islamic-jihad-legacy-of-forced-conversion-imperialism-slavery

Islamic Jihad11. Every free adult male of sound mind shall pay poll-tax (jizyah), one dinar of full weight, atnew year. He shall not leave his town till he has paid.12. A poor man is liable for his own jizyah till it is paid; poverty does not cancel yourobligation to pay the jizyah, nor abrogate the protection given to you. If you have anything,we shall take it. Jizyah is the only burden as long as you live and travel in the Muslim land,except as merchants.13. You may not enter Mecca under any conditions. If you travel with merchandise, you mustpay one-tenth to the Muslims. You may go wherever you like except Mecca. You can stayin Muslim land except the Hedjaz (Hejaz), where you may stay only three days till youdepart.’These were the standard terms that must be imposed upon Jews and Christians (also on Polytheists incountries under Hanafi laws) in an ideal Islamic state. The terms in the Pact of Omar for dealing withdhimmis is clearly in agreement with the sanction of Allah [Quran 9:29] and prophetic tradition. Therefore,the Pact of Omar, wrote Abu Yusuf, the great eighth-century Hanafi jurist, ‘stands till the day ofresurrection.’ 202 The Jews and Christians (also Hindus in India), who were rightfully the free-spirited andhonorable people in their own homeland, now had to bear this crushingly humiliating and exploitingsubjection to Muslim invaders. It is not hard to imagine the psychological pressure such treatments wouldcreate on them to convert to Islam.Jizyah and humiliation: The practice of imposing jizyah on dhimmi subjects will give one a clearidea of the social degradation they faced in Muslim states. The payment of jizyah was not like writing away acheck or sending money to the collector’s office. Instead, the dhimmi, demands Allah, must ‘pay the jizyahwith willing submission, and feel themselves subdued (humiliated)’ in the process [Quran 9:29]. Paying jizyahin "willing submission" and "humiliation" meant that it had to be paid according to a demeaning protocol thatwould engender such an impact on the dhimmi. The great Islamic commentator al-Zamakhshari (d. 1144)interprets the Quranic verse 9:29 on jizyah payment as thus: 203‘The jizyah shall be taken from them with belittlement and humiliation. (The dhimmi) shall comein person, walking not riding. When he pays, he shall stand, while the tax-collector sits. Thecollector shall seize him by the scruff of the neck, shake him and say: ‘Pay the jizyah!’ and whenhe pays it, he shall be slapped on the nape of his neck.’The famous sixteenth-century Egyptian Sufi scholar ash-Sharani describes the ritual of jizyah payment in hisKitab al-Mizan as thus: 204‘The dhimmi, Christian or Jew, goes on a fixed day in person to the emir appointed to receive thepoll-tax (jizyah). He sits on a high throne. The dhimmi appears before him, offering the toll-taxon his open palm. The emir takes it so that his hand is on top and the dhimmi’s below. Then theemir gives him a blow on the neck, and who stands, before the emir drives him roughly away…The public is admitted to see this show.’Let us have a look at how these standard theories were applied in India. Emperor Aurangzeb, havingreimposed jizyah (earlier abolished by apostate Akbar in 1564) on the Hindus in 1679, promulgated thefollowing protocol for the payment of jizyah:202. Ibid, p. 37203. Ibn Warraq, p. 228–29204. Triton, p. 22779