian and Jewish minorities, and were more tolerant towards religious minorities than the former Muslim rulers, the Mamluks of Egypt.
However, Christians living under Islamic rule have suffered certain legal disadvantages and at times persecution. In the Ottoman Empire, in accordance with the dhimmi system implemented in Muslim countries, they, like all other Christians and also Jews, were accorded certain freedoms. The dhimmi system in the Ottoman Empire was largely based upon the Pact of Umar. The client status established the rights of the non-Muslims to property, livelihood and freedom of worship but they were in essence treated as second-class citizens in the empire and referred to in Turkish as gavours, a pejorative word meaning "infidel" or "unbeliever". The clause of the Pact of Umar which prohibited non-Muslims from building new places of worship was historically imposed on some communities of the Ottoman Empire and ignored in other cases, at discretion of the local authorities. Although there were no laws mandating religious ghettos, this led to non-Muslim communities being clustered around existing houses of worship.
In addition to other legal limitations, dhimmis, including the Christians among them, were not considered equals to Muslims and several prohibitions were placed on them. Their testimony against Muslims was inadmissible in courts of law wherein a Muslim could be punished; this meant that their testimony could only be considered in commercial cases. They were forbidden to carry weapons or ride atop horses and camels. Their houses could not overlook those of Muslims; and their religious practices were severely circumscribed (e.g., the ringing of church bells was strictly forbidden).
Jews
Because the early Islamic conquests initially preserved much of the existing administrative machinery and culture, in many territories they amounted to little more than a change of rulers for the subject populations, which "brought peace to peoples demoralized and disaffected by the casualties and heavy taxation that resulted from the years of Byzantine-Persian warfare".
María Rosa Menocal, argues that the Jewish dhimmis living under the caliphate, while allowed fewer rights than Muslims, were still better off than in the Christian parts of Europe. Jews from other parts of Europe made their way to al-Andalus, where in parallel to Christian sects regarded as heretical by Catholic Europe, they were not just tolerated, but where opportunities to practice faith and trade were open without restriction save for the prohibitions on proselytization.
Bernard Lewis states:
Generally, the Jewish people were allowed to practice their religion and live according to the laws and scriptures of their community. Furthermore, the restrictions to which they were subject were social and symbolic rather than tangible and practical in character. That is to say, these regulations served to define the relationship between the two communities, and not to oppress the Jewish population.
Professor of Jewish medieval history at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Hayim Hillel Ben-Sasson, notes:
The legal and security situation of the Jews in the Muslim world was generally better than in Christendom, because in the former, Jews were not the sole "infidels", because in comparison to the Christians, Jews were less dangerous and more loyal to the Muslim regime, and because the rapidity and the territorial scope of the Muslim conquests imposed upon them a reduction in persecution and a granting of better possibility for the survival of members of other faiths in their lands.
According to the French historian Claude Cahen, Islam has "shown more toleration than Europe towards the Jews who remained in Muslim lands."
Comparing the treatment of Jews in the medieval Islamic world and medieval Christian Europe, Mark R. Cohen notes that, in contrast to Jews in Christian Europe, the "Jews in Islam were well integrated into the economic life of the larger society", and that they were allowed to practice their religion more freely than they could do in Christian Europe.
According to the scholar Mordechai Zaken, tribal chieftains (also known as aghas) in tribal Muslim societies such as the Kurdish society in Kurdistan would tax their Jewish subjects. The Jews were in fact civilians protected by their chieftains in and around their communities; in return they paid part of their harvest as dues, and contributed their skills and services to their patron chieftain.
Hindus and Buddhists
By the 10th century, the Turks of Central Asia had invaded the Indic plains, and spread Islam in Northwestern parts of India. At the end of the 12th century, the Muslims advanced quickly into the Ganges Plain. In one decade, a Muslim army led by Turkic slaves consolidated resistance around Lahore and brought northern India, as far as Bengal, under Muslim rule. From these Turkic slaves would come sultans, including the founder of the sultanate of Delhi. By the 15th century, major parts of Northern India was ruled by Muslim rulers, mostly descended from invaders. In the 16th century, India came under the influence of the Mughals. Babur, the first ruler of the Mughal empire, established a foothold in the north which paved the way for further expansion by his successors. Although the Mughal emperor Akbar has been described as a universalist, most Mughal emperors were oppressive of native Hindu, Buddhist and later Sikh populations. Aurangzeb specifically was inclined towards a highly fundamentalist approach.
Restrictions
There were a number of restrictions on dhimmis. In a modern sense the dhimmis would be described as second-class citizens. According to historian Marshall Hodgson, from very early times Muslim rulers would very often humiliate and punish dhimmis (usually Christians or Jews that refused to convert to Islam). It was official policy that dhimmis should “feel inferior and to know ‘their place".
Although dhimmis were allowed to perform their religious rituals, they were obliged to do so in a manner not conspicuous to Muslims. Loud prayers were forbidden, as were the ringing of church bells and the blowing of the shofar. They were also not allowed to build or repair churches and synagogues without Muslim consent. Moreover, dhimmis were not allowed to seek converts among Muslims. In the Mamluk Egypt, where non-Mamluk Muslims were not allowed to ride horses and camels, dhimmis were prohibited even from riding donkeys inside cities. Sometimes, Muslim rulers issued regulations requiring dhimmis to attach distinctive signs to their houses.
Most of the restrictions were social and symbolic in nature, and a pattern of stricter, then more lax, enforcement developed over time. The major financial disabilities of the dhimmi were the jizya poll tax and the fact dhimmis and Muslims could not inherit from each other. That would create an incentive to convert if someone from the family had already converted. Ira M. Lapidus states that the "payment of the poll tax seems to have been regular, but other obligations were inconsistently enforced and did not prevent many non-Muslims from being important political, business, and scholarly figures. In the late ninth and early tenth centuries, Jewish bankers and financiers were important at the 'Abbasid court." The jurists and scholars of Islamic sharia law called for humane treatment of the dhimmis.
A Muslim man may marry a Jewish or Christian dhimmī woman, who may keep her own religion (though her children were automatically considered Muslims and had to be raised as such), but a Muslim woman cannot marry a dhimmī man unless he converts to Islam. Dhimmīs are prohibited from converting Muslims under severe penalties, while Muslims are encouraged to convert dhimmīs.
