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Dhimma: Difference between revisions
→Origins: Corrected quotes to the actual wording in the cited translations
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According to Islamic sources the pact of the dhimma originated with Muhammad himself after the battle of [[Khaybar]]. Muhammad, having defeated the Jews of the oasis, destroyed their forts, killed their leader, took his wife as his own, tortured and killed various of their number in order to find their treasures, and cut down their palm trees, allowed the surviving Jews to remain there on the condition that they pay half their crop to him and the Muslims.<ref> Littman, G., 1985. The Dhimmi. 1st ed. Rutherford [N.J.]: Fairleigh Dickinson Univ. Pr., 44</ref> This was the beginning of the [[jizyah]] and the dhimma. According to his biographer ibn Sa'd, Muhammad would later write to a Christian ruler: | According to Islamic sources the pact of the dhimma originated with Muhammad himself after the battle of [[Khaybar]]. Muhammad, having defeated the Jews of the oasis, destroyed their forts, killed their leader, took his wife as his own, tortured and killed various of their number in order to find their treasures, and cut down their palm trees, allowed the surviving Jews to remain there on the condition that they pay half their crop to him and the Muslims.<ref> Littman, G., 1985. The Dhimmi. 1st ed. Rutherford [N.J.]: Fairleigh Dickinson Univ. Pr., 44</ref> This was the beginning of the [[jizyah]] and the dhimma. According to his biographer ibn Sa'd, Muhammad would later write to a Christian ruler: | ||
{{Quote|Sa’d, Kitab Al-Tabaqat Al-Kabir, vol. 1, 328-329.|I will not fight against you unless I write to you in advance. So, join the fold of Islam or pay the jizyah. Obey Allah and His Apostle and the messengers of His Apostle, honour them and dress them in nice clothes.… Provide Zayd with good clothes. If my messengers will be pleased with you, I shall also be pleased with you.… Pay three wasaq of barley to Harmalah… | {{Quote|Ibn Sa’d, Kitab Al-Tabaqat Al-Kabir, vol. 1, 328-329. translated by S. Moinul Haq|I will not fight against you unless I write to you (in advance). So, join the fold of Islam or pay the ''jizyah''. Obey Allah and His Apostle and the messengers of His Apostle, honour them and dress them in nice clothes.… Provide Zayd with good clothes. If my messengers will be pleased with you, I shall also be pleased with you.… Pay three ''wasaq'' of barley to Harmalah…}} | ||
Here the beginnings of the tripartite offer can be glimpsed. The full trifecta of conversion to Islam, paying the jizyah, or death would be finalized by the masterful Muslim general Khalid bin Al-Walid, the "Sword of Allah", in his jihad against the Christians of Iraq and their Zoroastrian overlords: | Here the beginnings of the tripartite offer can be glimpsed. The full trifecta of conversion to Islam, paying the jizyah, or death would be finalized by the masterful Muslim general Khalid bin Al-Walid, the "Sword of Allah", in his jihad against the Christians of Iraq and their Zoroastrian overlords: | ||
{{Quote|Al-Tabari, The History of al-Tabari, vol. 11, The Challenge to the Empires, translated by Khalid Yahya Blankinship (State University of New York Press, 1993), 6|I call you to God and to Islam. If you | {{Quote|Al-Tabari, The History of al-Tabari, vol. 11, The Challenge to the Empires, translated by Khalid Yahya Blankinship (State University of New York Press, 1993), 6|I call you to God, to His worship, and to Islam. If you accept, you obtain the benefits we enjoy and take up the responsibilties we bear. If you refuse, then [you must pay] the ''jizyah''. If the refuse the ''jizyah'', then we will bring against you a people who love death more than you love drinking wine.}} | ||
This tripartite offer of death, paying the jizya and accepting the dhimma, or converting to Islam would be copied by Islamic conquerors throughout the ages, from Spain to Indonesia, and is still found today in the declarations of war and "invitation" by Islamic terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda. | This tripartite offer of death, paying the jizya and accepting the dhimma, or converting to Islam would be copied by Islamic conquerors throughout the ages, from Spain to Indonesia, and is still found today in the declarations of war and "invitation" by Islamic terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda. | ||