Dhimmi

Priority: c, Quality: c
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Dhimmī disbeliever (Arabic: الكافر الذمي), a jurisprudential term that refers to the People of the Book who live in an Islamic country and must pay jizya. According to Islamic law, "dhimmi disbelievers" (from the People of the Book) must sign a "dhimma treaty" with the Islamic ruler in order to live in the Islamic land and enjoy the right of immunity. People of the Book are Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians.

According to the fatwa of the jurists, the People of the Book must commit to the following issues in the dhimma treaty: paying "jizya", not fighting with Muslims and not helping the enemies of Muslims, not harming Muslims (through actions such as stealing and spying for Muslims’ enemies), not openly committing Islamic prohibitions, not building places of worship like a church, and not ringing bells as well as accepting implementation of Islamic rules upon themselves. The Islamic government, in return, will recognize their ownership of their property and support their rights in Islamic society.

Jurisprudential Definition and Examples

Dhimmi disbelievers, as opposed to "harbi" disbelievers, are those from the People of the Book who live in Islamic lands and have signed a "dhimma treaty" with the Islamic ruler.[1] "Dhimma" is a treaty in which the People of the Book are allowed to keep their religion and have immunity under the Islamic government in exchange for paying "jizya".[2]

Jurists consider followers of Judaism, Christianity, and Zoroastrianism as People of the Book.[3]

Dhimma Treaty

According to the fatwa of the jurists, in the "dhamma treaty", the People of the Book must adhere to six issues: paying "jizya", not fighting with Muslims and not helping the enemies of Muslims, not harming Muslims (through actions such as stealing and spying for Muslims' enemies), not openly committing Islamic prohibitions, not building places of worship like a church, and not ringing bells as well as accepting implementation of Islamic rules upon themselves.[4] In return, the Islamic government allows them to keep their religion, live in the Islamic land, and have immunity.[5]

Rulings

Some of the rulings related to dhimmi disbelievers are:

  • Dhimmi disbelievers have no right to enter Muslim mosques.[6]
  • Dhimmi disbelievers can perform actions that are permissible in their religion, but not permissible in Islam; but they should not do them in public.[7]
  • If a dhimmi disbeliever commits Islamic prohibitions in public, he will be punished according to Islamic laws.[8]
  • If a dhimmi disbeliever does something that is not permissible in his religion, the Islamic ruler can punish him according to the rules of Islam or leave him to his religious fellows to be punished.[9]
  • If two dhimmi disbelievers complain about each other before the Islamic ruler, the Islamic ruler can treat them according to Islamic law or refer them to their own courts.[10]
  • Dhimmi disbelievers cannot build a place of worship in the Islamic land, but their place of worship that existed since the past will not be destroyed and they can use it.[11]

Rights of Dhimmi disbelievers in Islamic Society

Dhimmi disbelievers have some rights based on their treaty in Islamic society. Some of them are mentioned below:

  • Immunity and respectability of their property: The life, property, honor, worshipping places, dignity, and honor of non-Muslims are protected in the Islamic land.[12] Even things like wine and pork, which have no financial value in Islam, have financial value as long as they are in non-Muslims' hands, and if a Muslim destroys them or damages them, he must compensate for them.[13]
  • Legal rights: In the Islamic society, the legal rights of non-Muslims are recognized. They are free to refer their lawsuits to a court based on their religious rulings or to Muslim courts.[14]
  • Non-Muslim blood money: According to the famous fatwa of the jurists, the blood money of a dhimmi disbeliever is less than the blood money of a Muslim.[15] Of course, on the other hand, al-Shaykh al-Saduq, one of the scholars of the forth/tenth century, believed that if a dhimmi disbeliever fulfills the conditions of dhimma and is under the protection of an Islamic ruler, his blood money is equal to that of a Muslim.[16] Even today, some jurists including Ayatollah Khamenei, Ayatollah Makarim Shirazi,[17] and Ayatollah Ma'rifat[18] consider the blood money of a dhimmi disbeliever equal to the blood money of a Muslim.[19]

