The Chaliphate - Muir - The Search For Mecca

—
A.H. 1 6.
The S:iwriil
settled with
the Felhiliin.
Crown lands
and endowments
of
Kufa and
Basra.
124 'OMAR [chap. XVI.
The settlement of the land was the next concern. The
Strccuh/, or rich plain of ("hakl.xa, having been taken, with
some (cw exceptions, by force of arms, was claimed by the
Arab soldiery as prize of war. The judgment and equity
of 'Omar is conspicuous in the abatement of this demand.
After counsel held with his advisers at Medina, the Caliph
ordered that cultivators who had fled during the operations
in Al-'Irfik, as well as those who had kept to their holdings
throughout, should be treated as DJiiinnus, or protected
subjects, and confirmed in possession on moderate tribute.
Royal forests and domains, lands of the nobles and of those
who had opposed the Muslim arms, and the endowments of
Fire-temples, were confiscated ;
but the demand for their
division as ordinary prize was denied. Equitable distribution
was impossible, and the attempt would have but bred
bad blood amongst the people. The necessities also of the
great system of canals, and of the postal and other services,
as first charge upon the revenues, demanded that the public
land should be kept intact.
The revenues of the State came from two sources, the
forfeited lands of which it had taken possession, and out
of which estates were bestowed upon some of the principal
Companions, and from the taxes payable by the non-Muslim
native cultivators of the soil. These taxes were later on of
two kinds, the land or property tax {Kha^'dj), and the poll tax
ijizya). It is usual to say that the latter was payable by non-
Muslims only ; but at first the two terms are often interchanged,
and, in point of fact, both were paid by the non-
Muslims. The Muslims did not pay taxes ; but merely
tithes — a tenth of the produce of their lands. On the
contrary, the income of the lands conquered was divided
amongst them in the shape of pensions. As long as the
conquests were going on, the spoil was great and the
pensioners comparatively few ; and this arrangement worked
very well. But, when the native cultivators began to come
over to Islam in large numbers, difficulties arose.
The confiscated lands scattered over the province were
administered by Crown agents, and the profits shared
between the captors and the State. The prize domains of
Al-Kufa,—conquered by the armies of Khalid and of Sa'd,
were much more extensive than those of Al-Basra. Shortly