Non-Muslim minorities under Muslim rule
Family: Peoples, minorities and protected groups · 29 entries
Entries on this theme
Event
The Constitution of Medina
c. 622 CE · 1 AHA document, preserved in early sources, regulating relations among the Muslims and the other communities of Medina.Siege of Banu Qaynuqa
c. 9 April 624 CE · 15 Shawwal 2 AHA fifteen-day siege of the Jewish tribe Banu Qaynuqa in Shawwal 2 AH after their breach of the covenant; ended in their unconditional surrender and expulsion from Medina.The delegation of Najran
c. 631 CE · 9 AHSixty riders of Christian Najran came to Medina in 9 AH led by the Aqib, the Sayyid and Bishop Abu Haritha; when they declined Islam the Prophet offered the mutual invocation of God's curse (mubahala) with Fatima, al-Hasan and al-Husayn, they asked instead for terms, and a treaty granted them God's protection in exchange for two thousand garments a year.
Work
The Prophet's letter to the kings of Himyar
A letter the Prophet sent to al-Harith ibn Abd Kulal, Nu'aym ibn Abd Kulal and al-Nu'man, qayl of Dhu Ru'ayn, Ma'afir and Hamdan, in answer to their letter announcing their Islam: it records meeting their envoy at Medina on his return from the land of the Romans, sets out the Muslims' duties of prayer, zakat, the fifth of booty with the Prophet's share and safi, the sadaqa rates on crops, camels, cattle and sheep, and rules that a Jew or Christian who converts is a believer while one who keeps his faith is not turned from it and owes a jizya of one full dinar per adult or its value in cloth. A second part addresses Zur'a Dhu Yazan, commending the envoys under Mu'adh ibn Jabal and stating that sadaqa is unlawful for Muhammad and his household.The Prophet's written charge to Amr ibn Hazm on sending him to Yemen
A written charge the Prophet gave Amr ibn Hazm when sending him to Banu al-Harith ibn Ka'b: fear God, take what is right, give good tidings, teach the Qur'an which none may touch but the pure, be gentle in right and severe against wrong, teach the rites of the greater hajj and the lesser (the umra), forbid praying in one small garment, sitting wrapped with the private parts exposed, braiding the hair at the nape, and tribal rallying-cries in strife; order full ablution, the five prayers at their times, Friday and its bath, the fifth of booty and the sadaqa rates on crops, camels, cattle and sheep, with the rule for Jews and Christians who convert and for those who keep their faith and owe a full dinar per adult or its value in cloth.
Person
Shihab al-Din Ibn 'Ubba al-Maqdisi
c. January 1429 CE · 12 Rabi' I 831 AHJerusalem's qadi, b. 831 — tried over the Qumama, the famous church whose demolition Qaytbay punished him, the scholar Burhan al-Ansari and others for, some beaten in the sultan's presence; exiled to Damascus he preached and reminded the people; his verse to a water-wheel survives: 'Na'ura, I told her — cut short your groaning; / this is provision for a grieving heart'; d. Damascus, night of Saturday 3 Jumada I 905, buried north of Bab al-Saghir.Hisham ibn Hakim ibn Hizam (Companion)
Hisham ibn Hakim ibn Hizam ibn Khuwaylid ibn Asad ibn Abd al-Uzza, Abu Umar, of Quraysh and the Banu Asad, a Companion and the son of a Companion. He embraced Islam on the day Makkah was conquered, narrated from the Prophet, and was narrated from by Jubayr ibn Nufayr, Urwa ibn al-Zubayr and Qatada al-Sulami. He was counted among the best and most distinguished Companions. When Iyad ibn Ghanm, governor of Homs, made people of the Nabat pay the jizya, Hisham objected, citing the Prophet's saying that God punishes those who torment people in this world. Abu Nu'aym is reported to have said that he was martyred at Ajnadayn.Strongilah
Draft card for Strongilah (Esther Kira), the sixteenth-century Jewish merchant and kira in the Ottoman court of Istanbul, executed 1548; the source entry is not yet checked on the page.
