Wikipedia

The Dhimmi: Jews and Christians Under Islam

The Dhimmi: Jews and Christians Under Islam is a history book on the dhimmi peoples - the non-Arab and non-Muslim communities subjected to Muslim domination after the conquest of their territories by Arabs[1] by Bat Ye'or. The book was first published in French in 1980, and was titled Le Dhimmi : Profil de l'opprimé en Orient et en Afrique du Nord depuis la conquête Arabe (The Dhimmi: Profile of the oppressed in the Orient and in North Africa since the Arab conquest).[2] It was translated into English and published in 1985 under the name The Dhimmi: Jews and Christians Under Islam. The book provides a wealth of documents from diverse periods and regions, many of them previously unpublished and makes a clear distinction between factual history and biased interpretations, providing a comprehensive study of dhimmi populations that draws on numerous original source materials to convey an accurate portrait of their status under Islamic rule.[1]

The Dhimmi: Jews and Christians Under Islam
English edition cover
AuthorBat Ye'or
Original titleLe Dhimmi: Profil de l'opprimé en Orient et en Afrique du Nord depuis la conquête Arabe
TranslatorDavid Maisel (author's text), Paul Fenton (document section), and David Littman.
LanguageFrench
SubjectDhimmis (Islamic law), Islamic Empire-Ethnic relations, Arab countries-Ethnic relations.
Published1980 (Editions Anthropos ) (French)
1985 (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press) (English)
Publication placeFrance
Media typePrint (hardcover)
Pages335 (French ed.)
444 (English ed.)
ISBN978-0-8386-3233-8
909/.097671
LC ClassDS36.9.D47 B3813 1985'

Summary

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Bat Ye'or's extensive research examines the conditions of non-Muslim minorities across history in Muslim-majority societies.[1] The book highlights the differences between time periods and geographical regions. It includes a research and use of historical sources (Jew, Christian and Muslim).[3] The book traces how the status of minorities deteriorated over centuries under discriminatory rules that became part of the dhimmi system of 'protected' minorities.[4] Dhimmis faced exclusions from public office, restrictions on building synagogues, and limitations on testimony in Islamic courts. They were required to wear distinctive clothing and show public deference to Muslims. The book documents decrees ordering the destruction of synagogues in Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Yemen. Cases of forced conversion to Islam are also noted in Yemen, Morocco and Baghdad.[5]

Structure

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In the first part of the book, the author provides a historical survey of the effects and consequences that living under Islamic rule, or using the term coined here, in "dhimmitude", had on the Jewish and Christian communities in the Middle East.

 
Letter sent by Muhammad to the Munzir Bin Sawa Al Tamimi, governor of Bahrain: "Of the people of Bahrain, whoever want to continue in their Jewish or Majusi faith, should be made to pay Jizya".

The second part contains correspondence and testimonies from inside and outside observers over the centuries,[6] including speeches from various influential Arabs, texts from various middle-age sources, and eyewitness reports by British consuls. Some of these were made available in European languages for the first time with the publication of the book. It also contains rare pictures and photographs depicting religious minority community under Islamic rule.[7][8] Through these documents, Bat Ye'or gives her representation of the views of Islamic theologians and jurists on the treatment of non-Muslim populations in lands ruled by Muslims from the 7th century onwards.

Contents

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Part 1

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Chapter 1: Historical Outline, Origins of the Dhimma.[9]

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This Chapter examines the early relations between Muhammad and the Jewish tribes of Medina. It notes that when the Jews of Medina refused to convert to Islam, two major Jewish tribes were expelled by Muhammad's followers. In 627, between 600-900 Jewish men were killed and the surviving women and children were divided among Muhammad's followers, after the Jewish tribes rejected Muhammad's authority.[10]

Chapter 2: Aspects of the Dhimmi condition[9]

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The chapter documents restrictions and regulations imposed on dhimmi communities under the dhimmi system, including exclusions from public office and military service, limitations on constructing synagogues and houses, and bans on riding horses, bearing arms or drinking wine in public. Dhimmis were required to show public deference to Muslims and faced restrictions in the Islamic court system, such as inability to testify against Muslims. These discriminatory conditions severely limited the legal rights and recourses available to non-Muslim minorities living under Islamic rule.[10] The chapter argues that the inability of non-Muslims to testify against Muslims in Islamic courts inevitably resulted in denying justice to non-Muslim minorities living under Islamic rule.[11] The chapter also documents decrees ordering the destruction of synagogues in Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Yemen over various periods. It also notes instances of forced conversion of Jews to Islam in Yemen, Morocco and Baghdad, despite Quranic prohibitions on forced conversion.[10]

Chapter 3: Foreign Protection

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This chapter is about commercial and political protections, interfaith relations, political manipulations, economic and religious rivalries and nationalism.

