Separate but equal

Submitted by Prashant (United States), Oct 24, 2014 at 23:43

Dear Dr Pipes,

so many times very egregious things from the past are mentioned as if they are routine. Consider the statement made by your reader named 'Observer' from USA. Observer says that 'even Ottomans left Yezidis be as long as they paid their taxes'. Taxation based on people's religions is bad by definition and it could be brutal in the hands of rulers who are obligated to propogate a certain religion. Jizya is not a simple tax. Quran 9-29 also implies that the payers of Jizya must be in subjection of the Islamic rulers and many times in the history Jizya has been used to destroy other civilizations.

Brutal rulers can certainly use it to make sure that the subjugated societies never gain enough financial strength to rise in revolt. In the hands of Ottomans, Jizya is a matter of letting them be. In the hands of ISIS, Jizya is the matter of slavery, rapes, conversions and murders. This is not a dichotomy between good and bad. This is a spectrum between bad and very bad.

The remedy against all this mess is the realization that there is no such thing as 'separate but equal'. Separation of church and state is the only decent way to live. Our friends in the Caliphates must accept this truth.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".