Jizya

A jizya document from 17th century Ottoman Empire.

Jizya or jizyah (Arabic: جِزْيَة‎; [d͡ʒizjah]) is a per capita yearly taxation historically levied in the form of financial charge on dhimmi, that is, permanent non-Muslim subjects of a state governed by Islamic law.

Quotes

• Jizya will be collected from every free, sane, adult, healthy and able-bodied non-Muslim subject, the Jew and the Christian, the Zoroastrian and the non-Arab and Sabian idol-worshipper, but not from an Arab idol- worshipper, an apostate, a women, a slave, a renegade, a slave who has been promised freedom on payment of stipulated price, a minor, a bed-ridden person, a person whose hands and feet have been cut off, a paralytic, a blind man, a decrepit, a palsied man, an insane person and an idiot. Whether they have fallen victims to these ailments and others resembling them, on account of which they have been bed-ridden after the imposition of jizya or before, it is immaterial. Jizya will not be imposed on an invalid beggar who is not able to work and earn and if, in spite of his ability, he avoids work, he should be treated as an able-bodied person. .. Jizya lapses on death and on acceptance of Islam. Whether such lapse continues for the whole year or a part of it is immaterial. If a non-Muslim subject during the course of the year dies or embra- ces Islam after making the payment of Jizya, the tax of that year should not be shown against his name. ..The non- Muslim should himself bring the Jizya ; if he sends it through his deputy it should not be accepted. At the time of the payment the non-Muslim should keep standing. While the chief should keep sitting ; the hand of the non-Muslim should be below and that of the chief above it and he should say. “Make payment of Jizya O ! non-Muslim” and should not say, “Oh infidel”.
  • AURANGZEB'S orders about the imposition and COLLECTION OF JIZYA 26th July 1696. quoted from Sharma, Sri Ram, Religious Policy of the Mughal Emperors, Bombay, 1962. Appendix in Chaper 9. quoted in part in K.S. Lal. Theory and Practice of Muslim State in India (1999)

• ... the jizyah was levied on the able-bodied males, in lieu of the military service they would have been called upon to perform had they been Musalmans; and it is very noticeable that when any Christian people served in the Muslim army, they were exempted from the payment of this tax. Such was the case with the tribe of al-Jurājima, a Christian tribe in the neighborhood 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 jizyah and should receive their proper share of the booty.
  • Thomas Walker Arnold (1913). The Preaching of Islam: a History of the Propagation of the Muslim Faith. Constable & Robinson Ltd. pp. 61-62. 

• This tax fell only upon non-Moslems capable of military service; it was not levied upon monks, women, adolescents, slaves, the old, crippled, blind or very poor. In return the Dhimmi were excused (or excluded) from military service, were exempted from the two and a half per cent tax for community charity, and received the protection of the government.
  • Will Durant (1950). The Story of Civilization: The Age of Faith. Heron Books. p. 218. 

• In many ways, local populations found Muslim rule more flexible and tolerant than that of Byzantium and Persia. Religious communities were free to practice their faith—to worship and be governed by their religious leaders and laws in such areas as marriage, divorce, and inheritance. In exchange, they were required to pay tribute, a poll tax (jizya) that entitled them to Muslim protection from outside aggression and exempted them from military service. Thus, they were called the “protected ones” (dhimmi). In effect, this often meant lower taxes, greater local autonomy.
  • John L. Esposito (1988). Islam: The Straight Path. New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press (1st edition). p. 39. 

• Submit to Islam and be safe. Or agree to the payment of the Jizya (tax), and you and your people will be under our protection, else you will have only yourself to blame for the consequences, for I bring the men who desire death as ardently as you desire life.
  • Khalid ibn al-Walid , This letter was written by Khalid, from his head-quarters in Babylonia, to the Persian monarch Emperor Yazdegerd III before invading it. (History of the World, Volume IV [Book XII. The Mohammedan Ascendency], page 463, by John Clark Ridpath, LL.D. 1910.)

• 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.
  • E. W. Lane, An Arabic-English Lexicon (London, 1865), Book I Part II, Jizya, p. 422.