Jizya tax
Main article: JizyaPayment of the jizya obligated Muslim authorities to protect dhimmis in civil and military matters. Sura 9 (At-Tawba), verse 29 stipulates that jizya be exacted from non-Muslims as a condition required for jihad to cease. Islamic jurists required adult, free, healthy males among the dhimma community to pay the jizya, while exempting women, children, the elderly, slaves, those affected by mental or physical handicaps, and travelers who did not settle in Muslim lands. According to Abu Yusuf dhimmi should be imprisoned until they pay the jizya in full. Other jurists specified that dhimmis who don't pay jizya should have their heads shaved and made to wear a dress distinctive from those dhimmis who paid the jizya and Muslims.
Lewis states there are varying opinions among scholars as to how much of a burden jizya was. According to Norman Stillman: "jizya and kharaj were a "crushing burden for the non-Muslim peasantry who eked out a bare living in a subsistence economy." Both agree that ultimately, the additional taxation on non-Muslims was a critical factor that drove many dhimmis to leave their religion and accept Islam. However, in some regions the jizya on populations was significantly lower than the zakat, meaning dhimmi populations maintained an economic advantage. According to Cohen, taxation, from the perspective of dhimmis who came under Muslim rule, was "a concrete continuation of the taxes paid to earlier regimes". Lewis observes that the change from Byzantine to Arab rule was welcomed by many among the dhimmis who found the new yoke far lighter than the old, both in taxation and in other matters, and that some, even among the Christians of Syria and Egypt, preferred the rule of Islam to that of Byzantines. Montgomery Watt states, "the Christians were probably better off as dhimmis under Muslim-Arab rulers than they had been under the Byzantine Greeks." In some places, for example Egypt, the jizya was a tax incentive for Christians to convert to Islam.
Some scholars have tried compute the relative taxation on Muslims vs non-Muslims in the early Abbasid period. According to one estimate, Muslims had an average tax rate of 17–20 dirhams per person, which rose to 30 dirhams per person when in kind levies are included. Non-Muslims paid either 12, 24 or 48 dirhams per person, depending on their taxation category, though most probably paid 12.
The importance of dhimmis as a source of revenue for the Rashidun Caliphate is illustrated in a letter ascribed to Umar I and cited by Abu Yusuf: "if we take dhimmis and share them out, what will be left for the Muslims who come after us? By God, Muslims would not find a man to talk to and profit from his labors."
The early Islamic scholars took a relatively humane and practical attitude towards the collection of jizya, compared to the 11th century commentators writing when Islam was under threat both at home and abroad.
The jurist Abu Yusuf, the chief judge of the caliph Harun al-Rashid, rules as follows regarding the manner of collecting the jizya
No one of the people of the dhimma should be beaten in order to exact payment of the jizya, nor made to stand in the hot sun, nor should hateful things be inflicted upon their bodies, or anything of that sort. Rather they should be treated with leniency.
In the border provinces, dhimmis were sometimes recruited for military operations. In such cases, they were exempted from jizya for the year of service.
Administration of law
Religious pluralism existed in medieval Islamic law and ethics. The religious laws and courts of other religions, including Christianity, Judaism and Hinduism, were usually accommodated within the Islamic legal framework, as exemplified in the Caliphate, Al-Andalus, Ottoman Empire and Indian subcontinent. In medieval Islamic societies, the qadi (Islamic judge) usually could not interfere in the matters of non-Muslims unless the parties voluntarily chose to be judged according to Islamic law. The dhimmi communities living in Islamic states usually had their own laws independent from the Sharia law, such as the Jews who had their own Halakha courts.
Dhimmis were allowed to operate their own courts following their own legal systems. However, dhimmis frequently attended the Muslim courts in order to record property and business transactions within their own communities. Cases were taken out against Muslims, against other dhimmis and even against members of the dhimmi's own family. Dhimmis often took cases relating to marriage, divorce or inheritance to the Muslim courts so these cases would be decided under sharia law. Oaths sworn by dhimmis in the Muslim courts were sometimes the same as the oaths taken by Muslims, sometimes tailored to the dhimmis' beliefs.
Muslim men could generally marry dhimmi women who are considered People of the Book, however Islamic jurists rejected the possibility any non-Muslim man might marry a Muslim woman. Bernard Lewis notes that "similar position existed under the laws of Byzantine Empire, according to which a Christian could marry a Jewish woman, but a Jew could not marry a Christian woman under pain of death".
Relevant texts
Quranic verses as a basis for Islamic policies toward dhimmis
Lewis states
- Al-Baqara 256 "Let there be no compulsion in religion: ...", means non-Muslims should not be forced to adopt Islam
- The phrase "Unto you your religion, and unto me my religion.", from Surah Al-Kafirun 109:6 has been used as a "proof-text for pluralism and coexistence".
- Surah Al-Baqara 2:62 has served to justify the tolerated position accorded to the followers of Christianity, Judaism, and Sabianism under Muslim rule.
Hadith
A hadith by Muhammad, "Whoever killed a muʿāhid (a person who is granted the pledge of protection by the Muslims) shall not smell the fragrance of Paradise though its fragrance can be smelt at a distance of forty years (of traveling).", is cited as a foundation for the right of non-Muslim citizens to live peacefully and undisturbed in an Islamic state. Anwar Shah Kashmiri writes in his commentary on Sahih al-Bukhari Fayd al-Bari on this hadith: "You know the gravity of sin for killing a Muslim, for its odiousness has reached the point of disbelief, and it necessitates that forever. As for killing a non-Muslim citizen , it is similarly no small matter, for the one who does it will not smell the fragrance of Paradise."
A similar hadith in regard to the status of the dhimmis: "Whoever wrongs one with whom a compact (treaty) has been made and lays on him a burden beyond his strength, I will be his accuser."
Constitution of Medina
The Constitution of Medina, a formal agreement between Muhammad and all the significant tribes and families of Medina (including Muslims, Jews and pagans), declared that non-Muslims in the Ummah had the following rights:
- The security (dhimma) of God is equal for all groups,
- Non-Muslim members have equal political and cultural rights as Muslims. They will have autonomy and freedom of religion.
- Non-Muslims will take up arms against the enemy of the Ummah and share the cost of war. There is to be no treachery between the two.
