The Light

November
2014

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ghans, consensus of opinion over the historical
fact that Qais, their great progenitor, was from
among the Children of Israel. It has been accepted unanimously by the three nations, the
Contents:
Page
Jews, the Christians and the Muslims, that the
The Call of the Messiah
1
Babylonian King, Nebuchadnezzar at about
700 years before the birth of Jesus, had taken
Muhammad (s) III
4
the Children of Israel prisoners, and sent them
By Prof K. S. Ramakrishna Rao
to Babylon in captivity. After this event, out of
the twelve tribes of Israel, only two tribes of
Jews in early Islam
6
Judah and Benjamin returned to their country,
Bu Z A Rehman
whereas the remaining ten continued in their
Eastern captivity; and since the Jews, up to this
time, have not been able to tell the whereabouts of those tribes, nor have they been in
touch with them, it is presumable that the
tribes might have at last become Muslims. Furthermore, when we, leaving this story as it is,
The Call of the Messiah
cast a glance on their historical legends that
they had been, from ancient times, hearing
by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad,
from their ancestors that they were in reality of
the Promised Messiah and Mahdi
the Jewish descent as stated in detail in the
(Ayyam us Sulah, continued from last
book Makhzan Afghani, there remains no doubt
month, Footnote to text.)
whatsoever as to the fact that these people
have come down from the same ten tribes who
All the Afghans, it cannot be denied,are said to have been lost in the Eastern counYusafzye, Daooazye, Lodhi Sarwani, Aurakzye,
tries, and that the Kashmiris, too, who resemSaddozye, Barakzye
ble the Afghans so
are
Bani
Israel
closely in their man(Children of Israel),
ner and make, beand Qais is their greet
long to the same
progenitor. There is
stock. Bernier, on
also a very wellthe authority of sevknown tradition told
eral English writers,
by the Afghans that
has also proved in
from the mothers
respect of the Kashside their ancestry
miris that their angoes back to Sarah
cestry goes back to
daughter of Khalid
Israel. And in dealing
bin Waleed; that is to
with and discussing
say, Qais, their great
such a thing which a
progenitor, had marnation has been
ried Sarah, and in this
The Berlin Mosque of the Ahmadiyya
acknowledging, gensense, therefore, the
Movement - 90 years of propagation of Islam.
eration after generaAfghans are also the
tion, about its geneChildren of Khalid
alogy
and
descent
it
is
absolutely
improper that
bin Waleed. Anyhow, there is among the AfEditors:
Shahid Aziz
Mustaq Ali

