Islamic State's position on Christians

The recent abduction of dozens of Assyrian Christians and the mass beheading of Egyptian Copts at the hands of the Islamic State (IS) militant group raises questions about its stance on Christians, both in the Middle East and worldwide.

While there is a general agreement between Islamic scholars that Christians and Jews have a special status under an Islamic state which guarantees them safety in exchange for paying a special tax and other conditions, IS has recently shown that this status would be an exception rather than the rule.

When the group announced the beheading, it stated that it had acted in revenge for the apparent mistreatment of Coptic women converts to Islam by the Egyptian Coptic Church.

However, they have also mentioned that they have been targeting Christians because they were part of the "nation of the Cross".

This suggests that all Christians are a legitimate targets for IS. However, the the group is apparently willing to tolerate Christian minorities in areas under its control.

IS has already signalled its hostility towards the Assyrian Christian prisoners by describing them as "Crusaders".

Unlike other religious minorities - such as the Yazidis - Christians and Jews are generally considered to have protected ("Dhimmi") status because they belong to monotheistic religions like Islam. Nevertheless IS appears to view Christians primarily as enemies that must be fought and subdued.

However, Christians have not always been seen as enemies by the group.

Few years ago, Christian minorities in areas of Iraq used to have some sort of a protection. A statement issued by the group's Mosul branch in 2008 referred to a pact concluded with Christian community leaders and IS.

In 2014, IS offered similar protection to Christians in Syria and other areas under the group's control in both Syria and Iraq. IS gave them few options: 

1.To convert to Islam2. To remain Christian but pay taxes and conform to strict Islamic rules
3. To reject the first two options and face war from the group.

In the latest edition of its English-language,IS listed Christians amog its main enemies.It said IS advocated jihad against "the Jews, the Christians, the Rafida [Shia] and the proponents of democracy".