WikiIslam:Sandbox/Responses to Apologetics: Jizya

Jizyah (Tax)

Moderate Muslims reject the dhimmi system, including jizya, as inappropriate for this age of nation-states and democracies

Umar spent the jizya revenue on needy non-Muslims and this is a truly Islamic practice

The majority of scholars say that the jizya must be taken with gentleness, not harshness

It was an unusually tolerant practice by the early caliphates contrary to the practices of the Byzantine Empire

The tax was so little that avoiding it cannot be a motive for conversion to Islam

It protected Jews from other atrocities that they frequently suffered in the West

Muslims paid higher taxes

This is may have been occasionally true but it is unlikely to be true for 1400 years (the period in which jizya was actively collected).

It is an excellent model of co-existence of different cultures under Islamic rule