The Light

November
2014

we should, taking our beliefs based upon some

basis of some conjectures, should stand up to
senseless conjectures, set aside and reject its
exclude him from the nation in which he beacknowledged and accepted facts; otherwise no
lieves himself to be included, and admits not
people in the world, I think, will be able to esthat he belongs to that nation, and rejects all
tablish their accurate and true nationality. That
those arguments and proofs, accumulated and
a whole nation, in spite of hundreds of thouadduced by the statements of generation after
sands of its people, has unanimously agreed
generation, and has no regard for the consensus
upon one point, should be regarded as an arguof opinion of the huge majority, how much
ment of the irst order when all the Afghans
wicked and mischievous such a person would
living in India, Kabul, Qandhar and other fronseem to be? So, according to the wise saying, all
tier regions, call themselves Israel, it will be
things whatsoever ye would that men should
sheer foolishness to throw and deny unnecesnot do to you, do ye not even so to them, it
sarily their ancient, accepted truths. In the scruseems also to be improper that an inquiry be
tiny of nations, it should be regarded as a suf iinstituted unnecessarily into the kind of nationcient and sound proof that the well-known
ality of others which has been admitted and
events current among a nation regarding its linaccepted through a huge national consensus and
eage and descent, are accepted by its people.
assent. What right have we and what argument
And in such matters there can be
is there in our hands to set
no bigger proof than that a naaside and quash by a mere word
tion, notwithstanding its huge
facts agreed upon and acknowlbrotherhood and wide-spread
edged by the whole nation?
inter-marriages, should agree
When a thing has been decided
and concur on one statement;
to be correct through repeated
and if this argument be not reagreement, there remains no
garded as worthy of con idence
room for conjecture or preand reliable, then, in this age, all
sumption. It should also be rethe nations of Muslims, for exmembered that the people of
ample, Sayyad, Qureshi, Mughal
some nations make hyperbolical
etc. will become proof-less and
and senseless statements with
mere verbal claims. But it will be
regard to their nationalities. But
a great mistake on our part if we
investigators or research scholshould brush aside and reject all
ars throw not away the real facts
those clear and successively reon account of these extravagant
peated facts which a nation has
statements, but shape their
in its possession as an historical
course and act up to. For inrecord, regarding the accurate
stance, it is also written in the
The Berlin Mosque
identity of its nationality. It may
biography of the Buddha that he
The First Mosque on the
however, be possible that in the
was born through his mother's
European mainland.
description of its descent and
mouth. But when we sit down to
ancestry, a nation may draw a
write the history of Buddha, we should not, in
long bow and indulge in exaggeration. But we
view of this fantastic statement about his birth,
should not, on our part, throw the real thing
write to deny the real existence of Buddha. The
overboard because of these exaggerated acart of history writing is indeed a very delicate
counts or other incoherent statements. The
thing. In the execution of this work, only he can
proper course will be that all those accretions
tread upon the right road of rectitude and upwhich seem to be useless and redundant indeed,
rightness who keeps away and abstains from
be expunged and erased, and the real essence of
indulging in exaggeration as well as underthe matter, agreed upon by the nation with conestimation. And this objection, too, is incorrect
sensus, be accepted. Every investigator or reand wrong that if the Afghans had been of the
search scholar, in this way, will have to admit
Hebrew origin, how is it that there are no Hethat the Afghans are, as a matter of fact, Bani
brew terms in their names, and that the geneaIsrael (Children of Israel). Every one, keeping
logical tree produced by them, disagrees with
himself as well as his nation in view, should
some passages of the Torah? All these things
ponder over and think that if a person on the
are nothing but whims which cannot rub off and

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The Light

efface national history and succession. Just see,

our Holy Prophet (peace and the blessings of God
be upon him) accepted not as correct the genealogical tree of the Quraish which they carry back
to reach Ishmael, and excepting a few generations,
rejected the rest of it as the liars falsehood. But it
follows not from this that the Quraish are not the
Children of Ishmael. Furthermore, when the
Quraish who were so avaricious and tenacious in
the matter of genealogy could not remember their
lineage in accurate detail, it should make no difference in the real object of the Afghans, addicted
generally to a life of indifference and want of earnestness, should have committed any mistake in
the statement of their genealogy in detail, or even
intermixed it with some falsehood. And the Torah,
too has not been preserved in its pristine purity
that it may claim the authority of a decisive word.
We have now come to know that the copies of the
Torah which the Jews have differ greatly from
those with the Christians. In short, this criticism
and picking holes is not fair; and it is also incorrect
that the Afghan names are not of the Hebrew form
or fashion. Are not these names - Yusaf zye, Daood
zye, Suleman zye, Hebrew
names, or are they something else? Of course, when
these people migrated into
other countries, their dialect and diction was also
dyed in the colour of those
countries. Just see, in our
country
the
Sadaat
(descendants of the Holy
Prophet) have such names
as Chanan Shah, Makhan
Shah, Natthoo Shah, Mattoc
Shah; then will they not be
called Sayyads? Are these Arabic names? In brief,
all this carping and criticism is senseless and
shameful. How can we discountenance and deny
the successively repeated professions of whole
nation? What better and more convincing way
than this for the recognition of reality, is there in
our hands then that the nation itself whose identity we wish to ascertain, has agreed upon this point
unanimously.
Besides this, there are other factors also, pointing clearly to the fact that these people are in reality the descendants of Israel; for example, Mount
Solomon (Koh Suleiman) which had been at irst
the abode of Afghans, shows clearly that this name
has been given to this hill obviously to retain the
memory of the ancient Israel relic. There is yet