Concept
Ahl al-Dhimma (the protected non-Muslim subjects of an Islamic state, their covenant, rights, duties and limits)
Ahl al-dhimma are non-Muslim subjects who remain in the land of Islam in their unbelief under a covenant with the imam, granting them safety for life and property in return for the poll tax and their submission to the rules of Islam. The dhimma is acquired by contract, by circumstance, by following a parent, by being found as a foundling, or by conquest. The jurists agree that a covenant may be made with the People of the Book and the Magians; the Hanafis and Malikis allow it for all unbelievers except idolaters, while the Shafi'is and Hanbalis in the sounder view do not. The covenant is perpetual, the protected person accepts the rules of Islam in dealings, and the men pay the poll tax. The general rule is that they have what we have and owe what we owe, though it is not applied without exception. They have the protection of the state and safe residence, but may not settle permanently in Mecca and Medina. They may choose their work and deal in property, with exceptions such as wine and pork, and a Muslim may not hire himself out for personal service; their testimony is not accepted against Muslims. They owe the poll tax, the land tax and the tithe on trade, and may not show in Muslim cities what Islam forbids; they are distinguished in dress. The covenant is broken by joining the land of war and by refusing the poll tax in the view of the majority, and by other acts in the views of the schools.Christianity in Arabia before Islam
Christianity came to Arabia through the Abyssinian and Roman occupations in al-Raheeq al-Makhtum's account: Christian missions entered Yemen during the first Abyssinian occupation, Najran was converted by the ascetic Faymiyun, Abraha spread it vigorously and built the Yemeni Kaaba to divert the Arabs' pilgrimage, and the Ghassanids, Taghlib, Tayy and some kings of al-Hira adopted it from their proximity to the Romans.Dhimma (the covenant of protection)
Dhimma in al-Baladhuri is the written covenant of security granted to treaty peoples of the Book: its formula in the Prophet's letter to Najran runs 'they have God's protection and the protection of His messenger over their persons, religion, lands, wealth, absent and present', and its stipulated terms in the Najran peace include that they not be seduced from their religion or its ranks, nor levied nor tithed, and in the letter's text that no bishop be removed from his bishopric, no monk from his monasticism, no right of theirs or their images — crucifixes and icons — be altered, and no army tread their land, while whoever of them took usury the Prophet's protection was quit of him; the letter of the people of Maqna grants 'God's protection and His messenger's' with security and pardon for every blood; and the dhimma was renewed under the caliphs — Abu Bakr wrote to the people of Najran on the model of the Prophet's letter, and Uthman called them 'a people who have a dhimma' when he remitted two hundred of their hullas.Hijaz in the jurists' rulings
Linguistically, Hijaz comes from the root for barrier, the mountain range that separates the lowland of Tihama from Najd. For the Shafi'is and Hanbalis, who limit the Prophetic ruling on the Arabian peninsula to the Hijaz, it covers Mecca, Medina, al-Yamama and its dependencies; the Minhaj lists Ta'if, Wajh, Jedda, Yanbu' and Khaybar among its towns. The jurists count four rulings that apply to the Hijaz: no non-Muslim may settle in it, no non-Muslim may be buried in it, no place of worship for non-Muslims may stand in it, and its land pays alms (zakat) with no kharaj tax. Outside the Hijaz, the rest of the Arabian land such as Yemen and Bahrain is included in the hadith for the Hanafis and Malikis but not for the Shafi'is and Hanbalis.Jizya (capitation on treaty peoples)
