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Jizya

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In Islamic law, jizyah (Arabic: جزْية) is a per capita tax required of adult males of other faiths under Muslim rule in exchange for the protection of the Muslim community.

Sources

The word jizyah is taken from the root jaza, which means compensation. It is unclear if the word refers to monetary compensation, although literally it does not. The word is found in Sura 9.29 of the Qur'an:

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.Universalunity.net Parallel Translation of the Qur'an (Translation of Yusuf Ali)

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

Jizyah is also mentioned in the hadith. Sunan Abu-Dawud Book 13, Number 2955 mentions that Umar levied jizyah on non-Muslims in return for providing protection to them, and Book 37, Number 4310 states that Jesus will come again, and at that time will (among other things) abolish jizyah, as Allah will have made all religions into one.

Definitions

Various sources provide different definitions and root words for the word jizyah:

  • 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 its ideals being enforced in the Muslim State."
  • Monqiz As-Saqqar attributes the word jizyah 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 jizyah 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 from ’idjzã, meaning "substitute" or "sufficiency" because "it suffices as a substitute for the dhimmi's embracement of Islam."
  • Yusuf al-Qaradawi says the word jizyah 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".
  • E.W. Lane, in An Arabic-English Lexicon defines it 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".

In practice the word is applied to a special type of tax levied on those who did not accept Islam.

Application

Jizyah was applied to every free adult male member of the People of the Book, and/or non-Muslim living in lands under Muslim rule. There was no amount permanently fixed for it, though the payment usually depended on wealth: the Kitab al-Kharaj of Abu Yusuf (quoted in Stillman, Norman: The Jews of Arab Lands: A History and Source Book (Philadelphia, Jewish Publication Society of America, 1979 pp. 159–160)) 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 from it. The disabled and elderly were exempt unless they were independently wealthy, as were mendicant monks—those living in productive monasteries had to pay. Historically Muslim rulers also attempted to collect jizyah from Hindus, Sikhs and Zoroastrians under their rule. The collection of the tax was often the duty of the elders of those communities.

In return, those who paid the jizyah were not required to serve in the military and were considered under the protection of the Muslim state, with certain rights and responsibilities. Non-Muslims were also exempt from zakat, or mandatory charity imposed on Muslims. In addition, if a non-Muslim chose to serve in the army, he would be exempt from the jizyah.

Islamic Legal commentary

Al-Mawardi (the famous Shafi’i jurist of Baghdad), stated in al-Ahkam as-Sultaniyyah (The Laws of Islamic Governance) that jizyah is paid by the enemy in return for peace, and if the payment of jizyah ceases, then jihad is resumed.

Syed Abu-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."

The Hedaya states 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’.". It also states that jizyah means "retribution", and defines it as "a species of punishment, inflicted upon infidels on account of their infidelity, whence it is termed Jizyat"

Al-Zamakhshari, a commentator 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, in his Kitab al-Kharaj, wrote that "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." (translated in Stillman, Norman: The Jews of Arab Lands: A History and Source Book (Philadelphia, Jewish Publication Society of America, 1979 pp. 160–161)

History

Jizyah was levied in the time of Muhammad on vassal tribes under Muslim protection, including Jews in Khaybar, Christians in Najran, and Zoroastrians in Bahrain. The hadith of Bukhari and Tarmethi, considered by some to be weak and unverifiable , record that Muhammad himself levied jizyah upon the Majoos, a tribe of Zoroastrians.

Moshe Gil, a historian at Tel Aviv University, in his A History of Palestine, 634-1099, records a letter from Muhammad to the Christians and Jews of Eilat requiring the imposition of jizyah:

Thou hast to accept Islam, or pay the tax, and obey God and His Messenger and the messengers of His Messenger, and do them honor and dress them in fine clothing, not in the raiment of raiders…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…But be careful lest thou do not satisfy…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 jizyah was levied on them. Christian Arab tribes in the north of the Arabian Peninsula refused to pay jizyah, but agreed to pay double the amount, and calling it sadaqah, 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 sadaqah and jizyah is that the former was levied on nomads, whereas the latter was levied on settled non-Muslims. Donner sees sadaqah as being a indicative of the lower status of nomadic tribes, so much so that that Christian tribesmen preferred to pay the jizyah. Jabala b. al-Ayham of the B. Ghassan is reported asked Umar "Will you levy sadaqa from me as you would from the bedouin (al-'arab)?" Umar aceded to collecting jizyah from him instead, as he did from other Christians.

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."

According to Muslim accounts of Umar, in his time some payers of the jizyah 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.

In India, Islamic rulers imposed jizyah since the 11th century. Aurangzeb, the last prominent Mughal Emperor, levied jizyah on his mostly Hindu subjects in 1679. The imposition of jizyah, 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.

As late as 1894 jizyah was still being collected in Morocco; an Italian Jew described his experience there:

The kaid Uwida and the kadi Mawlay Mustafa had mounted their tent today near the Mellah gate and had summoned the Jews in order to collect from them the poll tax 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.

Criticism

Criticism of jizya has typically focussed not only on its specific application to non-Muslims, but its alleged humiliating nature. It has been described as a demonstration of "constitutional inferiority and humiliation" and criticized for the alleged "consistent, intentionally humiliating character of its application". According to orientalist S.D. Goitein in Evidence on the Muslim Poll Tax from Non-Muslim Sources:

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 persistent lack of cash, which turned the 'season of the tax' into one of horror, dread, and misery.

Defenders of the tax insist that it was equivalent to the zakat that Muslims had to pay, and furthermore provided compensated for non-Muslims not having to do military service. They also say that dhimmis were provided protection in return for jizya, and claim examples of cases where jizya was returned when protection was not provided. Sir Thomas Arnold, an orientalist of the early 20th century, argued that:

This tax was not imposed on the Christians, as some would have us think, as a penalty for their refusal to accept the Muslim faith. Rather, it was paid by them in common with the other dhimmis or non-Muslim subjects of the state whose religion precluded them from serving in the army, in return for the protection secured for them by the arms of the Muslims. When the people of Hirah contributed the sum agreed upon, they expressly mentioned that they paid this jizyah on condition that ‘the Muslims and their leader protect us from those who would oppress us, whether they be Muslims or others.

Resources

Many contemporary Muslim scholars can be cited, including Yusuf al-Qaradawi. Al-Qaradawi's book Non Muslims in Muslim Societies, which discusses many issues, including jizya, is available online in Arabic on his web site.

Bat Ye'or has written about the history and practice of jizya in her book "Dhimmitude." Ibn Warraq has described jizya as discriminatory and oppressive in his book Why I am not a Muslim.

See also

External Links

Pro-jizyah

Anti-jizyah

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