How Have Non Muslims Been Treated In Muslim Countries In The Past?

[Thomas Jefferson]

The subject of the dhimma keeps cropping up on the International News forum on here so I thought I'd post a few QUOTES I snipped together from Bat Ye'or, The Dhimmi: Jews and Christians Under Islam.

 

Conquest and annexation of territories

 

Basing himself on the precedent of the Khaybar, where the Jewish lands became the property of the whole Islamic community, Umar I forbade division of the conquered lands among Muslim warriors. Except for individual fiefs, the conquered territories became fay lands (property of the Muslim community).

 

Conquest of Byzantine provinces by Muslims ended civil strife, as well as orthodox church’s persecution of dissident churches and Jews. However, the oppressive fiscal system provoked revolts/peasant insurrections which were harshly repressed by Arab colonialists. The insurgents were put to the sword, large sections of populations (Persians, Armenians, copts, etc) were reduced to slavery and many were deported.

 

According to Baladhuri, when some people in the Lebanon revolted against the collector of the Kharaj (land tax) at Ba’Labakk (Baalbek), Salih Ibn-Ali Ibn-Abdallah Ibn Abbas sent troops to crush the insurrection. Many were expelled.

 

In reserving the right to revoke the Dhimma unilaterally at any timer, the victors placed the dhimmis in a situation of permanent insecurity.

 

The tolerated status granted to them on their own land, in return for submission, established for centuries a form of protection that was provisional and conditional upon the will of the ruler.

 

Discriminatory taxes

 

A) Kharaj

The rights of conquest first established at Khaybar led to the expropriation of the vanquished peoples by their transfer of their lands to the Islamic community.

The Dhimmi, thus disposed by the victors, retained the right to cultivate his land in exchange for a tax to the muslim ruler.

This tax represents the Islamic community’s rights of ownership over the conquered lands of non-muslim peoples.

Kharaj thus turned the former peasant-owner into a tributary, who tilled his land as a tenant –his heirs retaining the same right – whereas the freehold ownership was confiscated by the ruler.

Dhimmis, forbidden to possess arms, became totally dependent on the occupying power.

In certain rural areas, the servile character of the dhimmi’s condition worsened with the passage of time.

 

Payment of Kharaj guaranteed protection to the dhimmis. However, this relationship often lapsed.

Whereas the caliphs had been able to protect the labouring non-muslim peasantries at the beginning of the conquest, in periods of instability the latter suffered from arab internecine bellicosity that, added to other factors, ruined the agricultural system.

 

B) Jizya

 

As well as the Kharaj, the Dhimmi also had to pay a POLL TAX (Jizya) …….Qur’an 9:29.

 

According to some jurists, this poll tax had to be paid by each person individually at a humiliating public ceremony in which the Dhimmi, while paying it, was struck either on the head or on the nape of the neck.

 

When oppressive taxation provoked a wave of conversion to Islam, the administration imposed a collective sum on each Dhimmi community which their notables apportioned between them, irrespective of their numbers.

 

Possession of the receipt for the Jizya – originally a piece of parchment worn around the neck of a seal worn on the wrist or on the chest – enabled the dhimmi to move from place to place (a dhimmi travelling without this receipt could be put in jail). The seal of the Jizya was soon regarded as a mark of dishonour.

 

In the Ottomon empire, the receipt had to be produced at the demand of tax-collectors on pain of immediate imprisonment, for the dhimmis were easily recognized by distinct clothing and could be stopped on the street.Dhimmis were allowed to practice ursury – in theory forbidden to the muslims – but this commerce sometimes led to the murder of the creditor. Moreover, in loaning capital to their dhimmi “bankers”, the authorities insistered in receiving a high rate of interest, a condition which increased the unpopularity of the usurer.

 

C) Other taxes (avariz: irregular taxes)

 

Dhimmis also paid higher commercial and travel taxes than the muslims.

 

Aside from taxation, large sums were extorted from the dhimmi communities at the ruler’s pleasure.

 

In the middle ages, if these burdens were not met, women and children were reduced to slavery.

 

In several regions throughout Syria, Palestine, and Iraq the periodic insecurity forced the dhimmi communities to protect themselves from pillage and massacre by paying protection money o emirs, sheikhs, and leaders of marauding bands.

Paying for their security and survival became the norm for the dhimmi communities. This custom legalized financial abuses and extortion shattered the indigenous pre-Arab populations, almost totally eliminating what remained of its peasantry.

 

Public administration

 

The exclusion of the dhimmis from public office was based on some verses of the Qur’an (3:27, 113, 5:56) and on hadiths. An “infidel” was not allowed to exert authority over a Muslim.

