“Dhimmi” is not part of the original IslamOnline headline (thanks to Twostellas) to this story, but from the looks of this article, Dr. Nabil Loqa Bebawi would wear the title proudly. For he is the epitome of the subservient dhimmi who denies and covers up the sins of his masters.
The study, entitled “Rights and Duties of Christians in an Islamic State and its Impact on National Security”, would be the first PhD in the Shari`ah by a Christian in the Middle East, Dr. Nabil Loqa Bebawi told IslamOnline.net.
Elaborating on his choice of the subject, he said that after the 9/11 attacks “the western and U.S. media started propagated false concepts about Islam that were adopted by the governing groups in Washington.”
Bebawi, a professor of criminal law, stressed that the “Islamic civilization and Islam are under a vicious smear campaign.”
The Christian scholar regretted that this campaign pictured Islam as a faith inciting terrorism and having no humanitarian values.
“The Islamic civilization which was founded on the principles laid out by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) presents fine example of tolerance and coexistence between people of different civilizations, cultures, religions and race” Bebawi averred.
“As a Christian living on Islamic lands, my thesis seeks to underline Islam’s spirit of clemency in dealing with non-Muslims.”
Bebawi stressed that Islam should not be hold to blame for the wrongdoings of what he termed as “extremists” hungry for power.
There have always been extremists in all civilizations and cultures, he said, noting that Christian extremists blew up a federal building in the American state of Oklahoma in 1995 killing 197 Americans and wounding 300 others.
They weren’t Christian extremists, but leave that aside: even if they had been, one incident hardly balances the thousands of Islamic terrorist incidents that have occured since 1995.
Bebawi also seems to miss, at least from the looks of this article, some of the more unpleasant features of dhimmitude:
The first part of the six-chapter thesis addresses the tolerance of Islam with on-Muslims living in an Islamic state, and even in the event of war.
The second tackles the religious rights of non-Muslims in an Islamic state, such as the right to build their own places of worship and the right to choose their own religious leaders.
In the third chapter, Bebaw reviews the rights granted by Islam to non-Muslims to move freely and choose their place of settlement across the state.
It also examines their rights to education, casting their votes, running for elections as well as freedom of speech. …
The fourth chapter of the thesis looks into how Islam grants non-Muslims the rights to social care, freedom of work and fair chance of promotion away from religious affiliations.
Gee, that all sounds swell. No wonder so many Christians are thriving in Muslim countries today. But Bebawi has neglected to mention that the laws of dhimmitude only allow non-Muslims to live in Islamic states under conditions that relegate them to second-class citizenship. “The subject peoples,” according to a manual of Islamic law, must “pay the non-Muslim poll tax (jizya)” and “are distinguished from Muslims in dress, wearing a wide cloth belt (zunnar); are not greeted with ‘as-Salamu ‘alaykum’ [the traditional Muslim greeting, “Peace be with you”]; must keep to the side of the street; may not build higher than or as high as the Muslims’ buildings, though if they acquire a tall house, it is not razed; are forbidden to openly display wine or pork . . . recite the Torah or Evangel aloud, or make public display of their funerals or feastdays; and are forbidden to build new churches.” If they violate these terms, the law further stipulates that they can be killed or sold into slavery at the discretion of the Muslim leader. (‘Umdat al-Salik, o11.3, 5.)
Bebawi’s PhD thesis would really be valuable if he discussed all that.