Islam and Dhimmitude: Where Civilizations Collide

Reception

Michael Sells, John Henry Barrows Professor of Islamic History and Literature at the University of Chicago, argued that "by obscuring the existence of pre-Christian and other old, non-Christian communities in Europe as well as the reason for their disappearance in other areas of Europe, Bat Ye’or constructs an invidious comparison between the allegedly humane Europe of Christian and Enlightenment values and the ever present persecution within Islam. Whenever the possibility is raised of actually comparing circumstances of non-Christians in Europe to non-Muslims under Islamic governance in a careful, thoughtful manner, Bat Ye’or forecloses such comparison."

Norman A. Stillman of Israel Studies Forum, says "For Bat Ye'or dhimmitude is itself a civilisation, which she defines as "a comprehensive system of laws, traditions and culture evolving in duration according to specific and structural parameters, which maintain its homogeneity, its behavioural patterns and their transmission." Dhimmitude she argues is not only a civilisation, but it is the mindset and behaviour patterns of the non-Muslim people's themselves. The dhimmi mentalite is marked by sectarian isolationism, economic rivelry with other dhimmis and a mutual antipathy."