See the thing is lipster, it really pisses me off when people dont look at Islamic history and stuff... when Muhammad moved to Medina there was a treaty drawn up which basically made the Jewish arab tribess, the Christian tribes and others there on an equal level with the Muslims. Of course that was because of an on-going civil war so they decided to make Muhammad arbitrator and also to become the leader of Medina. Its interesting because non-muslims had complete religious autonomy and could even follow their own laws. Also of course there were rules that were binding on the whole community together. As time moved on there were other problems and historically we see that some non-muslim and jewish tribes specifically sided against Muhammad with the Meccan army (and tried to cause trouble inside Medina), so they were banished from the Hejaz area and so on - but that is historically specific. Some people use this to "justify" hatred of the Jews as a whole and make it an islamic ordained practise, which i think is totally wrong and many others do too. Apart from the fact Quran makes a clear distinction between the wrong-doers and the righteous ones, it also talks about "Bani Israil" which means literally people of Israel specifically when mentioning the righteous ones. With the current problems there it seems that this kind of hatred is very easy to fall in to and call upon - which is very sad.
All of this stuff about Jiyza (the non-muslim tax) and such was developed then but was simply like a state tax. Muslims pay it with our "zakat", which is obligatory on us and it was basically the exact same thing just for non-muslims. Quite simply to keep the state running, pay for buildings and so on. There are even stories of some non-muslim tribes feeling offended at paying the "non-muslim tax" (i think they were Christian), so Umar who was the 3rd leader after Muhammad allowed them to pay the "zakat". I am not exactly sure of the difference, but do know after that rulers got a bit nasty with it and in some cases totally oppressed everyone.
Like i said in my original posts - im not wanting to argue politics and things as i dont know much about it and also dont want it to strain our friendship in any way - i am trying to see things from 2 sides at once and its pretty darn hard. All i need to do is look at this site and it makes me want to really cry: Remember these Children
dave
All of this stuff about Jiyza (the non-muslim tax) and such was developed then but was simply like a state tax. Muslims pay it with our "zakat", which is obligatory on us and it was basically the exact same thing just for non-muslims. Quite simply to keep the state running, pay for buildings and so on. There are even stories of some non-muslim tribes feeling offended at paying the "non-muslim tax" (i think they were Christian), so Umar who was the 3rd leader after Muhammad allowed them to pay the "zakat". I am not exactly sure of the difference, but do know after that rulers got a bit nasty with it and in some cases totally oppressed everyone.
Like i said in my original posts - im not wanting to argue politics and things as i dont know much about it and also dont want it to strain our friendship in any way - i am trying to see things from 2 sides at once and its pretty darn hard. All i need to do is look at this site and it makes me want to really cry: Remember these Children
dave
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