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ISIS threatens Christians to sign subservience contract or 'be killed'
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ISIS recently conquered another Syrian town, which was featured in the latest ISIS propaganda video. ISIS threatened Christians in the area to sign a contract of subservience to Muslim rule or face death. The video also included a warning to Christians in America.
Highlights
Catholic Online (https://www.catholic.org)
10/7/2015 (9 years ago)
Published in Middle East
Keywords: ISIS, Jihadists, dhimma contract, Jizya tax
LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - In a recently released video from IS, Syrian Christians in their newly conquered Syrian town were being threatened to sign a contract pledging subservience to Muslim rule or they would be killed and have their women and children turned into slaves.
The video was shot in the newly captured city of Qaryatayn. The film also featured ISIS members throwing a cross from a church roof and looting the church's hall. The jihadist group believed their behavior "displayed kindness and generosity" toward the local Christians.
The narrator added a special message intended for American Christians: "no harm will come to you" if you convert to Islam.
Reports came from the Middle East Media Research Institute on Monday encouraged ISIS followers to fight those who don't believe in Allah until "they give the Jizya willingly while they are humbled."
The Jizya tax is explained in the Koran; it is an imposed tax given to non-Muslims who live as second-class citizens under Muslim rule.
The video confirmed some Christians did converted to Islam, while others signed the "dhimma contract," making them legally inferior to their Muslim neighbors and they are expected to pay the Jizya tax. Once they signed the contract, they were allowed to live safely under the group's self-proclaimed Islamic caliphate.
The Middle East Research Institute (MEMRI) translated the 11 articles of the dhimma contract:
1. Christians may not build churches, monasteries, or hermitages in the city or in the surrounding areas.
2. They may not show the cross or any of their books in the Muslims' streets or markets, and may not use amplifiers when worshiping during prayer.
3. They may not make Muslims hear the reciting of their books or the sounds of church bells, which must be run only inside their churches.
4. They may not carry out any act of aggression against ISIS, such as giving refuge to spies and wanted men. If they come to know of any plot against Muslims, they must report it.
5. They must not perform religious rituals in public.
6. They must respect Muslims and not criticize their religion.
7. Wealthy Christians must pay an annual jizya or four gold dinars; middle-class Christians must pay two gold dinars, and the poor must pay one. Christians must disclose their income, and may split the jozya into two payments.
8. They may not own guns.
9. They may not engage in commercial activity involving pigs or alcohol with Muslims or in Muslim markets, and may not drink alcohol in public.
10. They may maintain their own cemeteries
11. They must abide by ISIS dress code and commerce guidelines.
In the video, the narrator also offers Christians who fled the city a chance to sign the dhimma contract so they could return to their homes and fields, but they were given a time limit of one month to do so.
A message to Christians in Western and Eastern countries was also featured in the video, "This is a message to all Christians in the East and West, and to the defender of the Cross - America: Convert to Islam and no harm will come to you. If you obey, you will have to pay the Jizya poll tax."
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