Jizya

Template:Short description Template:About Template:TaxationTemplate:Islam Jizya (Template:Langx), or jizyah,<ref name="Britannica-Afsaruddin" /> is a type of taxation levied on non-Muslim subjects of a state governed by Islamic law.<ref name="Abdel-Haleem2010">Template:Cite book</ref> The Quran and hadiths mention jizya without specifying its rate or amount,<ref name=asabet>Sabet, Amr (2006), The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 24:4, Oxford; pp. 99–100.</ref> and the application of jizya varied in the course of Islamic history. However, scholars largely agree that early Muslim rulers adapted some of the existing systems of taxation and modified them according to Islamic religious law.<ref name=":0"/>Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Sfn<ref name="ArnoldPoI2">Template:Cite book (online)</ref>

Historically, the jizya tax has been understood in Islam as a fee for protection provided by the Muslim ruler to non-Muslims, for the exemption from military service for non-Muslims, for the permission to practice a non-Muslim faith with some communal autonomy in a Muslim state, and as material proof of the non-Muslims' allegiance to the Muslim state and its laws.<ref name="anveremon" /><ref name="ArnoldPoI3">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Sfn The majority of Muslim jurists required adult, free, sane males among the dhimma community to pay the jizya,<ref name="Hilmi1">Template:Cite book</ref> while exempting women, children, elders, handicapped, the ill, the insane, monks, hermits, slaves,<ref name="waelhallaq">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Sfn<ref name="Islamic Law 1250">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Disability in Islamic law">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Majid Khadduri, War and Peace in the Law of Islam, pp. 192–3.</ref> and musta'mins—non-Muslim foreigners who only temporarily reside in Muslim lands.<ref name="waelhallaq" /><ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> However, some jurists, such as Ibn Hazm, required that anyone who had reached puberty pay jizya.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Islamic Regimes allowed dhimmis to serve in Muslim armies. Those who chose to join military service were also exempted from payment;<ref name="Abdel-Haleem2010" />Template:Sfn<ref name="Mapel, Nardin">Mapel, D.R. and Nardin, T., eds. (1999), International Society: Diverse Ethical Perspectives, p. 231. Princeton University Press. Template:ISBN. Quote: "Jizya was levied upon dhimmis in compensation for their exemption from military service in the Muslim forces. If dhimmis joined Muslims in their mutual defense against an outside aggressor, the jizya was not levied."</ref><ref name="Imara"/><ref name="ArnoldPoI" />Template:Sfn some Muslim scholars claim that some Islamic rulers exempted those who could not afford to pay from the Jizya.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Together with kharāj, a term that was sometimes used interchangeably with jizya,<ref name=mmp109134>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=rlp310311>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=scp322>Satish Chandra (1969), Jizyah and the State in India during the 17th Century, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Vol. 12, No. 3, pp. 322–40, quote="Although kharaj and jizyah were sometimes treated as synonyms, a number of fourteenth century theological tracts treat them as separate"</ref> taxes levied on non-Muslim subjects were among the main sources of revenues collected by some Islamic polities, such as the Ottoman Empire and Indian Muslim Sultanates.<ref name=opp287>Template:Cite book</ref> Jizya rate was usually a fixed annual amount depending on the financial capability of the payer.<ref>Template:Cite book Quote:

(Translation) "The amount of jizya is determined in consideration of their economic status, so that more is taken from the prosperous, less from the middle [class], and a very small amount from the poor (fuqaraʾ). Those who do not have any means of livelihood or depend on support of others are exempted from paying the jizya." (online)</ref> Sources comparing taxes levied on Muslims and jizya differ as to their relative burden depending on time, place, specific taxes under consideration, and other factors.<ref name=Abdel-Haleem2010/>Template:Sfn<ref name="AbuZahra">Template:Cite book Quote: (Translation) "And the money that the dhimmī gives is called jizya: [...] and [it is so named] because it is in return for the protection that they are guaranteed by the Islamic [community], and instead of rendering military service, and since it is [also] in return for what is spent on the poor amongst the dhimmī community (ahl al-dhimma) as ʾImām ʿUmar used to do. [...] and Islam gave the right of equality between all of those who are under its rule, indeed, the jizya that is demanded from the dhimmī corresponds to the financial obligations that are compulsory on the Muslim, so he is obliged [to purify] his wealth [through] zakat, and he is required to pay sadaqat and nudhur, and he is duty-bound to give kaffarat, as well as other things. And if all that is taken from the Muslim was calculated, it would become clear that it isn't less than what is taken by way of jizya, if it isn't more. And as we have mentioned earlier, the state spends on the poor amongst the dhimmī community, and it is narrated that ʿUmar – May God Almighty be pleased with him – found an elderly Jew begging, so he asked him: 'Who are you, old man (shaykh)?' He said, 'I am a man from the dhimma community.' So ʿUmar said to him: 'We have not done justice to you in taking from you when you were young and forsaking you in your old age', so ʿUmar gave him a regular pension from the public treasury (Bayt al-Māl), and he then said to his servant: "Search for him and those like him, and give them out from the public treasury.""</ref>

The term appears in the Quran referring to a tax or tribute from People of the Book, specifically Jews and Christians. Followers of other religions like Zoroastrians and Hindus too were later integrated into the category of dhimmis and required to pay jizya. In the Indian subcontinent the practice stopped by the 18th century with Muslim rulers losing their kingdoms to the Maratha Empire and the British East India Company. It almost vanished during the 20th century with the disappearance of Islamic states and the spread of religious tolerance.<ref name="ipt-p283">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> The tax is no longer imposed by nation states in the Islamic world,<ref name=iwt738>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="HarperOne">Template:Cite book</ref> although there are reported cases of organizations such as the Pakistani Taliban and ISIS attempting to revive the practice.<ref name=ipt-p283/><ref>Coming home to Orakzai ABDUL SAMI PARACHA, Dawn.com (JAN 05, 2010). "In December 2008, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan enforced a strict version of Islamic law in divergence of enviously guarded distinctive tribal culture in Orakzai Agency. Less than a month a later, a decree for jizya was imposed and had to be paid by all minorities if they want protection against local criminal gangs or that they had to convert to Islam."</ref><ref name="raqqa">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Etymology and meaning

Commentators disagree on the definition and derivation of the word jizya. Ann Lambton writes that the origins of jizya are extremely complex, regarded by some jurists as "compensation paid by non-Muslims for being spared from death" and by others as "compensation for living in Muslim lands."Template:Sfn

According to Encyclopedia Iranica, the Arabic word jizya is most likely derived from Middle Persian gazītak, which denoted a tax levied on the lower classes of society in Sasanian Persia, from which the nobles, clergy, landowners (dehqāns), and scribes (or civil servants, dabirān) were exempted. Muslim Arab conquerors largely retained the taxation systems of the Sasanian and Byzantine empires they had conquered.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Shakir's English translations of the Qur'an render jizya as 'tax', while Pickthall and Arberry translate it as "tribute". Yusuf Ali prefers to transliterate the term as jizyah. Yusuf Ali considered the root meaning of jizya to be "compensation,"Template:Sfn<ref>Yusuf Ali (1991 Reprint), Notes 1281 and 1282 to verse 9:29, p. 507</ref> whereas Muhammad Asad considered it to be "satisfaction."Template:Sfn

Al-Raghib al-Isfahani (d. 1108), a classical Muslim lexicographer, writes that jizya is a "tax that is levied on Dhimmis, and it is so named because it is in return for the protection they are guaranteed."<ref name="al-Isfahani">Template:Cite book 4th edition. Translation: "A tax that is levied on Dhimmis, and it is so named because it is in return for the protection they are guaranteed." (online)</ref> He points out that derivatives of the word appear in some Qurʾānic verses as well, such as:<ref name="al-Isfahani2">Template:Cite book 4th edition. (online)</ref>

• "Such is the reward (jazāʾ) of those who purify themselves" (Q 20:76)
• "While those who believed and did good deeds will have the best of rewards" (Q 18:88)
• "And the retribution for an evil act is an evil one like it, but whoever pardons and makes reconciliation – his reward is [due] from God" (Q 42:40)
• "And will reward them for what they patiently endured [with] a garden [in Paradise] and silk [garments]" (Q 76:12)
• "and be repaid only according to your deeds" (Q 37:39)

Muhammad Abdel-Haleem states that the term poll tax does not translate the Arabic word jizya, being also inaccurate in light of the exemptions granted to children, women, etc., unlike a poll tax, which by definition is levied on every individual (poll = head) regardless of gender, age, or ability to pay. He further adds that the root verb of jizya is j-z-y, which means 'to reward somebody for something', 'to pay what is due in return for something' and adds that it is in return for the protection of the Muslim state with all the accruing benefits and exemption from military service, and such taxes on Muslims as zakat.Template:Sfn

The historian al-Tabari and the hadith scholar al-Bayhaqi relate that some members of the Christian community asked ʿUmar ibn al-Khattab if they could refer to the jizya as sadaqah, literally 'charity', which he allowed.Template:Sfn<ref name="Buti1">Template:Cite book Translation: "It is true that the Christians of Taghlab didn not feel at ease with the words (jizya) and (compensation) and they proposed to the leader of the believers ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, that jizya be taken from them in the name of charity, even if that meant that they would have to pay twice as much, and they said to him: 'Take from us whatever you want, but do not call it a compensation' .. So ʿUmar consulted the companions on this [matter], and ʿAli – May God be pleased with him – advised him to accept it from them with a double amount by the name of charity. This was related by al-Ṭabarī in his history." (online)</ref><ref name="ArnoldPoI044">Template:Cite book (online)</ref> Based on this historical event, the majority of jurists from Shāfiʿīs, Ḥanafīs and Ḥanbalīs state that it is lawful to take the jizya from ahl al-dhimmah by name of zakāt or ṣadaqah, meaning it is not necessary to call the tax that is taken from them by jizya, and also based on the known legal maxim that states, "consideration is granted to objectives and meanings and not to terms and specific wordings."<ref name="Buti4">Template:Cite book Translation: "Based on this (event), the majority of jurists from Shāfiʿīs, Ḥanafīs and Ḥanbalīs state that it is lawful to take the jizya from ahl al-dhimmah by name of double zakat. Meaning it isn't necessary to call the tax that is taken from them by (jizya), and among the known legal maxim is that consideration is granted to objectives and meanings and not to terms and specific wordings. [...] And you may ask: Is it necessary when the name of this tax is transformed from jizya to zakāt or ṣadaqah that the requested amount be doubled? The answer is that this falls under the laws of the ruler (ʾaḥkām al-ʾimāmah), so the command to change the name, and to define the respective amount is exclusive to what the ruler sees most fit according to each time." (online)</ref>

According to Lane's Lexicon, jizya is the tax that is taken from the free non-Muslim subjects of an Islamic government, whereby they ratify the pact that ensures them protection.<ref>Edward William Lane, An Arabic-English Lexicon. Book 1, p. 422. (Citing al-Nihaya fi Gharib al-Hadith by Majd al-Din ibn Athir (d. 1210), and others.)</ref><ref name="Muhibbudin119">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Michael G. Morony states that:<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

[The emergence of] protected status and the definition of jizya as the poll tax on non-Muslim subjects appears to have been achieved only by the early eighth century. This came as a result of growing suspicions about the loyalty of the non-Muslim population during the second civil war and of the literalist interpretation of the Quran by pious Muslims.