Notes

  1. ↑ Mishkīnī, Muṣṭalaḥāt al-fiqh, p. 470.
  2. ↑ Mishkīnī, Muṣṭalaḥāt al-fiqh, p. 280-281.
  3. ↑ Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 21, p. 227, 228; Ḥillī, Sharāʾiʿ al-Islām, vol. 1, p. 298; Mishkīnī, Muṣṭalaḥāt al-fiqh, p. 470.
  4. ↑ Ḥillī, Sharāʾiʿ al-Islām, vol. 1, p. 300-301.
  5. ↑ Mughnīya, Fiqh al-Imām al-Ṣādiq, vol. 2, p. 262.
  6. ↑ Ḥillī, Sharāʾiʿ al-Islām, vol. 1, p. 303; Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 21, p. 286.
  7. ↑ Ḥillī, Sharāʾiʿ al-Islām, vol. 1, p. 305; Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 21, p. 317.
  8. ↑ Ḥillī, Sharāʾiʿ al-Islām, vol. 1, p. 305; Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 21, p. 317.
  9. ↑ Ḥillī, Sharāʾiʿ al-Islām, vol. 1, p. 305; Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 21, p. 318.
  10. ↑ Shahīd al-Thānī, Masālik al-ifhām, vol. 110, p. 157-158; Ḥillī, Sharāʾiʿ al-Islām, vol. 3, p. 67.
  11. ↑ Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 21, p. 280-282.
  12. ↑ ʿAzīzān, Ḥuqūq wa takālīf-i shahrwandān-i ghayr-i musalmān dar jāmiʿa-yi Islāmī, p. 172.
  13. ↑ ʿAlīshāhī Qalʿa Jūqī, Pazhūhishī dar ibāha-yi amwāl-i kāfirān-i ḥarbī az nigāh-i fiqh-i Shīʿa, p. 89.
  14. ↑ ʿAzīzān, Ḥuqūq wa takālīf-i shahrwandān-i ghayr-i musalmān dar jāmiʿa-yi Islāmī, p. 174-175.
  15. ↑ ʿAzīzān, Ḥuqūq wa takālīf-i shahrwandān-i ghayr-i musalmān dar jāmiʿa-yi Islāmī, p. 176.
  16. ↑ Ṣadūq, Man lā yaḥḍuruh al-faqīh, vol. 4, p. 123.
  17. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Istiftāʾāt-i jadīd, vol. 3, p. 453.
  18. ↑ Maʿrifat, Dīya-yi ahl-i kitāb, p. 6.
  19. ↑ ʿAzīzān, Ḥuqūq wa takālīf-i shahrwandān-i ghayr-i musalmān dar jāmiʿa-yi Islāmī, p. 177.

References

  • ʿAlīshāhī Qalʿa Jūqī, Abu l-Faḍl. Pazhūhishī dar ibāha-yi amwāl-i kāfirān-i ḥarbī az nigāh-i fiqh-i Shīʿa. In Pazhūhish-hā-yi fiqh wa Ḥuqūq-i Islāmī 34 (1392 Sh).
  • ʿAzīzān, Mahdī. Ḥuqūq wa takālīf-i shahrwandān-i ghayr-i musalmān dar jāmiʿa-yi Islāmī. In Ḥukūmat-i Islāmī 67 (1392 Sh).
  • Ḥillī, Jaʿfar b. al-Ḥasan al-. Sharāʾiʿ al-Islām fī masāʾil al-ḥalāl wa l-ḥarām. Edited by Muḥammad ʿAlī Baqqāl. Second edition. Qom: Muʾassisa-yi Ismāʿīlīyān, 1408 AH.
  • Makārim Shīrāzī, Nāṣir. Istiftāʾāt-i jadīd. 2nd edition. Qom: Intishārāt-i Madrisa-yi Imām ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib, 1427 AH.
  • Maʿrifat, Muḥammad Hādī. Dīya-yi ahl-i kitāb. In monthly journal of Dādrasī. No 11, (1377 SH).
  • Mishkīnī, ʿAlī. Muṣṭalaḥāt al-fiqh. Qom: Dār al-Ḥadīth, 1392 Sh.
  • Mughnīya, Muḥammad Jawād al-. Fiqh al-Imām al-Ṣādiq. Qom: Muʾassisat Anṣārīyān, 1421 AH.
  • Najafī, Muḥammad al-Ḥasan al-. Jawāhir al-kalām fī sharḥ sharāʾiʿ al-Islām. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, 1404 AH.
  • Ṣadūq, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-. Man lā yaḥḍuruh al-faqīh. Edited by ʿAlī Akbar Ghaffārī. Qom: Intishārāt-i Islāmī, 1413 AH.
  • Sayyid Murtaḍā, 'Alī b. Ḥusayn. Al-Intiṣār fī infirādāt al-imāmīyya. 1st edition. Qom: Intishārāt-i Islāmī, 1415 AH.
  • Shahīd al-Thānī, Zayn al-Dīn b. ʿAlī. Masālik al-ifhām ilā tanqīh sharāyiʿ al-Islām. 1st edition. Qom: Muʾassisat al-Maʿārif al-Islāmīyya, 1413 AH.
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