| The Dhimmi: Jews and Christians Under Islam | |
| Title Orig: | French: Le Dhimmi: Profil de l'opprimé en Orient et en Afrique du Nord depuis la conquête Arabe |
| Translator: | David Maisel (author's text), Paul Fenton (document section), and David Littman. |
| Author: | Bat Ye'or |
| Country: | France |
| Language: | French |
| Subject: | Dhimmis (Islamic law), Islamic Empire-Ethnic relations, Arab countries-Ethnic relations. |
| Published: | 1980 (Editions Anthropos) (French) 1985 (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press) (English) |
| Media Type: | Print (hardcover) |
| Pages: | 335 (French ed.) 444 (English ed.) |
| Isbn: | 978-0-8386-3233-8 |
| Dewey: | 909/.097671 |
| Congress: | DS36.9.D47 B3813 1985' |
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). 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 The book provides a wealth of documents from diverse periods and regions, many of them previously unpublished and makes a clear distinction between factual history and biased interpretations, providing a comprehensive study of dhimmi populations that draws on numerous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.
Bat Ye'or's extensive research examines the conditions of non-Muslim minorities across history in Muslim-majority societies. The book highlights the differences between time periods and geographical regions. It includes a research and use of historical sources (Jew, Christian and Muslim).[2] The book traces how the status of minorities deteriorated over centuries under discriminatory rules that became part of the dhimmi system of 'protected' minorities.[3] 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.[4]
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.The second part contains correspondence and testimonies from inside and outside observers over the centuries,[5] 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.[6] [7] 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.
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.[9]
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. 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.[10] 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.
This chapter is about commercial and political protections, interfaith relations, political manipulations, economic and religious rivalries and nationalism.
This chapter is about the Muslim reaction and national independence.
This chapter is about the Jihad, Arab nationalism and Dhimmi condition, Arab Umma and Dhimmi state and opprobrium as a necessity
This chapter is about Dhimmi archetype in Arab-Palestinian consciousness, toleration or oppression, fundamentalism and the challenge of the present and the future.
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.
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). 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.[11]
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."[12]
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".
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.[13]
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.[14]
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]