Rodrigo:
Small fact Muslims forget to mention when they claim Muslims pay more zakat than kafirs pay Jizyah. In most history - the level of jizyah was probably more than the zakat, particularly if combined with the punitive doubling of other taxes like commercial taxes and land taxes.
Let me give you some examples of how zakah is calculated:… {DELETED DUE TO IRRELEVANCE}
We all know about zakah and nisab – the point is: where’s the nisab for dhimmis?
You think jizyah is just that dinar? It’s also the land tax and the commercial taxes at twice the rate of the Muslims. It’s also the spitting in the mouth, the hitting of the nape of the neck, the humiliation and degradation of the dhimmis when they have to pay that dinar.
raceland:
Rodrigo said:
{The maximum rate is 20% these days but I think it was a flat 2.5% in old times}
There are other kinds of Zakah, but it’s not the topic here. But as you’ve noticed the zakah can reach 20% and that’s paid by muslims and that was in the “old times” too. So you got this wrong, it wasn’t a flat 2.5%. Now, while the zakah paid by muslims goes to the poor and needy, the Jizya paid by non muslims goes to their own protection only. Two categories of the poor and needy to which zakah goes are - non-Muslims for their good neighborhood or to ward off their harm and - The wayfarer: He is the traveler who runs out of money in a strange land (and that might be a non muslim too). Also the Qur’an mentions another category of a non muslim’s eligibility for zakat, In this surah Allah swt describes pious muslims and one of their description is “And they give food, inspite of their love for it (or for the love of Him), to Miskin (poor), the orphan, and the captive,” [76:8] so the captive is also eligible for the zakah.
And it was entirely voluntary while the Jizyah was not. There is no comparison.
What protection do the dhimmis need? Only from the Muslims. Why don’t you tell us what happens if a dhimmis refuses to pay the Jizyah?
raceland:
So, there is 1-what you think, 2- what people like Margoliouth think, and there is the truth. As you can see they are miles apart.
Let me make this clear:
- The Quran itself says to exact the Jizyah to humiliate the dhimmis.
- The Jizyah is also the doubling of the other taxes like land and commercial taxes.
- The Jizyah is the humiliation which the dhimmis had to endure like ‘spitting into the mouths’, the ‘hitting of the nape of the neck’ etc.
- The Jizyah has not minimum limit like the nisab so the poor have to pay regardless. There is evidence that some dhimmis had to sell their women and children to pay the Jizyah.
Until and unless you prove that the zakat situation is identical, you have no case. In most respects, the zakat was entirely voluntary although some Muslim rulers did punish Muslims for not paying zakat – like Abu Bakr for eg.
raceland:
If a non-muslim living in a muslim land, was not able financially to pay the Jizyah tax, then he’s exempted. Exemptions are for the poor, for females and children (according to Abu Hanifa), for slaves, and for monks and hermits.
That’s true in some cases. In other cases they had to sell their wives and children to pay.
raceland:
Someone mentioned that Jizyah is meant to humiliate non muslims and to force them embrace Islam. This doesn’t make sense, cause if they embrace Islam they will pay the zakah tax, so it’s not a smart move, unless they are hypocrites. And this leads us to the second point the death penalty for ridda (apostasy).
The zakat is generally less than the Jizyah because the Jizyah includes the doubling of other taxes. In fact, there was a Christian tribe who preferred to pay double zakat than to pay the Jizyah.
. jazaakallahu khaira (for the islamic terminology-challenged, that means: may Allah reward you with good).