 

In the middle ages, the holding of high administrative positions by dhimmis could lead to an insurrection (e.g. Granada in 1066, fez in 1275 and 1465, iraq in 1291 and frequently in Egypt under the Mamluks: 1250-1517). A number embraced conversion to keep their positions.

 

Inequality before the law: invalidity of the dhimmi’s oath

 

Every legal case involving a muslim and a dhimmi was judged according to koranic law.

A dhimmi was not allowed to give evidence against a muslim

Since his oath was unacceptable in an Islamic court, his muslim opponent could easily not be condemned.

In order to defend himself, the dhimmi was obliged to purchase muslim witnesses at great expense.

 

Refusal of Islamic religious courts to accept the testimony of the dhimmi was based on hadith which maintained that the infidels were of a perverse and mendacious character because they deliberately persisted in denying the superiority of islam.

A muslim was never to be put to death on account of an infidel. According to a hadith, attributed to Muhammad (in the compilation of muslim, d. 874), “No muslim would die but allah would admit in his stead a jew or a Christian in hell-fire.”

 

The punishment that a guilty muslim received for a crime would be greatly reduced if the victim were a dhimmi, and conversely, in practice, if not in law, a dhimmi would often be sentenced to death if he dared raise his hand against a muslim, even in legitimate self-defence.

 

Religion

 

A) Places of worship

The construction of new synagogues, as well as churches and convents, was forbidden by law, but the restoration of pre-islamic places of worship was permited, subject to certain restrictions and on condition that they were neither enlarged nor transformed.

 

Penalization of indigeneous religions was because of Islam’s disadvantage as a new, primitive religion, of a minority of Bedouin soldiers in the native lands, compared to more ancient and sophisticated religions and civilisations (which the muslims might convert to). The abasement of other religions served to reinforce the muslim arab’s feelings of superiority.

 

Dhimmi places of worship were not considered inviolable. They could be ransacked, burned, or demolished as acts of reprisal against the community on the pretext that some of their members had exceeded their rights.

The exterior of these buildings looked dilapidated and their interiors were effected by looting or as a policy to discourage predatory attacks.

 

Since 1266, Christians were barred from entering the Machpelah cave in Hebron.

The abolition by the State of Israel of this religious discrimination, which had prevailed for seven centuries, incensed the arab-muslim population and provoked riots whose motivations hardly differed from those of the middle ages.

 

B) Liturgy

Ringing of bells, sounding of the shofar, and public exhibition of crosses, icons, banners, and other religious objects were all prohibited.

 

Although Judaism and Christianity were tolerated according to the terms of the dhimma, in practice freedom of worship was NOT respected.

In the beginning, as outnumbered small armies, they were not in a position to restrict religious practices throughout the conquered territories.

 

Manifestations of non-muslim worship offended muslims. If the dhimmis sometimes succeeded in purchasing some rights at an exorbitant cost, the population often revolted and thwarted attempts at liberalization.

 

Venality of the authorities versus fanaticism of the people (led by the Ulama), demanded a strict application of the degrading law.

Such a policy of discrimination encouraged bribery and proved to be a source of enrichment for the rulers. The more meddlesome the oppression, the more remunerative it became.
Intolerance increased with the reinforcement of the arab muslim element.

Hebron is the classic example of the exclusive appropriation by the muslims of numerous Jewish and Christian holy sites.

 

Dhimmi cemeteries (considered as being within the realm of hell) were not respected. They were often completely destroyed and the tombs profaned.

Apostacy or blasphemy against Islam, Muhammad, or the angels, incurred the death penalty. An accusation of blasphemy, whether true or false, often led to the summary execution of the dhimmis.

C) Persecutions and forced conversions

The Qur’an forbids forced conversions, BUT the wars and the necessities of colonization caused this prohibition to be violated. In 704-5, the caliph Walid I (705-715) assembled the nobles of Armenia in the church of St Gregory in Naxcawan and the chuch of Xram on the Araxis, and burned them to death. Others were crucified and decapitated and their wives and children were taken into captivity.

 

A violent persecution of the Christians in Armenia is recorded from 852 to 855.

 

It is reported that in 1033, between five and six thousand jews were massacred in Fez, and in 1066, about three thousand in Granada.

In Yemen the Jews were forced to choose between death and conversion in 1165 and 1678.

The Almohad persecutions (1130-1212) in the Maghreb and in muslim spain put an end to what remained of the Christian population of north Africa.

The Jews, who had been forced to accept islam, formed a mass of “new converts” who practiced their former religion in secret.

The Almohad inquistors, doubting their sincerity, took away their children and raised them as muslims!

The Jews of Tabriz were obliged to convert in 1291 and 1318 and those of Baghdad in 1333 and 1344.

 

Segregation and humiliation

 

The Dhimma required the humiliation of the Dhimmis, who were accused of perpetuating false versions of OT and NT (in which Muhammad had allegedly been omitted). Their persistence in the error was held to be the mark of a diabolic nature, necessitating their segregation of the Islamic community and their abasement.

