The Peace FAQ:
Dhimma, Dhimmi
Frequently Asked Questions:
- What is Dhimma? Who are Dhimmis?
- What are the rights and restrictions of Dhimmis in Moslem countries?
- Why do some Moslems say that dhimmis were simply 'protected peoples', and were not mistreated?
- Are the Hindus dhimmis? How does Islam treat them?
- How does this tradition of Dhimma affect modern international relations?
- Do the scars of Dhimmitude display themselves in Dhimmis and the children of Dhimmis no longer living in Moslem countries?
What is Dhimma? Who are Dhimmis?
-
Dhimma is the policy of treatment of Jews and Christians living in Islamic countries. Therefore a dhimmi is a Jew or a Christian living in an Islamic country. This policy does not apply to other peoples or religious groups, such as Hindus, for whom a strict policy of 'conversion or death' exists.
What are the rights and restrictions of Dhimmis in Moslem countries?
-
"The vile and ignorant dhimmis (non-Muslims in an Islamic country)
must be humiliated, belittled and rendered abominable and able to be
distinguished by their appearance." For example, "different colored
shoes, one white the other black"; for males badges such as an "ape
for a Jew and a pig for a Christian: for women yellow veils." The
distinctive dress shows the Muslim that the dhimmi is to be treated as
an inferior - not to stand up for her or shake his hand, not to give
them Muslim charity. He is to expect respect and deference from the
dhimmi who shall not join a group of Muslims or raise his voice in
their presence. The non-Muslim is to stand aside if the pathway is
narrow. It is haram (unlawful) for him to slaughter animals; reserved
for him is the cleaning of lavatories and sewers, and carrying away
rubbish and refuse. His house should be painted a dull color and be no
larger than that of a Muslim neighbor.
- from various medieval Muslim documents, compiled in "The Dhimmi", by Bat Ye'or
- What follows details some of the "rights" that were extended to those
groups with the status of "Dhimmi": Jews, and Christians - there are
still a few remaining Christians unfortunate enough to remain in
"Muslim lands".
"No Jews or Christians are allowed to live in Saudi Arabia. Jews may not even set foot in Saudi Arabia, while Christians are allowed temporary residence. No churches are allowed in Saudi Arabia. The American government does not allow its soldiers, who are stationed in Saudi Arabia to prop up the Saudi king against his own people as well as his fellow Muslims, to have an open display of Judaism or Christianity.
Outside of Saudi Arabia, pre-existing synagogues and churches are allowed, but no new ones may be built, and permission must be obtained to repair old ones. Synagogues and churches may never be apparent, no Jewish stars, no crosses, no church bells. They may never be higher than any mosque. There may be no public processions, and funerals must be discreet.
Jews may not enter mosques on penalty of death. In the "good old days", Jews were killed for coming too close to a mosque. Jews were never allowed into the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, or onto the Temple Mount. Arafat looks forward to the time when this condition can be restored. He used the opening of the tourist tunnel as practice for the Jew-killing he plans to do in the future. It is an amazing example of the dhimmi mentality that still exists, that Arafat was exonerated for killing Jews, and Netanyahu was blamed.
Jewish and Christian religious "leaders" in Muslim lands may only serve with the permission of the Muslim authorities. The Muslims allowed the Babylonian Jews to keep an official "Head of the Community" and "Head of the Yeshivas" for several hundred years, but then abolished it. The Turks continue to choose who may be the Greek orthodox patriarch, and Mubarak chooses the Coptic Pope. Every couple of centuries they would murder one or the other of these guys to remind them who is boss. Needless to say, they do not complain much out loud.
In fact, it is forbidden to complain out loud. Anything taken as a criticism of Islam or Muhammad is punished by death. A non-Muslim proselytizing a Muslim is killed. A Muslim who converts is killed. A non-Muslim who becomes a Muslim and then reverts is killed.
... A Jew who struck a Muslim was killed. There is no such thing as a Muslim murdering a Jew; at most it is manslaughter and the killer pays a fine. There is no such thing as the rape of a Jewish woman by a Muslim. (The idea that Sephardic Jews are "pure Jews identical to the ones who originally lived in Judea" is idiotic.) Jews may not testify in a court of law against a Muslim, and have no legal recourse to anything done to them by a Muslim.
- Samuel Fistel
Why do some Moslems say that dhimmis were simply 'protected peoples', and were not mistreated?
- To fool the West into thinking that it can 'appease' Islam.