• The Sultan then asked, "How are Hindus designated in the law, as payers of tributes or givers of tribute? The Kazi replied, "They are called payers of tribute, and when the revenue officer demands silver from them, they should tender gold. If the officer throws dirt into their mouths, they must without reluctance open their mouths to receive it. By doing so they show their respect for the officer. The due subordination of the zimmi is exhibited in this humble payment and by this throwing of dirt in their mouths. The glorification of Islam is a duty, and contempt of the Religion is vain. God holds them in contempt, for he says, "keep them under in subjection". To keep the Hindus in abasement is especially a religious duty, because they are the most inveterate enemies of the Prophet, and because the Prophet has commanded us to slay them, plunder them, and make them captive, saying, 'Convert them to Islam or kill them, enslave them and spoil their wealth and property.'No doctor but the great doctor (Hanifa), to whose school we belong, has assented to the imposition of the jizya (poll tax) on Hindus. Doctors of other schools allow no other alternative but 'Death or Islam.'"
  • Qazi Mughisuddin's reply to Sultan Alauddin Khalji. Tarikh-i Firoz Shahi, of Ziauddin Barani in Elliot and Dowson, Vol. III : Elliot and Dowson, History of India as told by its own Historians, 8 Volumes, Allahabad Reprint, 1964. pp. 184, chapter 15 [1]. Quoted in B.R. Ambedkar, Pakistan or The Partition of India (1946).

• The Hindu was taxed to the extent of half the produce of his land, and had to pay duties on all his buffaloes, goats, and other milk-cattle. The taxes were to be levied equally on rich and poor, at so much per acre, so much per animal. Any collectors or officers taking bribes were summarily dismissed and heavily punished with sticks, pincers, the rack, imprisonment and chains. The new rules were strictly carried out, so that one revenue officer would string together 20 Hindu notables and enforce payment by blows. No gold or silver, not even the betelnut, so cheering and stimulative to pleasure, was to be seen in a Hindu house, and the wives of the impoverished native officials were reduced to taking service in Muslim families. Revenue officers came to be regarded as more deadly than the plague; and to be a government clerk was disgrace worse than death, in so much that no Hindu would marry his daughter to such a man. ... [These edicts] were so strictly carried out that the chaukidars and khuts and muqad-dims were not able to ride on horseback, to find weapon, to wear fine clothes, or to indulge in betel. . .... No Hindu could hold up his head. ..... Blows, confinement in the stocks, imprisonment and chains were all employed to enforce payment. "
  • Stanley Lane-Poole : Medieval India, quoted from B.R. Ambedkar, Pakistan or The Partition of India (1946)

• The capitation tax, is a species of punishment, inflicted upon infidels on account of their infidelity, whence it is termed Jizyat, which is derived from Jizya, meaning retribution ... Capitation tax is a sort of punishment inflicted upon infidels for their obstinacy in infidelity. ... Whence it is that it cannot be accepted of the infidel if he send it by the hands of a messenger, but must be exacted in a mortifying and humiliating manner, by the collector sitting and receiving it from him in a standing posture; (according to one tradition), the collector is to seize him by the throat, and shake him saying ‘Pay your tax, Zimmee’.
  • Attributed to Burhanuddin al-Marghinani, The Hedaya, or Guide : a Commentary on the Mussulman Laws. Quoted from Suhas Majumdar, Jihad, the islamic doctrine of permanent war

• …The abolition of jizyah in Hindustan is a result of friendship which (Hindus) have acquired with the rulers of this land… What right have the rulers to stop exacting jizyah? Allah himself has commanded imposition of jizyah for their (infidels’) humiliation and degradation. What is required is their disgrace, and the prestige and power of Muslims. The slaughter of non-Muslims means gain for Islam…
  • Ahmad Sirhindi , Maktubat-i-Imam Rabbani translated into Urdu by Maulana Muhammad Sa’id Ahmad Naqshbandi, Deoband, 1988, Volume I, p.388 ff.This letter was written to Shaikh Farid alias Nawab Murtaza Khan who was opposed to Akbar’s religious policy, and who supported Jahangir’s accession after taking from the latter a promise that Islam will be upheld in the new reign.

