Non-Muslims and the Caliphate

HIST 100710/21/13

  

PIZZA AND PROFSCome for free pizza and a chance to chat with your History professors

Majors, Minors, and Non-Majors welcomedWednesday, October 23rd, noon to 1:30 pm

in McMicken Room 315/ Von Rosentiel Reading Room

In Theory

• Ahl al-kitab• Abrahamic traditions• Similarities– Monotheism– Apocalyptic– Day of Judgement

• Christians and Trinity• Dhimma• Protected status

The Tomb of Abraham, Cave of the Patriarchs,Hebron, West Bank

Dar al-Islam and Dar al-Harb

• Abode of Islam vs. Abode of War• Is this a dichotomy that even matters?• Largely juridical• Dar al-Amn (Abode of Safety)• Dar al-`Ahd (Abode of Truce)

In Practice

• Relationship is always in flux• Imperial social hierarchy• Political and economic interests• Conditions driven by outside factors

Achtiname of Muhammad, covenant with the monks of St. Catherine’s Monastery, Mount Sinai

Arab-Islamic Conquests

• Perpetuation of local elites– Military– Administrative– Landowning– Religious

• Self-governing, socio-legal corporations• Separate legal systems

Responses to Conquest

• Apocalyptic Literature– Byzantine Iconoclasm

• Expansion of religious expression• Byzantine enforcement of Nicene Christianity• Miaphysites (Christ’s divinity and humanity shared in

one nature) vs. Dyophysites (two natures)• Sasanians and Zoroastrianism• Open door for Melkites, Jacobites, Nestorians,

Messaliens, Hermetics, Marcionites, Daysanites, Elkasaites, Mandaens, Chaldeans, etc.

Non-Muslims and Law

• Pact of `Umar– `Umar b. al-Khattab and Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem– What does it say?– How does it present itself?– What kinds of restrictions does it puton Christians?

• Shurut `Umar and Ghiyar codes

Sophronius

Pact of `Umar

• But where do these laws come from?• Byzantine restrictions on Jews• Sasanian system of social hierarchy• Were they even enforced?• `Umar I (r. 634-644), `Umar II (r. 717-720), al-

Mutawakkil (r. 847-861)• What happens in between?

Non-Muslims and Law

• As Islam expands, restrictions grow• Slow and uneven• Urban settings, where Muslims are

numerically dominant• Challenge of public sphere• 9th century – 50% of caliphate may be Muslim• But half of all Christians world wide live under

the caliphs

Non-Muslims and Law

• Evolution among madhhabs• Hanafis (Abu Yusuf) – tolerance to win support• Shafi`is – Accept treaties, ensure social

hierarchy by limiting actions, enforcing restrictions

• Hanbalis – Muslims must assert their identity

10th century marker worn by Coptic Christians

Non-Muslims and Theology

• Mohammad Khalil, Islam and the Fate of Others

• Do the people of the book get into heaven?• Is there a difference between a good Muslim

and a good Christian or Jew?• Have they heard Muhammad’s message?• Have they heard it truthfully?

Why the Need for Differentiation?• Can you tell a Muslim, a Christian, and a Jew apart?• Cultural assimilation • Christians

– Spoken Aramaic –> spoken Arabic– Liturgical Greek and Syriac –> liturgical Arabic (10th century)

• Jews– Spoken local languages– Liturgical Hebrew– Judeo-Arabic (10th century)