People of the Book: Difference between revisions

{{Main|Virgin Conception of Jesus in the Qur'an}}The Qur'anic verses 21:91 and 66:12 in conjunction with the tafsir's, tell us the angel Jibreel was sent to breathe Allah's spirit into ''Maryam'''s (مريم Mary's) vagina. {{Quran|5|116}} tells us the Trinity consists of three separate gods, which are the Father (God), the Mother (Virgin Mary) and the Son (Jesus). The Quran is generally highly critical of the Christians for their views about Jesus and Mary. According to a hadith, Mary will be one of his wives in paradise.{{Quote|al-Siyuti (6/395)|Muhammad said, “In heaven, Mary mother of Jesus, will be one of my wives.”}}{{Quote| Tabarani|"The Messenger of God ... said, ‘God married me in paradise to Mary the daughter of 'Imran and to the wife of Pharaoh and the sister of Moses.’" <ref>(Ibn Kathir, Qisas al-Anbiya [Cairo: Dar al-Kutub, 1968/1388], p. 381- as cited in Aliah Schleifer's Mary The Blessed Virgin of Islam [Fons Vitae; ISBN: 1887752021; July 1, 1998], p. 64;</ref>}}

{{Main|Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Dhimmitude|Dhimmitude}}The term ''Dhimmitude'' is derived from ''Dhimmi'', which means a non-Muslim living in an Islamic country. According to orthodox Islamic law, those who are qualified for the second-class Dhimmi status within the Muslim society are the free (i.e non-slave) Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians, who agree to pay the jizyah, a religious tax whose purpose is to "humiliate" or "subdue" non-Muslims (as stated explicitly in {{Quran|9|29}}). Adherents of other religions, as well as those without religion, are asked to convert to Islam; if they refuse, they are to be forced to convert, or face enslavement or execution. This Dhimma legal framework is not in force in modern Muslim states today as civil law is considered to have rendered it inapplicable.  

{{Main|Jizyah|Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Jizyah}}{{Quote|Umar ibn al-Khattab during the conquest of al-Basrah (636 CE)|Summon the people to God; those who respond to your call, accept it from them, but those who refuse must pay the poll tax out of humiliation and lowliness. If they refuse this, it is the sword without leniency. Fear God with regard to what you have been entrusted.<ref>Al-Tabari, ''The History of al-Tabari (Ta'rikh al rusul wa'l-muluk)'', vol. 12: ''The Battle of Qadissiyah and the Conquest of Syria and Palestine,'' trans. Yohanan Friedman (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992), p. 167.</ref>}}According to the Qur'an and hadith, ''Jizyah'' or ''jizya'' (جزْي) is the extra tax imposed on non-Muslims (Dhimmis) who live under Muslim rule. It is paid as a sign of submission and gives dhimmis some legal protection in return. Under dhimmitude (the status that Islamic law, the Sharia, mandates for non-Muslims) Dhimmis usually are not allowed to carry arms to protect themselves, serve in the army or government, display symbols of their faith, build or repair places of worship etc. If the conquered do not wish to pay or convert, their fate may very well be slavery (under which, rape is permitted) or (as evidenced in the quotes above) death.

{{Main|The Pact of Umar|Analysis of the Pact of Umar}}Much has been said of the ''Pact of Umar'',<ref>Paul Halsall - [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/pact-umar.html The Status of Non-Muslims Under Muslim Rule]- Medieval Sourcebook, January, 1996</ref> and much of it distinctly positive. Its non-Muslim admirers gleefully compare its contents to the treatment of religious minorities in Medieval Europe, while ignoring its influence and conformity with Islamic scriptural sources which still govern the treatment of minorities in the East today. Some non-Muslim scholars of early Islam doubt the pact's authenticity, highlighting the fact that the Islamic traditions surrounding the writing of the pact are a few hundred years removed from the actual events described, and that no contemporary sources refers to it at all. ''Sophronius''' (560  - 638 AD) authentic extant writings also refer to the Muslim conquerors in a very negative way, putting further doubts on the Muslim recollections of events.<ref>Robert Hoyland, ''Seeing Islam as Others Saw It'' (Princeton, 1996) p. 69-71</ref> This article, nonetheless, analyses the rights and limitations placed on the Syrians based on this account of the Pact of Umar. It is further worth noting that, even if the pact is historically unreliable, many (if not all) of the specific stipulations found in the pact have a basis in Islamic scripture independent of the pact itself.

{{Main|The Genocide of Banu Qurayza|Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Banu Qurayza}}Hijra year 5 (627 AD), almost nine hundred Jews (including children) of a Medinan tribe named Banu Qurayza were massacred by Muslims in one day. Muhammad was the lead the atrocity, which began early in the day, ending in torchlight. Those who escaped death were taken captive by Muslims and sold in slave markets. This genocide is known in history as the Banu Qurayza incident.