• The real purpose of levying jiziya on them is to humiliate them to such an extent that they may not be able to dress well and to live in grandeur. They should constantly remain terrified and trembling. It is intended to hold them under contempt and to uphold the honour and might of Islam.
  • Ahmad Sirhindi in S.A.A. Rizvi, Muslim Revivalist Movements in Northern India in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, Agra, 1965, pp. 248-249. Quoted from Goel, Sita Ram (1995). Muslim separatism: Causes and consequences. ISBN 9788185990262

• The main object of levying of Jiziyah on them... is their humiliation... God established (the custom of realising) Jiziyah for their dishonour. The object is their humiliation and the (establishment of) prestige and dignity of the Muslims.
  • Mulla Ahmad, Maktabt-i-Mulla Ahmad, I, part 3, 84. quoted in Sri Ram Sharma Religious Policy of the Mughal Emperors, Bombay, 1962. p 68. also quoted in K.S. Lal. Theory and Practice of Muslim State in India (1999)

• It has recently come to my ears that, on the ground of the war with me having exhausted your wealth and emptied the imperial treasury, your Majesty has ordered that money under the name of jaziya should be collected from the Hindus and the imperial needs supplied with it. ... But in your Majesty's reign, many of the forts and provinces have gone out of your possession, and the rest will soon do so, too, because there will be no slackness on my part in ruining and devastating them. Your peasants are down-trodden ; the yield of every village has declined, in the place of one lakh (of Rupees) only one thousand, and in the place of a thousand only ten are collected, and that too with difficulty. When Poverty and Beggary have made their homes in the palaces of the Emperor and the princes, the condition of the grandees and officers can be easily imagined. It is a reign in which the army is in a ferment, the merchants’ complain ; the Muslims cry, the Hindus are grilled ; most men lack bread at night, and in the day-time inflame their own cheeks by slapping them [in anguish]. How can the royal spirit permit you to add the hardship of the jaziya to this grievous state of things? The infamy will quickly spread from west to east and become recorded in books of history that the Emperor of Hindustan, coveting the beggars’ bowls, takes jaziya from Brahmans and Jain monks, yogis, sannyasis, bairagis, paupers, mendicants, ruined wretches, and the famine-stricken,—that his valour is shown by attacks on the wallets of beggars,__that he dashes down [to the ground] the name and honour of the Timurids !...
  In strict justice the jaziya is not at all lawful. From the political point of view it can be allowed only if a beautiful woman wearing gold ornaments can pass from one country to another without fear or molestation. [But] in these days even the cities are being plundered, what shall I say of the open country? Apart from its injustice, this imposition of the jaziya is an innovation in India and inexpedient. If you imagine piety to consist in oppressing the people and terrorizing the Hindus, you ought first to levy the jaziya from Rana Raj Singh, who is the head of the Hindus. Then it will not be so very difficult to collect it from me, as | am at your service. But to oppress ants and flies is far from displaying valour and spirit. I wonder at the strange fidelity of your officers that they neglect to tell you of the true state of things, but cover a blazing fire with straw! May the sun of your royalty continue to shine above the horizon of greatness !”’
  • Appeal to Aurangzeb by a delegation of Hindus [variously ascribed either to Shivaji or to Rana Raj Singh ] in protest against the imposition of the Jizya. quoted in Sarkar Jadunath. History of Aurangzib. Volume III. Bombay: Orient Longman.
  • Different translation: In fine, the tribute you demand from the Hindus is repugnant to justice; it is equally foreign from good policy, as it must impoverish the country; moreover, it is an innovation and an infringement of the laws of Hindostan. In : Smith, The Oxford History of India, 438–39. Quoted from Spencer, Robert (2018). The history of Jihad: From Muhammad to ISIS.

• As the official history written from State papers at the instance of his favourite secretary puts it, “‘All the aims of the religious Emperor being directed to the spread of the law of Islam and the overthrow of infidel practices, he issued orders that from Ist Rabi-ul-awwal (=2 April 1679), jaziya should be levied from the zimmis in accordance with the Quranic injunction till they pay compensation out of their hands in humility." (M.A. 174.) The Mirat-i-Ahmadi, 313, another history based upon official papers, ascribes the same motive to the Emperor.
  • Jadunath Sarkar History of Aurangzib vol III.

• As the scholars and divines of the tiiae informed Aurangzib, the books on Muslim Canon Law lay down that the proper method of collecting the jaziya is for the zimmi to pay the tax personally; if he sends the money by the hand of an agent it is to be refused; the taxed person must come on foot and make the payment standing, while the receiver should be seated and after placing his hand above that of the zimmi should take the money and cry out, “‘O, zimmi! pay the commutation money.”’
  • Jadunath Sarkar , History of Aurangzib, Vol III.

