Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Jizyah: Difference between revisions

The jizya is the protection tax to be paid by the conquered people in [[dhimmitude]], representing both the protection from [[Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Jihad|jihad]] and the submission to [[Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Dhimmitude|dhimmitude]]. The jizya (and its associated land tax the kharaaj) is the payment to the Muslim state for ceasing the state of jihad upon the protected people. It is both to be a humiliation of the dhimmi but also a protection; historically dhimmis in Muslim lands were required by law to keep receipt of payment of the jizya on their person while travelling. The Qur'an specifies that the dhimmi is to pay the tax while being "humiliated" (صاغرين), which was inter alia interpreted by the scholars as required that the dhimmi suffers blows to his body and neck while in the process of paying the tax. Historically the pressure of the jizya on the dhimmi populations encouraged mass conversion to Islam to escape it, which is in large part how the Muslim countries came to have their Muslim majority populations.