- Non-Muslims will not be obliged to take part in religious wars of the Muslims.
Khaybar agreement
A precedent for the dhimma contract was established with the agreement between Muhammad and the Jews after the Battle of Khaybar, an oasis near Medina. Khaybar was the first territory attacked and conquered by Muslims. When the Jews of Khaybar surrendered to Muhammad after a siege, Muhammad allowed them to remain in Khaybar in return for handing over to the Muslims one half their annual produce.
Pact of Umar
Main article: Pact of UmarThe Pact of Umar, traditionally believed to be between caliph Umar and the conquered Jerusalem Christians in the seventh century, was another source of regulations pertaining to dhimmis. However, Western orientalists doubt the authenticity of the pact, arguing it is usually the victors and not the vanquished who impose rather than propose, the terms of peace, and that it is highly unlikely that the people who spoke no Arabic and knew nothing of Islam could draft such a document. Academic historians believe the Pact of Umar in the form it is known today was a product of later jurists who attributed it to Umar in order to lend greater authority to their own opinions. The similarities between the Pact of Umar and the Theodosian and Justinian Codes of the Eastern Roman Empire suggest that perhaps much of the Pact of Umar was borrowed from these earlier codes by later Islamic jurists. At least some of the clauses of the pact mirror the measures first introduced by the Umayyad caliph Umar II or by the early Abbasid caliphs.
Cultural interactions and cultural differences
During the Middle Ages, local associations known as futuwwa clubs developed across the Islamic lands. There were usually several futuwwah in each town. These clubs catered to varying interests, primarily sports, and might involve distinctive manners of dress and custom. They were known for their hospitality, idealism and loyalty to the group. They often had a militaristic aspect, purportedly for the mutual protection of the membership. These clubs commonly crossed social strata, including among their membership local notables, dhimmi and slaves – to the exclusion of those associated with the local ruler, or amir.
Muslims and Jews were sometimes partners in trade, with the Muslim taking days off on Fridays and Jews taking off on Saturdays.
Andrew Wheatcroft describes how some social customs such as different conceptions of dirt and cleanliness made it difficult for the religious communities to live close to each other, either under Muslim or under Christian rule.
In modern times
The dhimma and the jizya poll tax are no longer imposed in Muslim majority countries. In the 21st century, jizya is widely regarded as being at odds with contemporary secular conceptions of citizens' civil rights and equality before the law, although there have been occasional reports of religious minorities in conflict zones and areas subject to political instability being forced to pay jizya.
In 2009 it was claimed that a group of militants that referred to themselves as the Taliban imposed the jizya on Pakistan's minority Sikh community after occupying some of their homes and kidnapping a Sikh leader.
In 2013, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt occupied the town of Dalga immediately following the overthrow of Mohammed Morsi on 3 July, and reportedly imposed jizya on the 15,000 Christian Copts living there. However, in autumn of that same year Egyptian authorities were able to retake control of the town following two prior failed attempts.
In February 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) announced that it intended to extract jizya from Christians in the city of Raqqa, Syria, which it controlled at the time. Christians who refused to accept the dhimma contract and pay the tax were to have to either convert to Islam, leave or be executed. Wealthy Christians would have to pay half an ounce of gold, the equivalent of $664 twice a year; middle-class Christians were to have to pay half that amount and poorer ones were to be charged one-fourth that amount. In June 2014 the Institute for the Study of War reported that ISIL claims to have collected jizya and fay. On 18 July 2014 ISIL ordered the Christians in Mosul to accept the dhimma contract and pay the jizya or convert to Islam. If they refused to accept either of the options they would be killed.
See also
- Dhimmitude – Characterization of the status of non-Muslims under Islamic rule
- Gentile – Term referring to a non-Jew
- Islam and other religions – Muslim attitudes towards other religions
- Ger toshav – Non-Jewish resident in the Land of Israel
- Jizyah – Islamic tax on non-MuslimsPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
- Musta'min – Islamic term for non-Muslims temporarily residing in Muslim-ruled lands
- Persecution of Buddhists
- Persecution of Christians
- Persecution of Hindus
- Persecution of Jews
- Persecution of Sikhs – Persecution based on religious beliefPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
- Religious discrimination – Treating a person or group differently because of their religious beliefs
- Zunnar – Type of identifying mark in historic Islamic societies
Notes
- ^ Juan Eduardo Campo, ed. (2010). "dhimmi". Encyclopedia of Islam. Infobase Publishing. pp. 194–195. ISBN 978-1-4381-2696-8.
Dhimmis are non-Muslims who live within Islamdom and have a regulated and protected status. ... In the modern period, this term has generally has occasionally been resuscitated, but it is generally obsolete.
- Mohammad Taqi al-Modarresi (2016). The Laws of Islam (PDF). Enlight Press. ISBN 978-0994240989. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 August 2019. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
- "Definition of DHIMMI". www.merriam-webster.com.
- Glenn, H. Patrick (2007). Legal Traditions of the World. Oxford University Press. pp. 218–219.
A Dhimmi is a non-Muslim subject of a state governed in accordance to sharia law. The term connotes an obligation of the state to protect the individual, including the individual's life, property, and freedom of religion and worship, and required loyalty to the empire, and a poll tax known as the jizya, which complemented the Islamic tax paid by the Muslim subjects, called Zakat.
- H. Patrick Glenn, Legal Traditions of the World. Oxford University Press, 2007, p. 219.
- The French scholar Gustave Le Bon (the author of La civilisation des Arabes) writes "that despite the fact that the incidence of taxation fell more heavily on a Muslim than a non-Muslim, the non-Muslim was free to enjoy equally well with every Muslim all the privileges afforded to the citizens of the state. The only privilege that was reserved for the Muslims was the seat of the caliphate, and this, because of certain religious functions attached to it, which could not naturally be discharged by a non-Muslim." Mun'im Sirry (2014), Scriptural Polemics: The Qur'an and Other Religions, p. 179. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199359363.
- Abou El Fadl, Khaled (2007). The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam from the Extremists. HarperOne. p. 204. ISBN 978-0061189036.