• By imperial orders the jaziya was reimposed on the “‘unbelievers’’ in all parts of the empire from 2nd April, 1679, in order, as the Court historian records, to ‘‘spread Islam and put down the practice of infidelity."" When the news spread, the Hindus of Delhi and its environs gathered together in hundreds and stood on the bank of the Jamuna below the balcony of morning salute in the palace-wall, and piteously cried for the withdrawal of the impost. But the Emperor turned a deaf ear to their plaintive wail. When next Friday he wanted to ride to the Jama Mosque to attend the public prayer, the whole road from the gate of the Fort to the mosque was blocked by a crowd of Hindu suppliants, whose number was swollen by all the shopkeepers and craftsmen of Delhi city and the cantonment bazar, out for a demonstration. The crowd did not disperse in spite of warning; and the Emperor after waiting vainly for an hour ordered elephants to be driven through the mass of men, trampling them down and clearing a way for him. The Hindu protest continued for some days, but in the end the Emperor's firmness triumphed and the subject people ceased to protest. A temperate and reasoned letter from Shivaji urging the impolicy of the new impost and appealing to Aurangzib to think of the common Father of man- kind and the equality of all sincere beliefs in God’s eyes, met with no better success.
  • Jadunath Sarkar , History of Aurangzib, Vol III.

• In levying the jaziya, Aurangzib was deaf to the pleadings of pity and political expediency alike. In Mughal Deccan, particularly in Burhanpur, the tax could be realized only by force. But Aurangzib was inexorable and ordered the Prefect of the City police to chastise every defaulter. This had the desired effect, and a strict collector like Mir Abdul Karim increased the yield of the tax from Rs. 26,000 a year for the whole city to more than four times the amount in three months for half the city only (1682). When a minister wished to oust his rival from favour, he had only to complain that the latter had excused some Hindus from paying the poll-tax; and the Emperor would plainly tell the lenient revenue minister, ‘“‘You are free to grant remissions of revenue of all other kinds; but if you remit any man’s jaziya—which | have succeeded with great difficulty in laying on the infidels, it will be an impious change (bidat) and will cause the whole system of collecting the poll-tax to fall into disorder.”’
  • Jadunath Sarkar , History of Aurangzib, Vol III.

• An army of Muslim collectors and amins,— usually men of reputed scholarship and orthodoxy, —spread over the country to assess and realize the tax. So large was their number, that in 1687 an Inspector-General of jaziya was appointed to tour through the four provinces of the Deccan and see that these men did their work properly. (M.A. 297.)
  • Jadunath Sarkar , History of Aurangzib, Vol III.

• The officially avowed policy in reimposing the jaziya was to increase the number of Muslims by putting pressure on the Hindus.
  • Jadunath Sarkar , History of Aurangzib, Vol III.

Quran

• O you who believe, the idolaters are surely unclean, so they shall not approach the Sacred Mosque after this year of theirs. And if you fear poverty, then Allah will enrich you out of His grace, if He please. Surely Allah is Knowing, Wise. Fight those who believe not in Allah, nor in the Last Day, nor forbid that which Allah and His Messenger have forbidden, nor follow the Religion of Truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection.
  • The Quran, 9:28-29, Maulana Muhammad Ali translation

Hadith and Islamic law

• If they refuse to accept Islam, demand from them the Jizya. If they agree to pay, accept it from them and hold off your hands. If they refuse to pay the tax, seek Allah's help and fight them. When you lay siege to a fort and the besieged appeal to you for protection in the name of Allah and His Prophet, do not accord to them the guarantee of Allah and His Prophet, but accord to them your own guarantee and the guarantee of your companions for it is a lesser sin that the security given by you or your companions be disregarded than that the security granted in the name of Allah and His Prophet be violated When you besiege a fort and the besieged want you to let them out in accordance with Allah's Command, do not let them come out in accordance with His Command, but do so at your (own) command, for you do not know whether or not you will be able to carry out Allah's behest with regard to them.
  • Sahih Muslim, Book 019, Number 4294

