# Musta'min

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{{Short description|Islamic term for non-Muslims temporarily residing in Muslim-ruled lands}}
'''Mustaʾmīn''' or '''Musta'man''' ({{langx|ar|مستأمن}}) is a historical [Islam](/source/Islam)ic term for a [non-Muslim](/source/Kafir) foreigner temporarily residing in Muslim lands with ''aman'', or guarantee of short-term [safe-conduct](/source/safe-conduct) (''[aman mu'aqqat](/source/Aman_(Islam))''), affording the protected status of [dhimmi](/source/dhimmi) (non-Muslim subjects permanently living in a Muslim-ruled land) without the payment of [jizya](/source/jizya).<ref name="Khadduri p. 163">Khadduri p. 163</ref>

[Merchants](/source/Merchants), [messengers](/source/Courier), [students](/source/students) and other groups could be given an ''aman'',<ref name="Khadduri p. 163"/> while foreign envoys and emissaries were automatically protected.<ref name="waelhallaq">{{cite book|last1=Wael|first1=B. Hallaq|author-link=Wael Hallaq|title=Sharī'a: Theory, Practice and Transformations|date=2009|publisher=[Cambridge University Press](/source/Cambridge_University_Press)|isbn=978-0-521-86147-2|pages=333}}</ref>

==Types of safe-conducts==
The short-term safe-conduct can be personal or general:<ref name="Parolin" />
* Personal ''aman'' (''khass'') can be granted by any sane and mature Muslim to one or a group of non-Muslim foreigners (''harbis'').<ref name="Yakoob, Mir p. 109">Yakoob, Mir p. 109</ref>
* General ''aman'' ('''amm'') can be granted only by the [caliph](/source/caliph) or his deputy to an unspecified number of ''harbis''.

The term is valid up to one year for the ''musta'min'', along with his minor children and all the women related to him.<ref name="Parolin">{{cite book|last1=Parolin|first1=Gianluca P.|title=Citizenship in the Arab world : kin, religion and nation-state|url=https://archive.org/details/citizenshiparabw00paro|url-access=limited|date=2009|publisher=Amsterdam University Press|location=[Amsterdam]|isbn=978-9089640451|page=[https://archive.org/details/citizenshiparabw00paro/page/n60 60]}}</ref> Many Hanbalite jurists allowed the period of ''aman'' to one lunar year. Others argued for an indefinite ''aman''.<ref name="waelhallaq"/>

==Legal rights==
Once given aman, the musta'mins are free to engage in trade and travel.  They are allowed to bring their family and children.  They have permission to visit any [city](/source/city) in Muslim territory except the holy cities of [Mecca](/source/Mecca) and [Medina](/source/Medina).  A musta'min man is allowed to marry a dhimmi woman and take her back to his homeland; however, musta'min women do not have the same right.<ref>Yakoob, Mir p. 166</ref>  The musta'min are subject to civil and criminal law in the territory<ref name="Yakoob, Mir p. 109"/> and may not do or say anything that could be construed as harming the interests of Islam.<ref name="Khadduri p. 168">Khadduri p. 168</ref>  If caught doing so, the musta'min could be expelled or executed and the aman grantor could also be penalized.<ref name="Khadduri p. 168"/>

==See also==
* [Dhimmi](/source/Dhimmi)
* [Dhimmitude](/source/Dhimmitude)
* [Jizya](/source/Jizya)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book
|last= Khadduri
|first= Majid
|editor= 
|title= War and Peace in the Law of Islam
|year= 1955
|publisher= Johns Hopkins Press
|location= Baltimore
|isbn= 1-58477-695-1
|chapter= Foreigners in Muslim Territory: Ḥarbīs and Mustaʼmīns
|quote=
}}

* {{cite book
|last= Yakoob
|first= Nadia
|author2=Aimen Mir
|editor= Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad, Barbara Freyer Stowasser
|title= Islamic Law and the Challenges of Modernity
|year= 2004
|publisher= AltaMira Press
|location= Walnut Creek, CA
|isbn= 0-7591-0671-1
|chapter= A Contextual Approach to Improving Asylum Law and Practices in the Middle East
|quote=
}}

Category:Islamic terminology
Category:Islam and other religions
Category:Medieval international relations
Category:Law of war

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