What Islam's sources say about violence and jihad
The early conquests and the dhimma
Within a century of Muhammad's death, armies under his successors ruled from Spain to Sindh. Christians and Jews were allowed to keep their faith as dhimmis, paying the jizya under legal restrictions.
Conquest and status
The conquests were wars of expansion by the caliphate. In conquered lands Jews and Christians became dhimmis, protected people who paid the jizya and lived under restrictions; the so-called Pact of Umar lists rules such as no new churches and no public display of crosses, though its date and attribution are disputed. Conversion to Islam came gradually over centuries.
قَٰتِلُوا۟ ٱلَّذِينَ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِٱللَّهِ وَلَا بِٱلْيَوْمِ ٱلْـَٔاخِرِ وَلَا يُحَرِّمُونَ مَا حَرَّمَ ٱللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُۥ وَلَا يَدِينُونَ دِينَ ٱلْحَقِّ مِنَ ٱلَّذِينَ أُوتُوا۟ ٱلْكِتَٰبَ حَتَّىٰ يُعْطُوا۟ ٱلْجِزْيَةَ عَن يَدٍ وَهُمْ صَٰغِرُونَ 29
29Fight against such of those who have been given the Scripture as believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, and forbid not that which Allah hath forbidden by His messenger, and follow not the Religion of Truth, until they pay the tribute readily, being brought low.
Quran 9:29 (Pickthall) · context
Where scholars disagree
- How harsh dhimmi status was in practice varied greatly by time and place; historians disagree on how far the Pact of Umar reflects early practice.
Sources
- Earliest source Hugh Kennedy, The Great Arab Conquests (2007).
- Mark R. Cohen, Under Crescent and Cross (Princeton, 1994).