Chapter 4: Emancipation

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This chapter is about the Muslim reaction and national independence.

Part 2

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Chapter 5: Jihad and Dhimma: Modern formulations

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This chapter is about the Jihad, Arab nationalism and Dhimmi condition, Arab Umma and Dhimmi state and opprobrium as a necessity

Chapter 6: The Dhimmi archetype in modern Arab nationalism

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This chapter is about Dhimmi archetype in Arab-Palestinian consciousness, toleration or oppression, fundamentalism and the challenge of the present and the future.

Chapter 7: Psychological aspects

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This chapter is about the superego of the dominating group, alienation of the Dhimmi, the Dhimmi syndrome, exclusion of the Dhimmi from history, the existential significance of the Dhimmis' condition and the community ties.[9]

Part 3: Documents

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Chapter 1: Jurists' texts on the following subjects

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  1. Jihad
  2. Conquest
  3. Fate of the annexed territories and conquered people
  4. Dhimmi taxation and its usage
  5. Jizya and Kharaj (11th century)
  6. Expulsion of the natives from state administration
  7. Constraints on Dhimmis
  8. Decree of Caliph al-Mutawakkil
  9. Zoomorphic discriminatory badges (9th century)
  10. Dhimmis servitudes in Seville (circa 1100)
  11. The Jizya's meaning (1101-1130)
  12. Forced conversions
  13. Prestige and honor forbidden to Jews and Christians (circa 1220)
  14. Dhimmis in the Maghreb and Egypt (1301)
  15. Synagogues and Churches
  16. Dhimmis distinctive clothing
  17. Dismissal of Christian officials
  18. Jewish dietary laws
  19. The manner of collecting the Jizya
  20. Traditions and attitudes towards Dhimmis (18th century)

Chapter 1: Aspects of the Dhimmis existence as observed, including

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  1. A courageous Copt in 12th century Egypt
  2. Conversion of Christians
  3. A Jewish Vizier in Baghdad (1290)
  4. Travelers
  5. Visit to the Jews of Hebron
  6. 19th Ottoman Palestine
  7. Abduction of Christian children
  8. Massacres in Aleppo (1850)
  9. Protestants in Nablus (1853)
  10. Slaughter of Christians at Hasbeya and Rasheya (1860)
  11. Exodus of Christians from Damascus
  12. Extinction of the Dhimmi peasantry, Armenia (1869)
  13. Jews and converts in Morocco (1790)
  14. Dehumanization in Tunisia (1800)
  15. Sack of the Jewish quarter of Fez (1820)
  16. Algeria and Morocco (19th century)
  17. The sultan of Morocco defines Jewish rights (1841)
  18. Purity of Arab land
  19. Economic importance of Dhimmis and their exploitation
  20. The Dhimmis as parasite or scapegoat

Thesis

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Bat Ye'or argues that the category of the "dhimmi" is an inferior status and compares dhimmitude to the ill-treatment of minorities in Christian lands (Muslim and Jewish).[2] The book also contends that the safety of dhimmis in Arab lands has been fragile and at constant risk for centuries. To bolster her case, Ye'or provides a selection of primary sources describing cruel treatment of non-Muslims by Muslims.[12]

Reception

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Paul Fenton, while reviewing the French edition of the book and another book by Norman A. Stillman ("The Jews of Arab Lands: A History and Source Book") in 1981, noticed that "The need for a serious and objective source book on the history of the Jews in Arab lands untainted by ideological options, has long been felt by students of Middle Eastern history. The two titles under review both respond to this need albeit in quite different, if not complementary, manners."[13]

Reviewing the English edition of the book for The Jewish Quarterly Review in 1986, Leon Nemoy, curator of Hebrew and Arabic literature at Yale's Sterling Memorial Library, wrote that while one might disagree "here and there" with the major thesis propounded by Bat Ye'or, it cannot be dismissed as "a pack of lies" since her documented evidence comes from "highly reliable testimonies".[6]

Professor of Medieval Islamic history, David Waines, in a 1987 review of an English edition, writes that the "portrait of the dhimmi, however, is executed in monochrome." If the book portrayed the actual situation, he notes, it would be "inconceivable that the rich Judeo-Islamic cultural tradition of the middle ages could ever have been created." He also strongly criticises what he perceives as a bias in the selection of primary sources and its political aims in undermining Palestinian Arab claims to land rights.[14]

