Page 263 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol IV

1564 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

Islam, Government,
and the Poor

In many Islamic societies, the poor or otherwise
disadvantaged are helped by taxes collected by the kings claimed a divine right to rule. From the time of
government and also charity given by individuals. Byzantium, Orthodox countries were marked by cae-
saropapism, a system in which the head of state has
In 1949 I was traveling by bus from Tehran to
authority over the church. Ties such as these conferred
Hamadan.At a certain ford the driver stopped.A
legitimacy on the rulers and gave religion an important
blind woman, nursing a baby, arose from a brush
role in ensuring the community’s stability, unity, and
shelter beside the road and approached the bus.
compliance with law. For example, a strong, unified reli-
The driver passed the hat, everyone put in a coin
gious tradition was seen as playing an important role in
or a bill, and he handed the collection to the
ensuring the binding power of oaths and contracts. The
poor woman, who replied with an invocation to
close association of a religious tradition with the ruling
God to bless her benefactors. The blessing was
hierarchy was usually also associated with political priv-
returned by the occupants of the bus, and the
ileges for the favored religion and limitations or bans on
driver drove on. (If, in visiting an oriental city,
the practice of minority religions.
you find yourself pestered with beggars and re-
mark, “There ought to be an institution to take
Experiences of
care of these people,” remember that there is an
Religious Tolerance
institution, and an old one, the zaka. Give, in
Despite the tendency for governments with strong reli-
moderation as the Muslims do, and take it off
gious ties to limit protections to a favored religion, some
your income tax.)
rulers throughout history have accommodated and tol-
The zaka is not the only tax imposed in Mus-
erated minority religious traditions, although this toler-
lim states.There is a special tax on Christians and
ance was not always principled and was often limited by
Jews, which was abusively levied on Berber con-
the perceived needs of the sovereign. In many cases, tol-
verts to Islam in the early days of the conquest of
erance served as a practical way to handle a multiethnic,
North Africa.There are also customs, gate taxes,
multireligious empire. For example, the Persian empire
market taxes, and other sources of revenue most
from Cyrus II (reigned 559–530 BCE) to Darius I
of which appeared after Muhammad’s death.
(reigned 522–486 BCE) employed a policy of religious
But the zaka differs from those in that it was not
toleration and support for minority groups, allowing the
originally designed to support the state, being
Jews to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem and returning
rather a means of leveling out the income of the
images of Babylonian gods to their sanctuaries in Baby-
various elements in the community so that no
lon. The Mongol empire created by Genghis Khan (c.
one would go hungry, of financing the conversion
1162–1227 BCE) practiced toleration of Buddhists,
of the heathen and of facilitating travel between
Christians, Confucians, Daoists, and Muslims, and the
the various parts of the Islam world.
Qing dynasty in China (1644–1912 BCE) maintained a
Source: Coon, C. S. (1951). Caravan:The Story of the Middle East (p. 112). New general policy of religious toleration toward Jews, Mus-
York: Holt.
lims, and Christian missionaries until antiforeign and
anti-Christian sentiments led to the expulsion of foreign
descended from the gods or to be gods themselves, as did missionaries from China in 1720.The Muslim Ottoman
Egyptian pharaohs. The Japanese emperor served as the Turks developed a “millet” system in which other “reli-
head of the Shinto tradition. In the caste systems of the gions of the book,” that is, Christianity and Judaism,
Vedic and Hindu traditions in India, the priests were tra- could be practiced and had some self-rule, albeit with
ditionally the highest castes. Roman Catholic popes significant discrimination. The Peace of Westphalia
ordained the Holy Roman Emperors and Protestant (1648) at the end of the European Thirty Years’ War