Are the Hindus dhimmis? How does Islam treat them?
- See India
How does this tradition of Dhimma affect modern international relations?
- Israelis are accused of "arrogance" when they say that Jews may in some
instances have rights equal to those of Muslims. It is a religious
obligation of Muslims to humiliate and degrade non-Muslims. When Jews
used to live in Muslim lands, they could not own property. If they lived
in villages they were tenant farmers or serfs. If they lived in cities,
they had to pay a special tax to demonstrate their subservience, which
involved their being hit at the time they paid it. They could not serve
in the army, they could not carry weapons, they had to step into the
gutter when a Muslim passed, they could not ride a horse, they had to
wear special clothes that identified them to Muslims so that Muslims
would not be "contaminated". Marrying a Muslim woman was death. They
could not vote (as if "voting" for Saddam Hussein or Hosni Mubarak is a
real privilege). The idea of Jews being able to control an Arab
election, the way Israeli Arabs control Israeli elections is so
laughable that I lack an appropriate metaphor.
... This is the reality of Islam. We see it every day in Algeria, Egypt, Sudan, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Lebanon, and Palestine. The idea of a "moderate Arab" is as insane as that of a "moderate Nazi". Every inch of Israel that Netanyahu hands over to Arafat reverts to these conditions.
We all know that. So why are we doing it? Unfortunately for Israel, the non-Muslim world has made a devil's bargain with the Islamic world, and has agreed that the Muslims may have their "Dar-al Islam" (Holy Muslim lands in which Islamic law holds), as long as they sell us oil cheaply, buy things from us, and minimize terrorism. The price for that deal means the "sell-out" of the minority peoples who are "trapped behind the lines", which includes Christians in Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Armenia, and Cyprus, and of course, most of all, the "arrogant Israelis".
The Israelis are now negotiating the terms of their surrender to the "Dar-al Islam", just as the Lebanese Christians were forced to. Like losers everywhere, they try to sugar-coat it with terms like "pikuakh nefesh" and "recognizing the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people", but deep down inside, we all know what's really going on.
(Most of the above is based on Bat Yeor's book "The Dhimmi".)- Samuel Fistel
Do the scars of Dhimmitude display themselves in Dhimmis and the children of Dhimmis no longer living in Moslem countries?
- [Arafat] used the opening of the tourist tunnel as practice for the
Jew-killing he plans to do in the future. It is an amazing example of
the dhimmi mentality that still exists, that Arafat was exonerated [by Israelis - free Jews] for
killing Jews, and Netanyahu was blamed.
...The recent poster in Israel by a disturbed Jewish girl proclaiming "Muhammad is a pig" was grounds for killing Jews. A further example of the continuing dhimmi mentality is that Muslims are allowed [by Israel] a never-ending stream of hatred towards Judaism and Christianity, while a Jew who says something about Islam that is not flattering "should know better", and is therefore guilty of "incitement".
- Samuel Fistel
- RELATED SECTIONS:
Islam, Christians, Slavery, the Golden Age, Galut Mentality, Expansionism, Edenism, Middle East
- WWW RESOURCES:
- BOOKS & PRINTED MATERIAL:
- The Dhimmi: Jews & Christians Under Islam, by Bat Ye'or, David Maisel
[VIEW BOOK HERE] - Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis, by Bat Ye'Or, Bat Yeor
[VIEW BOOK HERE] - Minorities in the Middle East: A History of Struggle and Self-Expression, by Mordechai Nisan
[VIEW BOOK HERE] - Onward Muslim Soldiers: How Jihad Still Threatens America and the West, by Robert Spencer
[VIEW BOOK HERE] - Islam and Dhimmitude: Where Civilizations Collide, by Bat Yeor, Miriam Kochan, David Littman
[VIEW BOOK HERE] - The Myth of Islamic Tolerance: How Islamic Law Treats Non-Muslims, by Robert Spencer
[VIEW BOOK HERE] - Israel and Ishmael: Studies in Muslim-Jewish Relations, by Tudor Parfitt
[VIEW BOOK HERE] - Jews of Arab Lands a History and Source Book, by Norman Stillman
[VIEW BOOK HERE] - The Legacy of Jihad: Islamic Holy War and the Fate of Non-Muslims, by Andrew G Bostom
[VIEW BOOK HERE]
- The Dhimmi: Jews & Christians Under Islam, by Bat Ye'or, David Maisel
© 2002 Copyright Yahoodi Communications