another factor that the Khaiber fort, built by the

Afghans, is undoubtedly to commemorate the
memory of that Khaiber which is in Arabia, and
was inhabited by the Jews.
The third factor is that the physical features of
the Afghans resemble very much those of the Israelites. If some Jews were made to stand in line
with the Afghans, I think, the cast of their countenance, their aquiline nose and oval-shaped face
will bear so close resemblance that they will declare automatically that all these people belong to
the same family.
The fourth factor is the Afghans dress. Their
long shirt and gowns are of the same Israelite
fashion and form a mention of which has also been
made in the Gospel.
The ifth factor is such customs and ceremonies of theirs which are very much like those of
the Jews; for instance, some of their tribes recognize no difference between betrothal and marriage, and women meet and mix with their iances
without any
reservation.
The going about of Mary
with her iance, Joseph, even
before the consummation of
marriage, is a strong evidence of this Jewish custom.
But in some tribes of the
Afghans of the frontier regions, the mixing of women
with their betrothed men is
unrestricted and free to such
an extent that conception
sometimes takes place even
before marriage, which they
turn off in jest, for, like the Jews, these people also
look upon and regard betrothal as a kind of marriage in which dowry is also determined and decided at irst.
The sixth factor bearing upon the Afghans being the descendants of Israel is their own positive
af irmation that Qais (Kish) was their great progenitor; for, a mention of Kish is found in a book of
the sacred scriptures of the Jews, entitled I Chronicles, and he was an Israelite. This fact leads us to
the conclusion that either there was another Kish
(Qais) among the progeny of the irst Kish, who
might have embraced Islam, or the one who became Muslim, might have some other name, but
he might have been among the children of Kish,
and later on, through an error of remembrance,
came to be known by the name Kish. Anyhow, the

The Light

November
2014

utterance of the term Kish from the lips of a nation which was illiterate and utterly ignorant of
the Jewish scriptures, leads us to think that they
had heard it from their forefathers, that Kish
was their great progenitor. The text of I Chronicles reads thus: And Ner begat Kish and Kish
begat Saul; and Saul begat Jonathan (9:39).

prising millions of people who have been giving

this evidence generation after generation.

The seventh factor relates to their moral peculiarities which are much in evidence : their
irascible temper, ickle-mindedness, sel ishness,
tendency to kill and slay, roughness of manners,
perversity, and other personal passions, murderous intentions, un-mannerliness, blockheadedness and stupidity. All these are the very
same qualities which have been said of the Jews
in the Torah and other scriptures. And if you
should open the Holy Quran, chapter The Cow,
and begin to read the qualities, habits, deeds
and moral conditions of the Jews, you will feel
as if the moral conditions of the Afghans of the
frontier regions are being described; and this
opinion is so sound and correct and many an
English scholar has also endorsed it. Bernier,
when he wrote that the Muslim Kashmiris of
Kashmir were also Bani Israel in reality, has
quoted some British scholars in his support,
stating all these people to be of the ten tribes
who are said to have been lost in the eastern
countries, and of whom it has been discovered
in the present age that all of them, as a matter of
fact, have got into the fold of Islam.

(Head of the Dept. of Philosophy, Govt. College

for Women. University of Mysore, Mandya571401 (Karnatika, India).

Now that so many arguments exist to show

decisively that the Afghans are the descendants
of lsrael, and that they have been themselves
hearing from their forefathers that they are Israelites, and that all these things are well known
and famous facts current in their nation, it will
be gross injustice if we should as if through an
imperious ordinance, refuse to accept these
statements of theirs. We should just pause to
ponder over and think what argument of denial
have we in our hands to adduce against and refute their arguments. It is a legal principle that
an old document of more than forty years of age
itself becomes the argument of its own correctness and validity. So when the Afghans, like other nations that speak of their descents, af irm
that they have descended from Israel, why
should we fall out and quarrel, and for what
reason should we refuse to accept their assertion? It should be remembered that it is not a
statement of one or two persons, but it is an absolute asseveration of the whole nation, com-

