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People of the Book (Arabic: أهل الكتاب ′Ahl al-Kitāb) is a term used to designate non-Muslim adherents to faiths which have a revealed scripture[1] called, in Arabic, Al-Kitab (Arabic: الكتاب "the Book" or "the Scripture"). The three types of adherents to faiths that the Qur'an mentions as people of the book are the Jews, Sabians and Christians.
In Islam, the Muslim scripture, the Qur'an, is taken to represent the completion of these scriptures, and to synthesize them as God's true, final, and eternal message to humanity. Because the People of the Book recognize the God of Abraham as the one and only god, as do Muslims, and they practice revealed faiths based on divine ordinances, tolerance and autonomy is accorded to them in societies governed by sharia (Islamic divine law).
In Judaism the term "People of the Book" (Hebrew: עם הספר, Am HaSefer) was used to refer specifically to the Jewish people and the Torah, and to the Jewish people and the wider canon of written Jewish law (including the Mishnah and the Talmud). Adherents of other Abrahamic religions, which arose later than Judaism, were not added.[2] As such, the appellation is accepted by Jews as a reference to an identity rooted fundamentally in Torah.[3]
In Christianity, the Catholic Church rejects the similar expression "religion of the book" as a description of the Christian faith, preferring the term "religion of the Word of God."[4] Nevertheless, other denominations, such as the Baptist Church, Methodist Church, Seventh-day Adventist Church[5][6] as well as Puritans and Shakers, have embraced the term "People of the Book."[7][8]
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The term "People of the Book" in the Qur'an refers to followers of monotheistic Abrahamic religions that are older than Islam. This includes all Christians, all Children of Israel (including Jews, Karaites and Samaritans), and Sabians.[9]
Zoroastrianism is believed by scholars and historians to have been founded between 1000 BCE and 600 BCE, making it older than Christianity and Islam. It shares similar eschatological views with Christianity and Islam, and recognizes life after death, Satan (as Angra Mainyu), Heaven, and Hell.
This definition is limited to those books that predate the Quran; they are seen as divine guidance from God to man that has been corrupted. This definition is not extended to followers of similar texts claiming divine guidance after the revelation of the Quran, as the Quran is seen as the final revelation and therefore any following are necessarily false.
Islamic scholars differ on whether Hindus are People of the Book.[10] The Islamic conquest of India necessitated that the definition be revised, as most India's inhabitants were followers of the Indian religions. Many of the Muslim clergy of India considered Hindus as people of the book,[10] and from Muhhammad-bin-Kasim to Aurangzib, Muslim rulers were willing to consider Hindus as people of the book.[9] Many Muslims did not treat Hindus as pagans or idol-worshippers,[10] although Hinduism does not include Adam, Eve, nor the various prophets of Abrahamic religions. However, the present Muslim and South Asian worlds traditionally were quite close in culture and trade despite differences in religions since time immemorial, as evidenced by the development of the Hindu-Arabic numeral system.
Buddhism does not explicitly recognize a monotheistic God or the concept of prophethood. Muslims however had at one point accorded them the status of "people of the Book", and Al-Biruni wrote of Buddha as the prophet "burxan".[11] It is interesting to note the similarity between the Arabic world Sura and the South Asian word Sutra. However, there is no formal God in Buddhism, although Buddhism does not specifically oppose monotheism. But, it is explicitly stated in Buddhist sutras that the worship of an Ishvara (an ancient South Asian term for a creator god, most likely not referring to the Abrahamic God who may not have been known in South Asia during the Buddha's lifetime, but given the context meaning either Shiva, Kali or Brahma [12]) is unnecessary to the attainment of Nirvana, as the Buddha believed worshippers are still trapped in an endless cycle of rebirth (Samsara). Buddhists do not worship Brahma (a Hindu deity) or "Deva" (an ancient South Asian term for a deity, today meaning either a Hindi translation of the English "God"/ Latin "Deus" concept [although Christian Indians tend to use the term "Parameshvara" or "Supreme Creator God" for the Christian God the Father] or a synonym for the ancient South Asian concept of Brahman). In Buddhism, the historical Buddha, the celestial and predecessor Buddhas, and the Buddhas to Be's (Bodhisattvas) fulfill the devotional needs of believers, while an emphasis is placed on the lack of Creation and Judgement abilities of these Salvation/Teaching deities.
