I really don't understand why everyone is so shocked by the 'rumor' that the Iranian government might force Jews to wear a yellow sash and Christians a red sash. That's the law, according to Amanat Umar, for all non-Muslims. That's what dhimmitude requires.
Why are so-called sophisticated, multi-cultural, Westerners always so taken by surprise when others live by their principles?
As for the invocation of Nazi Germany, may I remind these feckless pundits that the idea of the 'Jew-Badge' was adopted by Pope Innocent III at the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215, from the Muslims!
Well, it's true that Ahmadinejad is a freak. But the story of the yellow ribbons has been proven a hoax, thank goodness: http://ontheface.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2006/5/21/1973407.html
ReplyDeleteLisa,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you broke the story that the whole thing was a hoax. That, however, was not my point. My point was that from a Muslim point of view there is absolutely nothing shocking, remarkable or mad about requiring dhimmi to wear distinctive dress. If we are flipped out by that, that's our problem-not theirs.
JRW
Hi Jeffrey,
ReplyDeleteFor more on dhimmitude, I found this post by Brian Ulrich, a PhD candidate at University of Wisconsin (Madison) in Middle Eastern history, to be very interesting and informative: http://bjulrich.blogspot.com/2006_05_01_bjulrich_archive.html#114852211018136607
Brian will be at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in a few months, BTW.