Jizya

In states ruled by Islamic law, jizya or jizyah (Arabic: جزْية; Ottoman Turkish: cizye) is a per capita tax imposed on able bodied non-Muslim men of military age. The tax is not supposed to be levied on slaves, women, children, monks, the old, the sick, hermits and the poor, though these provisions were abandoned in some later periods of Muslim history. Non-Muslim citizens who pay the tax are permitted to practice their faith and to enjoy a measure of communal autonomy as well as being entitled to Muslim protection from outside aggression and being exempted from military service amongst numerous other exemptions to levies upon Muslim citizens.

Taxation from the perspective of people who came under the Muslim rule, was a concrete continuation of the taxes paid to earlier regimes, but now lower under the Muslim rule and from the point of view of the Muslim conqueror was a material proof of the payer's subjection.

Definitions

Shakir and Khalifa's English translations of the Qur'an render jizya as "tax", while Pickthal translates it as "tribute". Yusuf Ali prefers to transliterate the term as jizyah.

Commentators disagree on the definition and derivation of the word jizya:

• Yusuf Ali states "The derived meaning, which became the technical meaning, was a poll-tax levied from those who did not accept Islam, but were willing to live under the protection of Islam, and were thus tacitly willing to submit to the laws enforced by the Muslim State."
• Monqiz As-Saqqar attributes the word jizya to the root word jaza meaning "compensate" and defines it as "a sum of money given in return for protection".
• Shaikh Sayed Sabiq, in the Fiqh Alsunna (a commonly used source of fiqh), also states that the underlying root of the word jizya is jaza, and defines it as "A sum of money to be put on anyone who enters the themah (protection and the treaty of the Muslims) from the people of the book".
• Ibn Al-Mutaraz derives the word from 'idjzã, meaning "substitute" or "sufficiency" because "it suffices as a substitute for the dhimmi's embracement of Islam."
• Al-Marghinani, in his classical 12th century legal commentary The Hedaya (or al Hidayah), states that jizya means "retribution", and defines it as "a species of punishment, inflicted upon infidels on account of their infidelity, whence it is termed Jizyat"
• Yusuf al-Qaradawi says the word jizya is derived from the jazaa', meaning "reward", "return", or "compensation", and defines it as "a payment by the non-Muslim according to an agreement signed with the Muslim state".
• Edward William Lane, in An Arabic-English Lexicon defines jizya as a "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".
• Ibn Rushd explains that jizya is in fact a broader concept than just a head-tax. It also includes monies exacted in times of war from infidel enemies – what is normally understood in English by the word ‘tribute’ – as well as levies (‘ushr) on infidel merchants who are trading in the Dar al-Harb.

In practice, the word is applied to a special type of tax, levied upon the non-Muslim adult males living under an Islamic state.

Sources

Qur'an

The imposition of jizya upon non-Muslims is mandated by the Quran 9:29:

Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold forbidden that which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizyah with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.

This is the only Qur'anic verse that enjoins struggle against people of the book. Patricia Crone states that this verse is the only Qur'anic verse which seems to endorse war of aggression, however if read as a continuation of previous verses (Quran 9:1–23), it would be concerned against a particular group of "dualists" (musyrikun) who are accused of oath-breaking and aggression (cf. Quran 9:30)

Hadith

Jizya is mentioned a number of times in the hadith. Common themes across multiple hadith (and often multiple collections of hadith) include Muhammad ordering his military commanders to fight non-Muslims until they accepted Islam or paid the jizya, Muhammad and a number of caliphs imposing jizya on various peoples, and the eventual abolition of jizya by Jesus' Second Coming.

Sunan Abu-Dawud

• Sunan Abu-Dawud Book 13, Number 2955 mentions that Umar ibn al-Khattab levied jizya on non-Muslims in return for providing protection to them.
• Book 19, Number 2955 has Umar ibn al-Khattab stating that he provided protection for non-Muslims by levying jizya on them, and neither took one-fifth from it, nor took it as booty.
• Book 19, Number 3031 states that Muhammad captured Ukaydir, the Christian prince of Dumah, and spared his life and made peace with him on the condition that he paid jizya.
• Book 37, Number 4310 states that Jesus will come again, and at that time will (among other things) abolish jizya, as Allah will "perish all religions except Islam".