Jizya in al-Baladhuri is what the People of the Book pay per head under treaty in return for confirmation in their religion and lands: he reports from al-Zuhri 'the first of the People of the Book to pay the jizya, so far as we know, were the people of Najran, who were Christians; then the people of Ayla, Adhruh and the people of Adhri'at paid jizya in the Tabuk campaign'; its forms with him include a dinar per hālim per year — the treaty of Ayla totalling three hundred dinars, Jurash a dinar per hālim plus hospitality for Muslims, Adhruh a hundred dinars every Rajab, and the Jews of Maqna a quarter of the 'uruk catch, a quarter of the women's spinning and a quarter of the fruits — beyond which the people of Maqna owed 'no jizya and no corvée'; when Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz took office he had the people of Najran counted, found them at a tithe of their former number and said 'I see this treaty is a jizya on their heads, not a treaty on their lands — and the jizya of the dead and of the Muslim lapses', so he set them at two hundred hullas.Judaism in Arabia before Islam
Judaism reached Arabia in at least two stages in al-Raheeq al-Makhtum's account: Jewish migration to northern Hijaz after Nebuchadnezzar's destruction of Palestine in 587 BCE, then after the Roman occupation of Palestine in 70 CE, when many tribes settled Yathrib, Khaybar and Tayma and built villages and forts; the well-known Jewish tribes at the coming of Islam were Khaybar, al-Nadir, al-Mustaliq, Qurayza and Qaynuqa, and al-Samhudi counts more than twenty; it entered Yemen through Tuban As'ad Abu Karib.Monk (rahib): his killing in jihad and the jizya on monks
A monk, rahib, is one who fears God; in the usual sense it is a Christian who withdraws for worship, and the plural is ruhban. He is distinguished from the qissis, the Christian scholar, and from the ahbar, the Jewish scholars. If monks take part in fighting Muslims, mix with the people, or help the fighters with counsel, they may be killed when taken, by agreement. If they stay apart in their monasteries without taking part, the majority (Hanafis, Malikis and Hanbalis, and one view of the Shafi'is) say they are not killed; the more apparent Shafi'i view allows killing them. Whether monks owe the jizya is disputed, and the detail is given under jizya.Ta'liya (building above another building)
Ta'liya, from 'uluw (height), is in law raising a building on top of another. An owner may build up on his own wall as he likes, and a neighbour may not stop him unless the harm is gross; the claim that it blocks wind and sun is not gross harm. Most jurists (Malikis, Shafiis, Hanbalis) allow selling the right to build above, with the two storeys described; the Hanafis forbid it because air is not property. When the lower or the upper part falls, the jurists differ on whether the other owner can be compelled to rebuild and when the rebuilder may claim his costs. A dhimmi may not build higher than a Muslim neighbour, and the jurists differ on building level with one. Opening a window over a neighbour is refused without consent by the Hanafis, Shafiis and Hanbalis, while the two disciples of Abu Hanifa allow it if no harm; the Malikis distinguish new and old openings.Tasliib (crucifixion as a punishment, and the cross as an object)
Tasliib is the known form of execution by crucifixion, and the cross is the wooden post or its image. Crucifixion as such is forbidden for its torture and mutilation; the exception is highway robbers, by the text of the Qur'an, who are killed and then crucified according to al-Shafii and Ahmad, or crucified alive and then killed according to Abu Hanifa, Malik and al-Awza'i; the period is three days for Abu Hanifa and al-Shafii. For a Muslim, making, owning, selling or working on a cross is forbidden; a cross on a garment is disliked; a cross on the qibla wall of a worshipper is disliked; theft of a cross is not punished by amputation for the Hanafis and Hanbalis; destroying a Muslim's cross carries no liability; and the protected people may not display their crosses.Tithe on the trade of non-Muslims (ushr)
