(, ), is a type of taxation levied on non-Muslim subjects of a state governed by Islamic law. The Quran and hadiths mention jizya without any limiting percentage rate or amount,Sabet, Amr (2006), The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 24:4, Oxford; pp. 99–100. 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. (online)
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. The majority of Muslim jurists required adult, free, sane males among the dhimma community to pay the jizya, while exempting women, children, elders, handicapped, the ill, the insane, monks, hermits, slaves,Majid Khadduri, War and Peace in the Law of Islam, pp. 192–3. and musta'mins—non-Muslim foreigners who only temporarily reside in Muslim lands. However, Ibn Hazm required that anyone who had reached puberty pay jizya. Islamic Regimes allowed dhimmis to serve in Muslim armies. Those who chose to join military service were also exempted from payment;Mapel, D.R. and Nardin, T., eds. (1999), International Society: Diverse Ethical Perspectives, p. 231. Princeton University Press. . 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." some Muslim scholars claim that some Islamic rulers exempted those who could not afford to pay from the Jizya.
Together with kharāj, a term that was sometimes used interchangeably with jizya,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" 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. Jizya rate was usually a fixed annual amount depending on the financial capability of the payer. 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) 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. 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.""
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. The tax is no longer imposed by nation states in the Islamic world, although there are reported cases of organizations such as the Pakistani Taliban and ISIS attempting to revive the practice.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."
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."
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.
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,"Yusuf Ali (1991 Reprint), Notes 1281 and 1282 to verse 9:29, p. 507 whereas Muhammad Asad considered it to be "satisfaction."
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." 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) He points out that derivatives of the word appear in some Qurʾānic verses as well, such as: 4th edition. (online)
"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.
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. 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) (online) 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." 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)
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.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.)
Michael G. Morony states that:[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.Jane Dammen McAuliffe (2011), Encyclopedia of the Qur'an, Brill Academic, Vol. 4, pp. 152–153; Vol. 5, pp. 192–3, . 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." (online)