Sahih Bukhari

• Sahih Bukhari Volume 2, Book 24, Number 559 states that the King of Aila wrote to Muhammad that his people agreed to pay the jizya tax in return for being allowed to stay in their place.
• Volume 3, Book 34, Number 425 states that Jesus will abolish the jizya, as does Volume 4, Book 55, Number 657.
• Volume 4, Book 53, Number 384 states that Umar did not take the jizya from the "Magian infidels" (Zoroastrians) until he heard testimony that Muhammad had taken the jizya from the Magians of Hajar.
• Volume 4, Book 53, Number 385 states that Muhammad collected jizya from the people of Bahrain, as do Volume 5, Book 59, Number 351 and Volume 8, Book 76, Number 43.
• Volume 4, Book 53, Number 386 states that Muhammad commanded Al-Mughira and his army to fight non-Muslims until they worshiped Allah alone or gave jizya.
• Volume 4, Book 53, Number 404 has Muhammad stating that one day Allah will make the dhimmis "so daring that they will refuse to pay the Jizya they will be supposed to pay".
• Volume 5, Book 57, Number 50 states, "...I also recommend him concerning Allah's and His Apostle's protectees (i.e. Dhimmis) to fulfill their contracts and to fight for them and not to overburden them with what is beyond their ability..."

Sahih Muslim

• Sahih Muslim Book 1, Numbers 287 and 289 state that the "son of Mary" will "descend as a just judge" and, among other things, abolish the jizya.
• Book 19, Number 4294 states that Muhammad commanded his military leaders to demand jizya from non-Muslims if they refused to accept Islam, and to fight them if they refused to pay.
• Book 32, Number 6328 states that Hisham b. Hakim b. Hizam passed by Syrian farmers who had been detained for jizya and made to stand in the sun, and Number 6330 states that he came by some Nabateans who had been detained "in connection with the dues of jizya". In both cases his response was to quote Muhammad as saying "Allah would torment those persons who torment people in the world."
• Book 42, Number 7065 states that that Muhammad collected jizya from the people of Bahrain.

Al-Muwatta

• Al-Muwatta of Malik Book 17, Number 17.24.42 states that Muhammad collected jizya from the "Magians" (Zoroastrians) of Bahrain, Umar ibn al-Khattab from Magians of Persia, and Uthman ibn Affan from the Berbers.
• Book 17, Number 17.24.44 states that Umar ibn al-Khattab imposed a jizya tax of four dinars on those living where gold was the currency, and forty dirhams on those living where silver was the currency. As well, they had to "provide for the Muslims and receive them as guests for three days".
• Book 17, Number 17.24.45 states that Umar ibn al-Khattab took a camel branded as jizya (not zakat) and ordered for it to be slaughtered, the meat placed on platters with fruits and delicacies, and distributed to the wives of Muhammad. He then had the remainder prepared and invited the Muhajirun and the Ansar to eat it. Malik stated regarding this "I do not think that livestock should be taken from people who pay the jizya except as jizya."
• Book 17, Number 17.24.46 states that Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz relieved those who converted to Islam from paying jizya. It also gives the sunnah on those who must pay jizya, principally non-Muslim males who have reached puberty, rather than zakat, as zakat is for the purpose of purifying Muslims, whereas jizya is for the purpose of humbling non-Muslims. It also outlines the additional jizya travelling traders must pay, and the rationale for that.

Application

Jizya was applied to every free adult male member of the People of the Book, and/or non-Muslim living in lands under Muslim rule and the funds were collected for the benefit of the Muslim Ummah. 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. Females, children, the poor, and hermits were exempt. The disabled and elderly were exempt unless they were independently wealthy, as were mendicant monks—those living in productive monasteries had to pay. Though jizya was mandated specifically for other monotheistic faiths (Judaism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism), under the Maliki school of Fiqh jizya was extended to all non-Muslims. Thus some Muslim rulers also collected jizya from Hindus and Sikhs under their rule. The collection of the tax was sometimes the duty of the elders of those communities, but often it was collected directly from individuals, in accordance with specific payment rituals described in the writings of Muslim jurists.

In return for the tax, those who paid the jizya were permitted to keep their non-Muslim religion. They could not serve in the military or bear arms, but their community was considered to be under the protection of the Muslim state, subject to their meeting certain conditions. Non-Muslims were also exempt from zakat, or mandatory charity paid by Muslims. If someone refused to pay the jizya, he could be imprisoned, according to Abu Yusuf.