According to the dhimma status system, non-Muslims must pay a poll tax in return for Muslim protection and the privilege of living in Muslim territory. Per this system, non-Muslims are exempt from military service, but they are excluded from occupying high positions that involve dealing with high state interests, like being the president or prime minister of the country. In Islamic history, non-Muslims did occupy high positions, especially in matters that related to fiscal policies or tax collection.
- Annemarie Schimmel (2004). The Empire of the Great Mughals: History, Art and Culture. University of Chicago Press. p. 107. ISBN 978-1861891853.
The conqueror Muhammad Ibn Al Qasem gave both Hindus and Buddhists the same status as the Christians, Jews and Sabaeans of the Middle East. They were all "dhimmi" ('protected people')
- Michael Bonner (2008). Jihad in Islamic History: Doctrines and Practice. Princeton University Press. p. 89. ISBN 978-0691138381. JSTOR j.ctt7sg8f.
- Wael B. Hallaq (2009). Sharī'a: Theory, Practice, Transformations. Cambridge University Press. p. 327. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511815300. ISBN 978-0511815300.
- Michael Bonner (2008). Jihad in Islamic History. Princeton University Press. pp. 89–90. ISBN 978-1400827381.
To begin with, there was no forced conversion, no choice between "Islam and the Sword". Islamic law, following a clear Quranic principle (2:256), prohibited any such things although there have been instances of forced conversion in Islamic history, these have been exceptional.
- Waines (2003) "An Introduction to Islam" Cambridge University Press. p. 53
- Winter, T. J., & Williams, J. A. (2002). Understanding Islam and the Muslims: The Muslim Family Islam and World Peace. Louisville, Kentucky: Fons Vitae. p. 82. ISBN 978-1-887752-47-3. Quote: The laws of Muslim warfare forbid any forced conversions, and regard them as invalid if they occur.
- Ira M. Lapidus. Islamic Societies to the Nineteenth Century: A Global History. p. 345.
- ^ Khadduri, Majid (2010). War and Peace in the Law of Islam. Lawbook Exchange. pp. 196–198. ISBN 978-1616190484.
- The Torah itself set forth rules for dress that set Jews apart from the communities in which they lived.Eric Silverman, A Cultural History of Jewish Dress, A&C Black, 2013 ISBN 978-0-857-85209-0 pp. 47, xv, 24:'At 2 Maccabees 4:12 it is recorded that the Maccabees slaughtered Jewish youths guilty of Hellenizing in wearing caps typical of Greek youths. The first of the other Abrahamic religions to impose a distinctive mode of dress on Jews was Islam, beginning with decrees set forth by the Abbasid caliph Al-Mutawakkil obliging non-Muslims (dhimmis) to wear distinctive marks, – buttons on their caps, patches on their sleeves, and generally honey-coloured garbs, – on their clothing in order to mark them off from members of the Muslim communities.'; ‘a twelfth century synod decreed the first of many edicts which required Jews to don peculiar garb. These outfits marked Jews as Otherly-to be shunned, despised, …and sometimes murdered… . But Jews also dressed differently in premodern Europe because their rabbis understood any emulation of non-Jews as a violation of the divine law as revealed by God to Moses atop Mount Sinai. The Five Books of Moses, after all, together called the Torah, clearly specify that Jews must adhere to a particular dress code-modesty, for example, and fringes. The very structure of the cosmos demanded nothing less. Clothing, too, served as a "fence" that protected Jews from the profanities and pollutions of the non-Jewish societies in which they dwelled. From this angle, Jews dressed distinctively as God's elect.'
- ^ Heather J. Sharkey (2012). Introducing World Christianity. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 10. ISBN 978-1-4443-4454-7.
- "Pact of Umar".
- ^ Cohen, Mark R. (1995). Under Crescent and Cross: The Jews in the Middle Ages. Princeton University Press. p. 74. ISBN 978-0-691-01082-3. Retrieved 10 April 2010.
- Al-Misri, Reliance of the Traveler (edited and translated by Nuh Ha Mim Keller), p. 608. Amana Publications, 1994.
- Al-Misri, Reliance of the Traveler (ed. and trans. Nuh Ha Mim Keller), pp. 977, 986. Amana Publications, 1994.
- Ghazi, Kalin & Kamali 2013, pp. 240–241.
- ^ " the overwhelming majority of moderate Muslims reject the dhimma system as ahistorical, in the sense that it is inappropriate for the age of nation-states and democracies." Abou El Fadl, Khaled (2007). The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam from the Extremists. HarperOne. p. 214. ISBN 978-0061189036.
- Weeramantry 1997, p. 138
- Sachedina, Abdulaziz Abdulhussein (2001). The Islamic Roots of Democratic Pluralism. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-513991-4.
- Shelomo Dov Goitein, The Yemenites – History, Communal Organization, Spiritual Life (Selected Studies), editor: Menahem Ben-Sasson, Jerusalem 1983, pp. 288–299. ISBN 965-235-011-7
- Marshall Hodgson, The Venture of Islam Conscience and History in a World Civilization Vol 2. University of Chicago, 1958, p. 278.
- al-Misri, Ahmad ibn Naqib (edited and translated from Arabic (with commentary) by Nuh Ha Mim Keller) (1994 revised ed.), p. 603.
- al-Qattan, Najwa (1999). "Dhimmis in the Muslim Court: Legal Autonomy and Religious Discrimination". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 31 (3): 429–444. doi:10.1017/S0020743800055501. ISSN 0020-7438. S2CID 159763960.
- Hamidullah, Muhammad (1970). Introduction to Islam. International Islamic Federation of Student Organizations. p. 180.
- Abdel-Haleem 2012, p. 73.
- Jackson, Sherman A. (2005). p. 144 (via Google Books). Retrieved 19 September 2011.
- Jackson, Sherman A. (2005). p. 145 (via Google Books). Retrieved 19 September 2011.
- Glenn, H. Patrick (2007). Legal Traditions of the World: Sustainable Diversity in Law (3rd edition). New York City; Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-920541-7. pp. 217–219.
- Glenn, H. Patrick (2007). Legal Traditions of the World&: Sustainable Diversity in Law (3rd ed.). New York: Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-920541-7. p. 219.
- Quran 5:47
- Hamidullah, Muhammad (1986). "Relations of Muslims with non-Muslims". Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs. 7 (1): 9. doi:10.1080/13602008608715960. ISSN 0266-6952.