Jane Dammen McAuliffe states that jizya, in early Islamic texts, was an annual tribute expected from non-Muslims, and not a poll tax.<ref>Jane Dammen McAuliffe (2011), Encyclopedia of the Qur'an, Brill Academic, Vol. 4, pp. 152–153; Vol. 5, pp. 192–3, Template:ISBN.</ref> Similarly, Thomas Walker Arnold writes that jizya originally denoted tribute of any type paid by the non-Muslim subjects of the Arab empire, but that it came later on to be used for the capitation-tax, "as the fiscal system of the new rulers became fixed."<ref name="ArnoldPoI02">Template:Cite book (online)</ref>

Arthur Stanley Tritton states that both jizya in west, and kharaj in the east Arabia meant 'tribute'. It was also called jawali in Jerusalem.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Shemesh says that Abu Yusuf, Abu Ubayd ibn al-Sallām, Qudama ibn Jaʿfar, Khatib, and Yahya ibn Adam used the terms Jizya, Kharaj, Ushr and Tasq as synonyms.<ref>A Ben Shemesh (1967), Taxation in Islam, Vol. 1, Netherlands: Brill Academic, p. 6</ref>

The Arabic lexicographer Edward William Lane, after a careful analysis of the etymology of the term "Jizya", says: "The tax that is taken from the free non-Muslim subjects of a Muslim government whereby they ratify the compact that assures them protection, as though it were compensation for not being slain".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Rationale

Payment for protection

According to Abou Al-Fadl and other scholars, classical Muslim jurists and scholars regard the jizya as a special payment collected from certain non-Muslims in return for the responsibility of protection fulfilled by Muslims against any type of aggression,Template:Sfn<ref name="Hilmi1"/><ref name="ArnoldPoI3"/>Template:Sfn<ref name="Muhibbudin119"/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>

• Template:Cite book Translation: "The word (jizya) ... is defined as the monetary amount that is taken from the People of the Book, and it is taken in exchange of guaranteeing their protection and safety, and considering them to be part of the Islamic society, such that they receive all the rights that are required by the principle of social insurance." (online)
• Template:Cite book Translation: "Its justification: And Islām obligated jizya on dhimmīs in parallel with the obligation of zakāt on Muslims, so that the two groups be equal, since Muslims and dhimmīs are under the shade of the same banner and they enjoy all of the same rights and they benefit from the state facilities in an equal proportion, ... (also) in exchange for defending the dhimmīs, and guaranteeing their safety in the Muslim country they live in." (online)
• Template:Cite book Translation: "The Companions were in their openings (futūḥāt) making the jizya that they put on the ahl al-dhimmah in exchange for their protection and safety, and for not making them having to defend themselves and their country by themselves, and that's why they were taking it from those who can participate in military service other than those who can't such as the old and women, and so this was from them an explanation and illustration of the intended meaning (behind this word) in the Noble Book. And the Ottomans were calling it for that reason 'Tax in exchange for not participating in military service'."

(online)

• Template:Cite book Quote: «نظير قيامهم بالدفاع عن الذميين وحمايتهم في الاقاليم الإسلامية التي يقيمون فيها.» Translation: "In exchange for (Muslims) defending dhimmis and protecting them in the Muslim lands where they live." (online)
• Template:Cite book 3rd Ed. Translation: "The jizya is as we've shown, in its primary sense, in exchange for the military protection that the Muslim country guarantees to the ahl al-dhimmah. That's why if this country was incapable of extending such protection to non-Muslims, it will have no right in taking this jizya or this tax." (online)

</ref> as well as for non-Muslims being exempt from military service,<ref name="Hilmi1"/>Template:Sfn<ref name="ArnoldPoI3"/>Template:Sfn<ref name="Imara">Template:Cite book Translation: "And since the jizya is in exchange for military service, it is taken only from those who are financially capable, and those who are able to take arms and do military service in defense of a country, and it isn't in exchange for not embracing Islam otherwise [the jizya] would have been taken from monks and the clergy .. and also since those who did volunteer to fight with the Muslims, against the Persians and Byzantines, and who professed a religion other than Islam – in the Levant, Iraq, and Egypt – were exempted from the jizya and shared equally the battle gains with the Muslims..." (online)</ref>Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn<ref name="Shibli1">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>

• Template:Cite book Translation: "The Companions were in their openings (futūḥāt) making the jizya that they put on the ahl al-dhimmah in exchange for their protection and safety, and for not making them having to defend themselves and their country by themselves, and that's why they were taking it from those who can participate in military service other than those who can't such as the old and women, and so this was from them an explanation and illustration of the intended meaning (behind this word) in the Noble Book. And the Ottomans were calling it for that reason 'Tax in exchange for not participating in military service'."

(online)

• Template:Cite book Translation: "The jizya is taken in exchange for guaranteeing their protection and safety, and in exchange for not participating in military service in defence of the nation and in protecting its citizens." (online)
• Template:Cite book Quote: «وأصح أقوال الفقهاء في تعليلها – أنها بدل عن إشترك غير المسلمين في الدفاع عن دار الإسلام، لذلك أسقطها الصحابة والتابعون عاماً قبل منهم الإشتراك في الدفاع عنها» Translation: "And the most correct sayings of the jurists in its (jizya) justification – is that it is in exchange for non-Muslims defending the nation, and that's why the Companions and Successors exempted those who joined them in its defense."
• Template:Cite book

</ref> and in exchange for the aid provided to poor dhimmis.<ref name="AbuZahra"/> In a treaty made by Khalid with some towns in the neighborhood of Hirah, he writes: "If we protect you, then jizya is due to us; but if we do not, then it is not due."<ref name="ArnoldPoI444">Template:Cite book (online)</ref><ref name="HasanShah220">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite book Quote: «جاء في صلح خالد بن الوليد ... في منطقة الحيرة، ما يأتي: "... فإن منعناكم فلنا الجزية و إلا فلا ..."» Translation: "It was stated in the peace treaty made by Khālid b. al-Walīd ... in the neighborhood of al-Ḥīrah, what follows: «... If we protect you, then jizya is due to us; but if we do not, then it is not due...»" (online)</ref><ref>Nuʿmānī, Shiblī (Entry Author), Template:Cite book Translation: "This is a treaty made by Khālid b. al-Walīd ... If we protect you, then jizya is due to us; but if we do not, then it is not due. This was written in the year twelve in Safar." (online)</ref><ref>Template:Cite book 3rd Ed. Translation: "Khālid wrote in the treaty that he concluded with some towns in the neighborhood of al-Ḥīrah that: «If we protect you, then jizya is due to us; but if we do not, then it is not due»." (online)</ref> Early Hanafi jurist Abu Yusuf writes:

In accordance with this order, enormous sums were paid back out of the state treasury,<ref name="ArnoldPoI4" /> and the Christians called down blessings on the heads of the Muslims, saying, "May God give you rule over us again and make you victorious over the Romans; had it been they, they would not have given us back anything, but would have taken all that remained with us."<ref name="ArnoldPoI4" /><ref name=Wahbah1/> Similarly, during the time of the Crusades, Saladin returned the jizya to the Christians of Syria when he was compelled to retract from it.<ref>Template:Cite book Translation: "And this (historical precedents for the jizya being returned when the state couldn't protect ahl al-dhimma) has an equivalent [during the times] of the Crusades, as such Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn al-Ayyūbī returned the jizya to the Christians of Syria when he was compelled to retract from it." (online)</ref> The Christian tribe of al-Jurajima, in the neighborhood of Antioch, made peace with the Muslims, promising to be their allies and fight on their side in battle, on condition that they should not be called upon to pay jizya and should receive their proper share of the booty.<ref name="ArnoldPoI">Template:Cite book (online)</ref><ref>Template:Cite book 3rd Ed. Translation: "It is very clear that any Christian group who joined the service of the Muslim army was exempted from this tax, just as is the case with the tribe of «al-Jurājima», a Christian tribe near Antioch, who made peace with the Muslims, promising to be their allies, and fight on their side in battle, on condition that they should be exempted from [the payment of] the jizya, and should receive their proper share of the booty." (online)</ref> The orientalist Thomas Walker Arnold writes that even Muslims were made to pay a tax if they were exempted from military service, like non-Muslims.<ref name="ArnoldPoI0001">Template:Cite book (online)</ref><ref name="NasimShah221">Template:Cite journal</ref> Thus, the Shafi'i scholar al-Khaṭīb ash-Shirbīniy states: "Military service is not obligatory for non-Muslims – especially for dhimmis since they give jizya so that we protect and defend them, and not so that he defends us."<ref>Template:Cite book Translation: "The Shafi'i scholar al-Khaṭīb ash-Shirbīniy stated: «Military service is not obligatory for non-Muslims -- especially for a dhimmi since he gives the jizya so that we protect and defend him, and not so that he defends us.»" (online)</ref> Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani states that there is a consensus amongst Islamic jurists that jizya is in exchange for military service.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the case of war, jizya is seen as an option to end hostilities. According to Abu Kalam Azad, one of the main objectives of jizya was to facilitate a peaceful solution to hostility, since non-Muslims who engaged in fighting against Muslims were thereby given the option of making peace by agreeing to pay jizya. In this sense, jizya is seen as a means by which to legalize the cessation of war and military conflict with non-Muslims.<ref>Mun'im Sirry (2014), Scriptural Polemics: The Qur'an and Other Religions, p. 178. Oxford University Press. Template:ISBN.</ref> In a similar vein, Mahmud Shaltut states that "jizya was never intended as payment in return for one's life or retaining one's religion, it was intended as a symbol to signify yielding, an end of hostility and a participation in shouldering the burdens of the state."Template:Sfn

Other rationales

Modern scholars have also suggested other rationales for the Jizya, both in a historic context, and, among modern Islamist thinkers, as a justification for the use of Jizya in a modern context,<ref name=cornell>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref name="esposito-shahin-149">Template:Cite book</ref> including:

• as a symbol of humiliation to remind dhimmis of their status as a conquered people and their subjection to Islamic laws<ref name=anv/>
• as a financial and political incentive for dhimmis to convert to Islam.<ref name=anveremon>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=anv>Template:Cite book</ref> The Muslim jurist and theologian Fakhr al-Din al-Razi suggested in his interpretation of Q.9:29 that jizya is an incentive to convert. Taking it is not intended to preserve the existence of disbelief (kufr) in the world. Rather, he argues, jizya allows the non-Muslim to live amongst Muslims and take part in Islamic civilization in the hope that the non-Muslim will convert to Islam.<ref>Jane Dammen McAuliffe, "Fakhr al-Din al-Razi on Ayat al-Jizya and Ayat al-Sayf", in Conversion and Continuity: Indigenous Christian Communities in Islamic Lands, Eight to Eighteenth Centuries, eds. Michael Gervers and Ramzi Jibran Bikhazi (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1990), pp. 103–19.</ref>
• as a substantial source of revenue for at least some times and places (such as the Umayyad era) and as economically inconsequential in others.<ref name=RGHIGP2015:199/>Template:Sfn
• Asma Afsaruddin also writes that around the end of the 8th century CE, "payment of the jizyah began to be conceptualized by a number of influential jurists as a marker of inferior socio-legal status for the non-Muslim", as "earlier tolerant attitudes toward non-Muslims began to harden".<ref name="Britannica-Afsaruddin"/>
• Sayyid Qutb saw it as punishment for "polytheism".
• Modern Pakistani scholars have taking the stance of viewing the badge of humiliation or as a mercy for non-Muslims for the protection given to them by the Muslims.Template:Efn
• Abdul Rahman Doi has interpreted it as a counterpart of the zakat tax paid by Muslims.<ref name=cornell/>
• The 11th century jurist Ibn Hazm elaborates; "Allah has established the infidel's ownership of their property only for the institution of booty for Muslims".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Muslim Jurist Malik ibn Anas's al-Muwatta declares that "Zakat is imposed on the Muslims to purify them and to be given back to their poor, whereas jizya is imposed on the people of the Book to humble them (to show they are subjects of the state)."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In the Qur'an

Jizya is sanctioned by the Qur'an based on the following verse:

1. "Fight those who believe not in God and the Last Day" (qātilū-lladhīna lā yuʾminūna bi-llāhi wa-lā bi-l-yawmi-l-ākhir).

