Pact of Umar

The Pact of Umar (also known as the Covenant of Umar, Treaty of Umar or Laws of Umar; Arabic: شروط عمر‎‎ or عهد عمر or عقد عمر), is an apocryphal treaty between the Muslims and the Christians of either Syria, Mesopotamia[1] or Jerusalem[2] that later gained a canonical status in Islamic jurisprudence. There are several versions of the pact, differing both in structure and stipulations.[3] While the pact is traditionally attributed to the second Rashidun Caliph Umar ibn Khattab,[4] other jurists and orientalists have doubted this attribution[3] with the treaty being attributed to 9th century Mujtahids (Islamic scholars) or the Umayyad Caliph Umar II. This treaty should not be confused with Umar's Assurance of safety to the people of Aelia (known as al-ʿUhda al-ʿUmariyya, Arabic: العهدة العمرية‎‎).

In general, the pact contains a list of rights and restrictions on non-Muslims (dhimmis). By abiding to them, non-Muslims are granted security of their persons, their families, and their possessions. Other rights and stipulations may also apply. According to Ibn Taymiyya, one of the jurists who accepted the authenticity of the pact, the dhimmis have the right "to free themselves from the Covenant of 'Umar and claim equal status with the Muslims if they enlisted in the army of the state and fought alongside the Muslims in battle."[5]

Origin and authenticity

According to Abu-Munshar, the historical origin of the document may lie in an agreement made between the Muslim conquerors and the Christians of Jazira or Damascus which was later extended to Dhimmis elsewhere.[1] He further writes that, "The humiliating conditions enumerated in the so-called “Pact of Umar” are utterly foreign to the mentality, thoughts and practices of this caliph...The deficiencies [in the textual integrity] support the contention that Umar was not the originator of the document."[6] Some Western historians suggest that the document was based on Umar's Assurance, a treaty concluded between Umar ibn Khattab and the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Sophronius following the capture of Jerusalem by the Rashidun Caliphate (637),[2] while others believe the document was either the work of 9th century Mujtahids or was forged during the reign of the Umayyad Caliph Umar II (717-720),[7] with other clauses added later. Other scholars concluded that the document may have originated in immediate post-conquest milieu and was stylized by later historians.[1]

Western scholars' opinions varied about the Pact's authenticity. According to Anver M. Emon, "There is intense discussion in the secondary literature" about the Pact's authenticity, With scholars disagreeing on whether it might have originated during the reign of Umar b. al-Khattab or was "a later invention retroactively associated with Umar -- the caliph who famously led the initial imperial expansion -- to endow the contract of dhimma with greater normative weight?"[7] A.S. Tritton is one scholar who has "suggested that the Pact is a fabrication" because later Muslim conquerors did not apply its terms to their agreements with their non-Muslim subjects, which they would have if the pact had existed earlier. on the other hand Another scholar Daniel C. Dennet believes that the Pact was "no different from any other treaty negotiated in that period and that it is well within reason that the Pact we have today , as preserved in al-Tabari's chronicle is an authentic version of that early treaty."[7] Historian Abraham P. Bloch writes that, "Omar was a tolerant ruler, unlikely to impose humiliating conditions upon non-Muslims, or to infringe upon their religious and social freedoms. His name has been erroneously associated…with the restrictive Covenant of Omar."[8]

According to Thomas Walker Arnold, the pact "is in harmony" with Umar's "kindly consideration for his subjects of another faith,[9] he further adds that concerning the restrictions observed in some reported versions of the pact, "De Goeje and Caetani have proved without doubt that they are the invention of a later age."[10]

"A later generation attributed to ‘Umar a number of restrictive regulations which hampered the Christians in the free exercise of their religion, but De Goeje and Caetani have proved without doubt that they are the invention of a later age; as, however, Muslim theologians of less tolerant periods accepted these ordinaces as genuine ....[9]

The book Classical Islam: a Sourcebook of Religious Literature, quotes a version of the Pact from Kitab al-Umm of al-Shafi'i (d.204/820) that it says may be "a forerunner to the later document which gained something of a canonical status, making it applicable in many locations ..."[11]

Content

There are several different versions of the pact that differ both in their language and stipulations.[12]

The Points: [1] [2] [13][14][15][16]

See also

Charter of Medina

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 Roggema 2009, p. 361.
  2. 1 2 3 Meri 2005, p. 205.
  3. 1 2 Abu-Munshar 2007, p. 63.
  4. ↑ Thomas & Roggema 2009, p. 360.
  5. ↑ Ipgrave, Michael (2009). Justice and Rights: Christian and Muslim Perspectives. Georgetown University Press. p. 58. ISBN 1589017226.
  6. ↑ Maher Abu-Munshar, Islamic Jerusalem And Its Christians: A History of Tolerance And Tensions, pp. 79-80.
  7. 1 2 3 Emon, Anver M. (2012). Religious Pluralism and Islamic Law: Dhimmis and Others in the Empire of Law. Oxford University Press. p. 71. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  8. ↑ Abraham P. Bloch, One a Day: An Anthology of Jewish Historical Anniversaries for Every Day of the Year, p. 314. ISBN 0881251089.
  9. 1 2 T.W. Arnold, The Spread of Islam in the World
  10. ↑ Walker Arnold, Thomas (1913). Preaching of Islam: A History of the Propagation of the Muslim Faith. Constable & Robinson Ltd. p. 57. A later generation attributed to 'Umar a number of restrictive regulations which hampered the Christians in the free exercise of their religion, but De Goeje and Caetani have proved without doubt that they are the invention of a later age; (online)
  11. ↑ Calder, Norman; Mojaddedi,, Jawid; Rippin, Andrew, eds. (2003). Classical Islam: A Sourcebook of Religious Literature. Routledge. p. 138. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  12. ↑ Abu-Munshar 2007, p. 63-4: "There are several versions of the Pact of ‘Umar, with similarities as well as differences in vocabulary or sentence order; some differ in detail, both in their stipulations and literary structure."
  13. ↑ al Turtushi, Siraj al Muluk, Cairo 1872, pp 229-230.
  14. ↑ The Caliphs And Their Non Muslim Subjects, A. S. TRITTON MUSLIM UNIVERSITY, ALIGARH, HUMPHREY MILFORD, OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 1930, p.5
  15. ↑ Medieval Sourcebook: Pact of Umar, 7th Century? The Status of Non-Muslims Under Muslim Rule Paul Halsall Jan 1996
  16. ↑ The Jews of Iran in the nineteenth century [electronic resource] : aspects of history, community, and culture / by David Yeroushalmi. Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2009.

References

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