Being Dhimmi in the Ottoman Empire
Jihad Watch 16 June 2014
By Robert Spencer
Here is a fascinating glimpse of what life was like for Jews and Christians under Ottoman rule in 1838, before the abolition of the dhimmi laws that ensured that they would “pay the jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued” (Qur’an 9:29). “The Jews, as well as the native Christians, throughout Syria and Palestine, were daily and hourly subjected to oppression, extortions, exaction, robbery and insults from their Moslem neighbours. It was no unusual occurrence for the Moslem to enter their houses, ransack closets and boxes, and appropriate any article of wearing apparel, furniture, or food that took the marauder’s fancy. The local Government authorities would occasionally, when in need of funds, levy blackmail to the amount of hundreds of pounds on the Jews and native Christians, threatening them with massacre and plunder in default of payment. Consequently, Jews and native Christians dared to make any display of wealth only at the risk of losing life or property, and often both.”
Muhammad said it: “I have been ordered (by Allah) to fight against the people until they testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and that Muhammad is Allah’s Apostle, and offer the prayers perfectly and give the obligatory charity, so if they perform a that, then they save their lives and property from me except for Islamic laws and then their reckoning (accounts) will be done by Allah.” (Bukhari 1.2.24) (continue reading...)
http://europenews.dk/en/node/81086
