Between Foreigners and Shi'is: Nineteenth-Century Iran and its Jewish Minority
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Between Foreigners and Shi'is: Nineteenth-Century Iran and its Jewish Minority
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Based on archival and primary sources in Persian, Hebrew, Judeo-Persian, Arabic, and European languages, Between Foreigners and Shi'is examines the Jews' religious, social, and political status in nineteenth-century Iran. This book, which focuses on Nasir al-Din Shah's reign (1848-1896), is the first comprehensive scholarly attempt to weave all these threads into a single tapestry. This case study of the Jewish minority illuminates broader processes pertaining to other religious minorities and Iranian society in general, and the interaction among intervening foreigners, the Shi'i majority, and local Jews helps us understand Iranian dilemmas that have persisted well beyond the second half of the nineteenth century.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780804779487 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Stanford University Press |
| Publication date: | 11/09/2007 |
| Series: | Stanford Studies in Jewish History and Culture |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 320 |
| File size: | 2 MB |
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Between Foreigners and Shi'is
Nineteenth-Century Iran and Its Jewish Minority
By Daniel Tsadik, Aron Rodrigue, Steven J. Zipperstein
STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
Copyright © 2007 Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior UniversityAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8047-7948-7
CHAPTER 1
Shi'i Legal Attitudes Toward the Jews
Muslim legal views of non-Muslims, Jews included, are textually rationalized and substantiated by the treatment of these groups in the Quran and the hadith. There is no uniformity in the Quran's references to the Jews. At times, they are lumped together with Christians and subsumed under the term ahl al-kitab, or "people of the Book" — those who received a divine Book from one of God's messengers. At other times, the Quran regards the Jews as a separate group, and, on occasion, it views them differently from Christians. In such cases, Jews are specifically referred to as banu-israil (the children of Israel), yahud (Jews), or a derivative of the latter. The attitude of the Quran to the people of the Book is inconsistent. Occasionally, they are reproached and shown enmity, while "many other verses" call for "tolerance and restraint." Sunni hadith literature and the early biographies of the Prophet contain information regarding Muslim views of, and relations with, Jews, and vice versa. These writings often criticize the Jews, their customs, and their beliefs.
Alongside the Quran and the Sunni hadith literature, the so-called Pact of 'Umar provided the foundations for the Sunni treatment of the people of the Book. According to Muslim scholars, the second Caliph, 'Umar b. al-Khattab (d. 644), granted the people of the Book dhimmah or protection under the shelter of Islam in exchange for their acceptance of certain conditions that demonstrated their submission to Muslim rule, their recognition of Islam's superiority, and their dishonor. The dhimmah consisted of a set of stipulations that included the prohibition of constructing new houses of worship and of riding on saddles. The dhimmis, or the people of the Book who live under Muslim authority, were obligated to wear clothes that differed from those of the Muslims. The dhimmah Pact was perceived as a contract between the Muslims and the dhimmis. If the dhimmis violated its clauses they forfeited their protection, and the Muslim government was fully entitled to punish them. The dhimmis were thus expected to observe the dhimmah regulations closely.
The preceding summary describes the general structure and meaning of Sunni dhimmah regulations and views concerning the Jews. What was the Imami Shi'i approach to these issues ? Imami Shi'i literature assigns Shi'is an inherently superior status in relation to all other human beings, non-Imami Muslims included. This elitist worldview seems to be partially mirrored in Shi'i legal material that discusses non-Imami Muslims, ahl al-khilaf, including especially the Nasibah, those who do not endorse 'Ali's superiority over the first two caliphs, or those who hate Imami Shi'is, ahl al-bayt, or 'Ali. Many examples — ranging from ritual ablution to prayer and burial rites, from pilgrimage to holy war and more — bear witness to the often harsh treatment of the Nasibah and Sunnis in general by the Shi'ah.
