In spite of what is claimed today in 2008 by Muslims, those who practice the religion of Islam are bent on establishing a world order in which Muslims would be dominant under one ruler (caliph) of all people on earth, whether they be converts to Islam or subject to Muslims, with no alternative options for non-Muslims.

What follows is a brief history of the conversion or subjugation of unbelievers in Islam from the time of Muhammad to the present day.

According to K. Armstrong, Muhammad never forced non-Arabs to convert to Islam and conversion was not encouraged in the century following Muhammad's death. (Armstrong, A History of God, pp. 151,156.)

In 700 A.D. conversion became forbidden by law. Muslims then believed Islam was solely for Arabs. They respected Jews and Christians as "people of the Book" who were granted minority religious liberty (dhimmis). Later (750) the Abbasid caliphs encouraged conversion. (ibid., p. 159.)

Sura 9:29:

Make war upon any of those to whom the Scriptures have been given who do not believe in God, or in the last day of resurrection, and who do not forbid what God and His apostle have forbidden, until they pay tribute out of hand *, and they are humbled.**

[*Rodwell suggests by right of subjection, cf. note 10, p.450), **(cf. Rodwell, ibid., note 11, p.450 re the conditions of negotiation for peace by Jews with the Gentiles.]

Engagement in war offers only three options in truce or negotiation between non-Muslims and Muslims in the near, and distant, future:

1) submission by non-Muslims to Islam,

2) dhimmitude or subjugation (with taxation) and other forms of humiliation of non-Muslims, or

3) death to non-Muslims at the hands of Muslims!

On the subject of dhimmitude, C. Stephenson, in Medieval History, writes that the Muslim conquest was mainly political, as its leaders sought to avoid massacre of non-Muslims or even forced conversion to Islam; non-Muslims, because the special taxation (dhimma) on non-Muslims would provide the financial support of the Islamic state (p.146). (Ed. Note: How does that grab you?)

According to A. Hourani,* the number of converts to Islam by the mid-eighth century A.D. is estimated on a study based on evidence of adoption of Muslim names: less than 10% of the population of Iran and Iraq, Syria and Egypt, Tunisia and Spain was Muslim, with the proportion in the Arabian peninsula likely greater. Apart from the Arab tribes already in pre-Muslim Iraq and Syria, most converts were probably from either the lower social ranks e.g. soldiers captured in battle, or Sasanian government officials in service to the new rulers. Converts lived mainly in or near the main urban centers of Arab population and power, where Islamic institutions (the mosque, the law court) arose and these cities served as centers for the spread of Islam. *( A. Hourani, A History of the Arab Peoples, pp.46-47.)

By the tenth century A.D. the picture had changed. A large part of the population was Muslim made up of townspeople and a large number of rural people, probably because Islam had become more clearly defined separating Muslim from non-Muslim.. Muslims now had an elaborate and distinct system of ritual, doctrine and law unlike that of non-Muslims. Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians were treated as a distinct and inferior class.

Under a compact of protection (the "Pact of 'Umar") they were not forced to convert to Islam, but they had to suffer restrictions:

1) non-Muslims (Jews, Christians) were required to pay a special tax (jizya);

3) they could not marry Muslim women;

4) their testimony in law courts was not accepted against that of Muslims;

5) their houses of worship could not be ostentatious but kept simple;

6) they were generally excluded from positions of power (except as secretaries or financial officers for a Muslim ruler).

Such restrictions were an encouragement to convert to Islam. (ibid., A. Hourani, pp.47, 117.)

In addition to restriction of colors, like green,

1) non-Muslims were required by Islamic law to carry signs of their differences, i.e. to wear special dress;

2) they could not carry weapons or ride horses;

3) they could not build new houses of worship (synagogues, churches) or repair old ones without permission and repairs could not be higher than mosques.

There were variations of these restrictions. (ibid., p.117.) However, Islamic laws of marriage and inheritance were more strictly observed:

1) non-Muslims could not inherit from a Muslim;

2) a non-Muslim man could not marry a Muslim woman, but a Muslim man could marry a Jewish or Christian woman.

Conversion of Muslims to other religions was strictly forbidden. (ibid., p.117.)

By the 11th century A.D. Islam was the religion of rulers, dominant groups and a growing proportion of the population, though probably not the religion of a majority outside the Arabian peninsula. (ibid., p. 96)

By the 15th century A.D. the flood of Arabic Islam had covered the whole region and was mainly in its Sunni form, although adherents of doctrines evolved in earlier centuries still existed. (ibid., p.96)

During centuries of Muslim rule there were some periods of sustained persecution of non-Muslims by Muslims, not by religious spokesmen, says Hourani, but more likely from urban masses in times of economic hardship or war when hostility might be directed against non-Muslim officials of the ruler. Then the laws would be enforced strictly, but later relaxed. Such crises happened several times under Mamluk rule in Egypt and Syria. (ibid., p.118.)

The communal organization of Jews and Christians could provide some protection in the face of the disadvantage of minority status. The terms of the dhimma (contract of protection) between the Muslim ruler and his non-Muslim subjects-- peace, obedience, order-- were honored. (ibid., p.119)

After all, non-Muslims represented an important source of revenue to Muslims, through the tax they were obliged to pay as the price of subjugation for peace and order.

[Ed. note: This policy sounds like the Sicilian mafia's guarantee of protection in exchange for money! In a word – racketeering!]

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