Page:An Analysis of Prophet Muhammad’s Covenants with Christians.pdf/6

 entails active effort to gain an understanding of the other” (, p. 28). People of different religious backgrounds can live side-by-side with one another in a relative state of tolerance, yet these people can remain ignorant of the lifestyles and beliefs practiced and expressed in other religious communities. Unless individuals actively engage with people outside of their immediate religious circles, there is no pluralism.

In light of this overview of pluralism, it is important to recognize that there are different types of pluralism, among them being cultural, political, and religious. For the purpose of this article, it is necessary to focus on religious pluralism. In the Covenants, Prophet Muhammad can be seen as an advocate for a religiously pluralistic society (, pp. 34–35); he not only considered the interests of Christians, but he safeguarded them; he also demonstrates a preference for pluralism in the sense that he viewed Christianity as containing some “true values” that were in-line with Islamic values and principles. The Covenants of the Prophet—in addition to the Qur’an and hadiths—attest to Islam’s affirmative stance on pluralism (, p. 35). A special place is reserved in Islamic scripture for Christians as well as Jews. In the Qur’an, beliefs in the truth of Christian and Jewish doctrine are encapsulated in the term ahl al kitab (“People of the Book”), or people who have received and believed in earlier revelations from the prophets of the Abrahamic tradition. The pluralistic nature of the term ahl al kitab is evident in the use of the noun “book” in the singular and not the plural, meant to emphasize that Jews, Christians, and Muslims follow one and the same book, not various conflicting scriptures. Islamic holy texts like the Qur’an also accept all Abrahamic prophets before Muhammad and recognize Jewish scripture—the Talmud—and Christian scripture—the Gospel—as sacred books. Furthermore, under Prophet Muhammad’s leadership, Christians and Jews received the special status of dhimmi, or “protected peoples”, and al-mu’minin, or “the faithful” (, p. 2). These two statuses indicate that the Prophet considered both Christians and Jews to be monotheistic “believers” alongside Muslims. Far from denying the validity of Christianity and Judaism, Muhammad regarded them as standing in de jure with Islam as religions from the same God (, p. 2).

Emon, however, argues that the discursive intersection of Islamic law and the rights of minorities creates the “dhimmi rules”, which often lie at the center of debates about whether Islam as a “political system” is tolerant or intolerant of non-Muslims. The “dhimmi rules”, he argues, means that non-Muslims

"are subjected to various rules regulating the scope of what modern layers would call their freedom and liberty, whether to manifest their religious beliefs or to act in ways contrary to Islamic legal doctrines but in conformity with their own normative traditions (, p. 323)."

While Emon claims that dhimmi rules are important indices of the inherent intolerance in the Islamic tradition, they appear to contradict several hadiths. Prophet Muhammad, for example, stated “Whoever oppresses a dhimmi or burdens a weight over him more than he can carry, I will be his enemy”. Similarly, Prophet Muhammad stated “I am claimant of anyone who depresses a dhimmi. The one who I claimant of (in this world), I am also claimant of on the Day of Judgment”.

Yet, despite these favorable hadiths towards “People of the Book”, there are also passages of the Qur’an which appear to support the “dhimmi rules” as described by Emon. One particular verse of the Qur’an verse (9:29) states the following:

"Fight against those who do not believe in God or in the Last Day, who do not forbid what God and his Prophet have forbidden or practice the true religion, among those who have been given the Book, until they pay the jizya [poll tax] from their hand, they being humbled (, p. 236)."

This verse has been traditionally interpreted to mean that the jizya was intended as a symbolic expression of subordination of Jews and Christians. However, this verse stresses that certain conditions have to be met to fight against “People of the Book”. Abualrub elaborates:

This verse stresses the necessity of fighting against the People of the Scripture, but under what conditions?...The Islamic State is not permitted to attack non-Muslims who are not