The Principle of Ta‘liya (مبدأ التعلية): The Supremacy of Muslims and the Islamic Ummah Over Non-Muslims The non-Muslim is always inferior to the Muslim. By Ofer Binshtok Islam is supreme, and nothing stands above it. The Islamic Ummah is the best nation brought forth for mankind. The Word of Allah is supreme, and the word of the non-Muslims is inferior. The din of truth, meaning the Islamic way of life, is meant to prevail over every other din. Allah will not grant the unbelievers a sabil, a way, control, or an upper hand, over the Muslims. Everything in the world is the property of Allah and, in practice, of the Muslims. The din of truth will defeat every other din. Din means the Islamic way of life. Islam is not one din among other dins. It is the din. It does not share the world with the other dins. It eliminates them in order to remain exclusive. - Islam is not one din among other dins. It is the din. It does not share the world with the other dins. It eliminates them in order to remain exclusive. - Political supremacy: Islam rules, and the others, in the best case, live temporarily under dhimmi status as an inferior race while they pay jizya, a poll tax. - Supremacy at the end of the process: when Islam defeats everyone, no other din will remain in the world. Only Muslims will live in it. If the Muslims do not achieve the goal, Allah will complete it on Judgment Day. Bottom line, supremacy means this: the goal is not coexistence. The goal is complete victory. Everything in between is only an intermediate stage. Quran 3:110 and Its Interpretation "You were the best nation brought forth for mankind." Bukhari 4557 interprets the verse: "The best of people for the people, as you bring them with chains on their necks until they enter Islam." Interpretation: the Islamic Ummah is defined as the best of the nations that appeared for the sake of humanity in order to bring humanity into Islam. In practice, that is treated as doing humanity good, and if a sword is needed for that purpose, then also by the sword. Tirmidhi 3001: "You complete seventy nations. You are the best of them and the most honored with Allah." Quran 3:139: "Do not weaken and do not grieve, and you are the superior ones if you are believers." Quran 9:40: "And the Word of Allah is the highest, and the word of those who disbelieved is the lowest." Ibn Abbas: the word of the unbelievers equals shirk. The Word of Allah equals "there is no god but Allah." Complementary hadith, Bukhari 2810 and Muslim 1904: "Whoever fights so that the Word of Allah will be the highest is on the path of Allah." Here supremacy gives legal authorization for jihad. The Plan: One Din Over All Others Quran 61:9: "He who sent His messenger with guidance and the din of truth, the Islamic way of life, so that it may prevail over every din, so that it remains the only din, even if the polytheists detest it." This is the plan that follows from supremacy. Not only are the Muslims superior. The din itself, the Islamic way of life, is meant to overcome all other dins and remain exclusive. No Authority for the Unbeliever Over the Muslim Quran 4:141: "And Allah will not grant the unbelievers a sabil, a way of control, over the believers." From this it follows that: - A non-Muslim does not rule over a Muslim. - A non-Muslim does not testify against a Muslim on equal standing. - The blood of a Muslim is not paid for with the blood of a non-Muslim. - A non-Muslim is not appointed to a position above a Muslim. This appears as a hadith in Daraqutni 3620, graded hasan, and in Bukhari it appears as a chapter heading before 1354: "Islam is superior, and nothing is made superior to it." Meaning: the Islamic Ummah and the Muslims stand above everyone. The Result The fighting against the non-Muslims continues until conversion to Islam. Jews and Christians have a way to survive for a time by paying jizya, a poll tax, while they are humiliated. Muslim blood is not taken in qisas. There is no Muslim blood in exchange for unbeliever blood. A non-Muslim does not rule over a Muslim, does not testify against him on equal standing, and is not appointed above him. The End Goal of the Fighting Quran 8:39: "Fight them until there is no fitna (unbelief, the existence of the non-Muslim), and the din is entirely for Allah. And if they cease, Allah sees what they do." This verse marks the goal. The goal is not temporary subordination of non-Muslims to Muslims. The goal is not a ceasefire. The goal is not peace. The goal stated in this verse is that the entire din belong to Allah, meaning that the Islamic way of life become exclusive in the world. As long as another din, another way of life, remains, the fighting does not reach its end. The Ruling on the Polytheists Quran 9:5: "And when the sacred months have passed, kill the mushrikun, those who associate others with Allah, wherever you find them, seize them, besiege them, and lie in wait for them at every ambush. But if they repent, pray, and give zakat, that is, convert to Islam, then leave them their way. Allah is Forgiving and Merciful." This is the fate the mushrikun. There is no jizya here. There is no dhimmi status. The only way to be saved is conversion to Islam: repentance, prayer, and zakat. Without that, what awaits them is killing at the hands of the Muslims, while the Muslims lie in wait