View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Calhoun, Institutional Archive of the Naval Postgraduate School Calhoun: The NPS Institutional Archive Theses and Dissertations Thesis Collection 2009-12 The Dhimmi narrative a comparison between the historical and the actual in the context of Christian-Muslim relations in Egypt today Martin, Gianstefano C. Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School http://hdl.handle.net/10945/4488 NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA THESIS THE DHIMMI NARRATIVE: A COMPARISON BETWEEN THE HISTORICAL AND THE ACTUAL IN THE CONTEXT OF CHRISTIAN-MUSLIM RELATIONS IN MODERN EGYPT by Gianstefano C. Martin December 2009 Thesis Advisor: Mohammed Hafez Thesis Co-Advisor: Abbas Kadhim Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited i THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK ii REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE Form Approved OMB No. 0704-0188 Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instruction, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to Washington headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports, 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington, VA 22202-4302, and to the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project (0704-0188) Washington DC 20503. 1. AGENCY USE ONLY (Leave blank) 2. REPORT DATE 3. REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED December 2009 Master’s Thesis 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE 5. FUNDING NUMBERS The Dhimmi Narrative: A Comparison Between the Historical and the Actual in the Context of Christian-Muslim Relations in Modern Egypt 6. AUTHOR(S) Gianstefano Martin 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION Naval Postgraduate School REPORT NUMBER Monterey, CA 93943-5000 9. SPONSORING /MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 10. SPONSORING/MONITORING N/A AGENCY REPORT NUMBER 11. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES The views expressed in this thesis are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government. 12a. DISTRIBUTION / AVAILABILITY STATEMENT 12b. DISTRIBUTION CODE Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited 13. ABSTRACT (maximum 200 words) Religious texts, narratives, and history often provide the template by which religious leaders and their communities of faith frame actual events in modern times. In 2007, while conducting interviews in Egypt with leading figures from the Muslim and Christian communities, the author noted frequent comparisons, both favorable and unfavorable, between the dhimmi experience lived by Christians as separate millets in the past to describe the present conditions of the sizeable Christian minority living in Egypt today. This thesis investigates to what extent the parallels and analogies between the past and the present are valid and illuminating, and to what extent they are actually confounding, conflating, and obfuscating what is really going on. After identifying the hallmarks of the historical system by which the dominant Muslim authority managed its religious minorities in terms of spirit, ethos and practice, there follows a comparison of the main characteristics of the historical experience based on chronicles of Christians living as citizens in the modern Egyptian state. The thesis argues that although the origins of some current practices can be validated in some particulars, the dhimmi narrative as analogy is largely essentialism, and a rhetorical device, largely because it lacks the systemic, discriminatory intentionality and application exemplified by the millet system. As a way of understanding historical connections between the present and the past it has limited and circumscribed utility. Deployed as narrative or analogy by which to make meaning out of the present, it reinforces stereotypes, confounds attempts at conflict resolution, and infuses the future with an unwarranted sense of pre- ordained path determinacy. It leaves much to be desired as a useful analogy, but is useful in terms of developing taxonomy of attitudes and positions regarding the place of Christians in today’s Egyptian state. 14. SUBJECT TERMS 15. NUMBER OF PAGES Dhimmi, ahl al dhimma, Copts, Egypt, religious minorities, Islam, millet, Pact of Umar 125 16. PRICE CODE 17. SECURITY 18. SECURITY 19. SECURITY 20. LIMITATION OF CLASSIFICATION OF CLASSIFICATION OF THIS CLASSIFICATION OF ABSTRACT REPORT PAGE ABSTRACT Unclassified Unclassified Unclassified UU i THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK ii Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited THE DHIMMI NARRATIVE A COMPARISON BETWEEN THE HISTORICAL AND THE ACTUAL IN THE CONTEXT OF CHRISTIAN–MUSLIM RELATIONS IN EGYPT TODAY Gianstefano C. Martin Chaplain, Major, United States Army B.A., The University of Michigan, 1980 Master of Public Health, The City University of New York, 1987 Master of Divinity, The University of the South, 1993 Master of Religious Studies (Islam), The University of Virginia, 2007 Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS IN SECURITY STUDIES (MIDDLE EAST, SOUTH ASIA, SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA) from the NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL December 2009 Author: Gianstefano C. Martin Approved by: Mohammed Hafez Thesis Advisor Abbas Kadhim Co-Advisor Harold A. Trinkunas, PhD Chairman, Department of National Security Affairs iii THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK iv ABSTRACT Religious texts, narratives, and history often provide the template by which religious leaders and their communities of faith frame actual events in modern times. In 2007, while conducting interviews in Egypt with leading figures from the Muslim and Christian communities, the author noted frequent comparisons, both favorable and unfavorable, between the dhimmi experience lived by Christians as separate millets in the past to describe the present conditions of the sizeable Christian minority living in Egypt today. This thesis investigates to what extent the parallels and analogies between the past and the present are valid and illuminating, and to what extent they are actually confounding, conflating, and obfuscating what is really going on. After identifying the hallmarks of the historical system by which the dominant Muslim authority managed its religious minorities in terms of spirit, ethos and practice, there follows a comparison of the main characteristics of the historical experience based on chronicles of Christians living as citizens in the modern Egyptian state. The thesis argues that although the origins of some current practices can be validated in some particulars, the dhimmi narrative as analogy is largely essentialism, and a rhetorical device, largely because it lacks the systemic, discriminatory intentionality and application exemplified by the millet system. As a way of understanding historical connections between the present and the past, it has limited and circumscribed utility. Deployed as narrative or analogy by which to make meaning out of the present, it reinforces stereotypes, confounds attempts at conflict resolution, and infuses the future with an unwarranted sense of pre-ordained path determinacy. It leaves much to be desired as a useful analogy, but is useful in terms of developing taxonomy of attitudes and positions regarding the place of Christians in today’s Egyptian state. v THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK vi TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................1 A. PURPOSE.........................................................................................................1 B. IMPORTANCE................................................................................................3 C. LITERATURE REVIEW ...............................................................................4 D. METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................13 II. THE HISTORICAL DHIMMI EXPERIENCE ......................................................17 A. THE ETHOS ..................................................................................................17 B. SCRIPTURAL GUIDANCE: NON-MUSLIMS .........................................17 C. EARLY RULINGS ........................................................................................19 D. RELIGION AND THE STATE....................................................................21 E. LEGAL STATUS OF CITIZENS ................................................................25 F. GOVERNMENT/MILITARY SERVICE ...................................................29 G. TAXATION....................................................................................................31 H. CHURCH BUILDING AND REPAIR.........................................................33 I. RELIGIOUS PRACTICES...........................................................................34 J. COMMUNAL REPRESENTATION...........................................................35 K. CONVERSIONS AND APOSTASY ............................................................36 L. SUMMARY ....................................................................................................38 III. THE CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE IN EGYPT TODAY ......................................41