An interesting Online Magazine I found.
http://www.janasangh.com/jsart.aspx?stid=207
Quranic Injunction
Fight those who believe not
In God nor the Last Day,
Nor hold that forbidden
Which hath been forbidden
By God and His Apostle,
Nor acknowledge the Religion
Of Truth, (even if they are)
Of the People of the Book,
Until they pay the Jizya
With willing submission,
And feel themselves subdued.
(The Holy Quran by A. Yusuf Ali).
As the rule of Islam spread beyond the borders of Arabias particularly over the Hindus and Buddhists, Muslim rulers found it impossible either to convert the entire population or to exterminate the whole. The solution was found by admitting the Hindus and Buddhists (Pagans) to the status of Zimmis. Zimmis are those non-Muslims whose life is held under a contract.
Jizya (a capitation tax) is a punishment for their unbelief and in order to humiliate them. According to Hanafi School of Islamic law,
Jizya is paid as a compensation for being spared from death. Another Islamic source remarks that the infidels who live in Moslem State are subjected to
the payment of Jizya for his humiliation and punishment for
Manner of collection of Jizya:
Both the Schools of Al Shafei and Malik agree that
when the zimmi comes to pay he should keep standing while the collector is seated, and he must wear the distinctive dress prescribed for the zimmis. During the process of payment the zimmi is to be seized by the collar and vigorously shaken and pulled about writes Dr. P. Saran, in his book Studies In Medieval Indian History (This book is introduced by the legendary Professor Mohammed Habib).
Jizya Imposition on Parsis of Iran
One of the severest hardships under which these people suffered, until quite recently, was the levy of the poll tax called, Jizya. The Moslem population alone was exempt from this tax, all unbelievers residing in the kingdom while the Armenians, Jews and Parsis were compelled to pay it.
The straits to which these races were driven in order to meet this tax were often deplorable. The annual tax leviable on the Parsis, according to the imperial order, was six hundred and sixty seven tomans. As is the case, however, in all Oriental kingdoms, the governors or collectors and magistrates enhanced the amount by their own commissions, and consequently the sum required to be paid by these poor people often amounted to as much as two thousand tomans (equivalent to Pound 1000 of our money). It appears that about a thousand grown up Parsis were required to pay tax. Of these, two hundred were able to bear the burden without difficulty, four hundred paid it with great inconvenience, while
the rest were unable to do so at all, even at the point of sword.
Upon the annual collection of the tax the scenes presented at the homes of those who were unable to pay it were most terrible to witness. Unheard of cruelties were practiced in the vain attempt to extort money from those who had none for even their own wants. Some, to save themselves from torture, and as the last resort, gave up their religion and embraced the faith of Mohommed, when they were relieved from the payment of the tax. Others, who would not violate their conscience, abandoned individuals, even when they escaped had always to leave their wives and children behind them (History of the Parsis by Dosabhai Framji Karaka, published by Cosmo Publication, Div. of Genesis Publishing Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi).
Imposition of Jizya in India:
Arabs Muslims were the first to invade India. Imad-ud-din Muhammad bin Kasim conquered Sind in 711 AD. The law of Islam on how to deal with the inhabitants of an infidel country was quite clear: (1) those who were sharers in Revelation like the Hebrews and Christians could be allowed to live and practice their religion provided they paid Jizya, and (2)
those who were intolerable infidels and idolators like the Hindus and Budhist were either to convert to Islam or face death. According to Ferishta, the chronicler, those
Hindus who refused to embrace Islam and were seventeen years of age and above were put to death and the rest were enslaved. The women were appropriated. As per Islamic tradition, a fifth of the plunder both human beings and treasure was sent to the Caliph and the remainder distributed among the soldiers of Islam. This is the face of Islam that Hindus saw and experienced at the hands of first Muslim conqueror of India. Later on, however, Kasim agreed to the status of zimmi being extended to Hindus and Muslims like it had been given earlier to Zorastrians and Magi in Iran.
The Sultanate in India was based on the distinction between its Hindu and Muslim subjects.
The Muslims formed the ruling class and the position of Hindus was no different than that of slaves. The foremost distinction was the payment of Jizya which had always to be paid personally by the Hindus When the Jizya was first levied by the Prophet in 9 A H it included a land tax as well and probably represented the entire financial burden borne by the non-Muslims under his protection. Under the earlier Caliphs, the terms Jizya and Kharaj (land tax) seem to be interchangeable. The differentiation implied in the two forms of taxation, Jizya and Kharaj was not made until the time of the late Ummayyad. When it was introduced in India, it had become an additional capitation tax (Page 7, The Religious Policy of the Mughal Emperors by Sri Ram Sharma, Lahore/Delhi, 1940). Besides Jizya, Muslim ruler also collected a pilgrim tax from Hindus at places of religious fairs. This was done despite the fact that the Islamic State strictly prohibits public celebration of non-Islamic practices in an Islamic State. This was, strictly speaking, an unholy source of profit to a Muslim polity. Under the rule of Ala-ud-din, a scheme of confiscatory taxation was put into operation so that the Hindus were left with only their daily needs. While expounding the Law, for the information of Sultan Ala-ud-din, Qazi Mughisuddin of Bayana stated that the Hindu Khirajguzar or payer of Jizya is, he who, should the collector choose to spit into his mouth, he should open the same without hesitation so that the official may spit into it. Sir Jadunath Sarkar in his book A Short History Aurangzeb also quotes the learned Mughisuddin :
By these acts of degradation are shown the extreme obedience of the zimmi, the glorification of the true faith of Islam, and the abasement of false faith. The Prophet has commanded us to slay them, plunder them, and make them captive .. No other religious authority except the great Imam {Hanifa} whose faith we follow, has sanctioned the imposition of the jizya on Hindus. According to all other theologians, the rule for Hindus is Either Islam or death.
In the beginning, the Brahmins had been exempt from Jizya but Firoz Shah Tughlaq, did not find any justification for this exemption. In order to make India conform to the ideal of Muslim State, the tax was also imposed on Brahamins. When Aurangzeb came on the throne, Jizya was imposed in all strictness on all Hindus.
This is the source of your great pride? This is a system that you think todays non-Muslims would long for?