By the end of the middle ages, with a few exceptions, special quarters had been set aside for infidels, outside of which they were not permitted to acquire either lands or buildings; both in size and appearance, their houses had to be inferior to those of the muslims.

 

In Tunisia under the Hafsids there were jews who owned fields and fine houses.
The Turkish conquest inaugurated a much more tolerant era, the situation of the dhimmis greatly improved under Ottoman rule (AFTER the middle ages).

Houses of dhimmis were demolished for being higher than was authorized by tradition.

 

In Tunisia under the Hafsids there were jews who owned fields and fine houses. The Turkish conquest inaugurated a much more tolerant era, the situation of the dhimmis greatly improved under Ottoman rule (AFTER the middle ages).

 

Arab honorific titles and use of Arabic alphabet were forbidden to the dhimmis.

 

Marriage or relations with muslim women and a dhimmi was punishable by DEATH. (but a muslim could marry a dhimmi woman).

It was regarded as a grave offence for a Dhimmi to ride on a noble animal (horse or camel). Outside the towns, he was allowed to ride on a donkey (but even this was at times restricted to special cases).

 

Dhimmis were not permitted to group together to talk in the street. They had to walk with their eyes lowered and pass to the left of the muslims (who were encouraged to PUSH THEM aside).

 

There were many laws regulating the clothes worn by the dhimmis (colour, shape, dimensions), the shapes of turbans, footwear, saddles, the attire of wives, children and servants of dhimmis.

The dhimmis often broke these regulations and were punished accordingly.

 

During the wars between Islam and Christendom in middle ages, provided suitable climate for anti-dhimmi riots as well as for reinforcement of the discriminatory laws.

Christians, as the largest of the Dar al-Islam, were the chief victims of religious persecution. Often accused of collusion with Byzantium and with enemies of islam, they also suffered from the consequences of the crusades and the Reconquista (as well as from persecutions of muslims living under Christian rule).

 

The disappearance of those dhimmi communities concerning which records of their destruction have been fortuitously preserved, prompt a reflection on the fate of the many communities that were destroyed without leaving a trace.

Their annihilation was not the result of wars but of that fact that, not being muslim, hence unarmed, they could live only in a state of perpetual insecurity and contemptuous tolerance.

 

Process of colonisation

 

Arabization of the conquered territories. Two stages : 1) Jihad – the military conquest and annexation of territories, governed by specific rulers ands based on a concept of election that justifies world domination. 2) the Dhimma – a system of dispossession and colonization, aimed at protecting and safeguareding the domination of the triumphant Islamic community.

During the first two centuries of their conquest the Arabs were themselves a minority. In order to impose their laws, language, foreign culture on ancient civilisations, they had to proceed with caution.

 

The Dhimma paved the way for arab colonization in the political, economic, religious and cultural sectors.

Conquered peoples who revolted (like the copts, Armenians, berbers and Persians) were MASSACRED or DEPORTED from one region to another,whily successive waves of Bedouin settled in the depopulated territories, the state having appropriated all the lands and resources of the conquered regions.

This constant policy of repopulation with arab tribes diminished the huge numerical gap between the occupying army and the colonized peoples, who were reduced, as their condition deteriorated, to a cheap source of manpower that could be drawn on to perform the most menial tasks.

 

It was the opinion of Medieval jurists that the dhimmis had been tolerated because their advantages to the conquerors had outweighed their disadvantages. Skilled in various crafts, subject to tallage and liable to forced labour at any time, the dhimmis as a whole provided the conquerors with the means and resources for the strengthening of the Islamic socity and the continuance of the Jihad.

 

In the 12th Century the condition of the non-muslims in iraq improved. The pagan Mongol Il-Khan dynasty (1265-1353) abolished religious discrimination, but when Ghazan was converted to islam in 1295, the dhimmis were again subjected to the customary humiliating legislation and suffered reprisals that decimated whole communities.

 

Under the rule of the Fatimids (909-1171) the dhimmi communities in Egypt, Syria, Palestine and part of the Maghreb enjoyed considerable liberty, except under the reign of Caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah (996-1021). Persecutions of the dhimmis by the Almoravids and Almohads (1042-1269) wiped out the Christian communities of Muslim Spain and North Africa.

 

The Jews, threatened with forced conversions by Yusuf ibn Tashfin (1061-1106) were able to avoid the same fate only by paying a heavy ransom. Under the Almohads, in 1159, however, the Jews were again left with three choices:

Conversion
Exile
Death

Those who were converted continued to practice Judaism in secret. The Hafsids (1228-1534) – comparatively tolerant – allowed them to return to Judaism on condition that they paid the Jizya and other heavy taxes, adopted a special costume, and complied with other humiliating measures.

