A Consideration of Emphases in Nahj al-Balāgha on the Rights of Religious Minorities

During the reign of the Prophet of Islam, religious minorities, including Christians, Jews, and Magi, were deemed parts of the Islamic community, and their coexistence with Muslims was implied by Quranic orders, as in verses 8 and 9 of Sura al-Mumtaḥina, as well as the practice and hadiths of Infallible Shiite Imams, including Amīr al-Mu’minīn ‘Alī’s letter of Mālik al-Ashtar in Nahj al-Balāgha, which is a reliable document featuring crucial orders and emphases, such as the observance of social justice as well as compassionate treatment of religious minorities by governmental agents. The Imam points out that religious minorities are obliged to fulfil their duties, such as jizya payments, and that they have rights such as political participation and economic activities in the Islamic society, so as to protect the integrity and development of the Islamic government. In this paper, we study texts of Nahj al-Balāgha to examine Imām ‘Alī’s emphases on the rights of religious minorities.