Contextualizing Dhimmitude to the
Hindu Civilization
Col. (Ret'd) Mahendra Mathur
Introduction
Prof BAT
YE'OR of BrownUniversity calls dhimmitude the
comprehensive legal system established by the Muslim conquerors to rule the
native non-Muslim populations subdued by jihad wars. What follows is his
explanation of dhimmitude and jihad.
Dhimmitude
The dhimmie condition can
only be understood in the context of jihad because it originates from
this ideology. Muslim, as well as non-Muslim scholars, from the 7th
century through the present, have acknowledged that all the lands from Portugal to Central Asia that constituted theMuslim
Empires were conquered by Muslim armies. These vast territories were neither
populated by Arabs - except in specific regions bordering the deserts - nor by
Muslims. Around the Mediterranean, the population was Christian and Jewish. Along
with other religious groups, Jews and Christians also lived in Iraq, Persia, and Arabia.
Beginning in the eighth and ninth
centuries, Muslim theologians and jurists endeavored to give to the jihad
- a war of conquest - a religious and legal structure. Living during
and after the great wave of Arab-Muslim expansion on mainly Christian lands,
they built their theory of jihad on their interpretations of the
Koran and the hadiths (the sayings and acts attributed to the prophet
Muhammad). Thus they elaborated the concept and doctrine of jihad
that established the relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims in terms of
belligerency, temporary armistices, or submission. The aims, tactics and
strategies of jihad were defined, as well as the specific rules
concerning the troops, the compulsory conditions for treaties, the treatment of
prisoners, and the division of the booty. This conceptualization of war
led to a considerable literature that constituted the classical doctrine of jihad,
which was fixed, from the mid-eighth century onward, in comprehensive
theological and legal treatises.
The rules of dhimmitude were
elaborated from the Koran, the hadiths and the biographies on the
Prophet. Those laws and their religious justification were taught throughout
the Islamic Empires. Despite some differences in the four schools of Islamic
Sunni jurisprudence, there is a quasi unanimity in matters concerning the shimmies.
The fundamental rulings relevant to them were established quite early. We read
of them extensively in Abu Yusuf (731-98), a follower of Abu Hanifa (d. 767)
the founder of the HanafiSchool of jurisprudence.
Jihad
The
ideology, strategy and tactics of jihad constitute a most important part
of Islamic jurisprudence and literature. Muslim theologians expounded that jihad
is acollective, religious obligation (fard 'ala al‑kifaya) binding
the community and each individual (fard 'ala al‑ayn) indifferent
ways according to situations and circumstances. Here are two definitions of jihad
by recognized authorities: Abu Muhammad Abdallah Ibn Abi Zayd al‑Qayrawani
in the 10thc. (d. 966); and Ibn Khaldun in the 14th
c.(d. 1406).
Ibn
Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani
wrote: "Jihad is a precept of Divine institution. Its performance by certain
individuals may dispense others from it. We Malikis [one of the four schools of
Muslim jurisprudence] maintain that it is preferable not to begin hostilities
with the enemy before having invited the latter to embrace the religion of
Allah except where the enemy attacks first. They have the alternative of either
converting to Islam or paying the poll tax (jizya), short of which war
will be declared against them.
And Ibn
Khaldun: "In the Muslim community, the holy war is a religious duty, because
of the universalism of the (Muslim) mission and (the obligation to) convert
everybody to Islam either by persuasion or by force.
One may
ask: Who are the enemies? Here is a definition from al-Mawardi, the great
jurist in Baghdad in the 11thc.(d. 1058). "The mushrikun
(infidels) of Dar al-Harb (region of war) are of two types:
First, those whom the call of Islam has
reached, but they have refused it and have taken up arms. The amir of the army
has the option of fighting them in one of two ways that is in accordance with
what he judges to be in the best interest of the Muslims and most harmful to
the mushrikun: the first, to harry them from their houses and to inflict damage
on them day and night, by fighting and burning, or else to declare war and
combat them in ranks;
"Second, those whom the invitation to
Islam has not reached, although such persons are few nowadays (.....)If they
still refuse to accept after this, war is waged against them and they are
treated as those whom the call has reached."
Jihad may be exercised by pen, speech
or money. The 'enemies' are those who oppose the establishment of Islamic law
and its sovereignty over their lands. The world of infidels is considered as
one entity. It is called the dar al‑harb (region of war) until, through jihad,
itwill come under Islamic rule. The war between the region of Islam (dar
al‑Islam) and the region of war is supposed to last so long as unbelief
exists. According to Mawardi, the Muslim "should give battle with the
intention of supporting the deen [religion] of Allah ... and of destroying any
other deen which is in opposition to it: "so as to render it victorious
over all [other] deen even if the mushrikun detest it." (Koran 9:33)
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