Commenting on this verse, Muhammad Sa'id Ramadan al-Buti says:<ref>Template:Cite book (Translation): "The verse commands qitāl (قتال) and not qatl (قتل), and it is known that there is a big distinction between these two wordsTemplate:Nbsp... For you say qataltu (قتلت) so-and-so if you initiated the fighting, while you say qātaltu (قاتلت) him if you resisted his effort to fight you by a reciprocal fight, or if you forestalled him in that so that he would not get at you unawares." (online)</ref>

[T]he verse commands qitāl (Template:Langx) and not qatl (Template:Langx), and it is known that there is a big distinction between these two wordsTemplate:Nbsp... For you say Template:'qataltu (Template:Langx) so-and-soTemplate:' if you initiated the fighting, while you say Template:'qātaltu (Template:Langx) himTemplate:' if you resisted his effort to fight you by a reciprocal fight, or if you forestalled him in that so that he would not get at you unawares.

Muhammad Abdel-Haleem writes that there is nothing in the Qur'an to say that not believing in God and the Last Day is in itself grounds for fighting anyone.Template:Sfn Whereas Abū Ḥayyān states "they are so described because their way [of acting] is the way of those who do not believe in God,"Template:Sfn Ahmad Al-Maraghī comments:<ref>Template:Cite book Quote: «أي قاتلوا من ذكروا حين وجود ما يقتضى القتال كالاعتداء عليكم أو على بلادكم أو اضطهادكم وفتنتكم عن دينكم أو تهديد منكم وسلامتكم كما فعل بكم الروم وكان ذلك سببا لغزوة تبوك» Translation: "That is, fight those mentioned when the conditions which necessitate fighting are present, namely, aggression against you or your country, oppression and persecution against you on account of your faith, or threatening your safety and security, as was committed against you by the Byzantines, which was what led to Tabuk."</ref>

[F]ight those mentioned when the conditions which necessitate fighting are present, namely, aggression against you or your country, oppression and persecution against you on account of your faith, or threatening your safety and security, as was committed against you by the Byzantines, which was what led to Tabuk.

2. "Do not forbid what God and His Messenger have forbidden" (wa-lā yuḥarrimūna mā ḥarrama-llāhu wa-rasūluh).

The closest and most viable cause must relate to jizya, that is, unlawfully consuming what belongs to the Muslim state, which, al-Bayḍāwī explains, "it has been decided that they should give,"Template:Sfn<ref>Al-Bayḍawī, Tafsīr (2 vols. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 1988), vol. 1, p. 401.</ref> since their own scriptures and prophets forbid breaking agreements and not paying what is due to others. His Messenger in this verse has been interpreted by exegetes as referring to Muḥammad or the People of the Book's own earlier messengers, Moses or Jesus. According to Abdel-Haleem, the latter must be the correct interpretation as it is already assumed that the People of the Book did not believe in Muḥammad or forbid what he forbade, so that they are condemned for not obeying their own prophet, who told them to honour their agreements.Template:Sfn

3. "Who do not embrace the true faith" or "behave according to the rule of justice" (wa-lā yadīnūna dīna'l-ḥaqq).

A number of translators have rendered the text as "those who do not embrace the true faith/follow the religion of truth" or some variation thereof.Template:Citation needed Muhammad Abdel-Haleem argues against this translation, preferring instead to render dīna'l-ḥaqq as 'rule of justice'.

The main meaning of the Arabic dāna is 'he obeyed', and one of the many meanings of dīn is 'behaviour' (al-sīra wa'l-ʿāda).Template:Sfn The famous Arabic lexicographer Fayrūzabādī (d. 817/1415), gives more than twelve meanings for the word dīn, placing the meaning 'worship of God, religion' lower in the list.Template:Sfn<ref>Fayrūzabādī, al-Qamūs al-muḥīṭ, reprint (4 vols. Beirut: Dār al-Jīl, 1952), vol. 4, p. 227.</ref> Al-Muʿjam al-wasīṭ gives the following definition: "'dāna' is to be in the habit of doing something good or bad; 'dāna bi- something' is to take it as a religion and worship God through it." Thus, when the verb dāna is used in the sense of 'to believe' or 'to practise a religion', it takes the preposition bi- after it (e.g. dāna bi'l-Islām) and this is the only usage in which the word means religion.Template:Sfn<ref>Al-Muʿjam al-wasīṭ (Cairo: Majmaʿ al-Lugha al-ʿArabiyya, 1972); al-Rāzī, al-Tafsīr al-kabīr, vol. 8, p. 29.</ref> The jizya verse does not say lā yadīnūna bi-dīni'l-ḥaqq, but rather lā yadīnūna dīna'l-ḥaqq.Template:Sfn Abdel-Haleem thus concludes that the meaning that fits the jizya verse is thus 'those who do not follow the way of justice (al-ḥaqq)', i.e. by breaking their agreement and refusing to pay what is due.Template:Sfn

4. "Until they pay jizya with their own hands" (ḥattā yu'ṭū-l-jizyata 'an yadin).

Here ʿan yad (from/for/at hand), is interpreted by some to mean that they should pay directly, without intermediary and without delay. Others say that it refers to its reception by Muslims and means "generously" as in "with an open hand," since the taking of the jizya is a form of munificence that averted a state of conflict.<ref>Seyyed Hossein Nasr (2015), The Study Quran: A New Translation and Commentary, Template:ISBN. Quote: "Here with a willing hand renders ʿan yad (lit. "from/for/at hand"), which some interpret to mean that they should pay directly, without intermediary and without delay (R). Others say that it refers to its reception by Muslims and means "generously" as in "with an open hand," since the taking of the jizyah is a form of munificence that averted a state of conflict (Q, R, Z)."</ref> al-Ṭabarī gives only one explanation: that 'it means "from their hands to the hands of the receiver" just as we say "I spoke to him mouth to mouth", we also say, "I gave it to him hand to hand"'.Template:Sfn M.J. Kister understands 'an yad to be a reference to the "ability and sufficient means" of the dhimmi.<ref>M.J. Kister "'An yadin (Qur'an IX/29): An Attempt at Interpretation," Arabica 11 (1964):272–278.</ref> Similarly, Rashid Rida takes the word Yad in a metaphorical sense and relates the phrase to the financial ability of the person liable to pay jizya.Template:Sfn

5. "While they are subdued" (wa-hum ṣāghirūn).

Mark R. Cohen writes that 'while they are subdued' was interpreted by many to mean the "humiliated state of the non-Muslims".Template:Sfn According to Ziauddin Ahmed, in the view of the majority of Fuqahā (Islamic jurists), the jizya was levied on non-Muslims in order to humiliate them for their unbelief.Template:Sfn In contrast, Abdel-Haleem writes that this notion of humiliation runs contrary to verses such as, Do not dispute with the People of the Book except in the best manner (Q 29:46), and the Prophetic ḥadīth,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 'May God have mercy on the man who is liberal and easy-going (samḥ) when he buys, when he sells, and when he demands what is due to him'.Template:Sfn Al-Shafi'i, the founder of the Shafi'i school of law, wrote that a number of scholars explained this last expression to mean that "Islamic rulings are enforced on them."<ref>Al-Shafi'i, Kitabul Umm, 4/219. Quote: «.وَسَمِعْت عَدَدًا مِنْ أَهْلِ الْعِلْمِ يَقُولُونَ الصَّغَارُ أَنْ يَجْرِيَ عَلَيْهِمْ حُكْمُ الْإِسْلَامِ» Translation: "And I heard a number of the people of knowledge state that al-sighar means that Islamic rulings are enforced on them."</ref><ref>Template:Cite book Quote: «لا أن يضربوا و لا يؤذوا قال الشافعي: [...] و الصغار : أن يجري عليهم الحكم» Translation: "al-Shafi'i said: [...] And aṣ-Ṣaghār means that rulings are enforced on them, it does not mean that they should be beaten or be harmed." (online)</ref><ref>Template:Cite book Quote: «وليس معنى: Translation: "And it is not the case that the meaning of: "... while they are ṣāghirūn" is to humiliate them, and making them feel shame, like some may misunderstand, but [the meaning] is as Imām Shāfiʿī explained, that (aṣ-Ṣaghār) means that Islamic rulings are enforced on them, and he narrated this from the scholars, so he stated: (I heard a number of the people of knowledge state: aṣ-Ṣaghār means that Islamic rulings are enforced on them...)" (online)</ref> This understanding is reiterated by the Hanbali jurist Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, who interprets wa-hum ṣāghirūn as making all subjects of the state obey the law and, in the case of the People of the Book, pay the jizya.Template:Sfn

In the classical era

Liability and exemptions

Rules for liability and exemptions of jizya formulated by jurists in the early Abbasid period appear to have remained generally valid thereafter.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Islamic jurists required adult, free, sane, able-bodied males of military age with no religious functions among the dhimma community to pay the jizya,<ref name="Hilmi1"/> while exempting women, children, elders, handicapped, monks, hermits, the poor, the ill, the insane, slaves,<ref name="Hilmi1"/><ref name="waelhallaq"/>Template:Sfn<ref name="Islamic Law 1250"/><ref name="Disability in Islamic law"/> as well as musta'mins (non-Muslim foreigners who only temporarily reside in Muslim lands)<ref name="waelhallaq"/> and converts to Islam.Template:Sfn Dhimmis who chose to join military service were exempted from payment.<ref name="Abdel-Haleem2010" />Template:Sfn<ref name="Mapel, Nardin"/><ref name="ArnoldPoI" />Template:Sfn If anyone could not afford this tax, they would not have to pay anything.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn Sometimes a dhimmi was exempted from jizya if he rendered some valuable services to the state.<ref name="NasimShah221"/>

