() is the

Islamic law Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on scriptures of Islam, particularly the Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' refers to immutable, intan ...

concept of guaranteeing the security of a person (who is then called ) or a group of people for a limited time. It can represent the assurance of security or clemency granted to enemies who seek protection, and can take the form of a document of

safe-conduct Safe conduct, safe passage, or letters of transit, is the situation in time of international conflict or war where one state, a party to such conflict, issues to a person (usually, an enemy state's subject) a pass or document to allow the enemy ...

for a non-Muslim or (

enemy alien In customary international law, an enemy alien is any alien native, citizen, denizen or subject of any foreign nation or government with which a domestic nation or government is in conflict and who is liable to be apprehended, restrained, secur ...

). (Re. an ''aman'' taking the shape of a written document.)

Evolution

The concept has pre-Islamic origins, being traced to the practice of among the

Arab tribes The tribes of Arabia () have inhabited the Arabian Peninsula for thousands of years and traditionally trace their ancestry to one of two forefathers: Adnan, whose descendants originate from West Arabia, North Arabia, East Arabia, and Central A ...

, which extended a tribe's protection over an—often outlawed—member of a different tribe.

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

extended tribal solidarity and protection to cover the entirety of the

Muslim community ' (; ) is an Arabic word meaning Muslim identity, nation, religious community, or the concept of a Commonwealth of the Muslim Believers ( '). It is a synonym for ' (, lit. 'the Islamic nation'); it is commonly used to mean the collective comm ...

, so the promise of safety could be extended by Muslims to non-Muslims, and formed the basis of the covenants of security () issued to cities or peoples who submitted to the nascent Muslim

caliphate A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...

, and which rendered these groups protected () under Islamic law. In later times, the became specifically restricted to the concept of safe-passage for a limited time (up to one

lunar year A lunar calendar is a calendar based on the monthly cycles of the Moon's phases (synodic months, lunations), in contrast to solar calendars, whose annual cycles are based on the solar year, and lunisolar calendars, whose lunar months are brought ...

) issued to enemies during their stay in Islamic territory, and had the right, within that period of time, to depart, unmolested by the Muslims, to a 'place of safety'. In the eyes of Islamic civil law, a passing was considered the same as the s living under Islamic rule for the duration of his presence in Islamic lands, but differing traditions exist on whether this applied to criminal law as well. Foreign envoys enjoyed automatic status, but not merchants or shipwrecked people. As a result, the issuance of was a fundamental means of facilitating trade and diplomacy between Muslim and non-Muslim states during the early Middle Ages. From the late 12th century on, bilateral treaties between Muslim and Christian states that stipulated the rights and obligations of merchants and pilgrims began to replace the .

offered to Muslims

could also be issued to Muslims, such as defeated rebels. This was a widespread practice during the early Islamic period even though, as

Joseph Schacht Joseph Franz Schacht (, 15 March 1902 – 1 August 1969) was a British-German professor of Arabic and Islam at Columbia University in New York. He was the leading Western scholar in the areas of Islamic law and hadith studies, whose ''Origins of M ...

observes, "they are, strictly speaking, superfluous or even incompatible with religious law".

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aman Islamic jurisprudence Legal immunity Law of war Arabic words and phrases in Sharia Islam and other religions

Evolution

offered to Muslims

See also

References

Sources