Muhammad's Treaties with non-Muslims

[rocam]

Muhammad's Treaty with the Christians of Narjan

The Prophet dictated the terms of the treaty to Abdullah b. Abu Bakr, who served as one of his scribes, and it was witnessed by five companions whose names are: Abu Sufyan b. Harb, Ghilan b. Amr, Malik b. Auf, Aqra' b. Habis, and Mughira b. Shu'ba. The treaty provided religious and administrative autonomy for non-Muslim citizens of the Islamic State. All sincere Muslim rulers have adhered to the founding principles of this treaty in managing the affairs of non-Muslim subjects throughout the centuries.

The major clauses of the Treaty of Najran, translated into English, are as follows.

"In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate and the Most Merciful. This is the document from Muhammad, the messenger of Allah, for the people of Najran.

... To the Christians of Najran and the neighboring territories, the security of Allah and pledge of His Prophet are extended for their lives, their religion, and their property - to those present as well as those absent and others besides;

There shall be no interference with the practice of their faith or their observance;

Nor any change in their rights or privileges;

No bishop shall be removed from his bishopric; nor any monk from his monastery, nor any priest from his priesthood,

And they shall continue to enjoy everything great and small as heretofore;

No image or cross shall be destroyed;

They shall not oppress or be oppressed;

They shall not practice the rights of blood-vengeance as in the days of ignorance, i.e. before the advent of Islam;

No tithes shall be levied from them nor shall they be required to furnish provisions for the troops.

If anyone demands his right from you, justice will be maintained between you.

Neither you will be oppressed nor you will be allowed to oppress others.

Whosoever from amongst you will take usury after this, is excluded from my security.

No one will be held responsible for others’ crime.

Whatever is mentioned in this statement is the quarter of Allah, and Muhammad is responsible for that until Allah sends a new command, if they are loyal and perform their obligations well..."





CHARTER OF PRIVILEGES TO CHRISTIANS
LETTER TO THE MONKS OF ST. CATHERINE MONASTERY

In 628 C.E. Prophet Muhammad (s) granted a Charter of Privileges to the monks of St. Catherine Monastery in Mt. Sinai. It consisted of several clauses covering all aspects of human rights including such topics as the protection of Christians, freedom of worship and movement, freedom to appoint their own judges and to own and maintain their property, exemption from military service, and the right to protection in war.

An English translation of that document is presented below.

This is a message from Muhammad ibn Abdullah, as a covenant to those who adopt Christianity, near and far, we are with them.

Verily I, the servants, the helpers, and my followers defend them, because Christians are my citizens; and by Allah! I hold out against anything that displeases them.

No compulsion is to be on them.

Neither are their judges to be removed from their jobs nor their monks from their monasteries.

No one is to destroy a house of their religion, to damage it, or to carry anything from it to the Muslims' houses.

Should anyone take any of these, he would spoil God's covenant and disobey His Prophet. Verily, they are my allies and have my secure charter against all that they hate.

No one is to force them to travel or to oblige them to fight.

The Muslims are to fight for them.

If a female Christian is married to a Muslim, it is not to take place without her approval. She is not to be prevented from visiting her church to pray.

Their churches are to be respected. They are neither to be prevented from repairing them nor the sacredness of their covenants.

No one of the nation (Muslims) is to disobey the covenant till the Last Day (end of the world).

[rocam]

I figured that this thread would go unchallenged by Theja...

Can you blame her??

[Theja]

Oh, something good. After conquering them, or aspiring to conquer them, he may sound generous. I noticed that nothing of the Jizya was mentioned.

In the first letter, last paragraph, the phrase "until Allah sends a new command, IF" sounds ominous. Muhammad is known to change his mind and blame it on Allah, and so I'd treat this letter as a temporary deception.

The "until" and "if" renders this treaty slippery.

[rocam]

Like Christians never conquered any land? How about those churches’ speeches given just few years ago promoting the war against Iraq?? God wants this war; we have a moral duty to wage this war… Your imaginary God shared the big lie with his children when he murmured softly in the ears of the preachers while they were preaching. At least the God I worship does not LIE!!

Muslims are obliged to pay Zakat. Since this obligation applies to Muslims only, the non Muslims had to pay jizia. They were not expected to fight in times of war and were protected by Muslims all this while enjoying the freedom to practice their religion. They were also allowed to have their own courts that dealt with matters pertaining to their religion without the involvement of the government. Sounds like democracy to me!

Before you became a citizen you were still expected to pay taxes because you chose to live and enjoy everything America has to offer. Logic no? The same principle applies to jizia and that sounds fair to me. Beside that money along with zakat was used to the benefit of the population. Call it today’s taxes, everyone has to pay them.

One wonders how some the oldest Christians managed to survive all these centuries in the Middle East if they were oppressed by Muslims?

[One-Truth]

rocam,
Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatu Allah wa barakatuh,

Theja is reaching her last stages in life and can not properly engage in intelligent discussions without consulting her lexic idioms given to her by her clergy. I really feel pitty for her. Again, KKK and other christians in the USA and South Africa were preaching violence against non whites in the name of religion with quotes from THE BIBLE. What do say theja to this? Is not this the truth?
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Special for theja: "Don not read your lexic guide backwards"
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[Theja]

Love your enemies and pray for them.

My prayers are with you all.

[Theja]

Please take on this challenge.

WE WILL REMOVE THIS SITE IF PROVEN WRONG: http://www.faithfreedom.org (click 'READ THIS FIRST' to see the challenge).

If your brain is still functioning as a 'residence for intelligence' I think you ought to remove the said website for the sake of your fellow Muslims. Good luck.

(I will keep checking to monitor the progress)