Among scholars of Jewish communities under Islamic rule, Yemen has gained a poor reputation for treatment of its ancient Jewish minority in comparison with other predominantly Muslim societies. Although Yemen had, until the 1950s, a sizable Jewish population whose presence dated back centuries before the advent of Islam, various Muslim rulers of key parts of Yemen enforced the sumptuary laws and other restrictions stipulated in the Pact of עUmar with unusual stringency, and the Jews' history under Islamic rule was marred by sporadic instances of outright persecution.