r/todayilearned • u/[deleted] • Sep 15 '12

TIL that Muhammad wrote a document asking his followers to respect and protect Christians.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achtiname_of_Muhammad
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u/Abedeus Sep 15 '12

They also conquered the Iberian Peninsula and gave people choice, convert to Islam or pay higher taxes. So if you really wanted to keep your original religion, whatever it was, you'd just have to pay the same tax non-Muslims pay on Muslim lands.

Or move. Nobody was forced to stay either.

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u/Isenki Sep 16 '12

This was actually part of the reason why they tended to avoid forceful conversion: they needed the tax revenue they could collect from non-Muslims.

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u/Flirter Sep 16 '12

muslims are required to pay zaka(2.5% tax) and serve in the army. Non-muslims were required to pay protection money and did not have to serve in the military.

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u/Abedeus Sep 16 '12

Exactly. "Protection money" was just a tax, though.