ABSTRACT
The differences between medieval Islamic law regarding Christians and medieval Christian (canon) law regarding Muslims exemplify the profound asymmetries in the ways Muslims and Christians thought about adherents of one another’s traditions during the Middle Ages. Islamic law addresses Christians primarily as non-Muslims subject to Muslim rule; the legal inferiority of Christians, according to Islamic jurists, befits those who reject God’s ultimate and supreme revelation. Secondarily, Islamic law addresses Christians as adherents of a divine scripture. Because their beliefs and practices conform in a limited sense to God’s will, Sunnīs ascribe to Christians and other ‘People of the Book’ an elevated status among non-Muslims. Shīʿī jurists contest this distinction between People of the Book and other non-Muslims as part of a broader doctrinal critique of Sunnī Islam itself. For both Sunnīs and Shīʿīs, the legal status of Christians carries theological significance.
