FROM THE VERY BEGINNING, Muslims had to face the question of their relations with the adherents of other religions. Among the topics to be considered here will be the legal basis for the relations between Muslims and Christians, the extent to which the Muslims in the Early Islamic period carried out in practice the legal restrictions promulgated against Christians, and the degree of Muslim persecution of Christians.

The Qur’ān and Muḥammad

A full discussion of Qur’ānic references to Christians lies beyond the scope of this study, but the Qur’ān, in Sūrat al-ḥajj (22), v. 17 and elsewhere, distinguishes pagans from Jews, Christians, Sabians, and Zoroastrians, these latter being characterized as the “People of the Book” (ahl al-kitāb), communities to whom God’s prophets had revealed Divine Scripture. In Sūrat al-Tawba (9), v. 29, these People of the Book are to pay a jizya tax in exchange for protection. The People of the Book initially could freely join the new Islamic community or umma that Muḥammad established in Medina, with the status of a protected group, or dhimmīs, as the Constitution of Medina demonstrates.

This state of affairs, however, did not survive the expulsion of the Jewish tribes from Medina, or extend to non-Muslims outside of Medina. When the Muslims gained control of Khaybar through military action in 7/628, for example, Muḥammad treated the inhabitants of the town as a conquered population.

As the territories conquered by the Muslim invaders extended beyond the Arabian peninsula, the Muslims had to face the task of ruling a conquered population that vastly outnumbered the Muslims. For a time, arrangements would have been rather ad hoc or based on customary practice as it emerged independently in the various provinces of the empire. Eventually, government policies would have become more uniform, especially with the reforms of ‘Abd al-Malik and such subsequent regulations as the fiscal rescript of ‘Umar II, but it was only in the ‘Abbāsid period that Muslim jurists began to codify Islamic law and systematize the legal basis for relations between the Muslims and the People of the Book. In these juridical discussions they considered the rights and privileges to which dhimmīs were entitled, the taxes they had to pay, and appropriate restrictions on them in order to safeguard Muslim interests.