Editing Dhimmi (section)

===Views of modern Islamic scholars on the status of non-Muslims in an Islamic society===
* The Iranian [[Shia Islam|Shi'a]] Muslim Ayatollah [[Ruhollah Khomeini]] indicates in his book ''[[Islamic Government: Governance of the Jurist]]'' that non-Muslims should be required to pay the [[Tax per head|poll tax]], in return for which they would profit from the protection and services of the state; they would, however, be excluded from all participation in the political process.<ref>Hukuma Islamiyya, n.p. (Beirut), n.d., pp. 30ff.; Vilayat-i Faqih, n.p., n.d., pp. 35ff.; English version (from the Arabic), ''Islamic Government'' (U.S. Joint Publications Research Service 72663, 1979), pp. 22ff.; French version (from the Persian), Pour un gouvernement islamique (Paris, 1979), pp. 31ff. Another version in Hamid Algar, ''Islam and Revolution: Writings and Declarations of Imam Khomeini'' (Berkeley, 1981), pp. 45ff.</ref>{{failed verification|date=December 2020}} [[Bernard Lewis]] remarks about Khomeini that one of his main grievances against the Shah, [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi]], was that his legislation allowed the theoretical possibility of non-Muslims exercising political or judicial authority over Muslims.<ref>Bernard Lewis, ''[[The Jews of Islam]]'' notes on p. 3</ref>
* The Egyptian theologian [[Yusuf al-Qaradawi]], chairman of the [[International Union of Muslim Scholars]],<ref name="chair">{{Cite news|title=Qatar-based cleric calls for Egypt vote boycott|date=11 May 2014|author=AFP (news agency) |newspaper=Yahoo News|url=https://uk.news.yahoo.com/qatar-based-cleric-calls-egypt-vote-boycott-192234858.html#9K9eVKw|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140616031315/https://uk.news.yahoo.com/qatar-based-cleric-calls-egypt-vote-boycott-192234858.html|archive-date=16 June 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> has stated in his [[Al Jazeera Media Network|Al Jazeera]] program ''Sharia and Life'', which has an estimated audience of 35 to 60 million viewers:<ref>{{cite book |title=The People Want: A Radical Exploration of the Arab Uprising|author=Gilbert Achcar|year=2013|page=112|publisher=University of California Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-CxxOnASaMAC&pg=PA112
|isbn=978-0520956544}}</ref> "When we say ''dhimmis'' (''ahl al-dhimma'') it means that [...] they are under the covenant of God and His Messenger and the Muslim community and their responsibility (''ḍamān''), and it is everyone's duty to protect them, and this is what is intended by the word. At present many of our brethren are offended by the word ''dhimmis'', and I have stated in what I wrote in my books that I don't see anything to prevent contemporary Islamic [[ijtihad]] from discarding this word ''dhimmis'' and calling them non-Muslim citizens."<ref>لما نقول أهل الذمة يعني أهل ذمة الله يعني هم في عهد الله وعهد رسوله وعهد جماعة المسلمين وضمانهم، الجميع عليه أن يحميهم، فهذا هو المقصود من الكلمة. الآن يتأذى منها الكثير من أخواننا كلمة أهل الذمة، وأنا ذكرت فيما كتبت في كتبي أنني أنا لا أرى أي مانع أمام الاجتهاد الإسلامي المعاصر أن يحذف كلمة أهل الذمة هذه ونسميهم المواطنون من غير المسلمين [http://www.aljazeera.net/programs/religionandlife/2008/5/6/%D8%BA%D9%8A%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B3%D9%84%D9%85%D9%8A%D9%86-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%AC%D8%AA%D9%85%D8%B9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%8A Transcript of the 5-6-2008 "Sharia and Life" episode], Aljazeera.net</ref>
*Another Egyptian Islamist, [[Mohammad Salim al-Awa]] argued the concept of dhimmi must be re-interpreted in the context of [[Egyptian nationalism]]. Al-Awa and other Muslim scholars based this on the idea that while the previous ''dhimma'' condition result from the [[Muslim conquest of Egypt|Islamic conquest]], the modern Egyptian state results from a joint Muslim-Christian campaign to end the [[History of Egypt under the British|British occupation of Egypt]]. In modern-day Egypt, he argues, the constitution replaces the ''dhimma'' contract.<ref>{{cite book|title=Political Islam, Citizenship, and Minorities: The Future of Arab Christians|author=Andrea Zaki Stephanous|pages=160–161|quote="Both Muslims and al-dhimmiyun struggled for the liberation of this land for more than a century and, because of the blood that was shed by both, a new order was created...In the modern state, the constitution took the place of the al-dhimmi contract."}}</ref>
* [[Muhammad Husayn Tabataba'i]], a 20th-century [[Shia Islam|Shia]] scholar writes that dhimmis should be treated "in a good and decent manner". He addresses the argument that good treatment of dhimmis was abrogated by Quranic verse 9:29<ref>Quran 9:29—"Fight those who do not believe in Allah or in the [[Islamic eschatology|Last Day]] and who do not consider unlawful what Allah and His Messenger have made unlawful and who do not adopt the religion of truth from those who were given the Scripture—fight until they give the jizyah willingly while they are humbled."</ref> by stating that, in the literal sense, this verse is not in conflict with good treatment of dhimmis.