Robert Spencer - The Myth of Islamic Tolerance: How Islamic Law Treats Non-Muslims

T his enlightening collection of essays by some of the world's leading authorities on Islamic social history focuses on the pervasive legal and cultural oppression of nonMuslims in Islamic societies. The authors of these in-depth but accessible articles explode the widely diffused myth, promulgated by Muslim advocacy groups, of a largely tolerant, pluralistic Islam. In fact, the contributors lay bare the tyrannical legal superstructure that has treated non-Muslims in Muslim societies as oppressed and humiliated tributaries, and they show the devastating effects of these discriminatory attitudes and practices in both past and contemporary global conflicts.

The insightful chapters presented in The Myth of Islamic Tolerance explain how the legally mandated SUbjugation of nonMuslims under Islamic law stems from the Muslim concept of jihad-the spread of Islam through conquest. Historically, the Arab Muslim conquerors overran vast territories containing diverse non-Muslim populations. Many of these conquered people surrendered to Muslim domination under a special treaty called dhimma in Arabic. As such, these nonMuslim indigenous populations, mainly Christians and Jews, were then classified under Islamic law as dhimmis (meaning "protected"). Although protected status may sound benign, this classification in fact referred, most importantly, to "protection" from the resumption of the jihad against nonMuslims. The authors maintain that underlying this religious caste system is a culturally

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EDITED BY ROBERT SPENCER

Prometheus Books

59 John Glenn Drive
Amherst, New York 14228-2197

Published 2005 by Prometheus Books

The Myth of Islamic Tolerance: How Islamic Law Treats Non-Muslims. Copyright 2(K)5 by Robert Spencer. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, digital, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or conveyed via the Internet or a Web site without prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

The myth of Islamic tolerance : how Islamic law treats non-Muslims / edited by Robert Spencer.

p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 1-59102-249-5
I. Dhimmis. 2. Religious minoritiesLegal status, laws, etc.Islamic countries.

I. Spencer, Robert, 1962-

KBP2449.M98 2004
297.28dc22

Foreword: The Genesis of a Myth
Ibn Warraq

1. The Myth of Islamic Tolerance
Robert Spencer

History as Politics:
The Uses of the Myth of Islamic Tolerance

Introduction
Robert Spencer

2. Rights of Non-Muslims in an Islamic State
Samuel Shahid

3. The Jizya Tax: Equality and Dignity under Islamic Law?
Walter Short

Introduction
Robert Spencer

4. Protected Peoples under Islam
David G. Littman and Bat Ye or

5. Historical Amnesia: Naming Jihad and Dhimmitude
Bat Yeor

6. Dhimmi Peoples: Oppressed Nations
Bat Ye or

7. Dhimmitude: Jews and Christians under Islam
Bat Ye or

Introduction
Robert Spencer

8. Past Is Prologue: The Challenge of Islamism Today
Bat Ye or

9. Oriental Jewry and the Dhimmi Image in
Contemporary Arab Nationalism
Bat Ye or

10. Aspects of the Arab-Israeli Conflict
Bat Ye or

11. Euro-Arab Anti-Zionism
Bat Ye or

12. The Oppression of Middle East Christians:
A Forgotten Tragedy
Walid Phares

13. A Christian Minority: The Copts in Egypt
Bat Ye or

14. Eastern Christians Torn Asunder: ChallengesNew and Old
Bat Ye or

15. Christians in the Muslim World
Patrick Sookhdeo

16. Persecution of Jews and Christians: Testimony versus Silence
Bat Ye or

17. What Is Happening in Indonesia?
Mark Durie

18. Documentation of Oppression of Religious Freedom in
Aceh, Indonesia
Mark Durie

19. Jihad and Human Rights Today: An Active Ideology Incompatible with Universal Standards of Freedom and Equality
Bat Yeor

20. Culture of Hate: A Racism That Denies the History and
Sufferings of its Victims
Bat Yeor

21. The Dhimmitude of the West
Mark Durie

22. Beyond Munich: The Spirit of Eurabia
Bat Yeor

23. Eurabia: The Road to Munich
Bat Ye or

24. The Islamic Conquest of Britain
Srdja Trijkovic

25. Something Rotten in Denmark?
Daniel Pipes and Lars Hedegaard

Introduction
David G. Littman and Robert Spencer

26. Islamism Grows Stronger at the United Nations
David G. Littman

27. Universal Human Rights and Human Rights in Islam
David G. Littman

28. Blasphemy at the United Nations and Judeophobia in the Arab-Muslim World
David G. Littman

29. Dangerous Censorship of a UN Special Rapporteur
Rene Wadlow and David G. Littman

30. Judeophobia Today = Anti-Judaism/Anti-Zionism/Antisemitism: A Growing Culture of Hate
AWE Written Statement to the Sixtieth Session of the UNCHC

31. The Ideology of Jihad: Antisemitism/Genocide/Slavery in the Sudan
Robert S. Wistrich

32. The Alarming Growth of Judeophobia/Antisemitism Since the Vienna World Conference on Human Rights (1993) and the UN Decade for Human Rights Education: 1995-2004
WUPJ Written Statement Submitted to the Sixtieth Session of the UNCHR

33. Free at Last: Slaves in Sudan/Disappearing Jews of Iran: Their History
David G. Littman

34. The Ancient Jewish Community of Iran: End Silence, Disappearances, Discrimination, Dhimmitude
WUPJ Statement to the Sixtieth Session of the UNCHR

35. The Remnant Dhimmi Populations of the Middle East and North Africa: Forgotten Jewish Refugees and Persecuted Indigenous Christian Communities
David G. Littman

36. Historical Facts and Figures: The Forgotten Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries
WUPJ Written Statement to the Fifty-fifth Session of the UNCHRs Sub-Commission

37. Discrimination in the Egyptian Criminal Justice System: The Exemplary Case of Dr. Neseem Abdel Malek Grave Attacks and Discrimination against Copts
AWE Written Statement to the Sixtieth Session of the UNCHR

38. Rushdie Affair: Syndrome and Historical Overview the Right to Life and Human Rights Mechanisms
AWE Written Statement to the Sixtieth Session of the UNCHR

39. Blasphemy Legislation in Pakistans Penal Code
AWE Written Statement to the Fiftieth Session of the UNCHRs Sub-Commission

40. Universality of International Human Rights Treaties
David G. Littman

41. Homage to UN High Commissioner Sergio Vieira de Mello
David G. Littman

42. International Bill of Human Rights: Universality/International Standards/National Practices
AWE Statement to the Fifty-fifth Session of the UNCHRs Sub-Commission

43. Combating Defamation of Religions
Roy Brown

44. Apostasy, Human Rights, Religion, and Belief New Threats to the Freedom of Opinion and Expression: A General View of Apostasy
Ibn Warraq

45. Apostasy, Human Rights, Religion, and Belief New Threats to the Freedom of Opinion and Expression: A Concrete Proposal
Shafique Keshavjee

46. Apostasy, Human Rights, Religion, and Belief New Threats to the Freedom of Opinion and Expression: Pakistani Blasphemy Law
Muhammad Younus Shaikh

47. Apostasy, Human Rights, Religion, and Belief New Threats to the Freedom of Opinion and Expression: The Problem of Apostasy in an Islamic-Christian Context