In Egypt, Syria, and Palestine, Saladin (1169-``93) revived the covenant of umar: persecution of jews and especially Christians increased during the rule of the mamluks (1250-1517). Under the influence of the Ulama, discrimination, humiliation, massacres, fiscal extortions, forced conversions, and destruction of churches, synagogues occurred.

 

Sultan Bayazid II (1481-1512) allowed the jews expelled from spain in 1492 to settle in his empire and practise their religion. The periodical accusations of ritual murder that the Greek Orthodox Church levelled against the Jews were forbidden by the Turkish authorities.

 

Persecutions were at times abolished or diminished by a benevolent governor or sultan and revived in periods of war of fanaticism at the demand of the theologians.

Often a community that was persecuted in one regime fled and managed to survive by placing itself under the authority of a more merciful muslim ruler.

 

Dhimmis in Persia often found refuge in Afghanistan, and at some periods the Jews of the Maghreb and Yemen would emigrate to the Ottoman Empire.

 

Arabic sources relating to early Muslim History rarely refer to the dhimmis, a silence probably based on the scorn felt toward inferiors.

 

Sometimes the guile of the dhimmis is mentioned in collection with a particular incident to demonstrate the TOLERENCE ( ?! ) OF THE MUSLIMS.

Tragedy of the dhimmi can not be expressed in all its aspects either by muslim authors who are apologists for the triumphant faith, nor by the oppressed, alienated and ready to corroborate the victors version.

 

European sources often describe the moral degradation of the dhimmi. Forced to endure foreign rule, living in a situation of permanent injustice and insecurity, the dhimmis could survive only by following the few paths imposed on them by oppression and by circumventing the laws which consecrated that injustice.

 

To summarise, it seems that things were generally quite bad but there were specific times or periods when things were not so bad.

[Lxxx]

So, in summary, your point is.....?

[kevster]

Another slow day at McDonalds was it?

[Mr. Sausages]

tldr

[kevster]

The subject of the dhimma keeps cropping up on the International News forum on here so I thought I'd post a few notes I jotted down while reading Bat Ye'or, The Dhimmi: Jews and Christians Under Islam.

Notes you jotted down?

Looks like THIS to me

[Mr. Sausages]

Elle owe elle

[Thomas Jefferson]

So, in summary, your point is.....?

 

I'm not making a point. I'm just putting the information out there because the topic keeps cropping up.

[mojomonkey]

Plagiarism is such a lovely word.

[Thomas Jefferson]

Notes you jotted down?

Looks like THIS to me

 

I typed out the interesting bits while reading the physical book. Why so suspicious?

[Thomas Jefferson]

Plagiarism is such a lovely word.

 

It's not plagiarism when you clearly cite a source before quoting it.

[mojomonkey]

It's not plagiarism when you clearly cite a source before quoting it.

 

I'm not sure what rules and system of referencing they used at your university but your claim of jotting down a few notes would have landed you in academic hot water at the university I went to.

[Thomas Jefferson]

 

It's not plagiarism when you clearly cite a source before quoting it.

 

I'm not sure what rules and system of referencing they used at your university but your claim of jotting down a few notes would have landed you in academic hot water at the university I went to.

 

What on earth are you rambling on about? These are just NOTES taken from a book; nothing is being passed off as my own work.

 

P.S. The only "degree" I have is from a McDonald's Bigger Flipping course. I guess I'm just not as smart as you university know it alls with your fancy letters after your names. I bow to your superior knowledge. Oy gevalt iz mir.

[mojomonkey]

What on earth are you rambling on about? These are just NOTES taken from a book; nothing is being passed off as my own work.

 

At your university (you never did tell us which one) was taking notes just a cut and paste exercise?

 

Anyway, in your first post you say that the subject of the dhimma keeps cropping up on the International News forum on here. I've done a search for dhimma and only this thread appears. In no more than thirty words can you explain what on earth you're going on about?

[Mr. Sausages]

 

Notes you jotted down?

Looks like THIS to me

 

I typed out the interesting bits while reading the physical book. Why so suspicious?

 

No need to buy it then, as all the interesting bits are on the google preview.

[Thomas Jefferson]

 

What on earth are you rambling on about? These are just NOTES taken from a book; nothing is being passed off as my own work.

 

At your university (you never did tell us which one) was taking notes just a cut and paste exercise?

 

Anyway, in your first post you say that the subject of the dhimma keeps cropping up on the International News forum on here. I've done a search for dhimma and only this thread appears. In no more than thirty words can you explain what on earth you're going on about?

 

I've never been to university.

 

Quilp has brought up the subject of dhimmis several times in a number of threads which have discussed subjects which involve Muslims. The most recent mention of dhimmis was in the "Kenya" thread.