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Title: The Dhimmi: Jews and Christians Under Islam by Bat Ye'Or, David Maisel ISBN: 0-8386-3233-5 Publisher: Associated Univ Pr Pub. Date: 01 April, 1985 Format: Hardcover List Price(USD): $39.50

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Average Customer Rating: 4.67 (3 reviews)

Rating: 4
Summary: Demystifing "Islamic tolerance"
Comment: There are alot of apologists for Islam out there, and this book is important as it chronicles Islamic treatment of non-muslims, known as dhimmis, from the perspective of a dhimmi historian, the Egyptian Jew, Bat Ye'or. This book is not written from the perspective of the victorous muslims, and there is no doubt many muslims dislike this book for this reason. It is more important to think about toleration of the existence of conquered non-muslims and not "Islamic tolerance", because to give one example, dhimmis payed to the muslim umma a tax called the jiyza and paying this was suppossed to guarantee their lives. There is even in the documents section at the end of the book a document about how in Syria because the Sultan abolished the jiyza for a period, the local muslims saw this a breach of the contract of the dhimma, a contract of toleration of the dhimmi's existence and mobs massacred Christians, looted them, etc.

I particularly disagree with how on pages 121-122, she mentions how as Islamic domination lessened in politics in many muslim nations, with leaders such as Answar Sedat, Ataturk, etc. the situation of dhimmis generally improved. In Turkey the dhimmis have significantly declined since the time of Ataturk due to deliberate Turkish government policies, and she recognizes the problems of Arab nationalism, but not other muslim ultra-nationalisms. One thing Islamic domination of politics did allow dhimmis was a degree of self-rule that is abandoned with the concept of establishing a national state and not a theocracy, where there is only one civil law. In the Ottoman Empire dhimmis would if they were a Christian and had a dispute with another Christian, go to a bishop which functioned much like a muslim kadi, the Jews would go to rabbis, but if they had a dispute with a muslim then the dhimmis had to deal with Islamic law where they were disabled legally and their testimony was not respected. Now without religious domination of politics, they always have to deal with Islamic bias and prejudice and they have lost this kind of autonomy they once had.

Rating: 5
Summary: The Dhimmi: Jews and Christians Under Islam
Comment: This is a fabulous work of scholarship which opens one's eyes to problems in the Middle East, India, the Phillipines, Indonesia,the Sudan, Cyprus, and other areas where Moslems are killing Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, and Animists, e.g.: anyone who does not submit to Islam.

Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent source book limning "protected peoples" in Islam
Comment: The history of Jews and Christians living under Islam is not widely known. When thinking of it at all, one looks to the glories of Islamic Spain or to the Ottoman Empire. The general historical reality is different from these however. Bat Ye'or provides an excellent overview of this history in the first part of her book and a wide variety of source documents in the second.

Here we learn of the religiously sanctioned forced conversions, daily humiliations, massacres, oppression, inequitable taxation, and the like, which eventually led to the near disappearance of the extensive Christian and Jewish communities which had flourished throughout the Near East and North Africa prior to the advent of Islam.

As "dhimmi" (people of the contract) Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians and others of the accepted religions had no rights of citizenship within a Muslim state. As "protected peoples" they had no right to self-defense. They were at best tolerated and at all times living without security - subject to the law but not protected by it.

For example, Jews and Christians are specifically accused in the Qur'an of having falsified God's word. In past Islamic societies therefore, Jews and Christians were considered to be willfully and knowingly adhering to a lie. As religiously convicted liars, they were given no standing in courts of law and could be convicted of crimes on the unsupported word of two Muslim males. The abuses of this system were extensive.

All-in-all, Bat Ye'or's two books ("The Dhimmi" and "The Decline of Near Eastern Christianity under Islam") do much to re-illuminate the forgotten history of Jews and Christians under Islam. They deserve a wide readership.

As an aside here to prove the non-partisanship of my review, it's worth pointing out that the historical behavior of Christian societies toward indigenous Jews and heretics was no better. Muslim societies took a cue for much of their discriminatory legislation from the intolerant religious laws of the conquered Christian Byzantines. True religions display peculiar proofs, don't they.

The hard-cover edition of "The Dhimmi" is currently out-of-print it seems. However Amazon.com carries the paper-back. Get it while it is available if you're interested at all in the history of "protected peoples" living under Islam.