page_title: Persecution of Christians
section_title: Under Islamic rule
hierarchical_section_title: Persecution of Christians / During the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period / Under Islamic rule
context_page_description: The persecution of Christians can be historically traced from the first century of the Christian era to the present day. Christian missionaries and converts to Christianity have both been targets of persecution, sometimes to the point of being martyred for their faith, ever since the emergence of Christianity. Since the emergence of Christian states in Late Antiquity, Christians have also been persecuted by other Christians over differences in doctrine characterized as heresy.
  Early Christians were persecuted for their faith at the hands of both the Jews, from whose religion Christianity arose, and the Romans who controlled many of the lands across which early Christianity was spread in the Roman Empire. Early in the fourth century, the empire's official persecutions were ended by the Edict of Serdica and the practice of Christianity legalized by the Edict of Milan. Shortly thereafter, Christians began persecuting each other.
  The schisms of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages – including the Rome–Constantinople schisms and the many Christological controversies – together with the later Protestant Reformation provoked severe conflicts between Christian denominations.
context_section_description: At the time of the Arab Islamic conquest of the mid 7th century AD the populations of Mesopotamia and Assyria (modern-day Iraq, north east Syria, south east Turkey and Kuwait), Syria, Phoenicia (modern-day Lebanon and coastal Syria), Egypt, Jordan, North Africa (modern-day Sudan, Tunisia, Morocco, Libya and Algeria), Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey) and Armenia were predominantly Christian and non-Arab.
  As People of the Book Christians were given dhimmi status (along with Jews, Samaritans, Gnostics and Mandeans), which was inferior to the status of Muslims. Christians thus faced religious discrimination and religious persecution in that they were banned from proselytising (spreading or promoting Christianity) in lands conquered by the Muslims on pain of death, they were banned from bearing arms and undertaking certain professions. Under sharia, non-Muslims were obligated to pay jizya and kharaj taxes, together with periodic heavy ransom levied upon Christian communities by Muslim rulers in order to fund military campaigns, all of which contributed a significant proportion of income to the Islamic states while conversely reducing many Christians to poverty, and these financial and social hardships forced many Christians to convert to Islam. Christians unable to pay these taxes were forced to surrender their children to the Muslim rulers as payment who would sell them as slaves to Muslim households where they were forced into Islam According to the Hanafi school of sharia, the testimony of a non-Muslim (such as a Christian) was not considered valid against the testimony of a Muslim in legal or civil matters. Islamic law forbid Muslim women from marrying Christian men, but Muslim men were permitted to marry Christian women.
  Christians under Islamic rule had the right to convert to Islam or any other religion, while conversely a murtad, or an apostate from Islam, faced severe penalties or even hadd, which could include the death penalty. In general, Christians subject to Islamic rule were allowed to practice their religion with some notable limitations stemming from the Pact of Umar. This treaty, enacted in 717 AD, forbade Christians from publicly displaying the cross on church buildings, from summoning congregants to prayer with a bell, from re-building or repairing churches and monasteries after they had been destroyed or damaged, and imposed other restrictions relating to occupations, clothing and weapons. The Umayyad Caliphate persecuted many Berber Christians in the seventh and eighth centuries, who slowly converted to Islam.
  Native Christian communities are subject to persecution in several Muslim-majority countries such as Egypt. Pakistan,
caption: Roderick is venerated as one of the Martyrs of Córdoba.
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