Allan Harris Cutler and Hellen Cutler reviewed the book in 1985 and wrote that it is a "documentary history of Islamic antagonism toward Christians and Jews." They also note that more positive views of the relationship between Muslims and dhimmis exist among authoritative scholars.[2]

In a 2006 review article discussing antisemitism in Muslim lands, Gudrun Krämer notes that in contrast to the "white myth" of continuous peaceful coexistence between different religious groups under Islamic rule, the portrayal offered in Ye'or's book is that of the "black myth". Krämer describes both positions as irrelevant.[15]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Ye'or, Bat; Ellul, Jacques (2001-01-01). The Dhimmi: Jews & Christians Under Islam. Translated by Maisel, David (Revised, Expanded ed.). Rutherford: UNKNO. ISBN 978-0-8386-3262-8.
  2. ^ a b c Allan Harris Cutler and Hellen Cutler. "Reviews". Speculum. doi:10.2307/2846389. JSTOR 2846389.
  3. ^ "The Dhimmi: Jews & Christians Under Islam". Goodreads. Retrieved 2023-12-30.
  4. ^ Rane, Halim (2019-04-03). ""Cogent Religious Instruction": A Response to the Phenomenon of Radical Islamist Terrorism in Australia". Religions. 10 (4): 246. doi:10.3390/rel10040246. hdl:10072/389359. ISSN 2077-1444.
  5. ^ "The Treatment of Jews in Arab/Islamic Countries". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved 2023-12-30.
  6. ^ a b Leon Nemoy (October 1985). "Bat ye'or's "The Dhimmi"". The Jewish Quarterly Review. New Series. 76 (2): 162–164. doi:10.2307/1453884. JSTOR 1453884. "Obviously the principal part of the book is the documentary section, which offers to the reader the original views of Muslim theologians and jurists on the general relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims, and on how non-Muslim minorities should be treated, as well as the testimony of both non-Muslim minority individuals and foreign observers as to what the Dhimmi's life was actually like. One might conceivably disagree here and there with Mme. Bat Ye'or's conclusions drawn from these documents, but one cannot challenge the original Muslim texts, or characterize all the factual accounts of both Dhimmis and foreign observers (some-if not most-of the latter were not exactly philosemites) as a pack of lies from beginning to end. These pièces justificatives are essentially highly reliable testimonies by eyewitnesses on the actual circumstances of non-Muslim life under Muslim rule throughout the medieval and modern periods of history."
  7. ^ Steven B. Bowman, Review of The Dhimmi, Jews and Christians Under Islam by Bat Ye'or, published in CHOICE (Association of College and Research Libraries, United States ), September 1985, page 187
  8. ^ Lionel Kochan (1986). "The Dhimmi: Jews and Christians Under Islam. by Bat Ye'or; David Meisel; Paul Fenton Review by: Lionel Kochan". International Affairs. doi:10.2307/2617950. JSTOR 2617952.
  9. ^ a b c Ye'or, Bat (1985). The Dhimmi - Jews and Christians under Islam (PDF).
  10. ^ a b c Bard, Mitchell (31 December 2023). "Jews in Islamic Countries: The Treatment of Jews".
  11. ^ MARGLIN, JESSICA (2017). "Written and Oral in Islamic Law: Documentary Evidence and Non Muslims in Moroccan Shari'a Courts" (PDF).
  12. ^ Karl E. Meyer World Policy Journal Vol. 23, No. 2 (Summer, 2006), pp. 109 Published by: Sage Publications, https://www.jstor.org/stable/40210024
  13. ^ P. Fenton (1981). "The Jews of Arab lands, a history and source book. By Norman A. Stillman. pp. xxx, 473, 24 pl. Philadelphia, Jewish Publication Society of America, 1979. $14.95.Le Dhimmi: Profil de L'Opprimé en Orient et en Afrique du Nord depuis la Conquête Arabe. By Bat Ye'Or. pp. 335. Paris, Éditions Anthropos, 1980". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. 113 (2): 201–202. doi:10.1017/S0035869X0015796X.
  14. ^ Waines, David (1987). "The Dhimmi: Jews and Christians Under Islam. By Bat Ye'or". History. 72 (234): 95–96.
  15. ^ Krämer, Gudrun (2006). "Anti-semitism in the Muslim world. A critical review". Die Welt des Islams. 46 (3): 243–276. doi:10.1163/157006006778942035. Quote:"(...) the old debate of whether non-Muslims were generally oppressed under Islamic rule, "second-class citizens" suffering from Muslim fanaticism and oriental despotism, or whether, on the contrary, tolerance was the distinguishing mark of Islam and non-Muslims its prime beneficiaries, need not detain us long (...)"
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