Response Paper to Pact of Umar PDF

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Got a 10/10 on this, which professor rarely gives....

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Isabelle Mendez Dhimmi: Protected but not Entirely Free According to the Pact of Umar During the seventh century, Islam started to spread and expand beyond into the regions where Christians and Jews lived such as Syria and Mesopotamia. Eventually, these people came under Islamic control and became known as the Dhimmi or “protected people.” After this expansion, caliph Umar offered the Christians of Syria a pact, which would later become known as the Pact of Umar. This pact told the Dhimmi what they could and could not do under Islamic control. While the Dhimmi were protected and treated with consideration, they were not free to live without regard. The Muslims treated the non-Muslims such as Christians and Jews with respect and peace. More often than not non-Muslims were left alone to go about their day without much inconvenience from Muslims. However, the non-Muslims did have to pay attention to and abide by many limitations put forth by the Pact of Umar. For example, there were several religious limitations. For Christians, they could not build or repair their churches, convents, or monasteries. For overall non-Muslims, they could not teach the Quran to their children, display their religious symbols in front of Muslims, manifest their religion publicly, convert anyone to Christianity or Judaism, and prevent anyone who wanted to convert to Islam. Another example was more along the lines of social constraints. Non-Muslims couldn’t dress or speak similarly to Muslims, ride horses, sell alcoholic drinks, and take slaves that were designated for Muslims. Furthermore, non-Muslims could not have any weapons, had to give a place to stay for traveling Muslims, and had to stand from their seat if a Muslim wished to sit in that seat. With all these obligations, did non-Muslims have any rights?

With all the above limitations, non-Muslims still had many rights. From the Pact of Umar, it can be understood that non-Muslims still retained many of their rights pre-Islamic control. For example, an important right they retained was the ability to practice their respective religion still whether that be Christianity or Judaism. Furthermore, many non-Muslims were not subjugated to harsh treatment by the Muslims. They were not taken control of, discriminated against, and put to slave work. Non-Muslims could still own property such as houses and farms. Non-Muslims could still enjoy their jobs, which mainly consisted of agriculture. Additionally, non-Muslims could move about their daily life without strict travel regulations. Non-Muslims retained their identity and were still seen as respectable people by Muslims. The Islamic caliphate adopted the Pact of Umar with non-Muslims because they needed the non-Muslims. One potential reason to allow non-Muslims to still have all these rights among many limitations was to lessen the potential for rebellion. By allowing non-Muslims to retain their identity and lifestyle, then they would feel comfortable and have little need to rebel against the Islamic leadership. Another potential reason was that the non-Muslims knew how to cultivate the land and farm whereas the Muslims did not. Muslims were herders and nomads by trade. By allowing the non-Muslims to continue their daily lifestyle, then the Muslims would have markets and food. Moreover, the agriculture produced by non-Muslims and the taxes they had to pay created income for the Islamic caliphate. The Muslims needed the non-Muslims not only to be content in their lifestyle but also for the goods such as food they produced. The Pact of Umar produced a juxtaposition of limitations yet freedoms that was needed because their lifestyle helped the Islamic caliphate. The Dhimmi people or non-Muslims were protected and respected, but they were not entirely free....