small part on non-religious considerations such as economic utility and
political allegiance.
The specific relationship between Muslims and non-believers was defined
by circumstances. The status of Jews in Islam was defined first during
Muhammad’s initial encounters with Jews on the Arabian Peninsula, and
then in the vast territory conquered during a century or more of Islamic
expansion. Muhammad’s first encounters with Jews quickly turned violent,
with Muhammad eradicating one of the three Jewish tribes living in Medina
and forcing the others to flee to an oasis at Khaybar. Later, after laying siege
to Khaybar, he forced the Jews to surrender and pay an annual tribute. Soon
afterward, he expelled the Jews from the Hijaz, the Arabian Peninsula and
heart of Muhammad’s empire.
During the ensuing period of expansion and conquest, Muhammad and his
Muslim followers became increasingly a small minority ruling a large non-
Muslim population. The conquest of the Sassanid Persian and Byzantine
Empires brought a large Christian and Jewish population under Islamic rule.
Eventually, Muslims, Jews, and Christians found a common adversary in the
polytheistic pagan population. This was to prove decisive in defining the
theological and legal status of Jews and Christians.
Theologically, Islam divides the world into two great realms, Dar al-Islam
(House of Islam) and Dar al-Harb(House of the Sword), and believes that a
perpetual state of war existed between the two. Most non-Muslims, once con-
quered, were given the choice of entering Dar al-Islamthrough conversion, or
being put to death. Because Islam defined Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians
as ahl-al-kitab(peoples of the book) who had recognized part of the truth of
Islam, they were exempted from this choice. They were given a special pact of
protection, and known as dhimmi: people of the pact, or protected peoples.
Dhimmistatus meant having the right to live, and to practice one’s scriptural
religion unmolested by the populace, as long as one recognized one’s inferior
status. This the dhimmiwere expected to do principally through the payment
of special taxes such as the jizyaand kharajand by acting at all times with
humble deference to Muslims.
The legal status of the dhimmiwas codified in the Pact of Umar, a late-
seventh-century agreement concluded initially between Muhammad’s
successor and the Christians of Damascus. The heart of this agreement was
the obligation of the dhimmito show deference to Muslims, and to remain
culturally distinct from the Muslim population. To be sure, neither dhimmi
status nor the Pact of Umar was applied uniformly. To orthodox Muslim lead-
ers, it meant protection with humility. In other instances, dhimmistatus was
applied with excessive harshness or lenience.
In a sense, Jews had certain advantages over Christians in adapting to
Muslim rule. The ongoing and seemingly endless wars between Islam and
Christendom fostered an adversarial attitude on the part of Muslims toward
The Jews of Islam 63