The Hanafi scholar Abu Yusuf wrote, "slaves, women, children, the old, the sick, monks, hermits, the insane, the blind and the poor, were exempt from the tax"Template:Sfn and states that jizya should not be collected from those who have neither income nor any property, but survive by begging and from alms.Template:Sfn The Hanbali jurist al-Qāḍī Abū Yaʿlā states, "there is no jizya upon the poor, the old, and the chronically ill".<ref>al-Qāḍī Abū Yaʿlā, al-Aḥkām al-Sulṭāniyyah, p. 160. Quote: «وتسقط الجزية عن الفقير وعن الشيخ وعن الزَمِن [أي صاحب العاهة]» Translation: "There is no jizya upon the poor, the old, and the chronically ill."</ref> Historical reports tell of exemptions granted by the second caliph 'Umar to an old blind Jew and others like him.<ref name="Hilmi1"/>Template:Sfn<ref name="Sabir1">Template:Cite book Quote: «وقصته رضي الله عنه مشهورة مع اليهودي الذي رآه على باب متسولاً، وهو يقول: شيخ كبير ضرير البصر، فضرب عضده من خلفه وقال: من أي أهل الكتاب أنت؟ قال: يهودي، قال: فما ألجأك إلي ما أرى؟ قال: أسأل الجزية والحاجة والسن، قال: فأخذ عمر بيده وذهب به إلى منزله فرضخ له بشيء من المنزل، ثم أرسل إلى خازن بيت المال فقال: انظر هذا وضرباءه فوالله ما أنصفناه، أن أكلنا شبيبته ثم نخذله عند الهرم، وقرأ الآية الكريمة: إِنَّمَا الصَّدَقَاتُ لِلْفُقَرَاءِ وَالْمَسَاكِينِ وَالْعَامِلِينَ عَلَيْهَا وَالْمُؤَلَّفَةِ قُلُوبُهُمْ وَفِي الرِّقَابِ وَالْغَارِمِينَ وَفِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَابْنِ السَّبِيلِ ۖ فَرِيضَةً مِّنَ اللَّهِ ۗ وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌ [التوبة : ٦٠] والفقراء هم المسلمون، وهذا من المساكين من أهل الكتاب، ووضع عنه الجزية وعن ضربائه» Translation: "And his [ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb] – May God be pleased with him – famous story with the Jew that he saw by a door begging, while stating: 'An old man, blind sight'. ʿUmar then asked him, 'So why are you begging?' 'I am begging for money', the man said, 'so I can pay the jizya and fulfill my needs'. ʿUmar took him by the hand and led him to his home and gave him gifts and money, then he sent him to the treasurer of the public treasury (Bayt al-Mal) and said, 'Take care of him and those like him, for by God, we have not treated him fairly if we benefited from him in his younger days but left him helpless in his old age! Then he recited the verse, "Alms-tax is only for the poor and the needy, for those employed to administer it, for those whose hearts are attracted ˹to the faith˺, for ˹freeing˺ slaves, for those in debt, for Allah's cause, and for ˹needy˺ travellers. ˹This is˺ an obligation from Allah. And Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise." Template:Qref and the poor are amongst the Muslims and this one is from the needy amongst the People of the Book.' So ʿUmar exempted him and those like him from payment of the jizya." (online)</ref>Template:Sfn<ref name="Tahir-ul-Qadri">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book Quote: «ما روي عن سيدنا عمر رضي الله عنه: أنه مر بشيخ من أهل الذمة يسأل على أبواب المساجد بسبب الجزية و الحاجة و السن، فقال: ما أنصفناك كنا أخذنا منك الجزية في شبيبتك ثم ضيعناك في كبرك، ثم أجرى عليه من بيت المال ما يصلحه، و وضع عنه الجزية و عن ضربائه.» Translation: "What was narrated from Sayyiduna ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb – May God be pleased with him – : That he passed by an old man from the dhimma community who was begging in front of the doors of the mosques because of [the need to pay] jizya and fulfill his needs and his old age, so he [ʿUmar] said: 'We have not done justice to you in taking from you when you were young and forsaking you in your old age', so he gave him a regular pension from the Bayt al-Māl (Public Treasury), and he exempted him and his likes from the jizya." (online)</ref><ref name="Ihsan2"/> The Maliki scholar Al-Qurtubi writes that, "there is a consensus amongst Islamic scholars that jizya is to be taken only from heads of free men past puberty, who are the ones fighting, but not from women, the children, the slaves, the insane, and the dying old."<ref>Al-Qurtubi, Al-Jami' li Ahkam al-Qur'an, vol.8, p. 72. Quote: «قال علماؤنا: الذي دل عليه القرآن أن الجزية تؤخذ من المقاتلين... وهذا إجماع من العلماء على أن الجزية إنما توضع على جماجم الرجال الأحرار البالغين، وهم الذين يقاتلون دون النساء والذرية والعبيد والمجانين المغلوبين على عقولهم والشيخ الفاني» Translation: "Our scholars have said: that which the Qurʾān has indicated is that the jizya is taken from fighters ... and there is a consensus amongst scholars that the jizya be only placed on the heads of free men who have reached puberty, who are the ones fighting with the exclusion of women and children and slaves and the crazy insane and the dying old man."</ref> The 13th century Shafi'i scholar Al-Nawawī wrote that a "woman, a hermaphrodite, a slave even when partially enfranchised, a minor and a lunatic are exempt from jizya."<ref name="Nawawi-Ar">Al-Nawawī, Minhaj al-Talibin, 3:277.</ref><ref name="Nawawi-En">Template:Cite book</ref> The 14th century Hanbali scholar Ibn Qayyim wrote, "And there is no Jizya upon the aged, one suffering from chronic disease, the blind, and the patient who has no hope of recovery and has despaired of his health, even if they have enough."<ref>Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, Ahkam Ahl al-Dhimma, 1/16. Quote: «ولا جزية على شيخ فان ولا زمن ولا أعمى ولا مريض لا يرجى برؤه، بل قد أيس من صحته، وإن كانوا موسرين: وهذا مذهب أحمد وأصحابه، وأبي حنيفة، ومالك، والشافعي في أحد أمواله، لأن هؤلاء لا يقتلون ولا يقاتلون، فلا تجب عليهم الجزية كالنساء والذرية.» Translation: "And there is no Jizya upon the aged, one suffering from chronic disease, the blind, and the patient who has no hope of recovery and has despaired of his health, even if they have enough: And this is the opinion of Ahmad and his followers, and Abū Ḥanīfah, Malik, and al-Shafi'i in one narration, since those do not fight and aren't fought, and so the jizya is exempted from them such as women and children."</ref> Ibn Qayyim adds, referring to the four Sunni maddhabs: "There is no Jizya on the kids, women and the insane. This is the view of the four imams and their followers. Ibn Mundhir said, 'I do not know anyone to have differed with them.' Ibn Qudama said in al-Mughni, 'We do not know of any difference of opinion among the learned on this issue."<ref>Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, Ahkam Ahl Al-Dhimma, 1/14. Quote: «ولا جزية على صبي ولا امرأة ولا مجنون: هذا مذهب الأئمة الأربعة وأتباعهم. قال ابن المنذر: ولا أعلم عن غيرهم خلافهم. وقال أبو محمد ابن قدامة في " المغنى " : (لا نعلم بين أهل العلم خلافا في هذا) .» Translation: "There is no Jizya on the kids, women and the insane: This is the view of the four imams and their followers. Ibn Mundhir said, 'I do not know anyone to have differed with them.' Abu Muhammad Ibn Qudama said in 'al-Mughni', 'We do not know of any difference of opinion among the learned on this issue.'"</ref> In contrast, the Shāfi'ī jurist Al-Nawawī wrote: "Our school insists upon the payment of the poll-tax by sickly persons, old men, even if decrepit, blind men, monks, workmen, and poor persons incapable of exercising a trade. As for people who seem to be insolvent at the end of the year, the sum of the poll tax remained as debt to their account until they should become solvent."<ref name="Nawawi-Ar"/><ref name="Nawawi-En"/> Abu Hanifa, in one of his opinions, and Abu Yusuf held that monks were subject to jizya if they worked.Template:Sfn Ibn Qayyim stated that the dhahir opinion of Ibn Hanbal is that peasants and cultivators were also exempted from jizya.<ref>Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, Ahkam Ahl Al-Dhimma, 1/17. Quote: «وأما الفلاحون الذين لا يقاتلون والحراثون [...] وظاهر كلام أحمد أنه لا جزية عليهم» Translation: "As for peasants who do not fight ... the dhahir from the writings of Ahmad [ibn Hanbal] is that there is no jizya [on them]."</ref>

Though jizya was mandated initially for People of the Book (Judaism, Christianity, Sabianism), it was extended by Islamic jurists to all non-Muslims.<ref>Seed, Patricia. Ceremonies of Possession in Europe's Conquest of the New World, 1492–1640, Cambridge University Press, Oct 27, 1995, pp. 79–80.</ref><ref name="al-Yaqoubi1">Template:Cite book</ref> Thus Muslim rulers in India, with the exception of Akbar, collected jizya from Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs under their rule.<ref name=markovits>Markovits, C. (Ed.). (2002). A History of Modern India: 1480–1950. Anthem Press; pages 28–39, 89–127</ref>Template:Nonspecific<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> While early Islamic scholars like Abu Hanifa and Abu Yusuf stated that jizya should be imposed on all non-Muslims without distinction, some later and more extremist jurists do not permit jizya for idolators and instead only allowed the choice of conversion to avoid death.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

The sources of jizya and the practices varied significantly over Islamic history.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Shelomo Dov Goitein states that the exemptions for the indigent, the invalids and the old were no longer observed in the milieu reflected by the Cairo Geniza and were discarded even in theory by the Shāfi'ī jurists who were influential in Egypt at the time.<ref>Goiten, S.D., "Evidence on the Muslim Poll Tax from Non-Muslim Sources", Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 1963, Vol. 6, pp. 278–9, quote – "The provisions of ancient Islamic law which exempted the indigent, the invalids and the old, were no longer observed in the Geniza period and had been discarded by the Shāfi'ī School of Law, which prevailed in Egypt, also in theory."</ref> According to Kristen A. Stilt, historical sources indicate that in Mamluk Egypt, poverty did "not necessarily excuse" the dhimmi from paying the tax, and boys as young as nine years old could be considered adults for tax purposes, making the tax particularly burdensome for large, poor families.<ref name=Stilt-5.4>Template:Cite book</ref> Ashtor and Bornstein-Makovetsky infer from Geniza documents that jizya was also collected in Egypt from the age of nine in the 11th century.<ref name=ashtornine>Eliyahu Ashtor and Leah Bornstein-Makovetsky (2008), Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd Edition, Volume 12, Thomson Gale, Article: Kharaj and Jizya, Quote: "...Many extant *Genizah letters state that the collectors imposed the tax on children and demanded it for the dead. As the family was held responsible for the payment of the jizya by all its members, it sometimes became a burden and many went into hiding in order to escape imprisonment. For example there is a Responsum by *Maimonides from another document, written in 1095, about a father paying the jizya for his two sons, 13 and 17 years old. From another document, written around 1095, it seems that the tax was due from the age of nine."</ref>

Rate of the jizya tax

The rates of jizya were not uniform,<ref name="Britannica-Afsaruddin">Template:Cite web</ref> as Islamic scripture gave no fixed limits to the tax.<ref name="ArnoldPoI03">Template:Cite book (online)</ref> By the time of Mohammed, the jiyza rate was one dinar per year imposed on male dhimmis in Medina, Mecca, Khaibar, Yemen, and Nejran.Template:Sfn According to Muhammad Hamidullah, the rate was ten dirhams per year "in the time of the Prophet", but this amounted to only "the expenses of an average family for ten days".<ref name=":2">Template:Cite book</ref> Abu Yusuf, the chief qadhi of the caliph Harun al-Rashid, states that there was no amount permanently fixed for the tax, though the payment usually depended on wealth: the Kitab al-Kharaj of Abu Yusuf sets the amounts at 48 dirhams for the richest (e.g. moneychangers), 24 for those of moderate wealth, and 12 for craftsmen and manual laborers.<ref name=Hunter>Hunter, Malik and Senturk, p. 77</ref>Template:Sfn Moreover, it could be paid in kind if desired;Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Ghayr1">Template:Cite book 3rd Ed. Quote: «وكان يسمح بدفع الجزية نقداً أو عيناً، لكن لا يسمح بتقديم الميتة أو الخنزير أو الخمر بدلاً من الجزية.» Translation: "And it was accepted to pay it in cash or in kind, but it wasn't permitted to [pay] the jizya by means of dead [animals], pigs or wine." (online)</ref> cattle, merchandise, household effects, even needles were to be accepted in lieu of specie (coins),<ref name="ArnoldPoI5"/> but not pigs, wine, or dead animals.<ref name="Ghayr1"/><ref name="ArnoldPoI5">Template:Cite book (online)</ref>

The jizya varied in accordance with the affluence of the people of the region and their ability to pay. In this regard, Abu Ubayd ibn Sallam comments that the Prophet imposed 1 dinar (then worth 10 or 12 dirhams) upon each adult in Yemen. This was less than what Umar imposed upon the people of Syria and Iraq, the higher rate being due to the Yemenis greater affluence and ability to pay.<ref>The Spread of Islam Throughout the World, edited by Idris El Hareir, Ravane Mbaye, p. 200.</ref>

The rate of jizya that were fixed and implemented by the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate, namely 'Umar bin al-Khattab, during the period of his Khilafah, were small amounts: four dirhams from the rich, two dirhams from the middle class and only one dirham from the active poor who earned by working on wages, or by making or vending things.<ref name=":12">Muhammad Shafi, Ma'ārifu'l-Qur'ān 4, p. 364.</ref>

At least during one period, during the governorship of Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf in Iraq (680–714), the rate of jizya was sufficiently high and more than taxes on Muslims that officials of Al-Hajjaj's wrote to warn him that public revenues had greatly diminished because Christians were converting to Islam to avoid paying jizyah.<ref>Amin, Ahmad, Doha al Islam (The Forenoon of Islam), v.1, p.363] quoted in Template:Cite book</ref>

The 13th-century scholar Al-Nawawī writes, "The minimum amount of the jizya is one dinar per person per annum; but it is commendable to raise the amount, if it be possible to two dinars, for those possessed of moderate means, and to four for rich persons."<ref>Al-Nawawī (Translated by E.C. Howard) (2005). Minhaj et talibin: a manual of Muhammadan law. Adam Publishers. pp. 339–340. Template:ISBN.</ref> Abu 'Ubayd insists that the dhimmis must not be burdened beyond their capacity, nor must they be caused to suffer.<ref>Ahmet Davutoğlu (1994), Alternative paradigms: the impact of Islamic and Western Weltanschauungs on political theory, p. 160. University Press of America.</ref>

Scholar Ibn Qudamah (1147 – 7 July 1223) narrates three views on what the rates of jizya should be.

