It was the Master thesis by Vladimir Fedorovich Guirgas defended in 1865. Initially, he studied the conquest of Egypt by Sultan Selim I, but in the course of his travel to the East, G. gathered much material on Moslem law and took another research theme.

The author noted that the main attention of European states was paid to the protection of Christian in the East; that is why he chose a task to study the rights of Christians according the Moslem legislation. But the material was so vast, that he limited his research field with geographical frames of the Ottoman Empire, i.e. Syria, Palestine, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Asia Minor, and European lands of Turkey. On the base of his survey of the Sharia law, the author tried to determine what civil and political rights Christians got, and how their rights differed from the rights of Moslems. Since the position of Christians in the East could seriously varied in different times, the author set himself a task of examining the fate of Christians in the selected areas from the moment when Islam was introduced there up to modernity. He conducted a comparative analysis of the norms of Sharia and the decrees of the Turkish Sultan in relation to Christians in order to understand how their situation changed with the coming to power of the Ottoman sultans.

In the introduction, the author points out the sources both in Arabic and in European languages (Russian, French, and German). He described the history of the Quran, building its text from the times of the first Caliph Abu Bakr. He used additional sources, as well: Sunnah, ijma (collections of decisions of caliphs and other key persons, their comments to the Quran on civic and spiritual matters), and qiyas (collections of decisions on the base of the Quran and Sunnah). At that, he made a mistake, supposing that caliphs shaped the law – in fact, they had no such right.

The first part of the book was on the rules of Islam about the non-Moslem peoples. In particular, they could choose: 1) to convert to Islam; 2) to pay jizya; 3) to fight until victory or defeat. But if the Moslems need it, they could terminate the peace agreement informing the infidels in advance. The author also described the available trophy of Moslems in battles. He also characterized the types of the toll payments, and the social position of the infidels (Christians and Judaists, first of all) living in the Moslem states, paying jizya, and getting Moslem protection, and those ones who visited Moslem lands, getting a permission and a promise of safety. For instance, the author mentioned, how they had to be dressed, what occupations were available for them, and so on. He also studied the rules for marriages of infidels with Moslems, a right of tutelage, inheritance (in the ‘area of peace’, and the ‘area of war’), their testimonies at the court, and so on.

The second part was on the real position of Christians from the Arabic conquest till the moment of the research. The author started from the reign of the second Caliph Umar. Many of his orders were forgotten after his death, but restored under Caliph Umar II. The position of Christian ameliorated under the Abbasids Dynasty: particularly, they got the right to take state posts and much influence. But the situation was not smooth under all the Abbasid caliphs. But serious deterioration took place under the Mamluks. The author described the Mamluks’ orders on Christians given by Mamluk sultans. In 1517, Syria and Egypt were conquered by the Ottomans. The author characterized the position of Christians under them – from the reign of Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror, and put a special attention to the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent (Kanuni – i.e. Legislator), and till Sultan Abdulmejid I. The author came to a conclusion, that the contemporary position of Christian in the Moslem East did not much differ from the historical one. Despite the fact that Christians were allowed to state and military service, in fact, they could occupy lower positions only. Unlike Moslems, they paid additional taxes, and the testimony of Christians was accepted at the civic court, but not at the spiritual one. In general, the author considered that reforms of the Ottoman sultans made the position of Christian more equal and full, than before. He finished the book at the optimistic tune, waiting for complete civic and real equality for Christians and Moslems in the East.