- Lewis, Bernard (1984). The Jews of Islam. Princeton University Press. p. 184. ISBN 978-0-691-00807-3.
- Basim Musallam, The Cambridge Illustrated History of the Islamic World, edited by Francis Robinson. Cambridge University Press, 1996, p. 176.
- Hodgson, The Venture of Islam Vol 3, 1961, pp. 105–108.
- Hodgson, The Venture of Islam Vol 3, 1961, pp. 176–177.
- Sarah Ansari, The Cambridge Illustrated History of the Islamic World edited by Francis Robinson. Cambridge University Press, 1996, p. 90.
- Hodgson, The Venture of Islam Vol 3, 1961, pp. 366–367.
- Sarah Ansari, The Cambridge Illustrated History of the Islamic World edited by Francis Robinson. Cambridge University Press, 1996, pp. 103–111.
- Marshall Hodgson, The Venture of Islam Conscience and History in a World Civilization Vol 3. The University of Chicago, 1961, pp. 384–386.
- Otto, Jan Michiel. Sharia and National Law in Muslim Countries: Tensions and Opportunities for Dutch and EU Foreign Policy . Amsterdam University Press, 2008, p. 7.
- Otto, Sharia and National Law in Muslim Countries, 2008, pp. 8–9.
- Otto, Sharia and National Law in Muslim Countries, 2008, p. 29.
- Otto, Sharia and National Law in Muslim Countries, 2008, p. 10.
- Otto, Sharia and National Law in Muslim Countries, 2008, p. 18.
- Otto, Sharia and National Law in Muslim Countries, 2008, pp. 37–39.
- Lewis, Bernard (1984). The Jews of Islam. Princeton University Press. p. 62. ISBN 978-0-691-00807-3.
- Lewis, Bernard (1984). The Jews of Islam. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-00807-3. summary of pp. 62–66. See p. 62 (2nd paragraph), p. 65 (3rd paragraph)
- Lapidus (1988), p. 599
- Lapidus (2002), p. 495
- Morris, Benny (2001). Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881–2001. Vintage Books. p. 13. ISBN 978-0679744757.
- Young, H. E. Wilkie (1971). "Mosul in 1909". Middle Eastern Studies. 7 (2): 229–235. doi:10.1080/00263207108700177. JSTOR 4282373.
- Hukuma Islamiyya, n.p. (Beirut), n.d., pp. 30ff.; Vilayat-i Faqih, n.p., n.d., pp. 35ff.; English version (from the Arabic), Islamic Government (U.S. Joint Publications Research Service 72663, 1979), pp. 22ff.; French version (from the Persian), Pour un gouvernement islamique (Paris, 1979), pp. 31ff. Another version in Hamid Algar, Islam and Revolution: Writings and Declarations of Imam Khomeini (Berkeley, 1981), pp. 45ff.
- Bernard Lewis, The Jews of Islam notes on p. 3
- AFP (news agency) (11 May 2014). "Qatar-based cleric calls for Egypt vote boycott". Yahoo News. Archived from the original on 16 June 2014.
- Gilbert Achcar (2013). The People Want: A Radical Exploration of the Arab Uprising. University of California Press. p. 112. ISBN 978-0520956544.
- لما نقول أهل الذمة يعني أهل ذمة الله يعني هم في عهد الله وعهد رسوله وعهد جماعة المسلمين وضمانهم، الجميع عليه أن يحميهم، فهذا هو المقصود من الكلمة. الآن يتأذى منها الكثير من أخواننا كلمة أهل الذمة، وأنا ذكرت فيما كتبت في كتبي أنني أنا لا أرى أي مانع أمام الاجتهاد الإسلامي المعاصر أن يحذف كلمة أهل الذمة هذه ونسميهم المواطنون من غير المسلمين Transcript of the 5-6-2008 "Sharia and Life" episode, Aljazeera.net
- Andrea Zaki Stephanous. Political Islam, Citizenship, and Minorities: The Future of Arab Christians. pp. 160–161.
Both Muslims and al-dhimmiyun struggled for the liberation of this land for more than a century and, because of the blood that was shed by both, a new order was created...In the modern state, the constitution took the place of the al-dhimmi contract.
- Quran 9:29—"Fight those who do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day and who do not consider unlawful what Allah and His Messenger have made unlawful and who do not adopt the religion of truth from those who were given the Scripture—fight until they give the jizyah willingly while they are humbled."
- Muhammad Husayn Tabataba'i. "Surah Al-Baqarah, verses 83–88". almizan.org (in Arabic and English). Retrieved 1 January 2016.
as-Sadiq (a.s) said: "Verily Allah sent Muhammad (s.a.w.) with five swords: So (there is) a sword against a dhimmi (free non-Muslim subject of an Islamic country). Allah said: and speak to men good (words); it was revealed about the dhimmis, then it was abrogated by another verse, Fight those who do not believe in Allah... (9:29) (al-'Ayyashi) The author says: In this tradition the Imam has taken the "speech" to mean behavior. We say: Do not speak to him but good; what we mean is: Do not deal with him but in a good and decent manner. This meaning will apply only if we take the word, "abrogated" in its terminological sense. But it may also be taken in its literal sense (as we shall explain under the verse: Whatever signs We abrogate or cause to be forgotten ...2:106); and in that case this verse will not be in conflict with that of the fighting. It should be pointed out that such uses of words in their literal meanings (as against their terminological ones) are not infrequent in the traditions of the Imams.
- Javed Ahmed Ghamidi, Mizan, Chapter: The Islamic Law of Jihad, Dar ul-Ishraq, 2001. OCLC 52901690
- "Misplaced Directives", Renaissance Archived 13 August 2006 at the Wayback Machine, Al-Mawrid Institute, Vol. 12, No. 3, March 2002."March_Content2002". Archived from the original on 15 November 2006. Retrieved 5 October 2006.
- Selection of Tafsir Nemooneh, Grand Ayatollah Makarim Shirazi, p. 10, vol. 2, on verse 9:29 Archived 18 November 2006 at the Wayback Machine
- Muhammad Muslih; Michaelle Browers (2009). "Democracy". In John L. Esposito (ed.). The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acref/9780195305135.001.0001. ISBN 978-0195305135.
