A prominent instance of extracting kharaj tax from dhimmis comes from Prophet's conquest of the rich and prosperous Jewish outpost of Khyabar, 70 miles north of Medina, in 628 CE. Still commanding a small community of Muslim fighters based in Medina, it was impossible for Muhammad to take over the administration of Khaybar at this point of time. Hence, after plundering the movable assets and enslaving the women of Khaybar, the rest of the Jews were allowed to stay in the possession of their lands on the condition of paying half of the produce as tribute ( kharaj tax). The Khaybar incidence, "struck terror to the hearts of the men of Fadak" and "They sent to him an offer of peace on condition that they should keep half of their produce," which was accepted by Muhammad [Ibn Ishaq, p510-515]. But, the Jews were allowed to be in the possession of the conquered land only until Muslims became strong and numerous enough to take it into their own possession; and during the rule of caliph Omar (634–644 CE), the Jews were expelled. In other instances, the Prophet had fixed the tax at 10% of the produce for some tribes who had submitted to him [Muir, p433]. The tax extracted from the produce of the land, ranging between 10% and 50%, thus became known as kharaj or land-tax. Drawing from these examples of the Prophet, the second caliph Omar formulated the kharaj taxation, which was resolutely implemented in pre-colonial Islamic states.
Extraction of jiziyah (poll-tax) from dhimmi citizens was clearly commanded in the Quran: " Fight against such of those who have been given the Scripture (Christian & Jews) as believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, and forbid not that which Allah hath forbidden by His messenger, and follow not the Religion of Truth, until they pay the tribute readily, being brought low" [Quran 9:29]. On his last and largest expedition to border of powerful Byzantine Empire in 630 CE, Muhammad camped at Tabuk and sent out emissaries to the heads of nearby principalities demanding that they accept Islam or pay jiziyah . A letter addressed to the prince of Ayala read: "…I will not fight against you until I have written this unto you. Believe or else pay the tribute (Jiziyah)…. But if ye displease them (the emissaries), I will accept nothing from you until I have fought against you and taken captive your little ones and slain the elder; for I am the apostle of God in truth. " [Muir, p442, notes]. Upon this the chiefs of Ayala, Jabra and Adhruh principalities came to the prophet and paid jiziyah [Ibn Ishaq, p607].
Modern apologists of Islam have often sought to describe jiziyah as 'protection tax'. But protection from whom — Muslims themselves? It is actually meant for allowing the unyielding dhimmis to live in Islamic states under sufferance and humiliation for rejecting " the Religion of Truth" . It was an expression of their subjugated and lowly status to Muslims. Payment of jiziyah must accompany the intended humiliation ― i.e., " pay the tribute readily, being brought low" ― of the dhimmi as prescribed by famous Islamic scholars. Imam al-Ghazzali, the greatest Sufi master and considered the second-greatest Muslim next to Prophet Muhammad, prescribes the following protocol for payment of jiziyah by dhimmis: "…the Jews, Christians and the Majians must pay the jiziyah… On offering up the jiziyah, the dhimmi must hang his head while the official takes hold of his beard and hits (the dhimmi) on the protuberant bone beneath his ear" [Bostom, p199]. Ibn Warraq quotes famous Islamic commentator al-Zamakhshari's (1075–1144CE) interpretation of Quran 9:29 as follows: " The Jizyah shall be taken from them with belittlement and humiliation. He (Dhimmi) shall come in person, walking not riding. When he pays, eh shall stand, while the tax-collector sits. The collector shall seize him by the scruff of the neck, shake him and sat: 'Pay the Jizyah!' and when he pays it, he shall be slapped on the nape of his neck " [Ibn Warraq, p228-229].
Muslims contribute only the meager Zakat, which is fixed at 2.5% of excess produce of the year, to the treasury of ideal Islamic states. This concept of charity was borrowed by Muhammad from the existing tradition of the Jews of Medina. Zakat fund was to be used only for religious purposes, such as building mosques, propagation of Islam, paying the voluntary Jihadists etc. ― not for funding secular activities. Payment of the meager Zakat is also voluntary and there is no report of its systematic collection during Muhammad's tenure at the help of Medina caliphate. Muslims were only supposed to receive from the state fund, coming mainly from taxes extracted from dhimmi subjects, and from the khams, plundered from non-Muslims. Egyptian documents, dating between 80-100 years of the Islamic calendar, show that no Muslim but only the non-Muslims paid taxes to the state [Triton; p198]. Similarly, Prof Habibullah writes of the first 100 years of Islamic rule after founding of Muslim Sultanate in India in 1206 that "the Muslim was merely a tax receiver and took little direct part in the production and increase of the country's agricultural wealth" [Habibullah, p316].
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