1. That it is a fixed amount that can't be changed, a view that is reportedly shared by scholars of fiqh Abu Hanifa and al-Shafi'i.
2. That it is up to the Imam (Muslim ruler) to make ijtihād (independent reasoning) so as to decide whether to add or decrease. He gives the example of 'Umar making particular amounts for each class (the rich, the middle class and the active poor).
3. That there should be a strict minimum to be one dinar, but there is no upper limit.<ref>Ibn Qudamah, Al-Mughni, 13/209-10. Quote: «وفي مقدار الجزية ثلاث روايات: 1 – أنها مقدرة بمقدار لا يزيد عليه ولا ينقص منه، وهذا قول أبي حنيفة والشافعي؛ [...] 2 – أنها غير مقدرة بل يرجع فيها إلى اجتهاد الإمام في الزيادة والنقصان، قال الأشرم: قيل لأبي عبد الله: فيزداد اليوم فيه وينقص؟ يعني من الجزية، قال: نعم، يزاد فيه وينقص على قدر طاقتهم، على ما يرى الإمام، [...] وعمر جعل الجزية على ثلاث طبقات: – على الغني ثمانية وأربعين درهمًا. – وعلى المتوسط أربعة وعشرين درهما. – وعلى الفقير اثني عشر درهما. [...] وهذا يدل على أنها إلى رأي الإمام. [...] قال البخاري في صحيحه (4/ 117)، قال ابن عيينة: عن ابن أبي نجيح، قلت لمجاهد: ما شأن أهل الشام عليهم أربعة دنانير، وأهل اليمن عليهم دينار؟ قال: جعل ذلك من أجل اليسار، ولأنها عوض فلم تتقدر كالأجرة. 3 – أن أقلها مقدر بدينار، وأكثرها غير مقدر، وهو اختيار أبي بكر، فتجوز الزيادة ولا يجوز النقصان؛» Translation:(incomplete) "Concerning the rate of jizya, [we can discern between] three opinions: 1. That it is a fixed amount that can't be augmented, nor abated, and this is the opinion [as narrated from] Abu Hanifa and al-Shafi'i; [...] 2. That it isn't fixed, but it is up to the Imam (Muslim ruler) to make ijtihad (independent reasoning) in [determining whether to make] additions or subtractions, al-Ashram said: It was said to Abi 'Abd Allah: So we add or reduce it? Meaning from jizya. He said: "Yes, it is added or subtracted according to their (dhimmis) capability, [and] according to what the Imam sees [most fitting] [...] And 'Umar made the jizya into three different layers: 48 dirhams from the rich, 24 dirhams from the middle class and 12 dirhams from the [working] poor. [...] And this indicates that it goes to the opinion of the Imam. [...] al-Bukhari said in his Sahih (4:117): Ibn 'Uyaynah said: From Ibn Abi Najih: I said to Mujahid: What is the matter with the people of al-Sham who are required to pay 4 dinars, whereas the people of Yemen [only] pay one dinar? He said: It was made so for easing things (depending on the capacity of each), and since it is in exchange for something so its [amount] wasn't fixed like employment. [...] 3. That its minimum is rated at one dinar, but its maximum isn't fixed, and this is the choice of Abu Bakr, so it is permitted to add, and it wouldn't be lawful to reduce."</ref>

Scholar Ibn Khaldun (1332 – 17 March 1406) states that jizya has fixed limits that cannot be exceeded.<ref>Ibn Khaldun, translation: Franz Rosenthal, N. J. Dawood (1969), The Muqaddimah : an introduction to history; in three volumes 1, p. 230. Princeton University Press.</ref> In the classical manual of Shafi'i fiqh Reliance of the Traveller it is stated that, "[t]he minimum non-Muslim poll tax is one dinar (n: 4.235 grams of gold) per person (A: per year). The maximum is whatever both sides agree upon."<ref name= "reliance1">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name = "reliance2">Template:Cite web</ref>

Collection methods

According to Al-Ghazali jizya was "to establish liberty of conscience in the world" and not for "compelling people to embrace Islam; that would be an unholy war."<ref name=":2" />

According to Mark R. Cohen, the Quran itself does not prescribe humiliating treatment for the dhimmi when paying Jizya, but some later Muslims interpreted it to contain "an equivocal warrant for debasing the dhimmi (non-Muslim) through a degrading method of remission".Template:Sfn In contrast, the 13th century hadith scholar and Shafi'ite jurist Al-Nawawī, comments on those who would impose a humiliation along with the paying of the jizya, stating, "As for this aforementioned practice, I know of no sound support for it in this respect, and it is only mentioned by the scholars of Khurasan. The majority of scholars say that the jizya is to be taken with gentleness, as one would receive a debt. The reliably correct opinion is that this practice is invalid and those who devised it should be refuted. It is not related that the Prophet or any of the rightly-guided caliphs did any such thing when collecting the jizya."Template:Sfn<ref name="Nawawi2">Al-Nawawī, Rawḍat al-Ṭālibīn wa ‛Umdat al-Muftīn, vol. 10, pp. 315–6. al-Maktab al-Islamiy. Ed. Zuhayr al-Chawich. Quote: « قُلْتُ: هَذِهِ الْهَيْئَةُ الْمَذْكُورَةُ أَوَّلًا: لَا نَعْلَمُ لَهَا عَلَى هَذَا الْوَجْهِ أَصْلًا مُعْتَمَدًا، وَإِنَّمَا ذَكَرَهَا طَائِفَةٌ مِنْ أَصْحَابِنَا الخراسَانِيِّينَ، وَقَالَ جُمْهُورٌ الْأَصْحَابِ: تُؤْخَذُ الْجِزْيَةُ بِرِفْقٍ ، كَأَخْذِ الدُّيُونِ . فَالصَّوَابُ الْجَزْمُ بِأَنَّ هَذِهِ الْهَيْئَةَ بَاطِلَةٌ مَرْدُودَةٌ عَلَى مَنِ اخْتَرَعَهَا، وَلَمْ يُنْقَلْ أَنَّ النَّبِيَّ وَلَا أَحَدًا مِنَ الْخُلَفَاءِ الرَّاشِدِينَ فَعَلَ شَيْئًا مِنْهَا ، مَعَ أَخْذِهِمِ الْجِزْيَةَ.» Translation: "As for this aforementioned practice (hay'ah), I know of no sound support for it in this respect, and it is only mentioned by the scholars of Khurasan. The majority (jumhūr) of scholars say that the jizya is to be taken with gentleness, as one would receive a debt (dayn). The reliably correct opinion is that this practice is invalid and those who devised it should be refuted. It is not related that the Prophet or any of the rightly-guided caliphs did any such thing when collecting the jizya." (Translation by Dr. Caner Dagli, taken from: H.R.H. Prince Ghazi Muhammad, Ibrahim Kalin and Mohammad Hashim Kamali (Editors) (2013), War and Peace in Islam: The Uses and Abuses of Jihad Template:Webarchive, pp. 82–3. The Islamic Texts Society Cambridge. Template:ISBN.)</ref><ref name="Buti2">Template:Cite book Quote: «الإمام النووي [...] قال في كتابه روضة الطالبين [...]: «قلْت: هذه الْهيئَة الْمذكورة أَولا: لا نعلَم لها علَى هذا الْوجه أَصلا معتمدا، وإِنما ذكرها طائِفة من أَصحابنا الخراسانيين، وقال جمهور الأَصحاب: تؤْخذ الجزية برفق، كأَخذ الديون. فالصواب الجزم بأَن هذه الْهيئَة باطلة مردودة على من اخترعها، ولم ينقل أَن النبي ولا أَحدا من الخلَفاء الراشدين فعل شيئَا منها، مع أَخذهم الْجزية.» وقد كرر هذا التحذير وهذا النكير على هؤلاء المخترعين، في كتابه المشهور المنهاج.» Translation: "The Imām al-Nawawī [...] said in his book Rawḍat al-Ṭālibīn [...] : «I said: As for this aforementioned practice, I know of no sound support for it in this respect, and it is only mentioned by the scholars of Khurasan. The majority (jumhūr) of scholars say that the jizya is to be taken with gentleness, as one would receive a debt (dayn). The reliably correct opinion is that this practice is invalid and those who devised it should be refuted. It is not related that the Prophet or any of the rightly-guided caliphs did any such thing when collecting the jizya.» And he repeated this warning and this negation on those innovators, in his famous book al-Minhāj." (online)</ref> Ibn Qudamah also rejected this practice and noted that Muhammad and the Rashidun caliphs encouraged that jizya be collected with gentleness and kindness.Template:Sfn<ref name="Buti7">Template:Cite book Translation: "And Ibn Qudāmah mentioned in his Mughni (encyclopedic book on fiqh) some of these flawed innovations [in the collection of this tax], and he clarified that the way of the Prophet of God – Peace be upon him -, his companions, and the rightly-guided caliphs was contrary to that, and that they encouraged that jizya be collected with gentleness and kindness." (online)</ref><ref name="IbnQudamah1">Ibn Qudamah, Al-Mughni, 4:250.</ref>

Ann Lambton states that the jizya was to be paid "in humiliating conditions".Template:Sfn Many of the Islamic scholars base this on Surat At-Tawbah 9:29 which states – "(9:29) Those who do not believe in Allah and the Last Day – even though they were given the scriptures, and who do not hold as unlawful that which Allah and His Messenger have declared to be unlawful, and who do not follow the true religion – fight against them until they pay tribute out of their hand and are utterly subdued." Ennaji and other scholars state that some jurists required the jizya to be paid by each in person, by presenting himself, arriving on foot not horseback, by hand, in order to confirm that he lowers himself to being a subjected one, and willingly pays.<ref name="mennp60">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The Maliki scholar Al-Qurtubi states, "their punishment in case of non-payment [of jizya] while they were able [to do so] is permitted; however, if their inability to pay it was clear then it isn't lawful to punish them, since, if one isn't able to pay the jizya, then he is exempted".<ref>Al-Qurtubi, Ahkam al-Qur'an, vol. 8, p. 49. Quote: «وأما عقوبتهم إذا امتنعوا عن أدائها مع التمكين فجائز، فأما مع تبين عجزهم فلا تحل عقوبتهم، لأن من عجز عن الجزية سقطت عنه» Translation: "Their punishment in case of non-payment [of jizya] while they were able [to do so] is permitted; however, if their inability to pay it was clear, then it isn't lawful to punish them, since, if one isn't able to pay the jizya, then he is exempted."</ref> According to Abu Yusuf, jurist of the fifth Abbasid Caliph Harun al-Rashid, those who didn't pay jizya should be imprisoned and not be let out of custody until payment; however, the collectors of the jizya were instructed to show leniency and avoid corporal punishment in case of non-payment.Template:Sfn If someone had agreed to pay jizya, leaving Muslim territory for enemy land was, in theory, punishable by enslavement if they were ever captured. This punishment did not apply if the person had suffered injustices from Muslims.<ref>Humphrey Fisher (2001), Slavery in the History of Muslim Black Africa. NYU Press. p. 47.</ref>