- Khan, Ali, Commentary on the Constitution of Medina in Understanding Islamic Law: From Classical to Contemporary, Edited by Aminah Beverly McCloud and Hisham Ramadan, Alta Mira Press, 2006, pp. 205–208.
- Khan, Ali (17 November 2006). "The Medina Constitution". SSRN 945458.
- Ramadan, Tariq, Radical Reform: Islamic Ethics and Liberation, Oxford University Press, 2009, pp. 268–271.
- Lewis (1984), pp. 10, 20.
- Lewis (2002), p. 92
- ^ Cl. Cahen in Encyclopedia of Islam, Jizya article
- Lewis 1984 p. 18
- ^ Lewis (2002) p. 57
- Mark R. Cohen (1995). Under Crescent and Cross: The Jews in the Middle Ages. Princeton University Press. p. 74. ISBN 978-0-691-01082-3. Retrieved 10 April 2010.
- ^ Lewis (1984), p. 27
- ^ Esposito 1998, p. 34. "They replaced the conquered countries, indigenous rulers and armies, but preserved much of their government, bureaucracy, and culture. For many in the conquered territories, it was no more than an exchange of masters, one that brought peace to peoples demoralized and disaffected by the casualties and heavy taxation that resulted from the years of Byzantine-Persian warfare. Local communities were free to continue to follow their own way of life in internal, domestic affairs. In many ways, local populations found Muslim rule more flexible and tolerant than that of Byzantium and Persia. Religious communities were free to practice their faith to worship and be governed by their religious leaders and laws in such areas as marriage, divorce, and inheritance. In exchange, they were required to pay tribute, a poll tax (jizya) that entitled them to Muslim protection from outside aggression and exempted them from military service. Thus, they were called the "protected ones" (dhimmi). In effect, this often meant lower taxes, greater local autonomy, rule by fellow Semites with closer linguistic and cultural ties than the hellenized, Greco-Roman élites of Byzantium, and greater religious freedom for Jews and indigenous Christians."
- Bernard Lewis and Buntzie Ellis Churchill, Islam: The Religion and the People, Wharton School Publishing, 2008, p. 146.
- ^ Lewis (1984), p. 26
- ^ Lewis (1984) pp. 49–51.
- Marshall G.S. Hodgson (1977). The Venture of Islam: The classical age of Islam. University of Chicago Press. p. 448. ISBN 978-0226346830. Retrieved 7 July 2012.
- Lewis (1984)
- Sherman A. Jackson (2005). Islam and the Blackamerican: Looking Toward the Third Resurrection. Oxford University Press. p. 145. ISBN 978-0-19-518081-7. Retrieved 10 April 2010.
- Jackson, p. 144
- Hodgson, The Venture of Islam Vol 1, 1958, pp. 227–229.
- Lewis (1984), pp. 17–18; Stillman (1979), p. 27.
- Courbage and Fargues (1995), pp. 44–46.
- Courbage and Fargues (1995), pp. 57–58.
- ^ A ́goston, Ga ́bor; Alan Masters, Bruce (2010). Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire. Infobase Publishing. pp. 185–186. ISBN 978-1-4381-1025-7. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
- Balakian, Peter (2003). The Burning Tigris: The Armenian Genocide and America's Response. New York: HarperCollins. pp. 25, 445. ISBN 978-0-06-019840-4.
- Akçam, Taner (2006). A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility. New York: Metropolitan Books. ISBN 978-0-8050-7932-6.
- "The Ornament of the World by María Rosa Menocal". Archived from the original on 9 November 2005.
- Lewis, Bernard W (1984). The Jews of Islam
- Ben-Sasson, Haim Hillel (1969). On Jewish History in the Middle Ages. Tel Aviv. p. 36.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) Quoted in Mark R. Cohen's Under Crescent and Cross: The Jews in the Middle Ages, Princeton University Press (1995), pp. xvii–xviii (Cohen's translation). - Cahen, Claude (1954). "Dhimma". In P. J. Bearman; Th. Bianquis; C.E. Bosworth; E. van Donzel; W. P. Heinrichs; B. Lewis; Ch. Pellat; J. Schacht; J. Burton-Page; C. Dumont; V.L. Ménage (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill Academic Publishers. pp. 227–231. ISBN 978-90-04-07026-4.
- ^ Cohen, Mark (1995). Under Crescent and Cross: The Jews in the Middle Ages. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-01082-3.
- Mordechai Zaken, Jewish Subjects and their tribal chieftains in Kurdistan: A Study in Survival, Brill: Leiden and Boston, 2007.
- Hodgson, The Venture of Islam Vol 2, 1961, p. 275.
- Hodgson, The Venture of Islam Vol 2, 1961, p. 276.
- Hodgson, The Venture of Islam Vol 2, 1961, p. 278.
- MHodgson, The Venture of Islam Vol 3, 1961, pp. 24–25.
- Hodgson, The Venture of Islam Vol 3, 1961, pp. 65–67.
- Hodgson, The Venture of Islam Vol 3, 1961, p. 60.
- Hodgson, Marshall G. S. (15 May 2009). The Venture of Islam: Conscience and History in a World Civilization. 3 vols. University of Chicago Press. p. 1:268. ISBN 9780226346861.
- Karsh 29.
- Sidney H. Griffith (2010). The Church in the Shadow of the Mosque: Christians and Muslims in the World of Islam. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691146287.
- Stillman (1979), p. 471
- Al-Tabari, Ta'rikh al-Rusul wa 'l-Muluk, translated in Stillman (1979), p. 167.
- Lapidus, Ira M. (2014). A History of Islamic societies. Cambridge University Press. pp. 155–156. ISBN 978-0521514309.
- Lewis (1984), p. 16.
- "Dhimmi". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 16 December 2021.
- Mirza, Mahan; Gerhard Bowering; Patricia Crone; et al., eds. (2013). The Princeton encyclopedia of Islamic political thought. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. p. 283. ISBN 978-0691134840.
Free adult males who were not afflicted by any physical or mental illness were required to pay the jizya. Women, children, handicapped, the mentally ill, the elderly, and slaves were exempt, as were all travelers and foreigners who did not settle in Muslim lands.
- Alshech, Eli (2003). "Islamic Law, Practice, and Legal Doctrine: Exempting the Poor from the Jizya under the Ayyubids (1171–1250)". Islamic Law and Society. 10 (3): 348–375. doi:10.1163/156851903770227584.