Muhammad (s) Part III

Prof. K. S. Ramakrishna Rao,

Re-printed from Islam and Modern age,

Hydrabad, March 1978.
(continued from The Light October 2014)
The Arabs had a very strong tradition that
one who can smite with the spear and can wield
the sword would inherit. But Islam came as the
defender of the weaker sex and entitled women
to share the inheritance of their parents. It gave
women, centuries ago right of owning property,
yet it was only 12 centuries later , in 1881, that
England, supposed to be the cradle of democracy adopted this institution of Islam and the act
was called the married woman act, but centuries earlier, the Prophet of Islam had proclaimed
that Woman are twin halves of men. The rights
of women are sacred. See that women maintained rights granted to them.
Islam is not directly concerned with political
and economic systems, but indirectly and in so
far as political and economic affairs in luence
mans conduct, it does lay down some very important principles to govern economic life. According to Prof. Massignon, it maintains the balance between exaggerated opposites and has
always in view the building of character which is
the basis of civilization. This is secured by its
law of inheritance, by an organized system of
charity known as Zakat, and by regarding as illegal all anti-social practices in the economic ield
like monopoly, usury, securing of predetermined
unearned income and increments, cornering
markets, creating monopolies, creating an arti icial scarcity of any commodity in order to force
the prices to rise. Gambling is illegal. Contribution to schools, to places of worship, hospitals,
digging of wells, opening of orphanages are
highest acts of virtue. Orphanages have sprung
for the irst time, it is said, under the teaching of
the prophet of Islam. The world owes its orphanages to this prophet born an orphan. Good
all this says Carlyle about Mohammad. The
natural voice of humanity, of pity and equity,

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The Light

dwelling in the heart of this wild son of nature,

speaks.
A historian once said a great man should be
judged by three tests: Was he found to be of true
metel by his contemporaries ? Was he great
enough to raise above the standards of his age ?
Did he leave anything as permanent legacy to
the world at large ? This list may be further extended but all these three tests of greatness are
eminently satis ied to the highest degree in case
of prophet Mohammad. Some illustrations of the
last two have already been mentioned.
The irst is: Was the Prophet of Islam found
to be of true metel by his contemporaries?
Historical records show that all the contemporaries of Mohammad both friends foes,
acknowledged the sterling qualities, the spotless
honesty, the noble virtues, the absolute sincerity
and every trustworthiness of the apostle of Islam in all walks of life and in every sphere of
human activity. Even the Jews and those who did
not believe in his message, adopted him as the
arbiter in their personal disputes by virtue of his
perfect impartiality. Even those who did not believe in his message were forced to say O Mohammad, we do not call you a liar, but we deny
him who has given you a book and inspired you
with a message. They thought he was one possessed. They tried violence to cure him. But the
best of them saw that a new light had dawned
on him and they hastened him to seek the enlightenment. It is a notable feature in the history
of prophet of Islam that his nearest relation, his
beloved cousin and his bosom friends, who
know him most intimately, were thoroughly imbued with the truth of his mission and were convinced of the genuineness of his divine inspiration. If these men and women, noble, intelligent,
educated and intimately acquainted with his
private life had perceived the slightest signs of
deception, fraud, earthliness, or lack of faith in
him, Mohammads moral hope of regeneration,
spiritual awakening, and social reform would all
have been foredoomed to a failure and whole
edi ice would have crumbled to pieces in a moment. On the contrary, we ind that devotion of
his followers was such that he was voluntarily
acknowledged as dictator of their lives. They
braved for him persecutions and danger; they
trusted, obeyed and honored him even in the
most excruciating torture and severest mental
agony caused by excommunication even unto
death. Would this have been so, had they noticed
the slightest backsliding in their master?