The Imami Shi'i line toward non-Imamis is sometimes reflected in their legal writings on the position of non-Muslims such as the Jews. A discussion of the Imami Shi'i views of the Jews and the appropriate attitude toward them from early Islamic times onward, and an examination of the literary form and historical formulation of the dhimmah as demonstrated in early Imami Shi'i literature, are beyond the scope of the present study. The present chapter focuses on some of the Shi'i laws regarding the people of the Book, including the Jews, and on some principal dhimmah regulations, as reflected in late eighteenth-and nineteenth-century Imami Shi'i legal works. The significance of this material for understanding the status of Iranian Jews in the nineteenth century cannot be overemphasized. At the turn of the century, the Iranian authorities, Shi'i ulama, and large sectors of Muslim society usually and generally regarded the Jews as members of a dhimmah community. The Jews' status was thus that of dhimmis, largely defined according to Shi'i legal parameters.
I. Shi'i Laws Pertaining to the Jews
Impurity
The major text adduced in discussions of the impurity of nonbelievers is Q. 9: 28: "O ye who believe! Truly the polytheists (al-mushrikun) are unclean." Are the people of the Book included in the category of "polytheists"? Are they impure? The majority approach in the Imami Shi'i hadith literature views the people of the Book as infidels, who are thus religiously unclean.
This topic was still disputed in Shi'i clerical circles during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In his Najasat-i 'Ayniyah-yi Kuffar (The Real Impurity of the Infidels), written in 1293/1876, Sayyid Muhammad 'Ali Khurasani Tabasi refuted a treatise written by Sahib-i Akbar Abadi that apparently argued for the purity of the infidels and polytheists. Shaykh Muhammad Rida b. 'Ali Shari'atmadar-Astarabadi wrote his Najasat-i Ahl-i Kitab (The Impurity of the People of the Book) in 1326/1908 in Karbala in response to a treatise that reportedly contended that Jews and Christians were pure. Even if some of the ulama debated this issue, some of the nineteenth century's most prominent jurists usually declared non-Muslims, specifically Jews, to be impure.
Discussing the various agents of impurity, some Shi'i ulama provide an inventory of the elements that make a Shi'i believer impure upon coming into contact with them. One of these contaminating elements is usually the kafir, the infidel. The Kitabi (one of the people of the Book) or dhimmi (one of the people of the Book who lives under Muslim authority) is sometimes included in the definition of infidel. On occasion, Shi'i ulama explicitly view the Jews as impure.
According to Abu al-Qasim Qummi (d. 1231/1816), it is common knowledge that Imami Shi'ism (al-ma'ruf min al-madhhab) perceives the Jews as impure. In fact, one cleric argued that this point is a distinctive characteristic of Imami Shi'ism (mimma infaradat bihi al-Imamiyyah). Q. 9: 30 indicates that the Jews believe that 'Uzayr is the son of God, a conviction that transforms them into polytheists. Furthermore, Q. 9: 31 indicates that the Jews regard their rabbis (ah-barahum) as their lords, "yet they were commanded to worship but One God ... [far is He] from having partners they associate [with Him]." This passage also demonstrates that the Jews are polytheists. Since polytheists are impure (Q. 9: 28), and the Jews are polytheists, the Jews are impure.
Infidelity is one factor in determining one's impurity. The obverse side of the coin is that one of the factors that makes a person pure is the religion of Islam. Thus, the conversion of infidels to Islam cleanses their body and their rutubat (wetness; moisture), such as spittle and phlegm (balgham), as well as whatever is attached to their body, e.g., hair, nails, and teeth. What about objects that an infidel touches before embracing Islam? Do they become pure with the infidel's conversion to Islam? If the infidel touches these objects through a wet agent, these objects are considered impure, apparently even after the infidel's conversion. For example, clothes in which an infidel sweats while still an unbeliever are still considered impure, even after the infidel's conversion to Islam.
This example clarifies the meaning of the term "impurity" in our context. Impurity does not imply here an amorphous, interior wickedness (khabathah batiniyyah), which apparently is a negative state of mind possessed by the non-Muslim. Nor does it imply the lexical sense of the term (najasah lughawiyyah). Impurity is understood here in its conventional and technical (istilahi) sense: it is tangible and transferable upon physical contact.