...jurists divided the dhimma community into two major groups. The first group consists of all adult, free, sane males among the dhimma community, while the second includes all other dhimmas (i.e., women, slaves, minors, and the insane). Jurists generally agree that members of the second group are to be granted a "blanket" exemption from jizya payment.
- ^ Lewis (1984), pp. 14–15.
- Ibrahim Oweiss (2003). The Book of Revenue: Kitab Al-Amwal. Garnet & Ithaca Press. p. xix. ISBN 978-1859641590.
- Stillman (1979), p. 28
- Lewis (1984), pp. 17–18; Stillman (1979), p. 18
- Klorman (2007), p. 94
- William Montgomery Watt, Islamic Political Thought: The Basic Concepts, p. 51. Quote: "The Christians were probably better off as dhimmis under Muslim-Arab rulers than they had been under the Byzantine Greeks."
- ^ Richard Bonney (2004). Jihad: From Qur'an to Bin Laden. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 84.
- Lewis (1984), pp. 30–31.
- ^ Lewis (1984), p. 15.
- "Djizya (i)", Encyclopaedia of Islam Online
- Weeramantry, Judge Christopher G. (1997). Justice Without Frontiers: Furthering Human Rights. Brill Publishers. p. 138. ISBN 978-90-411-0241-6.
- Sachedina, Abdulaziz Abdulhussein (2001). The Islamic Roots of Democratic Pluralism. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-513991-4.
- Mark R. Cohen (1995). Under Crescent and Cross: The Jews in the Middle Ages. Princeton University Press. p. 74. ISBN 978-0-691-01082-3. Retrieved 10 April 2010.
- al-Qattan (1999)
- Al-Mawardi (2000), p. 161; Friedmann (2003), p. 161; Lewis (1984), p. 27.
- ^ Lewis (1984) p. 13
- Sahih al-Bukhari 6914
- Ellethy, Yaser (2014). Islam, Context, Pluralism and Democracy: Classical and Modern Interpretations (Islamic Studies Series). Routledge. pp. 124–125. ISBN 978-1138800304.
- ^ Tahir-ul-Qadri, Muhammad (2011). Fatwa on Terrorism and Suicide Bombings. London: Minhaj-ul-Quran. pp. 98–99. ISBN 978-0-9551888-9-3.
- Majid Khadduri: War and Peace in the Law of Islam, p. 175
- al-Zuḥaylī, Wahbah (1998). ʾĀthar al-ḥarb fī l-fiqh al-Islāmī : dirāsah muqārinah. Damascus: Dār al-Fikr. p. 708. ISBN 978-1-57547-453-3. Quote: «» Translation:
- Ahmed (1979), pp. 46–47.
- Article 15, as quoted in Ahmed (1979), pp. 46–47.
- Article 25, as quoted in Ahmed (1979), pp. 46–47.
- Article 37, as quoted in Ahmed (1979), pp. 46–47.
- Article 45, as quoted in Ahmed (1979), pp. 46–47.
- Lewis (1984), pp. 10–11
- Lewis (1984), pp. 24–25.
- Marshall Hodgson, The Venture of Islam Conscience and History in a World Civilization Vol 2. The University of Chicago, 1961, pp. 126–127.
- Marshall Hodgson, The Venture of Islam Conscience and History in a World Civilization Vol. 1. The University of Chicago, 1961, p. 302.
- Wheatcroft (2003) p. 73.
- Werner Ende; Udo Steinbach (2010). Islam in the World Today. Cornell University Press. p. 738. ISBN 978-0801445712.
- Matthew Long (jizya entry author) (2012). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought. Princeton University Press. pp. 283–284. ISBN 978-0691134840.
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:|author=
has generic name (help) - "The Tribune, Chandigarh, India – World". www.tribuneindia.com.
- "Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood to Coptic Christians: Convert to Islam, or pay 'jizya' tax". The Washington Times.
- "Two Christians Murdered in Egypt for Refusing to Pay Jizya to Muslims". www.aina.org.
- Patrick Kingsley (16 September 2013). "Egyptian authorities recapture Islamist-held town: Morsi supporters had held Delga since his overthrow in July and unleashed a campaign of terror against Christian minority". The Guardian. Minya province. Retrieved 20 September 2013.
- Baker, Aryn. "Al-Qaeda Rebels in Syria Tell Christians to Pay Up or Die". Time.
- Caris, Charlie. "The Islamic State Announces Caliphate". Institute for the Study of War. Retrieved 1 July 2014.
- "Iraqi Christians flee after Isis issue Mosul ultimatum". BBC. 18 July 2014. Archived from the original on 24 July 2014. Retrieved 30 December 2014.
References
- Ahmad, Barakat (1979). Muhammad and the Jews. Vikas Publishing House.
- Al-Hibri, Azizah Y. (2003). "An Islamic Perspective on Domestic Violence". 27 Fordham International Law Journal 195.
- Abdel-Haleem, Muhammad (2012). "The jizya Verse (Q. 9:29): Tax Enforcement on Non-Muslims in the First Muslim State". Journal of Qur'anic Studies. 14 (2): 72–89. doi:10.3366/jqs.2012.0056. ISSN 1465-3591.
- Bravmann, Meïr M. (1966). "The ancient background of the Qur'ānic Concept Al-Ğizyatu 'an Yadin". Arabica. 13 (3): 307. doi:10.1163/157005866X00525.
- Bosworth, C. E. (1982). The Concept of Dhimma in Early Islam In Benjamin Braude and B. Lewis, eds., Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Empire: The Functioning of a Plural Society 2 vols., New York: Holmes & Meier Publishing. ISBN 0-8419-0520-7
- Cahen, Claude. "Djizya (i)". In P.J. Bearman; Th. Bianquis; C.E. Bosworth; E. van Donzel; W.P. Heinrichs (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam Online. Brill Academic Publishers. ISSN 1573-3912.
- Klorman, Bat-Zion Eraqi (Fall 2007). "Muslim Society as an Alternative: Jews Converting to Islam". Jewish Social Studies. 14 (1).
- Cohen, Mark (1995). Under Crescent and Cross: The Jews in the Middle Ages. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-01082-3.
