On Dhimmis – How Islam Treats Hindus

Hindus, by Islamic law, hold second class status in a country ruled by Islam. The Hadis and the four “pious” Khalifas elaborated the prin­ciples which are to be applied in jihad against those who do not accept Islam nor agree to pay jizyah tax. The non-muslim males capable of bearing arms are to be massacred; the non-muslim women and children are to be enslaved; the movable properties of the non-muslims are to be looted; their lands are to be confiscated; their temples are to be destroyed; their priests and monks are to be killed and their libraries, literature and scriptures burnt.

Those who agree to pay jizyah tax are to be treated as Dhimmis who are allowed to live and work for the Islamic state under the following 20 disabilities:

1. Non-Muslims are not to build any new temples.
2. Non-Muslims are not to repair any old temples which have been destroyed by the Muslims.
3. Non-Muslims are not to prevent Muslim travellers from staying in their temples.
4. Non-Muslims are to entertain for three days any Muslim who wants to stay in their homes, and for a longer period if the Muslim falls ill.
5. Non-Muslims are not to harbour any hostility towards the Islamic state, or give any aid and comfort to hostile elements.
6. Non-Muslims are not to prevent any one of them from getting con­verted to Islam.
7. Non-Muslims have to show respect towards every Muslim.
8. Non-Muslims have to allow Muslims to participate in their private meetings.
9. Non-Muslims are not to dress like Muslims.
10. Non-Muslims are not to name themselves with Muslim names.
11. Non-Muslims are not to ride on horses with saddle and bridle.
12. Non-Muslims are not to possess arms.
13. Non-Muslims are not to wear signet rings or seals on their fingers.
14. Non-Muslims are not to sell or drink liquor openly.
15. Non-Muslims are to wear a distinctive dress which shows their inferior status, and which separates them from the Muslims.
16. Non-Muslims are not to propagate their customs and usages amongst the Muslims.
17. Non-Muslims are not to build their houses in the neighbourhood of Muslims.
18. Non-Muslims are not to bring their dead near the grave­yards of the Muslims.
19. Non-Muslims are not to observe their religious practices publicly, or mourn their dead loudly.
20. Non-Muslims are not to buy Muslim slaves.

When an Islamic state was established over parts of northern India, the Ulama raised a great controversy. By now the inter­preters of Islamic law had become divided into four schools — Hanafi, Hanbali, Maliki, and Shafii. The Hanafi school of Islamic law alone was in favour of extending the status of dhimmis to the Hindus. The other three schools were insistent that the only choice the Hindus had was between Islam and death. Ziyauddin Barani voiced his opinion against the Hanafi school of law when he wrote as follows in his Fatwa-i-Jahandari: “If Mahmud…had gone to India once more, he would have brought under his sword all the Brahmans of Hind who, in that vast land, are the cause of the continuance of the laws of infidelity and of the strength of idolators; he would have cut off the heads of two or three hundred thousand Hindu chiefs. He would not have returned his slaughtering sword to its scabbard until the whole of Hind had accepted Islam. For Mahmud was a Shafiite, and according to Imam Shafii the decree for Hindus is Islam or death, that is to say, they should either be put to death or accept Islam. It is not lawful to accept jiziya from Hindus who have neither a prophet nor a revealed book.” (The Story of Imperialism in India/ Sita Ram Goel / p. 90 – 92)

The Jizyah Tax on Hindus has played an enormous role in the spread of Islam in India. The so-called Sufi-saint Amir Khusrau laments that had Hanafite law, not prevailed in India, which allows Kafirs the concession of survival on payment of Jizyah tax, the Hindus would have vanished root and branch:

Ba-dhimmah gar na budi rukhsat-I shar,

Na mandi nam-I Hindu zi sl ta far.

Literally translated from Persian, -“Did the Dhimmis (the second class Hindu citizen under Muslim rule) not enjoy the concession of shariya, all trace of the Hindu would vanish root and branch. (Amir Khusrau/Ashiqah/Ed. By Rashid Ahmad Ansari/ Alligarh/ 1917/ p.46)

The “law” of Islam also prescribes death penalty for those who:

1. Question the exclusive claim of Islam as the only true religion, and of Mohammed as the last prophet. Thus Islam has closed its gates to logical and open debate, becoming a closed system for all times to come.
2. Try to revert to their ancestral faith after having been forced or lured to em­brace Islam. Islam keeps firm grip on its people by making apostasy a capital offence, as is also blasphemy towards God and the prophet. Thus Muslims are hostages held as captives by the Islam, through brain washing, fear of hell, threats, use of force, and of course through promise of ultimate reward which Islam offers: Paradise, the place for unlimited sexual orgies, forever… (Koran – 2:25,4:13,9:111,10:9,47:15,52:17 – 24)
3. Marry Muslim women without first getting converted to Islam. Mani Ratnam’s film ‘Bombay’ (Hero – Hindu, Heroin – Manisha Koirala potraying a Muslim girl) is an example. A country made hand grenade was thrown at Mani Ratnam in Madras – the message sent by this act was that you will have to pay with your life if you violate the provisions of Sharia even in fiction and films, leave alone the real life.

Non-Muslims are also discriminated against, in matters of testimony in law courts, taxation, and appointment to public offices. To sum up, the status of non-Muslims (dhimmis) in an Islamic state is that of hewers of wood and drawers of water. They are subjected to every possible indignity and pressure in order to force them into the fold of Islam.

Indian Muslims are descendants of these victims of Islamic imperialism. They are culturally and anthropologically very much Indians. Due to the imposed alien Arab ideology of Islam, their loyalties lie with the pan-Islamic issues, as they do not know the cruel history of the forced conversion of their ancestors. This unfortunate situation has induced an ‘identity crisis’ among them and turned them into a culturally rootless and hostile mass.