Minorities in an Islamic State — Page 18
18 areas were treated by the Emperors and their officers in an unthinkably cruel and ugly manner. The Jews, the Christians and the man in the street were subjected to all sorts of cruelties by the Persian monarchs. They were robbed of their properties and honour. Protests were quelled by death, torture and extortion. The same was the case with the subjects of the Caesar. The Unorthodox there, were similarly victimized. The lower classes were being bled to death. It was an all round atmosphere of repression. Under the circumstances the freedom of belief, the freedom of conscience and the tolerance shown by the Muslims was bound to create, in the minds of these people, a sense of relief and freedom. How much these poor people were overwhelmed by the kind treatment of Muslims can be seen by an incident that took place in H im s. Once, under pressure of the Roman army, the Muslims had to retire from H im s. The Muslims had already collected taxes from the inhabitants of the territory. Before leaving the place, they returned all the taxes which they had realized and declared: "These taxes were realized on the condition that we would be responsible for your security and for the maintenance of law and order in this area. As we are forced to leave this place, we are no