In his fatwa collection, Qummi addresses various questions on the topic of impurity. In reply to an inquiry about a Jew in a bath (hammam) who took his legs out of the water and put them on a jamah afkan, Qummi offered the following assessment: a place that becomes wet because a Jew put his wet legs on it becomes impure. Whatever touches (mulaqat) this place while wet becomes impure. As to the methods of cleansing the ground, apparently underneath the jamah afkan: if it is not feasible to pour flowing water or a kurr of water on the place, and the spot is neither exposed to sun or rain nor paved with bricks and stones so that it may be washed with a small amount of water, apparently while letting the slops outside, there is no other choice but to pull out the impure place (bih ghayr-i kandan-i an mahall-i najasat charah na-darad) altogether.
Limitations on commercial interaction were occasionally established. Muhammad Kazim Tabatabai Yazdi (d. 1337/1919) declared in his fatwa collection that it is not permitted to purchase from Jews shoes "and other similar things" made of leather (julud). Any such object purchased from the Jews is considered impure. However, if it is known that a Muslim possessed the merchandise before it passed into the possession of the Jews, it is regarded as pure and thus permissible to procure. One inquiry depicts a situation in which Jews sold various goods in a Muslim bazaar, including liquids (mai'at) such as rose water in vessels; or Jews sold garments, soaps, certain sweets (rahat al-hulqum), wax candles, and tobacco that they twisted "with their hands." Are these items impure? The cleric's assessment was that the goods are permissible unless it is known that they — either the Jews or the Muslim buyers — touched the merchandise in a wet state.
A more lenient approach is occasionally discerned. A woman who breastfeeds a Muslim child should preferably be a Muslim. Furthermore, it is not appropriate to allow an infidel woman to breastfeed a Shi'i boy, apparently due to the possible negative impact of her milk on the character of the Shi'i child. Nevertheless, one hadith allows a Jewish woman to suckle a Muslim child, while prohibiting her from drinking wine. To this hadith Muhammad Hasan Najafi (d. 1266/1850) adds that the impurity of the woman's milk is not reproached (fa-la taqdah najasat al-laban) in such a case. Still, it is better that a dhimmi woman should not breastfeed a Shi'i except in case of need (ma'a al-idtirar), in which case it is appropriate to prevent the dhimmi wet nurse from drinking wine or eating pork.
Laws of impurity are of paramount legal importance, as they affect other aspects of the Shi'i attitude to non-Muslims. Assuming that the Jews are impure, two major issues emerge: is it permissible to consume their food or to marry their daughters?
Food
The hadith literature offers different views on the subject of the people of the Book's food. The majority view allows Shi'is to consume only raw foods of the people of the Book, such as grains (hubub) and herbs (buqul); Shi'is are not permitted to eat meat slaughtered by the people of the Book.
This topic was discussed in specific Shi'i treatises and fatwas written during the nineteenth century. In 1286/1870, Husayn b. Murtada al-Tabatabai al-Yazdi, apparently located in Baghdad, wrote on related questions that were addressed to a Shi'i mujtahid (prominent religious scholar) in Lucknow. Muhammad Taqi b. Husayn b. Dildar 'Ali al-Nasirabadi (d. 1289/1872 — 73) wrote a Masalah fi Dhabihat Ahl al-Kitab (A Question About the Slaughtered Animal of the People of the Book). Bandah Husayn b. Muhammad b. Dildar 'Ali (d. 1295/1878) wrote a Masalah fi Dhabihat Ahl al-Kitab wa-Ta'amihim (A Question About the Slaughtered Animal of the People of the Book and Their Food).
If Jews are impure, then the food they produce should be regarded as impure and prohibited. However, such a conclusion is an oversimplification. Q. 5: 5 reads, "The food of the people of the Book is lawful unto you." This verse takes it for granted that the Jews are pure, thereby explicitly permitting the consumption of their food. Shi'i ulama have offered a range of ways to explain away this apparent discrepancy between the Jews' impurity and the ostensible Quranic permission to consume their food.
Najafi offers a solution that had been articulated by many of his predecessors. He argues that Q. 5: 5 does not establish the purity of the people of the Book, and that the foods that are allowed to the Muslims in the Quran are nothing but lentils, grains, herbs, and, especially, wheat. Differently put, dry, raw Jewish food is tolerable, whereas cooked Jewish foods become impure as a result of Jewish contact and are thus prohibited to Shi'is.
