Hi Everyone....

I m a new member to this community and it's ma first post. I generally like the views presented on this community and think that u people r doing a gr8 job...

I just want to BEG TO DIFFER with Sajid sahab on the concept of Dhimmies and his eexpounding about the mindset of "SO-CALLED MODERNS' VIEWS ON ZIMMIES"......!

tau Sajid sahab...baat yeh hai key......that the concept of zimmies is actually a part of the int'l law of Islam and this concept was a very bright and very forward-looking and very justified concept some 14 centuries back.....but now the Islamic scholars have to review their stance on the concept of Zimmies and i think that Ijtehad serves as the best tool for this thing, although the Scholars refuse to do so and their thinking is still stuck in those ancient times.....remember Islam at that time was popular and an instant hit because in those times, Islam was a very very very modern and radical religion and it hit against the rigid norms and even laws of that era.....So to keep it dynamic and modern and flexible according to the requirements of this era, the scholars need to be enlightened and need to be moderate too.....Yes....there can be no changes in the ibadaat in Islam.....Prayer and Fasting r to be carried out as they were 14 centuries back...but "Muaamlaat" in Islam can be modified by Ijtehad....So if the present world is civilized and gives to the citizens equal rights irrespective of their religion, the Islamic scholars must keep this fact in mind and review their views regarding the concept of Zimmies......By the way......how wud u feel if Muslims in India r labelled as religious minorities and barred from claiming any Govt. post, let alone the Presidency. u have already seen that how the concept of Zimmies was misused by the Talibans and the Sikhs in Afghanistan were forced to wear a yellow badge....don't u think that it's discrimination.

Also, in the present world context, religious tax, as envisioned in the concept of Zimmies, is considered a contemptous discrimination and so, if it will be applied, it will malign Islam and add to the Islamophobia of the west.

I personally think that, in this modern era, where all citizens are considered equal in almost all the countries, like USA, UK, India etc, the discrimination of citizens on the basis of religion is wrong and one has to keep the speech of Quaid on 11th August 1947 in the Constituent Assembly in the mind in which he clearly echoed the modern and PLURALISTIC version of Islam and declared that all citizens are equal irrespective of their religion.