Al-jizyah

Definition of "Al-jizyah"

l-jizyah is mentioned in the Qur’an (9: 29). The word comes from the Arabic root jaza, meaning, to compensate. In this case, it is a compensation for the security and protection that the non-Muslims have in the Islamic state without fighting for the defence of the country. Historically, the non-Muslims had to pay the jizyah on two grounds: for their exemption from the obligation to fight Muslim wars and for exemption from zakah. Conversion of a person to Islam freed him from obligation to pay the jizyah but subjected him to jihad and zakah. There were different practices and rates in relation to jizyah determined in the light of the treaty with the non-Muslims or the way they became subjects of the Islamic state. It is evident from ahad Wth that originally, the rates of jizyah were considerably lower than zakah on the Muslims. Women, chil- dren, old people, the poor, disabled and religious leaders were exempt. Similarly, those non-Muslims who opted to serve in the Muslim army were also exempt. Where the jizyah was levied as a fixed amount, the terms kharaj and jizyah were undifferentiated. But as soon as kharaj came to mean land tax and stood in place of ‘ushr, jizyah was levied in addition and this represented a tax in lieu of jihad. In the former case, the kharaj meant jizyah in general, but in the latter case, the kharaj simply meant land tax; that is to say, that portion of the jizyah which was called kharaj or the assessment on the produce of the land. Kharaj was levied according to the type of land. For example, in Sawad there were three categories of land tax or kharaj: (i) land tax based on the measured acreage (al-kharaj ala masahah al-’ard); (ii) the land tax based on a per- centage of the yearly harvest (al-kharaj ‘ala al-muqasamah); and (iii) the fixed amount of money (al-kharaj ‘ala muqa‘tah).