Failure to pay the jizya was commonly punished by house arrest and some legal authorities allowed enslavement of dhimmis for non-payment of taxes.<ref name="Lewis, B. 1992 pages 7">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=mcmh>Mark R. Cohen (2005), Poverty and Charity in the Jewish Community of Medieval Egypt, Princeton University Press, Template:ISBN, pp. 120–3; 130–8, Quotes: "Family members were held responsible for individual's poll tax (mahbus min al-jizya)"; "Imprisonment for failure to pay (poll tax) debt was very common"; "This imprisonment often meant house arrest... which was known as tarsim"</ref><ref>I. P. Petrushevsky (1995), Islam in Iran, SUNY Press, Template:ISBN, pp 155, Quote – "The law does not contemplate slavery for debt in the case of Muslims, but it allows the enslavement of Dhimmis for non-payment of jizya and kharaj.(...) "</ref> In South Asia, for example, seizure of dhimmi families upon their failure to pay annual jizya was one of the two significant sources of slaves sold in the slave markets of Delhi Sultanate and Mughal era.<ref>Scott C. Levi (2002), "Hindu Beyond Hindu Kush: Indians in the Central Asian Slave Trade." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 12, Part 3 (November 2002): p. 282</ref>

Use of tax

Jizya was considered one of the basic tax revenues for the early Islamic state along with zakat, kharaj, and others.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and was collected by the Bayt al-Mal (public treasury).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Holger Weiss states that four fifths of the fay revenue, jizya and kharaj, goes to the public treasury according to the Shafi'i madhhab, whereas the Hanafi and Maliki madhhabs state that the entire fay goes to the public treasury.<ref>Holger Weiss, Social Welfare in Muslim Societies in Africa, p. 17.</ref>

In theory, jizya funds were distributed as salaries for officials, pensions to the army and charity.Template:Sfn Cahen states, "But under this pretext it was often paid into the Prince's khass, "private" treasury."Template:Sfn In later times, jizya revenues were commonly allocated to Islamic scholars so that they would not have to accept money from sultans whose wealth came to be regarded as tainted.Template:Sfn

Sources disagree about expenditure of jizya funds on non-Muslims. Ann Lambton states that non-Muslims had no share in the benefits from the public treasury derived from jizya.Template:Sfn In contrast, according to several Muslim scholars, Islamic tradition records a number of episodes in which the second caliph, Umar, stipulated for needy and infirm dhimmis to be supported from the Bayt al-Mal, which some authors hold to be representative of Islam.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn<ref name="Tahir-ul-Qadri"/><ref name="Ihsan2">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=islamicfinance>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>'Umar bin 'Abd al-'Aziz Qurchi, Samahat al-Islam. pp. 278–9. Maktabat al-'Adib.</ref> Evidence of jizya benefitting non-residents and temporary residents of an Islamic state is found in the treaty that Khalid bin al-Walid concluded with the people of Al-Hirah of Iraq in which any aged person who was weak, had lost his or her ability to work, fallen ill, or who had been rich but became poor, would be exempt from jiyza and his or livelihood and the livelihood of his or her dependents, who were not living permanently in the Islamic state, would be met by Bayt al-Mal.<ref name=islamicfinance2>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Shibli2">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book Translation: "Let us recall here the practice of the Caliph Abu Bakr : After the conquest of the city of Hirah, the commandant Khalid, by the name of the Caliph, concluded a treaty, where he states : "... I assured them that any [non-Muslim] person who is unable to earn his livelihood, or is struck by disaster, or who becomes destitute and is helped by the charity of his fellow men will be exempted from the jizya and he and his family will be supplied with sustenance by the Bayt al-Mal (public treasury), and this, as long as he's staying in the abode of Islam (dar al-Islam)."</ref><ref>Template:Cite book Translation: "And it was stated in the treaty of Khalid b. al-Walid with the people of al-Hirah: I assured them that any [non-Muslim] person who is unable to earn his livelihood, or is struck by disaster, or who becomes destitute and is helped by the charity of his fellow men will be exempted from the jizya and he and his family will be supplied with sustenance by the Bayt al-Mal (public treasury)." (online)</ref><ref>Template:Cite book Quote: «هذا كتاب من خالد بن الوليد لاهل الحيرة [...] وأيما شخص ضعف عن العمل أو أصابته آفة من الآفات أو كان غنيا فافتقر وصار أهل دينه يتصدقون عليه، طرحت جزيته وأعيل من بيت مال المسلمين و عياله» Translation: "This is a treaty of Khalid b. al-Walid to the people of al-Hirah [...] Any [non-Muslim] person who is unable to earn his livelihood, or is struck by disaster, or who becomes destitute and is helped by the charity of his fellow men will be exempted from the jizya and he and his family will be supplied with sustenance by the Bayt al-Mal (public treasury)."</ref><ref name="Ihsan1">Template:Cite book Translation: "And dhimmis had also a kind of social insurance in case of destitution or advanced age or sickness, and the justification for that is the treaty of Khalid b. al-Walid that he wrote with the people of al-Hirah [who were] Christians after its fath: 《Any [non-Muslim] person who is unable to earn his livelihood, or is struck by disaster, or who becomes destitute and is helped by the charity of his fellow men will be exempted from the jizya and he and his family will be supplied with sustenance by the Bayt al-Mal (public treasury).》"</ref><ref>Template:Cite book 3rd Ed. (online); Template:Cite book 3rd Ed. Translation: "The Prophet of God ﷺ said: «Everyone of you is a guardian, and everyone of you is responsible for his charges: The ruler (Imām) is a guardian and is responsible for his subjects ...» And that is how things went in the (period) of the Rāshidūn and those after them. So we find in the treaty of protection between Khālid b. al-Walīd and the town of al-Ḥīrah in ʿIrāq, who were Christians: (I assured them that any [non-Muslim] person who is unable to earn his livelihood, or is struck by disaster, or who becomes destitute and is helped by the charity of his fellow men will be exempted from the jizya and he and his family will be supplied with sustenance by the public treasury). And this was in the era of Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq, with the presence of a large number of companions, and this was (also) written by Khālid to Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq the successor of the Prophet of God, and no one disagreed with him (on this matter), and (so) things like this are considered to be a consensus." (online)</ref> Hasan Shah states that non-Muslim women, children, the indigent and slaves are exempted from the payment of jizya, and they are also helped by stipends from the public treasury when necessary.<ref name="HasanShah220"/>

At least in the early Islamic era of the Umayyads, jizya was levy that sufficiently onerous for non-Muslims and its had a sufficiently significant revenue for rulers that there were more than a few accounts of non-Muslims seeking to convert to avoid paying it and revenue-conscious authorities denying them the opportunity.<ref name=RGHIGP2015:199/>

Robert Hoyland mentions repeated complaints by fiscal agents of revenues diminishing as conquered people converting to Islam, peasants attempting to convert and join the military but being rounded up and sent back to the countryside to pay taxes and governors circumventing the exemption on jizya for converts by requiring recitation of the Quran and circumcision.<ref name=RGHIGP2015:199>Hoyland, In God's Path, 2015: p.199</ref>

Patricia Seed describes the purpose of jizya as "a personal form of ritual humiliation directed at those defeated by a superior Islam" and quotes the Quranic verse calling for jizya: "Fight those who believe not in Allah... nor acknowledge the religion of truth... until they pay the jizya with willing submission and feel themselves subdued". She notes that the word translated as "subdued", ṣāghirūn, comes from the root ṣ-gh-r ("small", "little", "belittled" or "humbled").<ref name="seed-1995-79">Template:Cite book</ref> Seed calls the idea that jizya was a contribution to help pay for the "military defense" of those who paid not a rationale but a rationalisation that was often found in societies in which the conquered paid tribute to conquerors.<ref name="seed-1995-82">Template:Cite book</ref>

History

Origins

The history of the origins of the jizya is very complex for the following reasons:Template:Sfn

• Abbasid authors who systematized earlier historical writings in which the term jizya was used with different meanings interpreted it according to the usage common in their own time.
• The system established by the Arab conquest was not uniform but rather resulted from a variety of agreements or decisions.
• The earlier systems of taxation on which it was based are still imperfectly understood.Template:Sfn

William Montgomery Watt traces its origin to a pre-Islamic practice among the Arabian nomads in which a powerful tribe would agree to protect its weaker neighbors in exchange for a tribute that would be refunded if the protection proved ineffectual.<ref name="ReferenceA">William Montgomery Watt (1980), pp. 49–50.</ref> Robert Hoyland describes it as a poll tax originally paid by "the conquered people" to the mostly-Arab conquerors, but it later became a "religious tax, payable only by non-Muslims".<ref name=RGHIGP2015:198>Hoyland, In God's Path, 2015: p.198</ref>

Jews and Christians in some southern and eastern areas of the Arabian Peninsula began to pay tribute, called jizya, to the Islamic state during Muhammad's lifetime.Template:Sfn It was not originally the poll tax that it would become later but rather an annual percentage of produce and a fixed quantity of goods.Template:Sfn

During the Tabuk campaign in 630, Muhammad sent letters to four towns in the northern Hejaz and Palestine to urge them to relinquish maintenance of a military force and rely on Muslims to ensure their security in return for payment of taxes.<ref name="Gil">Template:Cite book</ref> Moshe Gil argues that the texts represent the paradigm of letters of security that would be issued by Muslim leaders during the subsequent early conquests, including the use of the word jizya, which would later take on the meaning of poll tax.<ref name="Gil"/>

Jizya received divine sanction in 630, when the term was mentioned in a Quranic verse (9:29).Template:Sfn Max Bravmann argues that the Quranic usage of the word jizya develops a pre-Islamic common-law principle, which states that reward must necessarily follow a discretional good deed into a principle mandating that the life of all prisoners of war belonging to a certain category must be spared if they grant the "reward" (jizya) to be expected for an act of pardon.Template:Sfn

In 632, jizya, in the form of a poll tax, was first mentioned in a document that was reportedly sent by Muhammad to Yemen.Template:Sfn W. Montgomery Watt argues that the document was tampered with by early Muslim historians to reflect a later practice, but Norman Stillman holds it to be authentic.Template:Sfn