Refusal to pay the jizya tax resulted in warfare until the Islamic rule was accepted. The change from Byzantine and Persian rule to Arab rule lowered taxes and created greater religious freedom, and was welcomed by some Jews and Christians. Nevertheless, taxation was a concern for non-Muslims who were paying a higher tax than the zakat tax paid by Muslims. It was also an important factor persuading many dhimmis to convert to Islam, though during the first century after the Arab conquest of Syria and Palestine conversion to Islam was not encouraged "partly because the jizyah constituted an important source of state revenue". Bernard Lewis, Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University, states that the discrimination in the amount of taxation was inherited from the previous Byzantium and Iranian empires. Scholars differ as to the exact burden imposed by the jizya tax. Documentary evidence, including that found in eleventh-century Cairo Geniza documents, suggest that the burden, at least for the poorer classes, was heavy. As the taxation amount was fixed in gold, it became less burdensome over the centuries.

So it was vital during the spread of Islam to note, that since the Jizyah was lower than taxes paid by populations during Byzantine and Persian Rule, and since it is equated to Zakat tax paid by muslims, earliest forms of common liabilty citizenships not only encouraged non-muslims to accept muslim rule but was instrumental in the conversions of poorer adherents of other faiths into Islam as they would have become the recipients of the zakat which was the islamic form of Social Welfare. Thus these taxation regulations promoted conversion.

In modern times, the jizya and zakat taxes have been replaced by other forms of taxation. One effect worth noting, has emerged in the 19th and 20th century, was that finally church funded charities have emerged mimicking the zakat in the Middle East which has significantly decreased economic-based apostasy.

Islamic legal commentary

• Al-Mawardi (the famous Shafi’i jurist of Baghdad), stated in al-Ahkam as-Sultaniyyah (The Laws of Islamic Governance) that jizya is paid by the enemy in return for peace, and if the payment of jizya ceases, then jihad is resumed.
• The Shia jurist, Grand Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi states in Tafsir Nemooneh that the main philosophy of jizya is that it is only a financial aid to those Muslims who are in the charge of safeguarding the security of the state and Dhimmi's lives and properties on their behalf
• Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi's Chapter Introductions to the Quran states that Muslims were enjoined to tolerate the "misguidance" of non-Muslims "only to the extent that they might have the freedom to remain misguided if they chose to be so provided that they paid Jizyah as a sign of their subjugation to the Islamic State."
• Malik, in Al-Muwatta (Book 17, Number 17.24.45), protests the practice of summarily appropriating livestock from dhimmis; he states that livestock should only be taken as jizya. In Book 17, Number 17.24.46, he states that the sunnah is that jizya is only taken from male dhimmis and Zoroastrians who have reached puberty. Jizya is imposed on non-Muslim "People of the Book" to humble them; also, they do not have to pay zakat, which is paid by Muslims as mandatory charity. If the non-believers remain in one country, they pay no other property taxes; however, if they do business in multiple Muslim countries, then they have to pay ten percent of the value of the traded goods each time they move to another country. The reason given is that jizya is imposed on the condition (which they have agreed to) that they will stay in one country and avail of the security thus availed them by their submission; if they do business in multiple countries, then this is outside the stipulated agreements and conditions for jizya, and therefore they must pay ten percent each time. Malik also states that this was the practice in his city. Finally, in Book 21, Number 21.19.49a Malik states that when one collects jizya from a people who surrendered peacefully, then they are allowed to keep their land and property. However, if they are overcome in battle and forced to give jizya, then their land and property become booty for Muslims.
• Al-Zamakhshari, a Mu'tazili author of one of the standard commentaries on the Qur'an, said that "the Jizyah shall be taken from them with belittlement and humiliation. The dhimmi shall come in person, walking not riding. When he pays, he shall stand, while the tax collector sits. The collector shall seize him by the scruff of the neck, shake him, and say "Pay the Jizyah!" and when he pays it he shall be slapped on the nape of the neck."
• Abu Yusuf, an eighth century Hanafi jurist states in his Kitab al-Kharaj that "The wali [governor of a province] is not allowed to exempt any Christian, Jew, Magian, Sabean, or Samaritan from paying the tax, and no one can obtain a partial reduction. It is illegal for one to be exempted and another not, because their lives and possessions are spared only on account of the payment of the jizya. He also cautions that "[n]o one of the ahl al-dhimma should be beaten in order to exact payment of the jizya, nor made to stand in the hot sun, nor should hateful things be inflicted upon their bodies, or anything of that sort. Rather, they should be treated with leniency. [. . .] It is proper, O Commander of the Faithful--may Allah be your support--that you treat leniently those people who have a contract of protection from your Prophet and cousin, Muhammad--may Allah bless him and grant him peace. You should look after them, so that they are not oppressed, mistreated, or taxed beyond their means."
• Javed Ahmed Ghamidi writes in Mizan that certain directives of the Qur’an were specific only to Muhammad against peoples of his times, besides other directives, the campaign involved asking the polytheists of Arabia for submission to Islam as a condition for exoneration and the others for jizya and submission to the political authority of the Muslims for exemption from death punishment and for military protection as the dhimmis of the Muslims.

