THE Pact of Umar is the body of limitations and privileges entered into by treaty
between conquering Muslims and conquered non-Muslims. We have no special treaty of this
sort with the Jews, but we must assume that all conquered peoples, including the Jews, had
to subscribe to it. Thus the laws cited below and directed against churches apply to
synagogues too. The Pact was probably originated about 637 by Umar I after the conquest of
Christian Syria and Palestine. By accretions from established practices and precedents,
the Pact was extended; yet despite these additions the whole Pact was ascribed to Umar.
There are many variants of the text and scholars deny that the text as it now stands could
have come from the pen of Umar I; it is generally assumed that its present form dates from
about the ninth century.
The Pact of Umar has served to govern the relations between the Muslims and
"the people of the book," such as Jews, Christians, and the like, down to the
present day.
In addition to the conditions of the Pact listed below, the Jews, like the
Christians, paid a head-tax in return for protection, and for exemption from military
service. Jews and Christians were also forbidden to hold government office. This Pact,
like much medieval legislation, was honored more in the breach than in the observance. In
general, though, the Pact increased in stringency with the centuries and was still in
force in the 20th century in lands such as Yemen. The Pact is in Arabic.
In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate!
This is a writing to Umar from the Christians of such and such a city. When You
[Muslims] marched against us [Christians],: we asked of you protection for ourselves, our
posterity, our possessions, and our co-religionists; and we made this stipulation with
you, that we will not erect in our city or the suburbs any new monastery, church, cell or
hermitage; that we will not repair any of such buildings that may fall into ruins, or
renew those that may be situated in the Muslim quarters of the town; that we will not
refuse the Muslims entry into our churches either by night or by day; that we will open
the gates wide to passengers and travellers; that we will receive any Muslim traveller
into our houses and give him food and lodging for three nights; that we will not harbor
any spy in our churches or houses, or conceal any enemy of the Muslims. [At least six of
these laws were taken over from earlier Christian laws against infidels.]
That we will not teach our children the Qu'ran [some nationalist Arabs feared the
infidels would ridicule the Qu'ran; others did not want infidels even to learn the
language]; that we will not make a show of the Christian religion nor invite any one to
embrace it; that we will not prevent any of our kinsmen from embracing Islam, if they so
desire. That we will honor the Muslims and rise up in our assemblies when they wish to
take their seats; that we will not imitate them in our dress, either in the cap, turban,
sandals, or parting of the hair; that we will not make use of their expressions of speech,
nor adopt their surnames [infidels must not use greetings and special phrases employed
only by Muslims]; that we will not ride on saddles, or gird on swords, or take to
ourselves arms or wear them, or engrave Arabic inscriptions on our rings; that we will not
sell wine [forbidden to Muslims]; that we will shave the front of our heads; that we will
keep to our own style of dress, wherever we may be; that we will wear girdles round our
waists [infidels wore leather or cord girdles; Muslims, cloth and silk].
That we will not display the cross upon our churches or display our crosses or our
sacred books in the streets of the Muslims, or in their market-places; that we will strike
the clappers in our churches lightly [wooden rattles or bells summoned the people to
church or synagogue]; that we will not recite our services in a loud voice when a Muslim
is present; that we will not carry Palm branches [on Palm Sunday] or our images in
procession in the streets; that at the burial of our dead we will not chant loudly or
carry lighted candles in the streets of the Muslims or their market places; that we will
not take any slaves that have already been in the possession of Muslims, nor spy into
their houses; and that we will not strike any Muslim.
All this we promise to observe, on behalf of ourselves and our co-religionists, and
receive protection from you in exchange; and if we violate any of the conditions of this
agreement, then we forfeit your protection and you are at liberty to treat us as enemies
and rebels.
Source
Jacob Marcus, The Jew in the Medieval World: A Sourcebook, 315-1791, (New York:
JPS, 1938), 13-15
Later printings of this text (e.g. by Atheneum, 1969, 1972, 1978) do not indicate that
the copyright was renewed)
This text is part of the Internet Jewish History
Sourcebook. The Sourcebook is a collection of public domain and copy-permitted texts
for introductory level classes in modern European and World history.
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© Paul Halsall, July 1998
