CHRISTIANSCHRISTIANS AND THE STATE: ISLAMIC IRAQ
The weight of evidence up to this point indicates that the relationship
established between the Nestorian Church and the Sas ani an state by
the end of the Sasanian period was broken as a result of the Islamic
conquest. Only gradually, and in some cases not until the 'Abbiisi
period, were the main aspects of this relationship, such as the nomi-
nation of the catholicos by the ruler and the conflict between nomi-
nation and election, reconstructed vis-a-vis the Muslim government.
How, then, was the new relationship with the Muslim government
forged and when was it formalized? The traditional view is that the
catholicos Isho 'yahbh 11 secured some kind of official recognition from
one of the early Muslim rule~s at the time of the conquest. But there
are several different versions of how this came about. According to
one of them, he sent presents and one thousand silver staters to Mu-
l).ammad at Madina through Gabriel, the bishop of Maysan. But Ga-
briel arrived after Mul).ammad's death. He thus was presented to Abii
Bakr, whom he informed of affairs in the Sasanian empire, of the
suffering of the Christians because of the Arab army, and of the war
between the Persians and Byzantines.^54 The obvious anachronism in
this account is that it assumes that the first Muslim attacks on Iraq
had already begun when Mul).ammad was still alive and when Gabriel
had set out for Madina.
In a different version, Isho 'yahbh is said to have made an agreement
with Mul).ammad through the mediation of the secular leader and the.
bishop of the Christians at Najran. According to this agreement, Chris-
tians were to be protected from attack, Arabs were not to require
them to do military service or to change their faith or their laws, and
Arabs were to help Christians repair ruined churches. Priests and
monks were to be exempt from tribute (Syr. gezztii), the poor were to
pay only four silver coins (Syr. zuze), and merchants and the rich were
to pay ten zuze. A Christian woman in an Arab household was not
to be forced to change her religion or beguiled out of the fasting,
worship (Syr. ~elotii), or doctrine other own faith.^55 The introduction
of the Christians of Najran into this version is significant because
Mul).ammad is said to have concluded a pact with them promising
that their rights and their images would not be changed, that bishops,
54 Scher, "Histoire nestorienne," H(l), 619. A stater was a tetradrachma and was
worth four dirhams.
55 Assemani, BO (Rome, 1721), H, 8; lII(l), 94-95. This is the text of Bar Hebraeus,
Chron. Eccles., ii, col. 117.