The Jurists' Consultation on Cyprus

مشاورة الفقهاء في أمر قبرس

In al-Baladhuri from Syrian scholars and Abu Ubayd al-Qasim ibn Sallam: the people of Cyprus gave fresh offence while Abd al-Malik ibn Salih ibn Ali the Abbasid governed the marches, and he wished to annul their treaty — the jurists being accessible — so he wrote to al-Layth ibn Sa'd, Malik ibn Anas, Sufyan ibn Uyayna, Musa ibn A'yun, Isma'il ibn Ayyash, Yahya ibn Hamza, Abu Ishaq al-Fazari and Makhlad ibn al-Husayn about their case and they answered him; among their rulings: al-Layth ibn Sa'd — they are suspected of betraying the Muslims and counselling the Byzantines; I hold you should denounce the treaty and give them a year's grace to choose — whoever wishes may join the Muslims' lands as a dhimmi paying kharaj, whoever wishes may withdraw to Byzantine lands, and whoever would stay in Cyprus stays at war; Malik ibn Anas — their safe-conduct is ancient and successive governors have honoured it, I find none who annulled their treaty, and hold you should not hasten to denounce it until the proof stands against them; Sufyan ibn Uyayna — we know of no people God covenanted with who broke the covenant without their blood becoming lawful, save the people of Mecca; Musa ibn A'yun — I have seen none of our predecessors annul them and hold they should be kept to their terms, transmitting from al-Awza'i that a dhimmi who guided the polytheists to the Muslims' weakness has left his dhimma, while a mere treaty-people is denounced openly; Isma'il ibn Ayyash — they are a humbled, conquered people whom the Byzantines master over their own lives and women, so it is our duty to defend and protect them and keep them on their covenant; Yahya ibn Hamza — Cyprus's case is that of Arabasus, where Umayr ibn Sa'd reported to Umar and Umar offered them double their wealth or expulsion, and when they refused he exiled them a year then ruined it — they are people of ransom, not of dhimma; Abu Ishaq al-Fazari and Makhlad ibn al-Husayn — nothing resembles Cyprus's case but Arabasus and Umar's ruling in it, transmitting from al-Awza'i that Cyprus's treaty was fourteen thousand dinars, seven to the Muslims and seven to the Byzantines, and that their treaty cannot be annulled save for an act in which their treachery is known.