History

Early Islam and the Rashidun Caliphate

Jizya was levied in the time of Muhammad on vassal tribes under Muslim protection, including Jews in Khaybar, Christians in Najran, and Zoroastrians in Bahrain. William Montgomery Watt traces its origin to a pre-Islamic practice among the Arabian nomads wherein a powerful tribe would agree to protect its weaker neighbors in exchange for a tribute, which would be refunded if the protection proved ineffectual.

Muhammad himself sent a letter to the Christians and Jews of Elath requiring the imposition of jizya:

I have no intention of fighting you before writing to you. Thou hast to accept Islam, or pay the tax, and obey God and his Messenger and the messengers of his Messenger, and do them honour and dress them in fine clothing, not in the raiment of raiders; therefore clothe Zayd in fine robes, for if you satisfy my envoys, you will satisfy me. Surely the tax is known to you. Therefore if you wish to be secure on land and on sea, obey God and his Messenger and you will be free of all payments that you owed the Arab [tribes] or non-Arabs, apart from the payment to God [which is] the payment of his Messenger. But be careful lest thou do not satisfy them, for then I shall not accept anything from you, but I shall fight you and take the young as captives and slay the elderly. . . . Come then, before a calamity befalls you...

Under Caliph Umar the Zoroastrian Persians were given People of the Book status, and jizya was levied on them. Christian Arab tribes in the north of the Arabian Peninsula refused to pay jizya, but agreed to pay double the amount, and calling it sadaqa, a word meaning "alms" or "charity". According to Yusuf al-Qaradawi the name change was done for the benefit of the Christian tribesmen, "out of consideration for their feelings".Fred Donner, however, in The Early Islamic Conquests, states that the difference between sadaqa and jizya is that the former was levied on nomads, whereas the latter was levied on settled non-Muslims. Donner sees sadaqa as being indicative of the lower status of nomadic tribes, so much so that that Christian tribesmen preferred to pay the jizya. Jabala b. al-Ayham of the B. Ghassan is reported asked Umar "Will you levy sadaqa from me as you would from the [ordinary] bedouin (al-'arab)?" Umar acceded to collecting jizya from him instead, as he did from other Christians.

Sir Thomas Arnold, an early 20th century orientalist, gives an example of a Christian Arab tribe which avoided paying the jizya altogether by fighting alongside Muslim armies "such was the case with the tribe of al-Jurajimah, a Christian tribe in the neighbourhood of Antioch, who 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".

In his message to the people of Al-Hirah, Khalid bin Walid is recorded as saying (in reference to the jizya), "When a person is too old to work or suffers a handicap, or when he falls into poverty, he is free from the dues of the poll tax; his sustenance is provided by the Muslim Exchequer." A letter attributed to Khalid bin Walid said that "This is a letter of Khalid ibn al-Waleed to Saluba ibn Nastuna and his people; I agreed with you on al-jezyah and protection. As long as we protect you we have the right in al-jezyah, otherwise we have none.”

According to Muslim accounts of Umar, in his time some payers of the jizya were compensated if they had not been cared for properly. The accounts vary, but describe his meeting an old Jew begging, and assisting him; according to one version:

Umar said to him, "Old man! We have not done justice to you. In your youth we realized Jizyah from you and have left you to fend for yourself in your old age". Holding him by the hand, he led him to his own house, and preparing food with his own hands fed him and issued orders to the treasurer of the Bait-al-mal that that old man and all others like him, should be regularly doled out a daily allowance which should suffice for them and their dependents.

Mughal India

In India, Islamic rulers imposed jizya starting in the 11th century. It was abolished by Akbar. However, Aurangzeb, the last prominent Mughal Emperor, levied jizya on his mostly Hindu subjects in 1679.The imposition of jizya, after it had not been collected by previous emperors for 117 years, created enormous opposition and sectarian strife which started the decline of the Mughal Empire.

Nineteenth century

In Persia, jizya was paid by Zoroastrian minority until 1884, when it was removed by pressure on the Qajar government from the Persian Zoroastrian Amelioration Fund.

In 1894 jizya was still being collected in Morocco; an Italian Jew described his experience there:

The kadi Uwida and the kadi Mawlay Mustafa had mounted their tent today near the Mellah [Jewish ghetto] gate and had summoned the Jews in order to collect from them the poll tax [jizya] which they are obliged to pay the sultan. They had me summoned also. I first inquired whether those who were European-protected subjects had to pay this tax. Having learned that a great many of them had already paid it, I wished to do likewise. After having remitted the amount of the tax to the two officials, I received from the kadi’s guard two blows in the back of the neck. Addressing the kadi and the kaid, I said” ‘Know that I am an Italian protected subject.’ Whereupon the kadi said to his guard: ‘Remove the kerchief covering his head and strike him strongly; he can then go and complain wherever he wants.’ The guards hastily obeyed and struck me once again more violently. This public mistreatment of a European-protected subject demonstrates to all the Arabs that they can, with impunity, mistreat the Jews.

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.

Criticism

Criticism of jizya has typically focused not only on its specific application to non-Muslims, but also its humiliating nature. It has been described as a demonstration of "constitutional inferiority and humiliation". According to Khaled Abou Al-Fadl:

[Jizya] is conducive to an arrogance that can easily descend into a lack of respect or concern for the well-being or dignity of non-Muslims. When this arrogant orientation is coupled with textual sources that exhort Muslims to fight against unbelievers (kuffar), it can produce a radical belligerency.

Orientalist S.D. Goitein writes:

It was, of course, evident that the tax represented a discrimination and was intended, according to the Koran's own words, to emphasize the inferior status of the non-believers. It seemed, however, that from the economic point of view, it did not constitute a heavy imposition, since it was on a sliding scale, approximately one, two, and four dinars, and thus adjusted to the financial capacity of the taxpayer. This impression proved to be entirely fallacious, for it did not take into consideration the immense extent of poverty and privation experienced by the masses, and in particular their way of living from hand to mouth, their persistent lack of cash, which turned the "season of the tax" into one of horror, dread, and misery. 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.

See also

• Devşirme system
• Dhimmi laws
• Gabr
• Kharaj
• Ottoman Millet system
• Minority religion
• Second-class citizen
• Zakat
• Islam and other religions
• Jizye

References

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• Bat Ye'or. The Decline of Eastern Christianity under Islam. From Jihad to Dhimmitude. Seventh-Twentieth Century (Madison/Teaneck, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press/Associated University Presses, 1996)
• Bat Yeor. Islam and Dhimmitude: Where Civilizations Collide, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2002. ISBN 0838639437
• Bostom, Andrew. "The Legacy of Jihad in Historical Palestine (Part I)", The American Thinker, November 19, 2005.
• Cleveland, William L. A History of the Modern Middle East, Westview Press, Nov 1, 1999. ISBN 0-8133-3489-6
• Donner, Fred McGraw. The Early Islamic Conquests, Princeton University Press, 1981.
• Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. 29 May 2007.
• John Louis Esposito. Islam the Straight Path, Oxford University Press, Jan 15, 1998. ISBN 0-19-511233-4
• Gil, Moshe. A History of Palestine: 634-1099, Cambridge University Press, 1997. ISBN 0-521-59984-9
• 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.
• Ibn Rushd, Abu al-Walid Muhammad ibn Ahmad. The Distinguished Primer (Bidayat al-Mujtahid wa Nihayat al-Muqtsid). 2 vol. work. Trans. Imran Ahsan Khan Nyazee. (Reading, UK: Garnet Publishing, 2002).
• Ibn Warraq. Why I Am Not A Muslim, Prometheus Books (hardcover), 1995. ISBN 0-87975-984-4
• Laskier, Michael M. North African Jewry in the Twentieth Century: Jews of Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria, NYU Press, 1994. ISBN 0814751296
• Lewis, Bernard. The Jews of Islam, Princeton University Press, Jun 1, 1987. ISBN 0-691-00807-8
• Maududi, Sayyid Abul Ala. The Meaning of the Qur'an, A. A. Kamal (Editor). ISBN 1-56744-134-3
• Seed, Patricia. Ceremonies of Possession in Europe's Conquest of the New World, 1492-1640, Cambridge University Press, Oct 27, 1995, ISBN 0-521-49757-4
• Stillman, Norman: The Jews of Arab Lands: A History and Source Book (Philadelphia, Jewish Publication Society of America, 1979).
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External links

• Jizya - Encyclopædia Britannica
• The Fair Logic of Jizyah - Jasser Auda