• Narrated Juwairiya bin Qudama At-Tamimi: We said to 'Umar bin Al-Khattab, O Chief of the believers! Advise us." He said, "I advise you to fulfill Allah's Convention (made with the Dhimmis) as it is the convention of your Prophet and the source of the livelihood of your dependents (i.e. the taxes from the Dhimmis.)."
  • Sahih Bukhari 4:53:388
• Narrated Abu Humaid As-Sa'idi We took part in the holy battle of Tabuk in the company of the Prophet and when we arrived at the Wadi-al-Qura, there was a woman in her garden. The Prophet asked his companions to estimate the amount of the fruits in the garden, and Allah's Apostle estimated it at ten Awsuq ... The Prophet said to that lady, "Check what your garden will yield." When we reached Tabuk, the Prophet said, "There will be a strong wind to-night and so no one should stand and whoever has a camel, should fasten it." So we fastened our camels. A strong wind blew at night and a man stood up and he was blown away to a mountain called Taiy, The King of Aila sent a white mule and a sheet for wearing to the Prophet as a present, and wrote to the Prophet that his people would stay in their place (and will pay Jizya taxation.)
  • Sahih Bukhari 2:24:559
• Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah's Apostle said, "By Him in Whose Hands my soul is, son of Mary (Jesus) will shortly descend amongst you people (Muslims) as a just ruler and will break the Cross and kill the pig and abolish the Jizya (a tax taken from the non-Muslims, who are in the protection, of the Muslim government). Then there will be abundance of money and no-body will accept charitable gifts.
  • Sahih Bukhari 3:34:425
• Narrated 'Umar bin Dinar: I was sitting with Jabir bin Zaid and 'Amr bin Aus, and Bjalla was narrating to them in 70 A.H. the year when Musab bin Az-Zubair was the leader of the pilgrims of Basra. We were sitting at the steps of Zam-zam well and Bajala said, "I was the clerk of Juz bin Muawiya, Al-Ahnaf's paternal uncle. A letter came from 'Umar bin Al-Khattab one year before his death; and it was read:-- "Cancel every marriage contracted among the Magians between relatives of close kinship (marriages that are regarded illegal in Islam: a relative of this sort being called Dhu-Mahram.)" 'Umar did not take the Jizya from the Magian infidels till 'Abdur-Rahman bin 'Auf testified that Allah's Apostle had taken the Jizya from the Magians of Hajar.
  • Sahih Bukhari 4:53:384
• Narrated 'Amr bin 'Auf Al-Ansari: (who was an ally of Bam 'Amr bin Lu'ai and one of those who had taken part in (the Ghazwa of) Badr): Allah's Apostle sent Abu 'Ubaida bin Al-Jarreh to Bahrain to collect the Jizya. Allah's Apostle had established peace with the people of Bahrain and appointed Al-'Ala' bin Al-Hadrami as their governor. When Abu 'Ubaida came from Bahrain with the money, the Ansar heard of Abu 'Ubaida's arrival which coincided with the time of the morning prayer with the Prophet. When Allah's Apostle led them in the morning prayer and finished, the Ansar approached him, and he looked at them and smiled on seeing them and said, "I feel that you have heard that Abu. 'Ubaida has brought something?" They said, "Yes, O Allah's Apostle' He said, "Rejoice and hope for what will please you! By Allah, I am not afraid of your poverty but I am afraid that you will lead a life of luxury as past nations did, whereupon you will compete with each other for it, as they competed for it, and it will destroy you as it destroyed them."
  • Sahih Bukhari 4:53:385
• Narrated Jubair bin Haiya: 'Umar sent the Muslims to the great countries to fight the pagans. When Al-Hurmuzan embraced Islam, 'Umar said to him. "I would like to consult you regarding these countries which I intend to invade." Al-Hurmuzan said, "Yes, the example of these countries and their inhabitants who are the enemies. of the Muslims, is like a bird with a head, two wings and two legs; If one of its wings got broken, it would get up over its two legs, with one wing and the head; and if the other wing got broken, it would get up with two legs and a head, but if its head got destroyed, then the two legs, two wings and the head would become useless. The head stands for Khosrau, and one wing stands for Caesar and the other wing stands for Faris. So, order the Muslims to go towards Khosrau." So, 'Umar sent us (to Khosrau) appointing An-Numan bin Muqrin as our commander. When we reached the land of the enemy, the representative of Khosrau came out with forty-thousand warriors, and an interpreter got up saying, "Let one of you talk to me!" Al-Mughira replied, "Ask whatever you wish." The other asked, "Who are you?" Al-Mughira replied, "We are some people from the Arabs; we led a hard, miserable, disastrous life: we used to suck the hides and the date stones from hunger; we used to wear clothes made up of fur of camels and hair of goats, and to worship trees and stones. While we were in this state, the Lord of the Heavens and the Earths, Elevated is His Remembrance and Majestic is His Highness, sent to us from among ourselves a Prophet whose father and mother are known to us. Our Prophet, the Messenger of our Lord, has ordered us to fight you till you worship Allah Alone or give Jizya (i.e. tribute); and our Prophet has informed us that our Lord says:-- "Whoever amongst us is killed (i.e. martyred), shall go to Paradise to lead such a luxurious life as he has never seen, and whoever amongst us remain alive, shall become your master." (Al-Mughira, then blamed An-Numan for delaying the attack and) An-Nu' man said to Al-Mughira, "If you had participated in a similar battle, in the company of Allah's Apostle he would not have blamed you for waiting, nor would he have disgraced you. But I accompanied Allah's Apostle in many battles and it was his custom that if he did not fight early by daytime, he would wait till the wind had started blowing and the time for the prayer was due (i.e. after midday)."
  • Sahih Bukhari 4:53:386
• Narrated Ali: We did not, write anything from the Prophet except the Quran and what is written in this paper, (wherein) the Prophet said, "Medina is a sanctuary from (the mountain of) Air to so and-so, therefore, whoever innovates (in it) an heresy or commits a sin, or gives shelter to such an innovator, will incur the Curse of Allah. the angels and all the people; and none of his compulsory or optional good deeds of worship will be accepted And the asylum granted by any Muslim Is to be secured by all the Muslims even if it is granted by one of the lowest social status among them. And whoever betrays a Muslim in this respect will incur the Curse of Allah, the angels and all the people, and his compulsory and optional good deeds of worship will not be accepted. And any freed slave will take as masters (befriends) people other than his own real masters who freed him without taking the permission of the latter, will incur the Curse of Allah, the angels and all the people, and his compulsory and optional good deeds of worship will not be accepted."
• Narrated Said: Abu Huraira once said (to the people), "What will your state be when you can get no Dinar or Dirhan (i.e. taxes from the Dhimmis)?" on that someone asked him, "What makes you know that this state will take place, O Abu- Hu raira?" He said, "By Him in Whose Hands Abu Huraira's life is, I know it through the statement of the true and truly inspired one (i.e. the Prophet)." The people asked, "What does the Statement say?" He replied, "Allah and His Apostle's asylum granted to Dhimmis, i.e. non-Muslims living in a Muslim territory) will be outraged, and so Allah will make the hearts of these Dhimmis so daring that they will refuse to pay the Jizya they will be supposed to pay."
  • Sahih Bukhari 4:53:404
• Abu Huraira reported that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: By Him in Whose hand is my life, the son of Mary (may peace be upon him) will soon descend among you as a just judge. He will break crosses, kill swine and abolish Jizya and the wealth will pour forth to such an extent that no one will accept it.
  • Sahih Muslim 1:287, See also: Sahih Muslim 1:289
• It has been reported from Sulaiman b. Buraid through his father that when the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) appointed anyone as leader of an army or detachment he would especially exhort him to fear Allah and to be good to the Muslims who were with him. He would say: Fight in the name of Allah and in the way of Allah. Fight against those who disbelieve in Allah. Make a holy war, do not embezzle the spoils; do not break your pledge; and do not mutilate (the dead) bodies; do not kill the children. When you meet your enemies who are polytheists, invite them to three courses of action. If they respond to any one of these, you also accept it and withold yourself from doing them any harm. Invite them to (accept) Islam; if they respond to you, accept it from them and desist from fighting against them. Then invite them to migrate from their lands to the land of Muhairs and inform them that, if they do so, they shall have all the privileges and obligations of the Muhajirs. If they refuse to migrate, tell them that they will have the status of Bedouin Muilims and will be subjected to the Commands of Allah like other Muslims, but they will not get any share from the spoils of war or Fai' except when they actually fight with the Muslims (against the disbelievers). If they refuse to accept Islam, demand from them the Jizya. If they agree to pay, accept it from them and hold off your hands. If they refuse to pay the tax, seek Allah's help and fight them. When you lay siege to a fort and the besieged appeal to you for protection in the name of Allah and His Prophet, do not accord to them the guarantee of Allah and His Prophet, but accord to them your own guarantee and the guarantee of your companions for it is a lesser sin that the security given by you or your companions be disregarded than that the security granted in the name of Allah and His Prophet be violated When you besiege a fort and the besieged want you to let them out in accordance with Allah's Command, do not let them come out in accordance with His Command, but do so at your (own) command, for you do not know whether or not you will be able to carry out Allah's behest with regard to them.
  • Sahih Muslim 19:4294
• Hisham reported on the authority of his father that Hisham b. Hakim b. Hizam happened to pass by people, the farmers of Syria, who had been made to stand in the sun. He said: What is the matter with them? They said: They have been detained for Jizya. Thereupon Hisham said: I bear testimony to the fact that I heard Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: Allah would torment those who torment people in the world.
  • Sahih Muslim 32:6328
• 'Amr b. 'Auf, who was an ally of Banu 'Amir b. Luwayy (and he was one amongst them) who participated in Badr along with Allah's Messenger (way peace be upon him). reported that, Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) sent Abu Ubaida b. Jarrah to Bahrain for collecting Jizya and Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) had made a truce with the people of Bahrain and had appointed 'Ala' b. Hadrami and Abu Ubaida (for this purpose). They came with wealth from Bahrain and the Ansar beard about the arrival of Abu Ubaida and they had observed the dawn prayer along with Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him), and when Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) had finished the prayer they (the Ansar) came before him and Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) smiled as he saw them and then said: I think you have heard about the arrival of Abu Ubaida with goods from Bahrain. They said: Allah's Messenger. yes, it is so. Thereupon he said: Be happy and be hopeful of that what gives you delight. By Allah, it is not the poverty about which I fear in regard to you but I am afraid in your case that (the worldly) riches way be given to you as were given to those who had gone before you and you begin to vie with one another for them as they vied for them. and these may destroy you as these destroyed them.
  • Sahih Muslim 42:7065