- Courbage, Youssef; Fargues, Philippe (1995). Christians and Jews under Islam. London: I.B. Tauris Publishers. ISBN 978-1-86064-285-2.
- Friedmann, Yohanan (2003). Tolerance and Coercion in Islam: Interfaith Relations in the Muslim Tradition. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-82703-4.
- Goddard, Hugh (2000). A History of Christian-Muslim Relations. Chicago: New Amsterdam Books. ISBN 978-1-56663-340-6.
- Eraqi-Klorman, Bat-Zion; Reeva Spector Simon; Michael Menachem Laskier; et al., eds. (2003). The Jews of the Middle East and North Africa in Modern Times. Columbia, NY: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-10796-9.
- Karsh, Ephraim (2006). Islamic Imperialism: A History. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-10603-9.
- Lapidus, Ira M. (2002). A History of Islamic Societies (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-77933-3.
- Lewis, Bernard (2002). The Arabs in History. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-280310-8.
- Lewis, Bernard (1984). The Jews of Islam. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-00807-3.
- Esposito, John L. (1998). Islam: The Straight Path. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-511233-7.
- Littman, David (1979). "Jews Under Muslim Rule: The Case Of Persia". The Wiener Library Bulletin. XXXII (New series 49/50).
- Al-Mawardi (2000). The Ordinances of Government (Al-Ahkam al-Sultaniyya w'al-Wilayat al-Diniyya). Lebanon: Garnet Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85964-140-8.
- Parfitt, Tudor (2000). Israel and Ishmael : Studies in Muslim-Jewish Relations. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-312-22228-4.
- Power, Samantha (2002). A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide. New York: Harper Perennial. ISBN 978-0-06-054164-4.
- al-Qattan, Najwa (1999). "Dhimmis in the Muslim Court: Legal Autonomy and Religious Discrimination". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 31 (3): 429–444. doi:10.1017/S0020743800055501. ISSN 0020-7438. S2CID 159763960.
- Ghazi Muhammad; Ibrahim, Kalin; Kamali, Mohammad Hashim (2013). War and Peace in Islam: The Uses and Abuses of Jihad (PDF). The Islamic Texts Society Cambridge. ISBN 978-1-903682-83-8. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 July 2017. Retrieved 21 May 2016.
- Stillman, Norman (1979). The Jews of Arab Lands: A History and Source Book. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America. ISBN 978-1-82760-198-4.
- Tritton, Arthur S. (1930). The Caliphs and their non-Muslim Subjects: a Critical Study of the Covenant of Umar. London: Humphrey Milford/Oxford University Press.
- Viré, F. "Kird". In P.J. Bearman; Th. Bianquis; C.E. Bosworth; E. van Donzel; W.P. Heinrichs (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam Online. Brill Academic Publishers. ISSN 1573-3912.
- Waines, David (2003). An Introduction to Islam. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-53906-7.
- Wehr, Hans (1976). J. Milton Cowan (ed.). A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic. Ithaca, New York: Spoken Language Services, Inc. ISBN 978-0-87950-001-6.
- Wheatcroft, Andrew (2003). Infidels: A History of the Conflict between Christendom and Islam. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-025738-0.
Further reading
- Nabil Luka Babawi: Les droits et les devoirs des chrétiens dans l'état islamique et leurs conséquences sur la sécurité nationale, thèse de doctorat.
- Binswanger, Karl (1977). Untersuchungen zum Status der Nichtmuslime im Osmanischen Reich des 16. Jahrhunderts (in German). München. ISBN 978-3-87828-108-5.
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:|journal=
ignored (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Choksy, Jamsheed (1997). Conflict and Cooperation: Zoroastrian Subalterns and Muslim Elites in Medieval Iranian Society. New York.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Mark. R. Cohen: Under Crescent and Cross: The Jews in the Middle Ages. Princeton University Press, 1994.
- Fattal, Antoine (1958). Le statut légal des non-musulmans en pays d'Islam (in French). Beirut.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Maribel Fierro and John Tolan, eds, The legal status of ḏimmī-s in the Islamic West (second/eighth-ninth/fifteenth centuries) (Turnhoult, 2013).
- Friedmann, Yohanan (1998). "Classification of Unbelievers in Sunnī Muslim Law and Tradition". Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam (22).
- Goitein, S. D. (1967–71). The Mediterranean Society: The Jewish Communities of the Arab World as Portrayed in the Documents of the Cairo Geniza (4 vols.). Berkeley and Los Angeles. ISBN 978-0520018679.
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Gilbert, Martin (2010). In Ishmael's house: a History of Jews in Muslim Lands. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300167153.
- Nicola Melis, "Il concetto di ğihād", in P. Manduchi (a cura di), Dalla penna al mouse. Gli strumenti di diffusione del concetto di ğihād, Angeli, Milano 2006, pp. 23–54.
- Nicola Melis, "Lo statuto giuridico degli ebrei dell'Impero Ottomano", in M. Contu – N. Melis – G. Pinna (a cura di), Ebraismo e rapporti con le culture del Mediterraneo nei secoli XVIII–XX, Giuntina, Firenze 2003.
- Nicola Melis, Trattato sulla guerra. Il Kitāb al-ğihād di Molla Hüsrev, Aipsa, Cagliari 2002.
- Mohammad Amin Al-Midani: "La question des minorités et le statut des non-musulmans en Islam." In: La religion est-elle un obstacle à l'application des droits de l'homme?. colloque tenu les 10–11 décembre 2004 à Lyon.
- M. Levy-Rubin: "Shurut 'Umar and its alternatives: the legal debate on the status of the dhimmis." In: Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam. 30/2005
- Pessah Shinar: "Some remarks regarding the colours of male Jewish dress in North Africa and their Arabic-Islamic context." In: Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam. 24/2000, pp. 380–395
External links
- Islamic and Christian Spain in the early Middle Ages. Thomas F. Glick: Chapter 5: Ethnic relations
- Islam and its tolerance level. Archived 8 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
- Islamic Teaching On Dhimmi Status Creates An Atmosphere Of Intolerance from the Religious Freedom Packet of the Order of Saint Andrew the Apostle
- Bernard Lewis, Race and Slavery in the Middle East. Archived 1 April 2001 at the Wayback Machine.
- Jihad, the Arab Conquests and the Position of Non-Muslim Subjects (archived)
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