for them everywhere, besiege them, and capture them. The Ruling on the People of the Book Quran 9:29: "Fight those who do not believe in Allah and the Last Day, and do not forbid what Allah and His messenger have forbidden, and do not follow the din of truth, from among those who were given the Book, until they pay the jizya with their own hands while they are humbled." This is the fate of the People of the Book. They have an intermediate stage. The demand is not immediate conversion to Islam. The demand is life as an inferior race that pays jizya, a poll tax, to the Muslims while they are humiliated. Note: this verse comes after 9:28, in which Allah promises the Muslims who fear they will lose their livelihood if the non-Muslims are barred from entering Mecca, because Mecca was the center of trade and livelihood. Allah promised them that He would provide them with livelihood. That livelihood is the collection of a poll tax from the Jews and Christians, jizya, as replacement income. This applies while the Muslims still have no source of income. Later, as the text develops, that problem is resolved. The Muslims find livelihood from terror that produces plunder on a large scale. The Cancellation of the Special Status of Jews and Christians Quran 9:30: "The Jews said: Uzayr is the son of Allah. And the Christians said: the Messiah is the son of Allah. That is what their mouths say. They imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before. May Allah destroy them. How they are deluded." Right after 9:29 gave the Muslims a way to make a living through temporary protection of the People of the Book, the Jews and Christians, through a status that distinguished them from the mushrikun so that they would support the Muslims through jizya, verse 9:30 denies the Jews and Christians the unique status that had protected them from 9:5 and from the other verses and hadiths that command fighting the mushrikun until conversion to Islam or death. Quran 9:31: "They took their rabbis and their monks as lords besides Allah, and the Messiah, son of Mary. And they were commanded only to worship one God. There is no god but He. Glory be to Him above what they associate." Verse 9:31, like 9:30, further cancels the special status of the Jews and Christians as People of the Book and places them in the same category as the rest of the non-Muslims, that is, practitioners of shirk. Therefore their fate is, in practice, identical to the fate of those targeted by verse 9:5 and by the other verses and hadiths that command fighting until conversion to Islam or death. The General Command Against All Non-Muslims Complementary hadith, Bukhari 25 and Muslim 22: "I have been commanded to fight the people until they testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah, until they pray and give zakat. If they do that, their blood and their property are protected from me except by the right of Islam, and their reckoning is with Allah." This is a command for a permanent world war against all non-Muslims, with no limit of time or place, until they convert to Islam or are killed by the Muslims. How the Verses and Hadiths Fit Together Quran 8:39 sets the end: the din entirely for Allah. Quran 9:5 sets the din of the mushrik: Islam or the sword. Quran 9:29 sets the din of the People of the Book: jizya, in humiliation, as an intermediate stage. Quran 9:30 places the People of the Book in the same category as the mushrikun. Quran 9:31 places the People of the Book in the same category as the mushrikun. Bukhari 25 and Muslim 22 complete the verses with no distinction among the non-Muslims. The rule: the blood and property of the non-Muslims are protected only after conversion to Islam. Before that, they have no immunity. Their blood is permitted. Killing them is not murder. It is a sacred commandment. Property: Non-Muslim Wealth Treated as Belonging to the Muslims The property of the non-Muslim belongs, in practice, to the Muslims. The non-Muslims hold it unlawfully. Quran 8:41: "And know that whatever you take as spoils, one fifth of it is for Allah and for the Messenger..." Quran 33:27: "And He made you inherit their land and their houses and their property and a land you had not trodden." Here Allah explains that the property is not only battlefield spoils. It is inheritance of land, houses, and money. Meaning: all property in the world belongs to the Muslims, and the non-Muslims hold it contrary to the command of Allah, that is, illegally. Blood Is Not Equal Hadith, Bukhari 6915: "A Muslim is not killed in exchange for an unbeliever." There is no qisas, no equal blood retaliation. Muslim blood and non-Muslim blood are not on the same level. This is the sharpest expression of supremacy inside Islamic law, and not only on the battlefield. The meaning: - The diya, blood money, of a non-Muslim is lower than the diya of a Muslim. - The testimony of a non-Muslim against a Muslim is limited or invalid. - A Muslim may marry a woman from the People of the Book. A Muslim woman is forbidden to a non-Muslim. Bottom Line The principle of supremacy determines the following: Islam, the Islamic Ummah, is supreme over everyone. Non-Muslims have no sabil, no control, over a Muslim: not in government, not in testimony, not in blood, and not in office. The non-Muslim is always inferior to the Muslim.