Shurut al-Nasara li-Ibn Zabar al-Rabii
- Author died
- 329 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Bashāʾir al-Islāmiyyah
Shurut al-Nasara (Conditions Imposed on the Christians), also known as Juz' fihi Shurut al-Nasara, is a specialized hadith tract by the judge Abu Muhammad Abd Allah ibn Ahmad ibn Zabar al-Rabii (255–329 AH / 869–941 CE) compiling the transmission paths and texts of the early pacts and conditions concerning the Christian population of the Levant (al-Sham) and Upper Mesopotamia (al-Jazira) .
Subject Matter and Structure
The tract is organized around narrations and historical documents concerning non-Muslim subjects (Ahl al-Dhimma), particularly the conditions associated with the Pact of Umar (al-Shurut al-Umariyya) . It opens with prophetic and companion reports regarding places of worship, including narrations from Umar ibn al-Khattab reporting the Prophet's ﷺ statement: «لا تبنى بيعةٌ في الإسلام، ولا يجدد ما خرب منها» ("No church is to be built in Islam, nor is what has fallen into ruin to be restored") and «لا كنيسة في الإسلام» ("There is no church in Islam") .
The text then presents several transmissions detailing the written stipulations submitted by the Christians to the Muslim authorities in exchange for safe-conduct (aman) . These provisions include:
- Prohibitions on erecting new churches, monasteries, cells, or hermitages, and on rebuilding ruined ones .
- Requirements to provide hospitality and lodging for passing Muslims for three days .
- Obligations to respect Muslims, yield seats to them, and avoid imitating Muslim dress, headwear, hairstyles, speech, or patronymics (kunya) .
- Restrictions against displaying crosses or scriptures in Muslim thoroughfares and markets, ringing church clappers loudly, raising voices during funerals, carrying weapons, and selling wine .
Alongside the general pact conveyed via Abd al-Rahman ibn Ghanm, the work records the treaty text issued by Iyad ibn Ghanm for the protected people of Homs .
Method and Critical Notes
Ibn Zabar assesses the transmission lines and textual variations among Syrian and Iraqi narrations of the pact . When analyzing a version that reported the people of al-Jazira writing their terms to Abd al-Rahman ibn Ghanm, Ibn Zabar identified this as an error, arguing that Iyad ibn Ghanm was the commander who conquered al-Jazira and concluded its peace treaties, whereas Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah conquered Homs and appointed Iyad over it in 16 AH .
Transmission and Editions
The treatise was transmitted from Ibn Zabar through his student Abu al-Husayn Abd al-Wahhab ibn al-Hasan al-Kilabi (306–396 AH), through whom later traditionists like Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani received their chains of transmission . Later jurists, including Taqi al-Din al-Subki, cited Ibn Zabar's narrations and critical remarks in legal evaluations of the Pact of Umar .
The text was published by orientalist Mark R. Cohen in Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam (1999) based on a manuscript preserved in Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyya . It was also edited by Anas ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Uqayl and published by Dar al-Basha'ir al-Islamiyya in Beirut (1427 AH / 2006 CE) in the Liqa' al-Ashr al-Awakhir series, with appended narrations from al-Kilabi .
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