Consideraţii preliminare asupra statutului ḏimmīi-lor: Carta de la Medina şi Pactul lui ʿUmar
Preliminary aspects on the status of ḏimmīs: the Charter of Medina and the Pact of ʿUmar

Summary/Abstract: When Islam started emerging in the year 622 (the starting point of the Islamic calendar), the Arabian Peninsula was inhabited by people and communities of various confessions among which Jews, Christians as well as pagans. As Prophet Muḥammad and his growing community of followers made their way from Medina towards the outskirts of the Peninsula, slowly but surely aiming towards Northern Africa as well as what we know today as the Levant, Muslims were coming across various settlements and peoples. At this point, however, despite popular belief, Muslims did not know much about and were definitely not very interested in the religious beliefs of the communities they came across, but rather they aimed at imposing and expanding the political domination of Islam. Following Muḥammad’s death, however, along with the spreading towards new territories, the Muslim conquerors (still in minority) started becoming more aware of the distinctions between them and the subjected peoples. In this respect, the need to establish and impose a status to the non-Muslims arose when the Islamic state had reached a certain stage of development during the Ummayad Caliphate (661-750), with further major developments during the Abbasid Caliphate (750-1258), to be refined during the Ottoman Empire along with the millet system. The aim of this study is to take a look at the very first and basic sources for the status of ḏimmīs, which are the Medina Charter and the Pact of ‘Umar, the two documents that represent the starting point of any discussion about ḏimmīs and that are fundamental for the understanding of further developments in this area.

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