سورة التوبة

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: A man asked my father about the wars of Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him). [The questioner was one of our devotees.] Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) said to him: "Allah sent Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) with five swords;.. the second sword is against the Ahl al-Dhimmah (the People of the Book). Allah the Mighty and Majestic said: وَ قُولُواْ لِلنَّاسِ حُسْناً [and speak good words to people] (al-Baqarah/83). This verse was revealed concerning the Ahl al-Dhimmah. Then this word of Allah the Mighty and Majestic abrogated it: قَاتِلُواْ الَّذِینَ لاَ یُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللهِ وَلاَ بِالْیَوْمِ الآخر وَ لاَ یُحَرِّمُونَ مَا حَرَّمَ اللهُ وَ رَسُولُهُ وَ لاَ یَدِینُونَ دِینَ الحَقِّ مِنَ الَّذِینَ أُوتُواْ الْکتاب حَتَّی یُعْطُواْ الْجِزْیَةَ عَن یَدٍ وَ هُمْ صَاغِرُونَ [Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Apostle have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the jizyah in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection]. So whoever of them is in Dar al-Islam (the land of the Muslims), must either pay the jizyah or be killed, and their wealth is fay' (spoils) and their children are to be taken captive; and if they accept the jizyah upon themselves, taking them captive and their wealth is forbidden to us, and marriage with them is lawful. And whoever of them is in Dar al-Harb (their own land), taking them captive and taking their wealth as spoils is lawful for us, and marriage with them is not permitted for us, and nothing is accepted from them unless they enter Dar al-Islam, or pay the jizyah, or be killed."

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him), in explaining the abrogating and the abrogated (al-nasikh wa al-mansukh), continued the hadith up to the point where he said: And this saying of Allah: وَ قُولُوا لِلنَّاسِ حُسْناً [And speak good to people] (Baqarah/83) was abrogated, and what was meant by them (the people) were the Jews, at the time when the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) had made a truce with them. And when he returned from the expedition of Tabuk, Allah the Exalted revealed the verse: قاتِلُوا الَّذینَ لا یُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللهِ وَ لا بِالْیَوْمِ الْآخِرِ وَ لا یُحَرِّمُونَ ما حَرَّمَ اللهُ وَ رَسُولُهُ وَ لا یَدینُونَ دینَ الحَقِّ مِنَ الَّذینَ أُوتُوا الْکِتابَ حَتَّی یُعْطُوا الْجِزْیَةَ عَنْ یَدٍ وَ هُمْ صاغِرُونَ [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 with their hand while they are humbled], and this verse abrogated the ruling of peace and reconciliation with the Jews.