There are many statements in the Qur'an that promote tolerance towards People of The Book. For example:
In other places the Qur'an says:
Throughout Islamic history, Muslims have used these ayah (verses) to justify a variety of positions towards non-Muslims. In some places and times, Muslims showed a great deal of tolerance towards non-Muslims; in other places and times non-Muslims were treated as enemies and persecuted.
One verse in the Qur'an encourages neutral position toward all non-Muslims. This verse says, "Those who follow the Jewish (scriptures) and the Sabians, Christians, Magians and Polytheists — God will judge them On the Day of Judgement:" (22:17).
Historically, a dhimmi was a person who is protected under Islamic law by a pact contracted between non-Muslims and authorities from their Muslim government: this status was first made available to non-Muslims who were People of the Book (i.e. Jews and Christians), but was later extended to include Sikhs, Zoroastrians, Mandeans, Hindus[13] and Buddhists.[14][15] People of the Book living in non-Islamic nations were not considered dhimmis.
Non-Muslim People of the Book living in an Islamic nation under Sharia law were given a number of rights, such as the right to freely practice their faith in private and to receive state protection. In turn, they had a legal responsibility, the payment of a special tax called jizya ("tribute") in place of zakat. The social structure of the Ottoman Empire would serve as an example of how non-Muslims were treated.
Because of the Hindu traditions of Vedanta and Upanishads, and the prominent Hindu theological perspective that there is a single Reality (Brahman) from which the world arises, Hindus eventually have been included as dhimmis.[16]
The Yazidi, Druze and Azali faiths are small post-Islamic monotheistic faiths whose adherents mainly reside in Muslim-majority countries. Because they number very few and have seldom disturbed, countered or threatened Muslim authority, they are usually regarded as dhimmis.
The definition of "dhimmi" always excludes followers of the Bahá'í Faith. This is because the Bahá'í Faith, which grew out of Shi'a Islam, is a post-Islamic religion which does not accept the finality of Muhammad's revelation. Instead, Bahá'ís believe in the concept of progressive revelation, which states that God's will is progressively revealed through different teachers at different times, and that there will never be a final revelation.
The Ahmadis (usually referred to by Muslims as Qadianis) of Pakistan are also not regarded as dhimmis by the vast majority of Muslims. This is largely due to the fact that their prophet, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, came over 1,300 years after Muhammad, who is viewed as the "last of the prophets" by Sunni, Shia, and Ibadi variants of Islam. They differ from other post-Islamic faiths in Muslim lands because Ahmadis first began as an Islamic reform movement, threatening the established orthodoxy present in South Asian Islam, and further was embraced by highly socially upward mobile westernizing Muslim intellectuals of the day. These factors, compounded with the presence of the colonial British authorities in India who had overthrown the Muslim Mughal Empire, led Muslims to view the presence of Ahmadis as a fifth column serving the British colonizers, and as a threat to "true" Islam. Pakistan to this day requires its citizens to swear an oath of allegiance to Islam, and declare Mirza Gulam Ahmad to be an apostate, should they elect to register as a Muslim for governmental services.
In the early Christian experience the New Testament was added to the whole Jewish Tanakh, which after Jerome's translation tended more and more to be bound up as a single volume, and was accepted as a unified locus of authority: "the Book."[8] Many Christian missionaries in Africa, Asia and in the New World, developed writing systems for indigenous people and then provided them with a written translation of the Bible.[17][18] As a result of this work, "People of the Book" became the usual vernacular locution to refer to Christians among many African, Asian, and Native American people of both hemispheres.[18] Organizations such as the Wycliffe Bible Translators and the United Bible Societies, have resulted in availability of the Bible in 2,100 languages, which has further lent an identification with the phrase among Christians themselves.[8] Christian converts among evangelized cultures, in particular, have the strongest identification with the term "People of the Book" as the first written text produced in their native language, as with English-speaking people, has often been the Bible.[18] Many denominations, such as the Baptist Church and Methodist Church, which are notable for their mission work,[19] have therefore embraced the term "People of the Book."[7][8]
As stated on its official world website, the Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) also embraces the term People of the Book.[20] As also noted in its official flagship publication Adventist World (February 2010 edition), it is claimed prominent Islamic leaders have endorsed Seventh-day Adventists as the Qur'an's true People of the Book[5]
Seventh-day Adventist-Islamic Publications: