no compulsion - the latest......

AbRah,

Salaam Aalikum and thank you for being so kind in understanding.

I admire this quality.

By the way, tax collection was there since the beginning and ancient times. Every civilised nation has done in the past and continues to do so. The worst tax, worse than the Jizya, was imposed on the poor people of the British India. It was the worst tax in the history and it was the tax (British Jizya) on the Salt collected from the sea. The British knew well that the Indians could not cook any curry without it. It was heavily taxed.    Not to mention the Opium Jizya!

People were so much heavily taxed that Gandhi had to walk miles to the seaside and make some salt breaking the Law and was arrested.  

Even Jesus is on record talking about Jizya, saying that "Render to Caeser that is due to Caeser, and to God what is due to God."

Sincerely

BMZ

Fredi,

If that is what you conclude, then I have wasted my time.

Assalamu Alaikum:

If non-Muslims wished not to pay the tax, all they had to do was fight with the Muslim armies. They had a choice.

Sir Thomas Arnold, an orientalist of the early 20th century, has argued:

This tax was not imposed on the, Christians as some would have us think, as a penalty for their refusal to accept the Muslim faith. Rather, it was paid by them in common with the other dhimmis or non-Muslim subjects of the state whose religion precluded them from serving in the army, in return for the protection secured for them by the arms of the Muslims. When the people of Hirah contributed the sum agreed upon, they expressly mentioned that they paid this jizyah on condition that �the Muslims and their leader protect us from those who would oppress us, whether they be Muslims or others.

Sir Thomas Arnold gives an example of a Christian Arab tribe which avoided paying the jizya altogether by fighting alongside Muslim armies "such was the case with the tribe of al-Jurajimah, a Christian tribe in the neighbourhood of Antioch, who made peace with the Muslims, promising to be their allies and fight on their side in battle, on condition that they should not be called upon to pay jizya and should receive their proper share of the booty".

In his message to the people of Al-Hirah, Khalid bin Walid is recorded as saying (in reference to the jizya), "When a person is too old to work or suffers a handicap, or when he falls into poverty, he is free from the dues of the poll tax; his sustenance is provided by the Muslim Exchequer." A letter attributed to Khalid bin Walid said that "This is a letter of Khalid ibn al-Waleed to Saluba ibn Nastuna and his people; I agreed with you on al-jezyah and protection. As long as we protect you we have the right in al-jezyah, otherwise we have none.�

According to Muslim accounts of Umar, in his time some payers of the jizya were compensated if they had not been cared for properly. The accounts vary, but describe his meeting an old Jew begging, and assisting him; according to one version:

Umar said to him, "Old man! We have not done justice to you. In your youth we realized Jizyah from you and have left you to fend for yourself in your old age". Holding him by the hand, he led him to his own house, and preparing food with his own hands fed him and issued orders to the treasurer of the Bait-al-mal that that old man and all others like him, should be regularly doled out a daily allowance which should suffice for them and their dependents.

Excuse the cut and paste.