The ever-clueless Daily Mail is, of course, treating these rules as if they’re sinister creations of the “conservatives” running the Islamic State. In fact, they are part of traditional and mainstream Islamic law. A manual of Islamic law certified by no less an authority than al-Azhar as a reliable guide to orthodox Sunni Islam lays out these rules for non-Muslim dhimmis living in the Islamic state. Look how closely they correspond to the rules the Islamic State has set out:
Such non-Muslim subjects are obliged to comply with Islamic rules that pertain to the safety and indemnity of life, reputation, and property. In addition, they:
-1- are penalized for committing adultery or theft, thought not for drunkenness;
-2- are distinguished from Muslims in dress, wearing a wide cloth belt (zunnar);
-3- are not greeted with “as-Salamu ‘alaykum”;
-4- must keep to the side of the street;
-5- may not build higher than or as high as the Muslims’ buildings, though if they acquire a tall house, it is not razed;
-6- are forbidden to openly display wine or pork, (A: to ring church bells or display crosses,) recite the Torah or Evangel aloud, or make public display of their funerals and feastdays;
-7- and are forbidden to build new churches….
If non-Muslim subjects of the Islamic state refuse to conform to the rules of Islam, or to pay the non-Muslim poll tax, then their agreement with the state has been violated (dis: o11.11) (A: though if only one of them disobeys, it concerns him alone).
The agreement is also violated (A: with respect to the offender alone) if the state has stipulated that any of the following things break it, and one of the subjects does so anyway, though if the state has not stipulated that these break the agreement, then they do not; namely, if one of the subject people:
-1- commits adultery with a Muslim woman or marries her;
-2- conceals spies of hostile forces;
-3- leads a Muslim away from Islam;
-4- kills a Muslim;
-5- or mentions something impermissible about Allah, the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), or Islam. (Reliance of the Traveller 011.5; o119-10)
“How to live as a Christian in Raqqa: ISIS release seven rules for followers of rival faith, including praying out of earshot of Muslims and never mocking Islam,” by Steph Cockroft, Daily Mail, December 23, 2014:
The Islamic State has released a list of rules dictating how Christians living in the Syrian city of Raqqa should behave, including the instruction to never pray in public or within earshot of a Muslim.
In the list of seven rules that Christians must obey, the terror group also warns that there should never be any ‘treachery’ against ISIS, nor any mockery directed towards Muslims or Islam.
The new set of restrictions are applicable to those living in ISIS-controlled Raqqa, previously one of Syria’s most liberal areas.
They are said to be in return for Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi – the head of Islamic State and the most wanted man in the Middle East – granting safety to Christians in the war-torn city, according to the International Business Times.In the document, it says al-Baghdadi will safeguard ‘their selves, children, money and churches’, if Christians obey the stringent list of rules.
It comes just months after the jihadists banned Christians in Raqqa from drinking alcohol in public or from trading pigs or alcohol in markets.
The document opens with a lengthy quote from the Quran which describes how Christians are ‘in a state of subjection’.
THE SEVEN RULES IN RETURN FOR CHRISTIANS’ SAFETYNo public worship
No treachery against ISIS
No church construction or repairs
Do not display crosses in Muslim areas or markets
Praying must be done quietly and should never be heard by Muslims
No mockery of Muslims or Islam
Do not prevent others from converting to Islam
It says: ‘Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Apostle have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the tax in acknowledgement of superiority and they are in a state of subjection.’
It goes on to explain that public worship and treachery against ISIS is forbidden.
It adds that Christians in Raqqa are no longer allowed to construct churches or even repair any damaged churches in their villages.
They are also banned from publicly showing their crosses in Muslim areas or in their own market places.
The rules then describe how ISIS have forbidden Christians to ‘raise their voices when praying or in other acts of worship’.
In a statement which effectively bans Christians from openly reading from the Bible, the statement says that Muslims ‘do not hear the recitation of their books out loud’.
Likewise, the document prescribes that all acts of worship must be carried out inside a church and never in public.
Christians have also been ordered not to prevent any of their fellow Christians from converting to Islam.
ISIS have also declared that it is illegal for Christians to ‘carry out any actions of enmity to the Islamic State such as helping air strikes locate their positions’.
Defying these rules could result in death….