Read the history of the early converts to Islam, and every heart would melt at the sight of
the brutal treatment of innocent Muslim men
and women.
Sumayya, an innocent women, is cruelly torn
into pieces with spears. An example is made of
Yassir whose legs are tied to two camels and
the beast were are driven in opposite directions, Khabbab bin Arth is made lie down on the
bed of burning coal with the brutal legs of their
merciless tyrant on his breast so that he may not
move and this makes even the fat beneath his
skin melt. Khabban bin Adi is put to death in a
cruel manner by mutilation and cutting off his
lesh piece-meal. In the midst of his tortures,
being asked wheather he did not wish Mohammad in his place while he was in his house with
his family, the sufferer cried out that he was
gladly prepared to sacri ice himself his family
and children and why was it that these sons and
daughters of Islam not only surrendered to their
prophet their allegiance but also made a gift of
their hearts and souls to their master? Is not the
intense faith and conviction on part of immediate followers of Mohammad, the noblest testimony to his sincerity and to his utter selfabsorption in his appointed task?
And these men were not of low station or
inferior mental caliber. Around him in quite early days, gathered what was best and noblest in
Mecca, its lower and cream, men of position,
rank, wealth and culture, and from his own kith
and kin, those who knew all about his life. All
the irst four Caliphs, with their towering personalities, were converts of this period.
The Encyclopedia Brittanica says that
Mohammad is the most successful of all Prophets and religious personalities.
But the success was not the result of mere
accident. It was not a hit of fortune. It was a
recognition of fact that he was found to be true
mettle by his contemporaries. It was the result
of his admirable and all compelling personality.
The personality of Mohammad! It is most
dif icult to get into the truth of it. Only a glimpse
of it I can catch. What a dramatic succession of
picturesque scenes. There is Mohammad the
Prophet, there is Mohammad the General; Mohammad the King; Mohammad the Warrior; Mohammad the Businessman; Mohammad the
Preacher; Mohammad the Philosopher; Mohammad the Statesman; Mohammad the Orator; Mohammad the reformer; Mohammad the Refuge

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The Light

of orphans; Mohammad the Protector of slaves;

Mohammad the Emancipator of women; Mohammad the Law-giver; Mohammad the Judge;
Mohammad the Saint.
And in all these magni icent roles, in all
these departments of human activities, he is
like, a hero.
Orphanhood is extreme of helplessness and
his life upon this earth began with it; Kingship is
the height of the material power and it ended
with it. From an orphan boy to a persecuted refugee and then to an overlord, spiritual as well as
temporal, of a whole nation and Arbiter of its
destinies, with all its trials and temptations,
with all its vicissitudes and changes, its lights
and shades, its up and downs, its terror and
splendor, he has stood the ire of the world and
came out unscathed to serve as a model in every
face of life. His achievements are not limited to
one aspect of life, but cover the whole ield of
human conditions.
If for instance, greatness consist in the puriication of a nation, steeped in barbarism and
immersed in absolute moral darkness, that dynamic personality who has transformed, re ined
and uplifted an entire nation, sunk low as the
Arabs were, and made them the torch-bearer of
civilization and learning, has every claim to
greatness. If greatness lies in unifying the discordant elements of society by ties of brotherhood and charity, the prophet of the desert has
got every title to this distinction. If greatness
consists in reforming those warped in degrading
and blind superstition and pernicious practices
of every kind, the prophet of Islam has wiped
out superstitions and irrational fear from the
hearts of millions. If it lies in displaying high
morals, Mohammad has been admitted by friend
and foe as Al Amin, or the faithful. If a conqueror
is a great man, here is a person who rose from
helpless orphan and an humble creature to be
the ruler of Arabia, the equal to Chosroes and
Caesars, one who founded great empire that has
survived all these 14 centuries. If the devotion
that a leader commands is the criterion of greatness, the prophets name even today exerts a
magic charm over millions of souls, spread all
over the world.
He had not studied philosophy in the school
of Athens of Rome, Persia, India, or China. Yet,
He could proclaim the highest truths of eternal
value to mankind. Illiterate himself, he could yet
speak with an eloquence and fervor which

moved men to tears, to tears of ecstasy. Born an

orphan blessed with no worldly goods, he was
loved by all. He had studied at no military academy;
yet he could organize his forces against tremendous
odds and gained victories through the moral forces
which he marshaled. Gifted men with genius for
preaching are rare. Descartes included the perfect
preacher among the rarest kind in the world. Hitler
in his Mein Kamp has expressed a similar view. He
says A great theorist is seldom a great leader. An
Agitator is more likely to posses these qualities. He
will always be a great leader. For leadership means
ability to move masses of men. The talents to produce ideas has nothing in common with capacity
for leadership. But, he says, The Union of theorists, organizer and leader in one man, is the rarest
phenomenon on this earth; Therein consists greatness.

