Document Name: "How the Jizya is to be Collected and from Whom" Author: Abu Yusuf (c.729-798) Place source created: probably Baghdad (Abbasid Caliphate) Period: Third-Wave Original Language: Arabic In printed source: The Jews of Arab Lands: A History and Source Book Page numbers in printed source: 159-161 Editor and translator: Norman A. Stillman Place of publication: Philadelphia Publisher: The Jewish Publication Society of America Date: 1979 Introduction: The jizya was the annual tax that all Christians and Jews (and some members of other religions) were required to pay to the Muslim government of the region in which they lived. Those who paid the tax were called ahl al-dhimma, "subjugated persons," and they lived as second-class citizens who were not equal to Muslims under the law. This is an excerpt from the Kitab al-Kharaj, a treatise written by the judge and scholar Abu Yusuf for the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad in the late eighth century. Based on his understanding of figh-that is, on his secular legal interpretation of the Quran- Abu Yusuf in this treatise advised the caliph (referred to as "The Commander of the Faithful" in the last paragraph) how he should collect this tax according to sharia (divine law). [159] The jizya is required of all the ahl al-dhimma in the Sawad [the lower half of Iraq], Hira, and the rest of the conquered lands, namely, the Jews, the Christians, Zoroastrians, Sabaeans, and Samaritans. The only exceptions are the Christians of the Banü Taghlib tribe and the people of Najran. The jizya is incumbent upon all adult males, but not upon women and children. For the wealthy the tax is forty-eight dirhams, for those of medium income twenty-four, and for the poor, the agricultural workers and manual laborers, twelve dirhams. It is to be collected from them each year. It may be paid in kind, for example, beasts of burden, goods, and other such things. These are to be accepted in accordance with their value. However, no animals not ritually slaughtered, no pigs, and no wine may be accepted in payment of the jizya. Umar b. al- Khattab may Allah be pleased with him-had already forbidden the acceptance of such things for the jizya. "Leave them to their owners," he said. "They, however, may sell them, and the proceeds from the sale may then be accepted from them." This kind of payment is permissible when it is easier for the tributaries. 'Ali b. Abi Talib-may Allah honor him-used to accept large and small needles and would count their value toward their individual tribute, according to what I have learned.

Document Name: "How the Jizya is to be Collected and from Whom" Author: Abu Yusuf (c.729-798) Place source created: probably Baghdad (Abbasid Caliphate) Period: Third-Wave Original Language: Arabic In printed source: The Jews of Arab Lands: A History and Source Book Page numbers in printed source: 159-161 Editor and translator: Norman A. Stillman Place of publication: Philadelphia Publisher: The Jewish Publication Society of America Date: 1979 Introduction: The jizya was the annual tax that all Christians and Jews (and some members of other religions) were required to pay to the Muslim government of the region in which they lived. Those who paid the tax were called ahl al-dhimma, "subjugated persons," and they lived as second-class citizens who were not equal to Muslims under the law. This is an excerpt from the Kitab al-Kharaj, a treatise written by the judge and scholar Abu Yusuf for the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad in the late eighth century. Based on his understanding of figh-that is, on his secular legal interpretation of the Quran- Abu Yusuf in this treatise advised the caliph (referred to as "The Commander of the Faithful" in the last paragraph) how he should collect this tax according to sharia (divine law). [159] The jizya is required of all the ahl al-dhimma in the Sawad [the lower half of Iraq], Hira, and the rest of the conquered lands, namely, the Jews, the Christians, Zoroastrians, Sabaeans, and Samaritans. The only exceptions are the Christians of the Banü Taghlib tribe and the people of Najran. The jizya is incumbent upon all adult males, but not upon women and children. For the wealthy the tax is forty-eight dirhams, for those of medium income twenty-four, and for the poor, the agricultural workers and manual laborers, twelve dirhams. It is to be collected from them each year. It may be paid in kind, for example, beasts of burden, goods, and other such things. These are to be accepted in accordance with their value. However, no animals not ritually slaughtered, no pigs, and no wine may be accepted in payment of the jizya. Umar b. al- Khattab may Allah be pleased with him-had already forbidden the acceptance of such things for the jizya. "Leave them to their owners," he said. "They, however, may sell them, and the proceeds from the sale may then be accepted from them." This kind of payment is permissible when it is easier for the tributaries. 'Ali b. Abi Talib-may Allah honor him-used to accept large and small needles and would count their value toward their individual tribute, according to what I have learned.