In the lexicon, ushr is a tenth. As a technical term it is either the tithe on trade and sales or the tithe on produce or zakat on what the land yields; this entry treats the tithe on trade, which is levied on goods of non-Muslims carried for trade from one town of the Muslim lands to another. It is taken from non-Muslim merchants when they enter the territory of Islam with their goods, on the basis of a prophetic report, a consensus of the early community and reasoning about the protection the state gives to traders; Muslim merchants owe nothing beyond zakat. The liable persons are treaty-merchants, protected non-Muslims and enemy merchants under safe-conduct, and the schools set further conditions: adulthood, sanity, male sex, a threshold, and freedom from debt, which some schools reject. The rate differs: the Hanafis and Hanbalis take half a tenth from a protected non-Muslim, the Malikis a full tenth except on grain brought to Mecca and Medina, and the Shafi'is leave it to the imam's terms. The imam or governor is entitled to collect it, through a collector who must be a Muslim, free, knowledgeable and able to protect traders; farming the collection out is treated and disliked by some jurists. It lapses on conversion and may be waived by the imam for goods the Muslims need, and it is spent on the fay' purposes.Wathani (the idolater: his status, rights and obligations)
A wathan is an idol with a body of wood, stone or other material; the wathani is the worshipper of idols and one who follows that religion. The idolater differs from the associator (mushrik), the unbeliever (kafir), the apostate, the Zoroastrian and the atheist; idolatry is one kind of unbelief. Scholars agree that the idolater is an unbeliever; Muslims must call him to Islam, and war is not declared before the call. Idolaters acknowledge the Creator but deny God's oneness; one who dies in idolatry is held to abide in the Fire with the unbelievers. In war, the fighting men may be killed after the call, while women, children, the insane and the hermaphrodite may not, by agreement; most jurists exempt the old. The women and children of a conquered people may be enslaved. Most jurists accept the jizya from a non-Arab idolater but not from an Arab. On conversion, the profession of the two testimonies suffices in the four schools. Marriages among idolaters are valid for most jurists, while a Muslim may not marry an idolatress. The flesh of an idolater's slaughter is not lawful, nor his game, except fish and locusts.
Group
Banu Nadir
Medina's second Jewish tribe to break with the Prophet — date-palm landholders expelled to Khaybar in 625 after the breakdown of the pact, where their exiles kept the quarrel alive.Banu Qaynuqa'
The first of Medina's three Jewish tribes to break with the Prophet — goldsmiths of the city's market, besieged after Badr and expelled to Syria in 624.Banu Qurayza
Medina's last Jewish tribe — besieged after the Battle of the Trench for treating with the confederates, judged by the arbitration they themselves accepted, and their men put to death in the gravest single act of violence of the Prophet's era.The Christians of Najran
The people of Najran who became Christian through the ascetic Faymiyun around the time of the first Abyssinian occupation of Yemen; Dhu Nuwas the Himyarite summoned them to Judaism and, when they refused, dug the trench and burned them in October 523 CE, the dead being said to number between twenty and forty thousand; the People of the Trench of Surat al-Buruj, in al-Raheeq al-Makhtum's account.The Jewish tribes of the Hijaz
The Jewish tribes that settled Yathrib, Khaybar and Tayma after the two Jewish migrations from Palestine (after Nebuchadnezzar and after the Romans) and built villages, forts and castles; those well known at the coming of Islam were Khaybar, al-Nadir, al-Mustaliq, Qurayza and Qaynuqa, and al-Samhudi counts more than twenty, in al-Raheeq al-Makhtum's account.The Jewish communities of Khaybar
The Jewish oasis communities of Khaybar, north of Medina — farmers and smiths behind strong fortresses, including exiles of Banu Nadir — subdued in 628 and left on the land under tribute until Umar's expulsion.
Screening Room
When the Moors Ruled in Europe
Bettany Hughes's Channel 4 documentary on the Islamic civilisation of al-Andalus and its influence on Europe.Cities of Light: The Rise and Fall of Islamic Spain
Gardner/UPF's PBS documentary on seven centuries of Muslim-Christian-Jewish coexistence in al-Andalus and its end.Free Men
2011 CE · 1432 AH†Ismaël Ferroukhi's film on the Grand Mosque of Paris and rector Si Kaddour Benghabrit sheltering Jews under Nazi occupation — a true story of Muslim rescue.The Ornament of the World
2019 CE · 1440 AH†Michael Schwarz's PBS documentary based on Maria Rosa Menocal's book on eight centuries of convivencia in medieval al-Andalus.
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