Islam and Dhimmitude: Where Civilizations Collide

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Islam and Dhimmitude: Where Civilizations Collide is a book by Bat Ye'or.

1 Quote
2 Content
3 Reviews
4 Notes
5 External links

[edit] Quote

"The ideology of jihad was formulated by Muslim theologians from the eighth century onward. It separates humanity into two hostile blocks — the community of Muslims, and the infidels. According to this ideology, Allah commands the Muslims to conquer the whole world in order to apply Koranic laws. Hence, they have to wage a perpetual war against the infidels who refuse to submit. Its principle is based on the inequality between the community of Allah and the infidels. The first is a superior group, whose mission it is to rule the world. The second must submit."

[edit] Content

In the book Bat Ye’or chronicles the history of non-Muslims living under the dominion of Islam in the status of dhimmitude using a comprehensive body of primary sources and first hand witness historical records. The author provides a detailed description of the theory of jihad along with the consequential political, economic, social and religious constraints that were imposed on non-Muslims living under Islamic occupation.^{[citation needed]}

Ye'or examines the systematic persecution and disintegration of numerous non-Muslim communities and the subsequent exodus of their populations from the Middle East engendered by the followers of the Islamic ideology, a process which is still in progress today. The author also examines the policies of modern day Muslim countries towards non-Muslims and the intention to re-affirm the conditions of dhimmitude towards non-Muslims within and outside the Muslims world.

The author makes 4 major points in the book:

1) The historical records of the lives and fates of the Jews and Christians living under the yoke of Islam refutes any notion of tolerant intent on the part of the Islamic polity. The non-Muslims were subjected to a campaign of cultural subjugation with draconian penalties for any attempt at self determination which resulted in their collapse from a majority population to a minority and slow extinction throughout the Middle East. The conduct of the Islamic polity was not some much an aberration from the expected course but based on the Islamic doctrinal foundation of hegemony over non-Muslims.

2) Submission to the oppression of dhimmitude eventually led to the total eradication of non-Muslim communities as demonstrated by the collapsing minority communities throughout the Middle East.

3) Modern Europeans and Westerners are increasingly ceding their basic freedoms to an increasing vocal Muslim immigrant populations that demands a dhimmi like conduct of their part akin to Islam’s subjugation of the dhimmi minority communities of the Middle East.

4) The bond between Jewish and Christian victims of the Islamic assault needs rejuvenation. The author calls for a Jewish-Christian dialogue and hopes that moderate are not a part of the this dialogue.^[1]

[edit] Reviews

Mordechai Nisan from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, reviews the book as

... an exceptionally relevant scholarly study of Islam in triumphant combat against non-Muslims. Islam and Dhimmitude amasses compelling evidence and employs powerful argumentation to expose and explain dhimmitude—the author's neologism. With impressive erudition and precision—and personal courage— Bat Ye'or here presents both her largest canvas and her most profound analysis of this condition. She challenges powerful misconceptions and establishes a new framework for understanding the inter-relations of the three religious civilizations and peoples.^[2].

Imad A. Ahmad, from the Minaret of Freedom Institute criticizes the book as a "Zionist project".^[3] He suggests that

"This book has little to offer serious scholars of Islam or of world civilizations. It has much to offer propagandists who seek rhetorical ammunition to increase rather than decrease the hatred and strife in the world."