ethno-religious minorities 367
the Persian lands of the caliphate. Muslims recognized Karaites and Samaritans as
distinct communities, and intra-Jewish relations were characterized by hostility and
competition. As a group, Jewish minority communities became profoundly enmeshed
linguistically, intellectually, and theologically with Arabo–Islamic culture, perhaps most
clearly in al-Andalus (Spain), where the eleventh century saw a “golden age” of Hebrew
and Arabic letters, and where Islamicized neo-Aristotelianism would produce thinkers
of the stature of Maimonides in the twelfth.
Islam, with its emphasis on orthopraxy over orthodoxy and its non-hierarchical,
individualistic approach to doctrine, also diversified. Sunni Islam recognized no less
than four legitimate schools of interpretation of Islamic law, and messianic Shias and
fundamentalist Kharijites (both of which were few in number and confined for the
most part to the eastern half of the region) teetered on the brink of legitimacy. Indeed,
for two centuries (969–1169), Sunni Egypt was ruled by a Shia dynasty, the Fatimids;
concurrently, several Shia-derived communities coalesced or settled in enclaves in
Syria in the eleventh century, including the Nizaris (Assassins), Druze, and Alawites—
the latter two eventually manifesting as distinct ethno-religious communities, and
regarded suspiciously as apostates.
The status and position of non-Muslim minorities varied dramatically according to
specific locales, but four loose chronological stages can be discerned. Through most
of the caliphal period (approx. 650–1000), Christian dhimmis comprised the numeri-
cal majority, except in Ifriqiya and the Maghrib, and there were substantial Jewish
communities across the region. The native churches were absorbed culturally and
politically into the Islamic power structure, and lay Christians and Jews often held key
administrative roles, particularly in the financial administration. By the end of this
period the majority of the conquered populations had likely converted to Islam—a
fact that provoked tension, as the convert Muslim populace demanded the marginali-
zation and subjugation of their erstwhile co-religionists in accordance with the ideal
hierarchy of communities.
However, the debilitation and collapse of central power across the Islamic
Mediterranean, and the subsequent period of partisan unrest (approx. 1000–1150)
provided dhimmis with greater opportunities. Through much of these lands Christians
and Jews could be found in the highest positions in civil and military branches—as
wazirs and generals—and in educated professions, notably medicine, while their larger
communities, now less numerous, tended to retrench in specific economic niches.
Next, a “barbarian” period (1150–1350) followed, when indigenous Muslims of the
Mediterranean came under the control of tribal military elites originating on the
periphery of the Islamic world. One such group, the Ifranj (“Franks”) were Christian,
but most were Muslims—recently-converted Berbers and Turks. All of them shared a
militant fervor and moral certainty born of their origin on the stark frontier with the
pagan world. These tended to take a less compromising approach to religious minor-
ities, who were often subjected to the harshest possible interpretations of the “Pact of
Umar.” Marginalization was mitigated to some extent by the key roles dhimmis con-
tinued to play in many Muslim societies and economies, but by this time minority
elites were also coming under pressure from educated Muslims, who had begun to
compete for the upper-level administrative positions traditionally held by dhimmis.
The post-plague era (1350–1550) saw two trends. In the Islamic western
Mediterranean, Christian minorities disappeared and Jews came under increasing