Why do Dhimmis not exist today in Islamic Countries when they were an important part of Islamic Law?

Answer 1

Dhimmis do not exist today for more than one reason; mainly: Islamic law; based on Qur'an and prophet Muhammad teachings; stressed on maintaining equal rights with all citizens to the extent that prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said that anyone who is not fair and just with Dhimmi will be deprived from the prophet support on the Day of Resurrection. However, today there are country laws that regulate all rights and obligations of all citizens irrelevant to their faiths or religions. Dhimmis were before exempted from military service and accordingly were required to pay what is called Jizya by those who are entitled but forgiven from military service (it is not to be paid by women, children, old people, or permanently incapable people). Currently; in any Islamic country; all citizens are treated equally in education, jobs, salaries, medical insurances, military service (that is why Jizya is no longer valid), ... . In Egypt, for example, you find teaching staff in some faculties with majority of Christians. You find also in the military many Christians in high ranks to the extent that one of the leaders of the three Egyptian armies during the 1973 war was a Christian.

Answer 2

While the Dhimmi Status was certainly a critical part of Islamic Law and Islamic Society through most of Islamic History (600s to 1800s), the Dhimmi Status was eventually abolished in the mid-1800s by the Ottoman Caliph.

In 1839, as part of the Tanzimat Reforms in the Ottoman Empire, Caliph Abdülmecid I issued the Hatt-ı-Şerif of the Gülhane. In this document the equality of rights was generally recognized. Later in the İslahat Hatt-ı-Hümayun of 1856, Abdülmecid I reaffirmed and clarified the guarantees of the equality to all subjects regardless of religion. This was supposed to create relative equality between Muslims and Non-Muslims. While it was not successful in that endeavor, it did abolish jizya and dhimmi system up to the present day.

The failure to create true equality is understandable. The Dhimmi peoples had been historically treated like second-class citizens. Improving their legal conditions did not change the man-on-the-street's view of the Dhimmi person. This is similar to how Amendments 13, 14, and 15 did not suddenly make former enslaved African-Americans truly equal to Whites. Some argue that even with the Civil Rights Movement, true equality has not been achieved. As there was never any corollary to the Civil Rights movement in the Islamic World to push for true equality between Muslims and Non-Muslims, the Islamic World remains in this intermediate stage between Dhimmi and Equality.