• Narrated Umar ibn al-Khattab: A son of Adi ibn Adi al-Kindi said that Umar ibn AbdulAziz wrote (to his governors): If anyone asks about the places where spoils (fay') should be spent, that should be done in accordance with the decision made by Umar ibn al-Khattab (Allah be pleased with him). The believers considered him to be just, according to the saying of the Prophet (peace be upon him): Allah has placed truth upon Umar's tongue and heart. He fixed stipends for Muslims, and provided protection for the people of other religions by levying jizyah (poll-tax) on them, deducting no fifth from it, nor taking it as booty.
  • Sunan Abu Dawud 19:2955
• Narrated Anas ibn Malik ; Uthman ibn AbuSulayman: The Prophet (peace be upon him) sent Khalid ibn al-Walid to Ukaydir of Dumah. He was seized and they brought him to him (i.e. the Prophet). He spared his life and made peace with him on condition that he should pay jizyah (poll-tax).
  • Sunan Abu Dawud 19:3031
• Narrated AbuHurayrah: The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: There is no prophet between me and him, that is, Jesus (peace be upon him). He will descent (to the earth). When you see him, recognise him: a man of medium height, reddish fair, wearing two light yellow garments, looking as if drops were falling down from his head though it will not be wet. He will fight the people for the cause of Islam. He will break the cross, kill swine, and abolish jizyah. Allah will perish all religions except Islam. He will destroy the Antichrist and will live on the earth for forty years and then he will die. The Muslims will pray over him.
• Sunan Abu Dawud 37:4310
  • Al-Muwatta
• Yahya related to me from Malik that Ibn Shihab said, "I have heard that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, took jizya from the magians of Bahrain, that Umar ibn al-Khattab took it from the magians of Persia and that Uthman ibn Affan took it from the Berbers."
  • Al-Muwatta 17:42
• Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi from Aslam, the mawla of Umar ibn al-Khattab, 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. In addition, they had to provide for the muslims and receive them as guests for three days.
  • Al-Muwatta 17:44
• Yahya related to me from Malik from Zayd ibn Aslam from his father that he said to Umar ibn al-Khattab, "There is a blind she-camel behind the house," soUmar said, "Hand it over to a household so that they can make (some) use of it." He said, "But she is blind." Umar replied, "Then put it in a line with other camels." He said, "How will it be able to eat from the ground?" Umar asked, "Is it from the livestock of the jizya or the zakat?" and Aslam replied, "From the livestock of the jizya." Umar said, "By AIIah, you wish to eat it." Aslam said, "It has the brand of the jizya on it." So Umar ordered it to be slaughtered. He had nine platters, and on each of the platters he put some of every fruit and delicacy that there was and then sent them to the wives of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and the one he sent to his daughter Hafsa was the last of them all, and if there was any deficiency in any of them it was in Hafsa's portion.
• "He put meat from the slaughtered animal on the platters and sent them to the wives of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and he ordered what was left of the meat of the slaughtered animal to be prepared. Then he invited the Muhajirun and the Ansar to eat it."
• Malik said, "I do not think that livestock should be taken from people who pay the jizya except as jizya."
  • Al-Muwatta 17:45
• Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard that Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz wrote to his governors telling them to relieve any people who payed the jizya from paying the jizya if they became muslims.
• Malik said, "The sunna is that there is no jizya due from women or children of people of the Book, and that jizya is only taken from men who have reached puberty. The people of dhimma and the magians do not have to pay any zakat on their palms or their vines or their crops or their livestock. This is because 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. As long as they are in the country they have agreed to live in, they do not have to pay anything on their property except the jizya. If, however, they trade in muslim countries, coming and going in them, a tenth is taken from what they invest in such trade. This is because jizya is only imposed on them on conditions, which they have agreed on, namely that they will remain in their own countries, and that war will be waged for them on any enemy of theirs, and that if they then leave that land to go anywhere else to do business they will haveto pay a tenth. Whoever among them does business with the people of Egypt, and then goes to Syria, and then does business with the people of Syria and then goes to Iraq and does business with them and then goes on to Madina, or Yemen, or other similar places, has to pay a tenth.
• People of the Book and magians do not have to pay any zakat on any of their property, livestock, produce or crops. The sunna still continues like that. They remain in the deen they were in, and they continue to do what they used to do. If in any one year they frequently come and go in muslim countries then they have to pay a tenth every time they do so, since that is outside what they have agreed upon, and not one of the conditions stipulated for them. This is what I have seen the people of knowledge of our city doing."
  • Al-Muwatta 17:46