Jews in Early Islam

Inconvenient History for Zionists

By Z A Rahman
(Source: www.islam21c.com)
Islam is a religion of mercy to all people, both
Muslims and non-Muslims. The Messenger of Allah
was described as being a mercy in the Quran due
to the message he brought for humanity:
And We have not sent you but as a mercy to all
the worlds. (Quran 21:107)
When a person analyses the legislations of Islam with an open mind, the mercy mentioned in
this verse will de initely become apparent. One of
the aspects constituting an epitome of this Mercy is
the way the legislations of Islam deal with people of
other faiths. The tolerant attitude of Islam towards
non-Muslims, whether they be those residing in
their own countries or within the Muslim lands, can
be clearly seen through a study of history. Muslim
jurists use the term Dhimmi or Ahl ul-Dhimma
People of the Covenant to refer to non-Muslim residents and means a treaty of protection for nonMuslims living in Muslim territory.
At a time in which we see the Zionist state of
Israel committing atrocities against the Muslims in
Gaza in the name of defending the Jewish state, it
is worth reminding the Zionists and their sympathisers how the Jewish people were treated as People of the Covenant throughout the history of Islam.
During the life of the Prophet (s)
When the Messenger of Allah (s) migrated from

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Makkah to Madinah, there was a small community (three tribes) of Jews there, with Arab communities constituting the majority of the population that resided there. The immediate result
of the Prophets migration to Madinah was
peace and unity between the communities of
Aws and Khazraj. The Prophet, motivated by the
general welfare of citizens of Madinah, decided
to offer his services to the remaining communities including the Jews and as such, the Treaty
between Muslims, non-Muslim Arabs and Jews
of Madinah was put in writing and rati ied by all
parties. The document referred to the Messenger of Allah (s) as the Prophet and Messenger of
God but it was understood that the Jews did not
have to recognise him as such for their own religious reasons. The major parts of the document
with respect to the Jews were:
Whosoever among the Jews follows us shall
have help and equality; they shall not be injured
nor shall any enemy be aided against themNo
separate peace will be made when the Believers
are fighting in the way of AllahThe Believers
shall avenge the blood of one another shed in the
way of AllahWhosoever kills a Believer wrongfully shall be liable to retaliation; all the Believers
shall be against him as one man and they are
bound to take action against him.
The Jews shall contribute (to the cost of war)
with the Believers so long as they are at war with
a common enemy. The Jews of Banu Najjar, Banu
al-Harith, Banu Saidah, Banu Jusham, Banu alAws, Banu Thalabah, Jafnah, and Banu alShutaybah enjoy the same rights and privileges as
the Jews of Banu Aws.
The Jews shall maintain their own religion
and the Muslims theirs. Loyalty is a protection
against treachery. The close friends of Jews are as
themselves. None of them shall go out on a military expedition except with the permission of Muhammad, but he shall not be prevented from taking revenge for a wound.
The Jews shall be responsible for their expenses and the Believers for theirs. Each, if attacked, shall come to the assistance of the other. (The Sealed Nectar: Biography of the Prophet
by Al-Raheeq Al-Makhtum , p.394)
This document came to be known as
the Sahifat al-Madinah Constitution of the Islamic State of Madinah. The historian Mark Graham
states: Muhammads brilliance lay in politics as
well as spirituality. One of the most extraordinary
events to take place during this time was the

drafting of the Covenant of Medina, what some

consider to be the worlds first constitution. This
amazingly foresighted document was a revolutionary step forward in civil government. (How
Islam Created the Modern World. Amana Publications, 2006, p. 21.)
As for the Prophets treatment of the Jews in
general, there are many examples that show his
kindness to them. For example, a young Jewish
boy used to serve the Prophet and he became
sick, and so the Prophet went to visit him.
(Bukhri) It is also reported that a funeral of a
Jew passed before the Prophet (s). As a sign of
respect, the Prophet stood up. As a result the
Prophet was asked Why did you stand up for a
Jewish funeral? The Prophet (s) replied, Is it
not a human soul?.(Bukhri) It should also be
remembered that in order to tie civil bonds and
to express his nearness to the Jews in his ancestry, the Prophet (s) married Sa iyyah bint Huyay
(r), daughter of the chief of the Jewish tribe of
Banu al-Nadr. She was captured during the Battle of Khaybar and as an honourable gesture
showing the magnanimity of Islam, the Prophet
freed and married her.
Rule of the Rightly Guided Caliphs
Modern welfare states provide social beneits to their poor citizens, but arguably Islam
preceded all nations in establishing social security services for Muslims as well as nonMuslims. Umar b. al-Khattb (r) the second caliph of Islam, once passed by an old, blind man
begging in front of a house. Umar asked him
which religious community he belonged to. The
man said he was Jewish. Umar then asked him,
What has brought you to this? The old man
said, Do not ask me, poverty and old age. Umar
took the man to his own home, helped him from
his personal money, and then ordered the head
of the treasury, You must look after this man
and others like him. We have not treated him
fairly. He should not have spent the best years of
his life among us to ind misery in his old age.
Umar also relieved him and others in his situation of paying theJizya (the tax non-Muslim subjects were required to pay for protection in the
Muslims lands, similar in value to the alms
obliged on the Muslims). (Ahkm Ahl alDhimmah by Ibn al-Qayyim, 1/38)
When Umar was handed the keys to Jerusalem, he guaranteed the rights of all faiths, including the Jews. On one occasion, some Muslims usurped a piece of land belonging to a Jew
and then constructed on it a mosque. The justice

