At-Tawba (The Repentance)

29. “Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the Last Day, nor do they prohibit, what Allah and His Messenger have prohibited, nor follow the religion of Truth, out of those who have been given the Book until they pay the (Jizyah) tributory tax with their hand and they remain subjected.”

The words in the former verses were about the duty of the Muslims before idolaters. This verse, and several verses next to it, make manifest the Muslims’ duty before ‘the People of the Book’.

In these verses, in fact, Islam has assigned a series of moderate ordinances to be followed by both the Muslims and disbelievers. From the point of following a heavenly religion, ‘the People of the Book’ are resembled to Muslims, but from another point of view, they are resembled to pagans.

For this very reason, Islam does not permit that they should be killed, while it issued this permission about the idolaters who insisted on their belief, because the program of Islam has been to root out idolatry from the whole earth.

Islam lets Muslims come to terms with the People of the Book in the case that they agree to have a peaceful life beside Muslims in the form of a safe minority religion, to respect Islam without committing any oppositions and any evil propagation against Muslims and Islam.

One of other signs of their accepting this peaceful life is that they agree to pay Jizyah (capitation tax), which is a kind of poll-tax, and they deliver it to Islamic Government every year.

Otherwise, Islam issues the command of struggling and fighting against them. The reason of this violence is made manifest through three phrases in the verse under discussion.

At first, it says:

“Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the Last Day…”

How can it be that the People of the Book, such as the Jews and the Christians, do not believe in Allah and the Last Day, while outwardly we see that they believe in God and the Resurrection both. This is for the sake that their belief is mixed with a great deal of superstitions and so many groundless matters.

Then, the verse points to their second weakness, indicating that they do not accept the prohibitions of Allah. They are polluted with: drinking wines, usury, consuming the flesh of swine, and committing a lot of acts of sexual libertinages. The verse says:

“…nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Messenger have prohibited…”

Finally, the verse refers to their third fault, when it says:

“…nor follow the religion of Truth…”

That is, their religions have been deviated from their essential ways, many of the facts have been forgotten and a mass of superstitions have been substituted in their places.

After mentioning these three qualities, which are, in fact, considered as the permission of fighting against them, the verse continues saying:

“…out of those who have been given the Book…”

Then, the Qur’ān, in a single sentence, states the difference between idolaters and pagans. It says:

“…until they pay the (Jizyah) tributary tax with their hand and they remain subjected.”

What is Jizyah?

It is a kind of Islamic poll-tax which is upon persons, not upon properties and lands. In other words, Jizyah is a yearly poll-tax.

The main philosophy of this tax is that the defence for integrity, independece, and security of a country is the duty of all members of that country.

Therefore, if a group of people in such a society practically undertake and fulfil that duty, while some others, because of being busy in their own occupations, can not take part in the rows of soldiers, the duty of the second group is that they pay the expenses of the strivers and protectors of the security in the form of a poll-tax every year.

Thus, a poll-tax is simply a kind of financial support which is paid by the People of the Book instead of the responsibility that Muslims undertake with the purpose of supplying security for their lives and properties.