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Non-Muslims and the Caliphate. HIST 1007 10/21/13. PIZZA AND PROFS Come for free pizza and a chance to chat with your History professors Majors, Minors, and Non-Majors welcomed Wednesday, October 23rd, noon to 1:30 pm in McMicken Room 315/ Von Rosentiel Reading Room. In Theory.
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Non-Muslims and the Caliphate HIST 1007 10/21/13
PIZZA AND PROFS Come for free pizza and a chance to chat with your History professors Majors, Minors, and Non-Majors welcomed Wednesday, 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 put on Christians? • Shurut `Umar and Ghiyarcodes 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)