Emergence of classical taxation system

Taxes levied on local populations in the wake of early Islamic conquests could be of three types, based on whether they were levied on individuals, on the land, or as collective tribute.Template:Sfn During the first century of Islamic expansion, the words jizya and kharaj were used in all these three senses, with context distinguishing between individual and land taxes ("kharaj on the head," "jizya on land," and vice versa).Template:Sfn<ref name="anver">Anver M. Emon, Religious Pluralism and Islamic Law: Dhimmis and Others in the Empire of Law, p. 98, note 3. Oxford University Press, Template:ISBN. Quote: "Some studies question the nearly synonymous use of the terms kharaj and jizya in the historical sources. The general view suggests that while the terms kharaj and jizya seem to have been used interchangeably in early historical sources, what they referred to in any given case depended on the linguistic context. If one finds references to "a kharaj on their heads," the reference was to a poll tax, despite the use of the term kharaj, which later became the term of art for land tax. Likewise, if one fins the phrase "jizya on their land," this referred to a land tax, despite the use of jizya which later come to refer to the poll tax. Early history therefore shows that although each term did not have a determinate technical meaning at first, the concepts of poll tax and land tax existed early in Islamic history." Denner, Conversion and the Poll Tax, 3–10; Ajiaz Hassan Qureshi, "The Terms Kharaj and Jizya and Their Implication", Journal of the Punjab University Historical Society 12 (1961): 27–38; Hossein Modarressi Rabatab'i, Kharaj in Islamic Law (London: Anchor Press Ltd, 1983).</ref> In the words of Dennett, "since we are talking in terms of history, not in terms of philology, the problem is not what the taxes were called, but what we know they were."Template:Sfn Regional variations in taxation at first reflected the diversity of previous systems.Template:Sfn The Sasanian Empire had a general tax on land and a poll tax having several rates based on wealth, with an exemption for aristocracy.Template:Sfn In Iraq, which was conquered mainly by force, Arabs controlled taxation through local administrators, keeping the graded poll tax, and likely increasing its rates to 1, 2 and 4 dinars.Template:Sfn The aristocracy exemption was assumed by the new Arab-Muslim elite and shared by local aristocracy by means of conversion.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The nature of Byzantine taxation remains partly unclear, but it appears to have involved taxes computed in proportion to agricultural production or number of working inhabitants in population centers.Template:Sfn In Syria and upper Mesopotamia, which largely surrendered under treaties, taxes were calculated in proportion to the number of inhabitants at a fixed rate (generally 1 dinar per head).Template:SfnTemplate:Clarify They were levied as collective tribute in population centers which preserved their autonomy and as a personal tax on large abandoned estates, often paid by peasants in produce.Template:Sfn In post-conquest Egypt, most communities were taxed using a system which combined a land tax with a poll tax of 2 dinars per head.Template:SfnTemplate:Clarify Collection of both was delegated to the community on the condition that the burden be divided among its members in the most equitable manner.Template:Sfn In most of Iran and Central Asia local rulers paid a fixed tribute and maintained their autonomy in tax collection, using the Sasanian dual tax system in regions like Khorasan.Template:Sfn

Difficulties in tax collection soon appeared.Template:Sfn Egyptian Copts, who had been skilled in tax evasion since Roman times, were able to avoid paying the taxes by entering monasteries, which were initially exempt from taxation, or simply by leaving the district where they were registered.Template:Sfn This prompted imposition of taxes on monks and introduction of movement controls.Template:Sfn In Iraq, many peasants who had fallen behind with their tax payments, converted to Islam and abandoned their land for Arab garrison cities in hope of escaping taxation.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Faced with a decline in agriculture and a treasury shortfall, the governor of Iraq al-Hajjaj forced peasant converts to return to their lands and subjected them to the taxes again, effectively forbidding peasants to convert to Islam.Template:Sfn In Khorasan, a similar phenomenon forced the native aristocracy to compensate for the shortfall in tax collection out of their own pockets, and they responded by persecuting peasant converts and imposing heavier taxes on poor Muslims.Template:Sfn

The situation where conversion to Islam was penalized in an Islamic state could not last, and the devout Umayyad caliph Umar II has been credited with changing the taxation system.Template:Sfn Modern historians doubt this account, although details of the transition to the system of taxation elaborated by Abbasid-era jurists are still unclear.Template:Sfn Umar II ordered governors to cease collection of taxes from Muslim converts,Template:Sfn but his successors obstructed this policy. Some governors sought to stem the tide of conversions by introducing additional requirements such as undergoing circumcision and the ability to recite passages from the Quran.Template:Sfn According to Hoyland, taxation-related grievances of non-Arab Muslims contributed to the opposition movements which resulted in the Abbasid revolution.Template:Sfn In contrast, Dennett states that it is incorrect to postulate an economic interpretation of the Abbasid Revolution. The notion of an Iranian population staggering under a burden of taxation and ready to revolt at the first opportunity, as imagined by Gerlof van Vloten, "will not bear the light of careful investigation", he continues.Template:Sfn

Under the new system that was eventually established, kharaj came to be regarded as a tax levied on the land, regardless of the taxpayer's religion.Template:Sfn The poll-tax was no longer levied on Muslims, but treasury did not necessarily suffer and converts did not gain as a result, since they had to pay zakat, which was instituted as a compulsory tax on Muslims around 730.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The terminology became specialized during the Abbasid era, so that kharaj no longer meant anything more than land tax, while the term "jizya" was restricted to the poll-tax on dhimmis.Template:Sfn

India

File:Aurangzeb-portrait.jpg

Indian Emperor Aurangzeb, who re-introduced jizya

In India, Islamic rulers imposed jizya on non-Muslims starting with the 11th century.<ref name=jacksonpages284286>Template:Cite book</ref> The taxation practice included jizya and kharaj taxes. These terms were sometimes used interchangeably to mean poll tax and collective tribute, or just called kharaj-e-jizya.<ref>Irfan Habib, Economic History of Medieval India, 1200–1500, Vol VIII, part 1, pp. 78–80. Template:ISBN.</ref>

Jizya was expanded by the Delhi Sultanate. Alauddin Khilji legalized the enslavement of the jizya and kharaj defaulters. His officials seized and sold these slaves in growing Sultanate cities where there was a great demand of slave labour.<ref>Fouzia Ahmed (2009), The Delhi Sultanate: A Slave Society or A Society with Slaves?, Pakistan Journal of History and Culture, 30(1): 8–9</ref> The Muslim court historian Ziauddin Barani recorded that Qazi Mughisuddin of Bayanah advised Alā' al-Dīn that Islam requires imposition of jizya on Hindus, to show contempt and to humiliate the Hindus, and imposing jizya is a religious duty of the Sultan.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

During the early 14th century reign of Muhammad bin Tughlaq, expensive invasions across India and his order to attack China by sending a portion of his army over the Himalayas, emptied the precious metal in the treasury of the Sultanate.<ref name=vincentpages236242/><ref>William Hunter (1903), Template:Google books, 23rd Edition, pp. 124–8</ref> He ordered minting of coins from base metals with face value of precious metals. This economic experiment failed because Hindus in his Sultanate minted counterfeit coins from base metal in their homes, which they then used for paying jizya.<ref name=vincentpages236242>Vincent A Smith, Template:Google books, Chapter 2, pp 236–42, Oxford University Press</ref><ref>Muḥammad ibn Tughluq Encyclopedia Britannica (2009)</ref> In the late 14th century, mentions the memoir of Tughlaq dynasty's Sultan Firoz Shah Tughlaq, his predecessor taxed all Hindus but had exempted all Hindu Brahmins from jizya; Firoz Shah extended it to also include the Brahmins at a reduced rate.<ref name=vincentpages249251/><ref name=firoz374383>Futuhat-i Firoz Shahi Autobiography of Firoz Shah Tughlaq, Translated y Elliot and Dawson, Volume 3 – The History of India, Cornell University, pp 374–83</ref> He also announced that any Hindu who converted to Islam would become exempt from taxes and jizya as well as receive gifts from him.<ref name=vincentpages249251/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> On those who chose to remain Hindus, he raised the jizya tax rate.<ref name=vincentpages249251>Vincent A Smith, Template:Google books, Chapter 2, pp. 249–51, Oxford University Press.</ref>

In Kashmir, Sikandar Butshikan levied jizya on those who objected to the abolition of hereditary varnas, allegedly at the behest of his neo-convert minister Suhabhatta.<ref>Kingship in Kaśmīr (AD 1148‒1459); From the Pen of Jonarāja, Court Paṇḍit to Sulṭān Zayn al-‛Ābidīn. Edited by Walter Slaje. With an Annotated Translation, Indexes and Maps. [Studia Indologica Universitatis Halensis. 7.] Halle 2014. Template:ISBN</ref><ref name=":1">Template:Cite book</ref> Ahmad Shah (1411–1442), a ruler of Gujarat, introduced the Jizyah in 1414 and collected it with such strictness that many people converted to Islam to evade it.<ref>Satish C. Misra, The Rise of Muslim Power in Gujarat (Bombay, 1963), p.175.</ref>

Jizya was later abolished by the third Mughal emperor Akbar, in 1564.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":13">Template:Cite book</ref> However, in 1679, Aurangzeb chose to re-impose jizya on non-Muslim subjects in lieu of military service, a move that was sharply critiqued by many Hindu rulers and Mughal court-officials.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":13" /><ref name=":02">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The specific amount varied with the socioeconomic status of a subject and tax-collection were often waived for regions hit by calamities; also, monks, musta'mins, women, children, elders, the handicapped, the unemployed, the ill, and the insane were all perpetually exempted.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":02" /><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The collectors were mandated to be Muslims.<ref name=":13" /> In some areas revolts led to its periodic suspension such as the 1704 AD suspension of jizya in Deccan region of India by Aurangzeb.<ref>Markovits, C. (Ed.). (2002). A History of Modern India: 1480–1950, Anthem Press. pp. 109–12.</ref>

Southern Italy

After the Norman conquest of Sicily, taxes imposed on the Muslim minority were also called the jizya (locally spelled gisia).<ref name=gisia/> This poll tax was a continuation of the jizya imposed on non-Muslims in the Emirate of Sicily and Bari by Islamic rulers of southern Italy, before the Norman conquest.<ref name=gisia>Shlomo Simonsohn, Between Scylla and Charybdis: The Jews in Sicily, Brill, Template:ISBN, pp 24, 163</ref>

Ottoman Empire

File:Jizya document Chokmanovo 1615.jpg

A jizya document from 17th century Ottoman Empire.

Jizya collected from Christian and Jewish communities was among the main sources of tax income of the Ottoman treasury.<ref name=opp287/> In some regions, such as Lebanon and Egypt, jizya was payable collectively by the Christian or the Jewish community, and was referred to as maqtu—in these cases the individual rate of jizya tax would vary, as the community would pitch in for those who could not afford to pay.<ref>Stefan Winter (2012), The Shiites of Lebanon under Ottoman Rule, 1516–1788, Cambridge University Press, Template:ISBN, p. 64.</ref><ref>Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd Edition. Edited by: P. Bearman et al (1960), Template:ISBN, Jizya</ref>Template:Page needed

The Ottoman state also collected Jizya from Muslim and non-Muslim groups they registered as Gypsy (Kıpti), such as Roma in Western Anatolia and Balkans and Abdals, Doms and Loms in Kastamonu, Çankırı-Tosya, Ankara, Malatya, Harput, Antep, and Aleppo no later than late 17th century. Abdals and Tahtacıs in Teke (Antalya) were affiliated with another fiscal category, ifraz-ı zulkadriyye, until 1858, when the Ottoman reformers incorporated the fixed tax of relevant groups into the Gypsy poll tax.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Abolition

In Persia, jizya was paid by the Zoroastrian minority until 1884, when it was removed by pressure on the Qajar government from the Persian Zoroastrian Amelioration Fund.<ref>"The Zoroastrians who remained in Persia (modern Iran) after the Arab–Muslim conquest (7th century AD) had a long history as outcasts. Although they purchased some toleration by paying the jizya (poll tax), not abolished until 1882, they were treated as an inferior race, had to wear distinctive garb, and were not allowed to ride horses or bear arms." Gabars, Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. 29 May 2007.Template:Full citation needed</ref>