The Light

of Umar and indeed Islam is such that he ordered the demolition of the mosque and the restoration of the land to its Jewish owner. Dr Hamidullh in his book The Status of non-Muslims
in Islam says that a Lebanese Christian scholar,
Professor Cardahi, wrote in 1933 about this
land: this house of the Bait al-Yahudi, still exists
and is well-known. (http://muslimcanada.org/
ch12hamid.html)
Another example of the justice of Islam in its
treatment of the Jewish community is found in
the time of the fourth caliph of Islam. Once, a
dispute arose between Al b. Ab Tlib (r), when
he was the Caliph, and a Jewish man. Both parties took their disputes to a judge, Shurayh alKindi. Shurayh relates the details of what happened:

November
2014

addressed Al saying: The coat of armour is yours, Commander of the Faithful. You dropped it at night and I
found it.

The period of Islamic Empires

A further example of how the Jews as People
of the Covenant were treated is found in the
statement of a famous classical scholar of Islam,
Imm al-Awz in his letter to the Abbasid governor, Slih b. Al b. Abdillh when he writes,
They (Jews and Christians) are not slaves, so
beware of changing their status after they have
lived in freedom. They are free People of the Covenant. Abu Ubayd al Amwaal p. 574 , 575. Zaydan,
Dr. Abd al-Karim, Ahkm al-Dhimmiyn walMustaminn, p. 77.) Acknowledging this fact,
Ron Landau wrote:

Al found he was missIn contrast to the

ing his coat of mail, so he
Christian Empire, which
went back to Kfa and
attempted to impose
found it in the hands of a
Christianity on its subJewish man who was selling
jects, the Arabs extendit in the market. He said, O
ed recognition to reliJew, that coat of mail is
gious minorities, and
mine! I did not give it away
accepted their presence.
or sell it! The Jew respondJews, Christians and
ed It is mine. It is in my
Zoroastrians
were
possession. Al said, We
known to them as the
will have the judge rule on
People of the Covenant;
this for us. So they came to
in other words, the name and Al sat next to me
tions who enjoyed a
and said, That coat of
Hazrat Ameer opening the proceedings to celebrate 90 protected status.[9]
years of building of the Berlin Mosque.
mail is mine; I did not give
We have seen in this
it away or sell it. The Jew
article how the Jews
sat in front of me and
said, That is my coat of mail. It is in my possession.
were acknowledged as people of the book and a
I asked, O Commander of the Faithful (Al), do you
have any proof? Yes Al said. My son Hasan and
Qanbarah can testify that it is my coat of mail. I said,
Commander of the Faithful, the testimony of a son in his
fathers favour is not admissible in court. On seeing this,
the Jewish man said, The Commander of the Faithful (i.e.
Al) takes me before his own judge and the judge rules in
my favour against him! I bear witness that no one deserves worship except God and that Muhammad is His
Messenger. The Jewish man accepted Islam, and then

people upon whom Allah had bestowed many

favours in the past, and the interaction of the
Muslim community with them was in accordance with this belief. We have seen how the
Messenger of Allah (s) and his companions justly dealt with them. In part 2 of this article, we
will explore how the Muslims dealt with the
Jews when they were a global power in the age
of empires.

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