<ref>{{cite web|author1=Muhammad Husayn Tabataba'i|author-link1=Muhammad Husayn Tabataba'i|title=Surah Al-Baqarah, verses 83–88|url=http://www.almizan.org/|website=almizan.org|access-date=1 January 2016|language=ar, en|quote=as-Sadiq (a.s) said: "Verily Allah sent Muhammad (s.a.w.) with five swords: So (there is) a sword against a dhimmi (free non-Muslim subject of an Islamic country). Allah said: and speak to men good (words); it was revealed about the dhimmis, then it was abrogated by another verse, Fight those who do not believe in Allah... (9:29) (al-'Ayyashi)  The author says: In this tradition the Imam has taken the "speech" to mean behavior. We say: Do not speak to him but good; what we mean is: Do not deal with him but in a good and decent manner. This meaning will apply only if we take the word, "abrogated" in its terminological sense. But it may also be taken in its literal sense (as we shall explain under the verse: Whatever signs We abrogate or cause to be forgotten ...2:106); and in that case this verse will not be in conflict with that of the fighting. It should be pointed out that such uses of words in their literal meanings (as against their terminological ones) are not infrequent in the traditions of the Imams.}}</ref>
* [[Javed Ahmad Ghamidi]], a Pakistani theologian, writes in ''[[Mizan]]'' that certain directives of the Quran were specific only to Muhammad against peoples of his times, besides other directives, the campaign involved asking the polytheists of Arabia for submission to Islam as a condition for exoneration and the others for jizya and submission to the political authority of the Muslims for exemption from [[capital punishment]] and for military protection as the dhimmis of the Muslims. Therefore, after Muhammad and [[Companions of the Prophet|his companions]], there is no concept in Islam obliging Muslims to wage war for propagation or implementation of Islam.<ref>[[Javed Ahmed Ghamidi]], ''[[Mizan]]'', Chapter: The Islamic Law of Jihad, Dar ul-Ishraq, 2001. {{OCLC|52901690}} [http://www.studying-islam.org/articletext.aspx?id=771]</ref><ref>"Misplaced Directives", [http://www.renaissance.com.pk/ ''Renaissance''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060813123204/http://www.renaissance.com.pk/ |date=13 August 2006 }}, [[Al-Mawrid Institute]], Vol. 12, No. 3, March 2002.{{cite web |url=http://www.renaissance.com.pk/martitl2y2.html |title=March_Content2002 |access-date=5 October 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061115065145/http://www.renaissance.com.pk/martitl2y2.html |archive-date=15 November 2006 }}</ref>
* The Iranian Shia jurist Grand Ayatollah [[Naser Makarem Shirazi]] states in ''Selection of the [[Tafsir Nemooneh]]'' that the main philosophy of jizya is that it is only a financial aid to those Muslims who are in the charge of safeguarding the security of the state and dhimmis' lives and properties on their behalf.<ref>[http://library.tebyan.net/books1/1016.htm ''Selection of Tafsir Nemooneh''], Grand Ayatollah Makarim Shirazi, p. 10, vol. 2, on verse 9:29 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061118113944/http://library.tebyan.net/books1/1016.htm |date=18 November 2006 }}</ref>
* Prominent Islamic thinkers like [[Fahmi Huwaidi]] and [[Tarek El-Bishry]] have based their justification for full citizenship of non-Muslims in an Islamic states on the precedent set by Muhammad in the [[Constitution of Medina]]. They argue that in this charter the People of Book, have the status of citizens (''muwatinun'') rather than dhimmis, sharing equal rights and duties with Muslims.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|author1=Muhammad Muslih|author2=Michaelle Browers|title= Democracy |encyclopedia=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World|editor=John L. Esposito|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=2009|url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195305135.001.0001/acref-9780195305135-e-0185|url-access=subscription|doi=10.1093/acref/9780195305135.001.0001|isbn=978-0195305135}}</ref>
* Legal scholar L. Ali Khan also points to the [[Constitution of Medina]] as a way forward for Islamic states in his 2006 paper titled ''The Medina Constitution''. He suggests this ancient document, which governed the status of religions and races in the first Islamic state, in which Jewish tribes are "placed on an equal footing with [...] Muslims" and granted "the freedom of religion," can serve as a basis for the protection of minority rights, equality, and religious freedom in the modern Islamic state.<ref>Khan, Ali, ''Commentary on the Constitution of Medina'' in ''Understanding Islamic Law: From Classical to Contemporary'', Edited by Aminah Beverly McCloud and Hisham Ramadan, Alta Mira Press, 2006, pp. 205–208. {{ISBN?}}</ref><ref>{{cite SSRN |title=The Medina Constitution|first=Ali|last=Khan|date=17 November 2006|ssrn = 945458}}</ref>
* [[Tariq Ramadan]], Professor of Islamic Studies at the [[University of Oxford]], advocates the inclusion of academic disciplines and Islamic society, along with traditional Islamic scholars, in an effort to reform Islamic law and address modern conditions. He speaks of remaining faithful to the higher objectives of sharia law. He posits universal rights of dignity, welfare, freedom, equality and justice in a [[Religious pluralism|religiously]] and [[Cultural pluralism|culturally pluralistic]] Islamic (or other) society, and proposes a dialogue regarding the modern term "citizenship," although it has no clear precedent in classical [[fiqh]]. He further includes the terms "non-citizen", "foreigner", "resident" and "immigrant" in this dialogue, and challenges not only Islam, but modern civilization as a whole, to come to terms with these concepts in a meaningful way with regards to problems of racism, discrimination and oppression.<ref>Ramadan, Tariq, ''Radical Reform: Islamic Ethics and Liberation'', Oxford University Press, 2009, pp. 268–271. {{ISBN?}}</ref>