• He who holds fast to his religion, Judaism or Christianity, is not to be tempted from it. It is incumbent on them to pay the jizyah protection tax. For every adult, male or female, free or slave, one full denarius, or its value in al-ma'afir [fine cloth]. He who pays that to the Messenger has the protection of Allah and His Messenger, and he who holds back from it is the enemy of Allah and His Messenger.
  • Al-Tabari, Vol. 9, p. 75
• "I call you to God and to Islam. If you respond to the call, then you are Muslims: You obtain the benefits they enjoy and take up the responsibilities they bear. If you refuse, then you must pay the jizyah. If you refuse the jizyah, I will bring against you tribes of people who are more eager for death than you are for life. We will then fight you until God decides between us and you."
  • Al-Tabari, Vol. 11,
• Summon the people to God; those who respond to your call, accept it from them, but those who refuse must pay the poll tax out of humiliation and lowliness. If they refuse this, it is the sword without leniency. Fear God with regard to what you have been entrusted.
  • Al-Tabari, Vol. 12,
• The Messenger has sent Zur'ah and his Companions to you. ‘I commend them to your care. Collect the zakat and jizyah from your districts and hand the money over to my messengers.' The Prophet is the master of your rich and your poor.
  • Al-Tabari, Vol. 9, p. 76
• In this year Muhammad ordered people to pay the zakat tax. It is said that the Prophet commanded them to do this.
  • Al-Tabari, Vol. 7, p. 26
• In this year, the Messenger sent Amr to collect the zakat tax from Jayfar and Amr, the clans of Julanda and Azd.... He collected the jizyah from the Zoroastrians.
  • Al-Tabari, Vol. 9, p. 38

• Jizya is taken from the men of the people of dhimma status provided that they are both free and adult. It is not taken from their women, their children, or their slaves.[Ibn Rushd defines it thus: what is taken from the people of disbelief in repayment for their security and sparing their lives while they remain unbelievers. It is derived from jaza' (repayment) which is exchange, because they receive security in exchange for the money they pay. We offer them security and they offer money. It is not taken from three categories: women, children and slaves because Allah Almighty has obliged it on those who can fight, and generally that is men rather than women and children.]
  • The Risala of 'Abdullah ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani A Treatise on Maliki Fiqh (Including commentary from ath-Thamr ad-Dani by al-Azhari)(310/922 - 386/996) [2]

• Capitation-tax serves as an aid to the troops, and therefore differs in its rate, according to the difference of men's circumstances... Whence it is that it cannot be accepted of the infidel if he send it by the hands of a messenger, but must be exacted in a mortifying and humiliating manner, by the collector sitting and receiving it from him in a standing posture; (according to one tradition), the collector is to seize him by the throat, and shake him saying ‘Pay your tax, Zimmee’.
  • Al-Hidayah, Book IX, Chapter VIII, pp. 211-212 ff