Another way out of the apparent incongruity is to contend that Q. 5: 5 is abrogated (mansukh) and no longer has any legal force. That said, there are two possibilities. Either dry grains, such as wheat, barley, and rice of the people of the Book, are allowed so long as they do not come into contact with moisture, or all food is prohibited, as if it were pork.
Impurity issues were not the only factors affecting the permissibility of eating Jewish food. Quranic verses (6: 118 — 19, 121) allow eating things over which God's name is mentioned. By implication, slaughtered meat over which God's name is mentioned can be consumed by Shi'is. Does this mean that Shi'is can entrust a non-Muslim butcher to slaughter animals if the butcher mentions God's name (tasmiyah) while slaughtering them? Having presented diverse and occasionally conflicting hadiths on this topic, Najafi finally disallows this, even if the butcher is from the people of the Book and mentions God's name (wa-in kana Kitabiyyan wa-jaa bi-tasmiyah).
Marriage
Is it permissible for a Muslim to marry a woman from the people of the Book? In principle, the answer is positive, as Q. 5: 5 reads, "[Lawful unto you in marriage] are [not only] chaste women who are believers, but chaste women among the people of the Book." The majority of Shi'i opinions call for the limitation of this verse's application: Shi'i males may marry women from the people of the Book only through a temporary marriage (mut'ah), which is considered an inferior form of marriage.
The issue of a Shi'i marrying a Kitabi woman goes beyond the problem of her impurity. Other considerations implicitly and explicitly surface in the literature. Some Quranic verses may be understood as forbidding marriage with female infidels (60: 10: kawafir) or polytheists (2: 221: mushrikat). Furthermore, marriage presumes or entails love (Q. 30: 21) between husband and wife; are Shi'is permitted to marry Kitabis, thus loving them? Finally, allowing a Shi'i to wed a Muslim or a Kitabi woman assumes equality between the Muslim and the Kitabi. This may infringe upon the quranic precept (59: 20) asserting that the people of Hell will not be equal to the people of Heaven.
Sayyid Husayn b. Muhammad Ibrahim Husayni Qazwini (d. 1208/ 1793 — 94) wrote his Nikah al-Kitabiyyah (Marriage with a Woman from the People of the Book) in 1170/1757. He reportedly did not regard a Muslim's permanent or temporary marriage with a woman from the people of the Book as valid (sahih). Murtada Ansari (d. 1281/1864), on the other hand, attempts to discredit two extreme views on this topic. He does not accept the contention that a Shi'i's marriage with a Kitabi woman is prohibited under all circumstances (man' mutlaq). Even less credible in Ansari's eyes is the view that permits one to marry a Kitabi woman under all circumstances (jawaz mutlaq). He apparently allows temporary marriages and concubinage (milk al-yamin). Other Shi'i ulama, such as 'Ali Tabatabai (d. 1231/1815) and Muhammad Kashani (d. 1321/1903), seem to permit Shi'is to marry Kitabi women in temporary marriage.
In dealing with a situation in which a Shi'i is married to both a Kitabi and a Muslim woman, Najafi addresses the question of how many nights the Shi'i husband should spend with each of his wives. Following previous opinions, he appears to accept the view that the Muslim woman merits two nights for every one the Kitabi receives. This assessment gives a free Kitabi woman the same status as a female Muslim slave; if the Shi'i man is married to a free Kitabi woman and a female Muslim slave, these women are to receive an equal number of nights with their Shi'i husband. It is noteworthy that a person's status is determined not only by his or her religious affiliation, but also by other factors, such as being free or slave, male or female.
Inheritance
Inheritance (irth) constitutes another potential point of contact between a Shi'i and a non-Muslim. Here as in some other branches of Shi'i law, the supremacy of the Shi'i over the non-Shi'i is reflected in the laws and their possible justifications. That an infidel (kafir) cannot inherit from a Muslim may possibly (yumkin) be adduced from Q. 4: 141, "Never will God grant to the infidels a way [to triumph] (sabil) over the believers." Inheritance is considered a "way" (sabil) and "sovereignty" (wilayah), Jawad 'Amili (d. 1226/1811) explains. On the other hand, a Muslim can inherit from an infidel.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Between Foreigners and Shi'is by Daniel Tsadik, Aron Rodrigue, Steven J. Zipperstein. Copyright © 2007 Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. Excerpted by permission of STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS.
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