Bigotry: The Dark Danger

Misunderstandings about war and the jizya

Fight those of the people who were given the Book who do not believe in God and the Last Day and who do not make forbidden what God and His Messenger have made forbidden and do not take as their religion the religion of Truth, until they pay the jizya with their own hands in a state of complete abasement. (Qur’an, 9:29)

People who are misinformed about the true Islam generally maintain that only the People of the Book are obliged to pay the jizya (a kind of tax) referred to in the verse above and that this is an injustice against non-Muslims. They interpret the words “fight [them] … until they pay the jizya with their own hands” to mean that Muslims must fight the People of the Book unless they convert to Islam and pay the jizya. They are therefore suspicious of the Qur’an and Islam (surely the Qur’an and Islam are beyond this).

However, there is a serious misunderstanding here.

First of all, it needs to be made clear that the jizya is a kind of tax. Everyone living in a country has an obligation to pay taxes. In other words, if someone is living in a Muslim country, he has to pay taxes, whether or not he is a Muslim, and irrespective of his religion. There is no discrimination regarding Muslims in a Muslim country not having to pay taxes, but the People of the Book having to pay them. All citizens have a responsibility to pay their taxes.

What matters for us on the subject of the jizya is not how it was applied by Muslim states in the past, but how it appears in the Qur’an. When we examine the commandment in verse 29 of Surat at-Tawba, what we see is this:

The people referred to in the verse are “...those of the people who were given the Book who do not believe in God and the Last Day and who do not make forbidden what God and His Messenger have made forbidden and do not take as their religion the religion of Truth,” in other words, those people who have emerged from among the Christian and Jewish communities and do not believe in God and the Last Day and do not recognize the faith and the prophets. In other words, they are unbelievers. As we have reiterated many times before, everyone is free to believe or not. The Qur’an forbids any compulsion where the religion is concerned. A Muslim has an obligation to respect unbelievers the same as everyone else, and is charged with protecting them in verse 6 of Surat at-Tawba. According to the Qur’an, an unbeliever’s guilt lies in his being aggressive, his striving against believers and in spreading strife. It is this feature of the community of unbelievers in question that is referred to in verse 29 of Surat at-Tawba we are looking at in this section. According to the verse, these people “...do not make forbidden what God and His Messenger have made forbidden.” They therefore heed no prohibitions, spread corruption and behave aggressively.

Let us now think: Muslims and non-Muslims – and even idolatrous pagans – all live together in peace in a state under Muslim rule (this is what happened in all city states under our Prophet’s (pbuh) administration; all agreements made by our Prophet (pbuh), including the Charter of Medina, are impeccably democratic, bringing equality to all members of the state and protecting all their rights). However, among the citizens of that state, there are also people who, in addition to being unbelievers, constantly flout the laws, do not regard what is forbidden as forbidden and therefore encourage communities toward degeneracy, are aggressive toward devout communities, give rise to disturbance in the society and who rebel against the state’s own laws despite benefitting from all the benefits and opportunities it provides. They are quite comfortable under Muslim rule; they are well looked after and protected. Yet they still commit a grave offense by spreading corruption. Not only are they of no use to the state, they also do not pay taxes, which is in fact a liability of theirs. They give rise to anarchy in the community, engage in terrorist acts, and make attempts on the lives of other people, devout people in particular, in the same community. When such conditions arise, war with such a community is inevitable if they refuse to repent of their actions and submit to the state.

Verse 29 of Surat at-Tawba is referring to such spreaders of corruption and anarchy within society. These people are a threat, not only to Muslims under Muslim rule, but also to Christians and Jews in that society (and indeed, everyone else). Therefore, using force against them and putting an end to their corruption is also essential to make life more comfortable for the Jews and Christians living in that society. It is irrelevant whether these communities of unbelievers and spreaders of corruption emerge from among Christians, Jews or Muslims. An unbeliever is someone who has already abandoned religion, and he cannot therefore be regarded as comparable to Muslims or to the People of the Book. There is this commandment to fight the spreaders of corruption “...until they pay the jizya” because paying the jizya is a sign that they have accepted the rule of the state. After that, they will clearly not violate the laws of the state or spread corruption again.