The jizya was eliminated in Algeria and Tunisia in the 19th century, but continued to be collected in Morocco until the first decade of the 20th century (these three dates of abolition coincide with the French colonization of these countries).<ref>"Though in Tunisia and Algeria the jizya/kharaj practice was eliminated during the 19th century, Moroccan Jewry still paid these taxes as late as the first decade of the twentieth century." Michael M. Laskier, North African Jewry in the Twentieth Century: Jews of Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria, NYU Press, 1994, p. 12.</ref>

The Ottoman Empire abolished the jizya in 1856. It was replaced with a new tax, which non-Muslims paid in lieu of military service. It was called baddal-askari (lit. 'military substitution'), a tax exempting Jews and Christians from military service. The Jews of Kurdistan, according to the scholar Mordechai Zaken, preferred to pay the "baddal" tax in order to redeem themselves from military service. Only those incapable of paying the tax were drafted into the army. Zaken says that paying the tax was possible to an extent also during the war and some Jews paid 50 gold liras every year during World War I. According to Zaken, "in spite of the forceful conscription campaigns, some of the Jews were able to buy their exemption from conscription duty." Zaken states that the payment of the baddal askari during the war was a form of bribe that bought them at most a one-year deferment."<ref>Mordechai Zaken, Jewish Subjects and their Tribal Chieftains in Kurdistan: A Study in Survival, Brill, 2007, pp. 280–284–71.</ref>

In recent times

The jizya is no longer imposed by Muslim states.<ref name=iwt738/>Template:Sfn Nevertheless, there have been reports of non-Muslims in areas controlled by the Pakistani Taliban and ISIS being forced to pay the jizya.<ref name=ipt-p283/><ref name="raqqa"/>

In 2009, officials in the Peshawar region of Pakistan claimed that members of the Taliban forced the payment of jizya from Pakistan's minority Sikh community after occupying some of their homes and kidnapping a Sikh leader.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) announced that it intended to extract jizya from Christians in the city of Raqqa, Syria, which it controlled.Template:Citation needed

In June, the Institute for the Study of War reported that ISIL claims to have collected the fay, i.e. jizya and kharaj.<ref name="ISWJune30">Template:Cite web</ref>

The late Islamic scholar Abul A'la Maududi, of Pakistan, said that Jizya should be re-imposed on non-Muslims in a Muslim nation.<ref name="esposito-shahin-149" /> Yusuf al-Qaradawi of Egypt also held that position in the mid-1980s;<ref name="rsp101102">Template:Cite book</ref> however, he later reconsidered his legal opinion on this point, stating: "[n]owadays, after military conscription has become compulsory for all citizens—Muslims and non-Muslims—there is no longer room for any payment, whether by name of jizya or any other."<ref name="Qaradawi">Template:Cite book Quote: «و اليوم بعد أن أصبح التجنيد الإجباري مفروضا على كل المواطنين − مسلمين و غير مسلمين − لم يعد هناك مجال لدفع أي مال، لا باسم جزية، و لا غيرها.» Translation: "Nowadays, after military conscription has become compulsory for all citizens — Muslims and non-Muslims — there is no longer room for any payment, whether by name of jizya, or any other." (online)</ref> According to Khaled Abou El Fadl, moderate Muslims generally reject the dhimma system, which encompasses jizya, as inappropriate for the age of nation-states and democracies.<ref name="HarperOne"/>

Assessment and historical context

Some authors have characterized the complex of land and poll taxes in the pre-Abbasid era and implementation of the jizya poll tax in early modern South Asia as discriminatory and/or oppressive,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn<ref name=jamalmalik>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Chandra, S. (1969), Jizyah and the State in India during the 17th Century, Journal de l'histoire economique et sociale de l'Orient, p. 339. Quote: "Politically, the greatest objection to jizyah was that it harassed and alienated some of the most influential sections of the Hindus, namely the urban masses [...] These people were subjected to great harassment and oppression by the collectors of jizyah, and in retaliation resorted on a number of occasions to hartal and public demonstrations."</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and the majority of Islamic scholars, amongst whom are Al-Nawawi and Ibn Qudamah, have criticized humiliating aspects of its collection as contrary to Islamic principles.Template:Sfn<ref name="Nawawi2"/><ref>Takim, L. (2007), Holy Peace or Holy War: Tolerance and Co-existence in the Islamic Juridical Tradition, Islam and Muslim Societies, 4(2). pp. 14–6</ref><ref name="Buti3">Template:Cite book Quote: «تزيدات مبتدعة في طريقة استحصال الرسم أو الضريبة التي تسمى الجزية. و في معاملة الكتابيين عموماً، لم نقرأها في القرآن، و لم نجد دليلاً عليها في سنَّة عن رسول الله ﷺ، و إنما ذكرها بعض متأخري الفقهاء. [...] و قد أنكر محققو الفقهاء على إختلاف مذاهبهم، هده التزايدات المبتدعة، و المقحمة في أحكام الشرع و مبادئه، و حذروا من اعتمادها و الأخذ بها.» Translation: "Heretical additions in the collection methods of the tax that is called the jizya, and in the common behavior with the People of the Book in general, that we didn't read in the Qur'an, and that we didn't find evidence for in the Sunnah of the Prophet of God – Peace be upon him, but that was mentioned by some later jurists (fuqahā). [...] In point of fact, leading scholars (muḥaqqiqū) of jurisprudence, despite their differences in their respective schools of jurisprudence (madhāhib), have denied and refuted these heretical innovations, that were intrusive in the rules and principles of the Law, and they warned against following and taking them."</ref> Discriminatory regulations were utilized by many pre-modern polities.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> However, W. Cleveland and M. Bunton assert that dhimma status represented "an unusually tolerant attitude for the era and stood in marked contrast to the practices of the Byzantine Empire". They add that the change from the Byzantine and Persian rule to Arab rule lowered taxes and allowed dhimmis to enjoy a measure of communal autonomy.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> According to Bernard Lewis, available evidence suggests that the change from Byzantine to Arab rule was "welcomed by many among the subject peoples, who found the new yoke far lighter than the old, both in taxation and in other matters".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Ira Lapidus writes that the Arab-Muslim conquests followed a general pattern of nomadic conquests of settled regions, whereby conquering peoples became the new military elite and reached a compromise with the old elites by allowing them to retain local political, religious, and financial authority.<ref name="Lapidus">Template:Cite book</ref> Peasants, workers, and merchants paid taxes, while members of the old and new elites collected them.<ref name="Lapidus"/> Payment of various taxes, the total of which for peasants often reached half of the value of their produce, was not only an economic burden, but also a mark of social inferiority.<ref name="Lapidus"/>

Norman Stillman writes that although the tax burden of the Jews under early Islamic rule was comparable to that under previous rulers, Christians of the Byzantine Empire (though not Christians of the Persian empire, whose status was similar to that of the Jews) and Zoroastrians of Iran shouldered a considerably heavier burden in the immediate aftermath of the Arab conquests.Template:Sfn He writes that escape from oppressive taxation and social inferiority was a "great inducement" to conversion and flight from villages to Arab garrison towns, and many converts to Islam "were sorely disappointed when they discovered that they were not to be permitted to go from being tribute bearers to pension receivers by the ruling Arab military elite," before their numbers forced an overhaul of the economic system in the 8th century.Template:Sfn

The influence of jizya on conversion has been a subject of scholarly debate.<ref name="Tramontana">Template:Cite journal</ref> Julius Wellhausen held that the poll tax amounted to so little that exemption from it did not constitute sufficient economic motive for conversion.Template:Sfn Similarly, Thomas Arnold states that jizya was "too moderate" to constitute a burden, "seeing that it released them from the compulsory military service that was incumbent on their Muslim fellow subjects." He further adds that converts escaping taxation would have to pay the legal alms, zakat, that is annually levied on most kinds of movable and immovable property.<ref name="ArnoldPoI7">Template:Cite book (online)</ref> Other early 20th century scholars suggested that non-Muslims converted to Islam en masse in order to escape the poll tax, but this theory has been challenged by more recent research.<ref name="Tramontana"/> Daniel Dennett has shown that other factors, such as desire to retain social status, had greater influence on this choice in the early Islamic period.<ref name="Tramontana"/> According to Halil İnalcık, the wish to avoid paying the jizya was an important incentive for conversion to Islam in the Balkans, though Anton Minkov has argued that it was only one among several motivating factors.<ref name="Tramontana"/>

Mark R. Cohen writes that despite the humiliating connotations and the financial burden, the jizya paid by Jews under Islamic rule provided a "surer guarantee of protection from non-Jewish hostility" than that possessed by Jews in the Latin West, where Jews "paid numerous and often unreasonably high and arbitrary taxes" in return for official protection, and where treatment of Jews was governed by charters which new rulers could alter at will upon accession or refuse to renew altogether.Template:Sfn The Pact of Umar, which stipulated that Muslims must "do battle to guard" the dhimmis and "put no burden on them greater than they can bear", was not always upheld, but it remained "a steadfast cornerstone of Islamic policy" into early modern times.Template:Sfn

Yaser Ellethy states that the "insignificant amount" of the jizya, as well as its progressive structure and exemptions leave no doubt that it was not imposed to persecute people or force them to convert.Template:Sfn Niaz A. Shah states that jizya is "partly symbolic and partly commutation for military service. As the amount is insignificant and exemptions are many, the symbolic nature predominates."Template:Sfn Muhammad Abdel-Haleem states, "[t]he jizya is a very clear example of the acceptance of a multiplicity of cultures within the Islamic system, which allowed people of different faiths to live according to their own faiths, all contributing to the well-being of the state, Muslims through zakāt, and the ahl al-dhimma through jizya."Template:Sfn

In his essay, ethnographer Shelomo Dov Goitein highlighted the limitation of studying the potential economic and other adverse social consequences of the jizya without any reference to non-Muslim sources:<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Template:Blockquote

In 2016, Muslim scholars from more than 100 countries signed the Marrakesh Declaration, a document that called for a new Islamic jurisprudence based on the recognition of civic nationalism based governments, implying that the dhimmī system is inapplicable in the modern era in relation to the time of the writing of the Qur'an.<ref name="Britannica-Afsaruddin"/>

See also

• Dhimmi
• Kharaj
• Leibzoll
• Ottoman Millet system
• Rav akçesi
• Taxation of the Jews in Europe
• Tolerance tax
• Al-Kaffarah
• Religious discrimination
• 1942 wealth tax in Turkey

References

Sources

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• Aisha Y. Musa "jizya: Towards a Qur'ānically-based understanding of a Historically Problematic Term", in Transcendental Thought, November 2011.
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• Cleveland, William L. A History of the Modern Middle East, Westview Press, Nov 1, 1999. Template:ISBN
• Choudhury, Masudul Alam; Abdul Malik, Uzir (1992). The Foundations of Islamic Political Economy. Hampshire: The Macmillan Press. Template:ISBN.
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• Donner, Fred McGraw (1981). The Early Islamic Conquests, Princeton University Press.
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• Narain, Harsh (1990). Jizyah and the spread of Islam. New Delhi: Voice of India.
• Hunter, Shireen; Malik, Huma; Senturk, Recep (2005). Islam and Human Rights: Advancing a U.S.-Muslim Dialogue. Center for Strategic and International Studies.
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• Goiten, S.D. "Evidence on the Muslim Poll Tax from Non-Muslim Sources", Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 1963, Vol. 6.
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• Seed, Patricia. Ceremonies of Possession in Europe's Conquest of the New World, 1492–1640, Cambridge University Press, Oct 27, 1995, Template:ISBN.
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• Watt, William Montgomery (1980), Islamic Political Thought: The Basic Concepts (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press).

External links

• Jizya – Encyclopædia Britannica