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Dhimma: Difference between revisions
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All this we promise to observe, on behalf of ourselves and our co-religionists, and receive protection from you in exchange; and if we violate any of the conditions of this agreement, then we forfeit your protection and you are at liberty to treat us as enemies and rebels..<ref>[http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/index2.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fordham.edu%2Fhalsall%2Fjewish%2Fjews-umar.html] - Internet Jewish History Sourcebook (Archived), October 8, 2021</ref>}} | All this we promise to observe, on behalf of ourselves and our co-religionists, and receive protection from you in exchange; and if we violate any of the conditions of this agreement, then we forfeit your protection and you are at liberty to treat us as enemies and rebels..<ref>[http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/index2.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fordham.edu%2Fhalsall%2Fjewish%2Fjews-umar.html] - Internet Jewish History Sourcebook (Archived), October 8, 2021</ref>}} | ||
Amongst the most promiment of these rules were the restrictions on building new places of worship, the stipulations on the different clothing that the dhimmis were forced to wear, the prohibition on copying Muslims in style, and the limitations on worship which the Christians had to abide by. The pact ends with recognition of the fact that if it is broke, the dhimmis will lose their "protection" and the jihad will resume against them. Although enforcement varied throughout the ages, all of these laws found implementation at different times and places in the modern world up until the middle of the 20th century. | Amongst the most promiment of these rules were the restrictions on building new places of worship, the stipulations on the different clothing that the dhimmis were forced to wear, the prohibition on copying Muslims in style, and the limitations on worship which the Christians had to abide by. The pact ends with recognition of the fact that if it is broke, the dhimmis will lose their "protection" and the jihad will resume against them. Although enforcement varied throughout the ages, all of these laws found implementation at different times and different places in the modern world up until the middle of the 20th century. | ||
==The Dhimma as Social Contract== | ==The Dhimma as Social Contract== | ||
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{{Quote|Ye'or, Bat ''Understanding Dhimmitude'' RVP Publishers, New York, New York, USA, 2013, 95| | {{Quote|Ye'or, Bat ''Understanding Dhimmitude'' RVP Publishers, New York, New York, USA, 2013, 95| | ||
The main characteristics of the dhimmi condition brought by this situation are: | The main characteristics of the dhimmi condition brought by this situation are: | ||
in the legal domain: | |||
a) the Islamic notion of protection; | |||
b) the notion of toleration; | |||
in the economic domain: the notion of fay (booty); and in the social domain: the notion of vilification.}}By Islamic protection, she refers to the operative theory of [[Jihad in Islamic Law]]. All people of the earth live in two realms: [[Dar al-Harb and Dar al-Islam (the Abodes of War and Peace)]]. The residents of the Abode of War, Dar-al-Harb, are the harbis. Their blood is legal for the Muslims; that is they are allowed to kill them wherever they find them. This is natural state of the world according to the fuquha'. The dhimma, a cessation of this state, this constitutes protection from this never ending jihad. Instead of their [[Shirk]] being stomped out by force, their erroneous religions are allowed, graciously, to exist by the Muslims. As such, they ought in fact to be grateful for the dhimma. This "right" granted by the dhimma is the right to life, which is contingent on the payment of the [[Jizyah]] poll tax. Most of the jurists agree that failure to this tax must result in the continuation of the state of jihad upon the dhimmi, that is in his death <ref>Ye'or, Bat ''Understanding Dhimmitude'' RVP Publishers, New York, New York, USA, 2013, 95-96</ref>: | |||
in the economic domain: the notion of fay (booty); and | |||
