DHIMMITUDE AND DISARMAMENT By David B. Kopel

Islamic law, shari’a, forbids non-Muslims, known as dhimmi, from possessing arms and defending themselves from attacks by Muslims.1 The disarmament is one aspect of the pervasive civil inferiority imposed on non-Muslims, a status known as dhimmitude.2 This Article examines the historical effects of the shari’a disarmament, based on three books by Bat Ye‟or, the world‟s leading scholar of dhimmitude.3 As Ye‟or details, the disarmament has had catastrophic consequences, extending far beyond the direct loss of the dhimmis’ ability to defend themselves against Muslim attack.
The study of the disarmament provides an interesting historical example of negative interfaith relations. Yet, the disarmament story and the second-class status imposed on Christians and Jews have implications for the modern United States, where there is no shari’a law, but some subgroups of the population have been condemned, in effect, to a disarmed and defenseless status of civil inferiority. Perhaps the ancient tragedy of dhimmitude has something to teach us about the April 2007 tragedy at Virginia Tech University.4

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