in the social domain: the notion of vilification.}}By Islamic protection, she refers to the operative theory of [[Jihad in Islamic Law]]. All people of the earth live in two realms: [[Dar al-Harb and Dar al-Islam (the Abodes of War and Peace)]]. The residents of the Abode of War, Dar-al-Harb, are the harbis. Their blood is legal for the Muslims; that is they are allowed to kill them wherever they find them. This is natural state of the world according to the fuquha'. The dhimma, a cessation of this state, this constitutes protection from this never ending jihad. Instead of their [[Shirk]] being stomped out by force, their erroneous religions are allowed, graciously, to exist by the Muslims. As such, they ought in fact to be grateful for the dhimma. This "right" granted by the dhimma is the right to life, which is contingent on the payment of the [[Jizyah]] poll tax. Most of the jurists agree that failure to this tax must result in the continuation of the state of jihad upon the dhimmi, that is in his death <ref>Ye'or, Bat ''Understanding Dhimmitude'' RVP Publishers, New York, New York, USA, 2013, 95-96</ref>: | |||
{{Quote|Abu Yusuf Ya’kub, 189, Le Livre de l’Impôt Foncier (Kitab al-Kharadj), trans. and annotated by E. Fagnan (Paris: Paul Geuthner, 1921), English quotation in Ye’or, The Dhimmi, 168.|The wali [governor of a province] is not allowed to exempt any Christian, Jew, Magean, Sabaen, or Samaritan from paying the tax, and no one can obtain a partial reduction. It is illegal for one to be exempted and another not, for their lives and belongings are spared only because of payment of the poll tax. [. . .]3}} | {{Quote|Abu Yusuf Ya’kub, 189, Le Livre de l’Impôt Foncier (Kitab al-Kharadj), trans. and annotated by E. Fagnan (Paris: Paul Geuthner, 1921), English quotation in Ye’or, The Dhimmi, 168.|The wali [governor of a province] is not allowed to exempt any Christian, Jew, Magean, Sabaen, or Samaritan from paying the tax, and no one can obtain a partial reduction. It is illegal for one to be exempted and another not, for their lives and belongings are spared only because of payment of the poll tax. [. . .]3}} | ||
By ''fay'' she uses the Arabic word (فيء) fay' which means the booty of war. | By ''fay'' she uses the Arabic word (فيء) fay' which means the booty of war. According to the rules of jihad, the imam (leader) of the Muslims is to keep the fay has a waqf (وقف) or collective trust of the entirety of the Ummah (the community of Muslims). According to the rules of jihad, the conquered people, their wealth, their women and children, their land, their property, and the fruit of their labor constitute the communcal fay of the Muslim ummah. The dhimma is this a structured way of leveraging this communal property according to the 8th century Muslim jurist Abu Yusu : | ||
<br /> | |||
{{Quote|Abu Yusuf Ya’kub, 189, Le Livre de l’Impôt Foncier (Kitab al-Kharadj), trans. and annotated by E. Fagnan (Paris: Paul Geuthner, 1921), English quotation in Ye’or, The Dhimmi 165|But I thought that we had nothing more to conquer after the land of Kesra [Persia], whose riches, land, and people Allah has given us. I have divided the personal possessions among those that conquered them after having subtracted a fifth, which under my supervision was used for the purpose for which it was intended. I thought it necessary to reserve the land and its inhabitants, and levy from the latter the kharaj by virtue of their land, and the capitation [jizya] as a personal tax on every head, this poll tax making up a fay in favor of the Muslims who have fought there, of their children and of their heirs.}} | |||
The 11th century jurist Ibn Hazm elaborates: | |||
{{Quote|“La Guerre Sainte, selon Ibn Hazm de Cordoue,” in Etudes d’Orientalisme dédiées à la mémoire de Lévi-Provençal, Vol. II, (Paris: Maisonneuve et Larose, 1962), 457 English translation from Ye'or, Islam and Dhimmitude, 429, n. 32.|God has established the infidel's ownership of their property only for the institution of booty for Muslims.}} | |||
The dhimmis are not to be reduced to slavery, but their economic output is to be harvested by the Muslims through the jizyah and the kharaaj and the other taxes and duties imposed on them, as well as through corvees or forced labor. | |||
By vilification, Ye'or refers to the rituals, rules, laws, and regulations of the dhimma which are meant to humiliate the dhimmi and his religion, thus Ye'or brings the examples of the legal status of dhimmis vis-a-vis Muslims in the Islamic polity. Dhimmis were not allowed to hit or strike a Muslim, even in defense, and even in situations where their life was threatened by the Muslim; furthermore, in cases of criminal import, their testimony was inadmissible in Muslim courts; in fact in such cases dhimmis were often forced to buy the testimony of Muslims for the sake of their defense. These stipulations were meant to humiliate and vilify the conquered people, thus pushing them inexorably to convert to Islam throughout the ages. <br /> | |||
==See Also== | ==See Also== | ||