Imam al-Hadi (peace be upon him): It is narrated from Imam al-Askari (peace be upon him) that Imam al-Hadi (peace be upon him) visited [Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him)] on the day of Eid al-Ghadir with these words: And when those two covenant-breakers (Talha and Zubayr) plotted against you and said: "We intend to perform Umrah," you said to them: "By your own lives, you do not intend Umrah, you intend treachery." Then you took the pledge of allegiance from them and renewed the covenant, but the two of them strove in hypocrisy, and when you warned them about their deed they turned heedless and went back and gained no benefit, and the end of their affair was loss. Then the people of Sham followed after those two, and you set out towards them after completing the proof, while they did not believe in the religion of truth and did not ponder over the Quran — common rabble, misguided — and were disbelievers in what Allah had revealed concerning you upon Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family), and were helpers to your opponents.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him)- Zurarah said: I said to the Imam (peace be upon him): "What is the limit (amount) of jizya on the People of the Book, and is there anything fixed upon them beyond which they should not go?" He said: "That is up to the Imam (peace be upon him); he takes from each one of them whatever he wishes, according to the measure of his wealth and his capacity. In truth, they are a people who paid a ransom so that they would not be taken as slaves and their blood would not be shed. So the jizya is taken from them according to their capacity, until they accept Islam, for Allah the Blessed and Exalted said: حَتَّی یُعْطُوا الْجِزْیَةَ عَنْ یَدٍ وَ هُمْ صاغِرُونَ [until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection]. And how can he be lowly while he pays no heed to what is taken from him — until he feels lowliness and humiliation, and so, pained by that, he accepts Islam?" And Ibn Muslim also said: I said to Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): "These people take some portion of the khums from the land of jizya, and they also take the jizya of their heads from the peasants — is anything fixed obligatory upon them in that?" He said: "Whatever they themselves agreed to [and accepted] is obligatory upon them, and it is not permitted for the Imam (peace be upon him) to take more than the jizya. If the Imam (peace be upon him) wishes, he places it upon their heads and nothing is obligatory upon their wealth; and if he wishes, he places [the jizya] upon their wealth and nothing is obligatory upon their heads." I said: "So this is the khums?" He said: "Indeed that is a thing upon which the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) had reached an agreement with them."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Abd al-Karim ibn Utba al-Hashimi says: I was sitting with the Imam (peace be upon him) in Mecca, until he said: "O Amr! Do you see it this way, that if I pledged allegiance to your master (friend) to whom you are inviting me to pledge allegiance, then the Ummah gathered around you and not even two people differed with one another on this matter, and you encountered polytheists who neither accept Islam nor pay jizya (the money that the People of the Book must give to the Islamic government in return for the residence and security they enjoy in the Islamic land), do you or your master have any knowledge by which you would act according to the way of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) in dealing with polytheists in his wars?" He said: "Yes." He said: "How do you act?" He said: "We invite them to Islam; if they do not accept, we invite them to pay jizya." [The Imam (peace be upon him)] said: "If they were Magians (fire-worshippers) who are not People of the Book, [what would you do]?" He said: "[They are] equal [to the other People of the Book]." He said: "If they were polytheists of the Arabs and worshippers of idols, [what would you do]?" He said: "[These too, in the ruling of taking jizya from them, are] equal [to the other People of the Book]." He said: "Tell me about the Qur'an that you recite (state this ruling from the Qur'an)." He said: "Yes." He said: "Recite! قاتِلُوا الَّذِینَ لا یُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللهِ وَ لا بِالْیَوْمِ الْآخِرِ وَ لا یُحَرِّمُونَ ما حَرَّمَ اللهُ وَ رَسُولُهُ وَ لا یَدِینُونَ دِینَ الحَقِّ مِنَ الَّذِینَ أُوتُوا الْکِتابَ حَتَّی یُعْطُوا الْجِزْیَةَ عَنْ یَدٍ وَ هُمْ صاغِرُونَ [Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Apostle have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection]. Allah [in this verse] made an exception [of the People of the Book] and stipulated that [those who pay jizya] must be from the People of the Book. [Even so, are] they equal to those who are not People of the Book [in paying jizya]?" He said: "Yes." He said: "From whom did you take this ruling?" He said: "I heard the people saying [this]." He said: "Leave this aside." Then he presented his argument to him, which is very long.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Abu Basir narrates from Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) who said: "... Every believing man and woman's heart yearns for him (the Qa'im (may Allah hasten his noble reappearance))." ... I said: "May I be your ransom! Will the Qa'im (may Allah hasten his noble reappearance) always reside there?" He said: "Yes!" I said: "After him, who will reside there?" He said: "Whoever is caliph after the Qa'im (may Allah hasten his noble reappearance)." I said: "What will he do with the dhimmi disbelievers?" He said: "He will make peace with them as the Prophet did, provided that they pay the jizya by their own hand with submission and humility." I said: "If someone shows enmity to you, what will happen?" He said: "In our state, our opponents will no longer have any opportunity for enmity against us, because at that time Allah has made the shedding of their blood lawful for us. Today, killing them is forbidden upon us and upon you, so let no one deceive you. When our Qa'im rises, Allah, through him, will take revenge for His Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) and for us from our enemies."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Abu Yahya al-Wasiti narrates from one of our companions who said: "Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) was asked about the Magians: did they have a prophet?" He said: "Yes. Has the letter of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) to the people of Mecca not reached you, that: 'Accept Islam, otherwise I will declare war upon you.' So they wrote to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): 'Take jizya (poll tax) from us and leave us upon the worship of idols.' The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) wrote to them [thus]: 'Indeed, I take jizya only from the People of the Book.' Then they wrote to him [wishing to prove him wrong], saying: 'You claimed that you take jizya only from the People of the Book, so why have you taken jizya from the Magians of Hajar?' The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) wrote to them thus: 'The Magians had a prophet, but they killed him, and they had a book, but they burned it, and their prophet had brought them a book written upon twelve thousand pieces of ox-hide.'"

Imam Sajjad (peace be upon him): Zuhri says: I asked Imam Sajjad (peace be upon him): "How is it that women have been exempted from paying jizya (poll tax)?" The Imam said: "Because the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) forbade the killing of women and their under-age children in the land of war (dar al-harb), unless the women fight; and even if they fight, so long as it is possible and there is no fear of harm, do not kill them [for if there is fear of harm, they may be killed]. So when the Prophet said not to kill them in the land of war, then not killing them in the land of Islam is even more warranted. And if women do not pay the jizya, they cannot be killed, and since they cannot be killed, jizya cannot be taken from them. And if the men refuse and decline to pay the jizya, their covenant and safe-conduct is broken and their blood becomes lawful and their killing becomes obligatory, because killing men in the land of polytheism (dar al-shirk) is lawful. Likewise, there is no jizya upon the disabled among the people of dhimma, the blind, and the very old man, because they cannot be killed, since the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) forbade the killing of the disabled, the blind, the very old man, and women and under-age children in the land of war — for this reason they have been exempted from paying jizya."

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Muhammad ibn Muslim asked Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) about the people of jizya (poll tax): "Is anything other than jizya taken from their wealth?" He said: "No."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): The sunnah has been established that jizya (poll tax) is not to be taken from the foolish nor from the insane.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Muhammad ibn Muslim says: I asked the Imam (peace be upon him) about the alms (sadaqat) of the people of dhimma, and about what should be taken from the price of their wine, the flesh of their swine, and their carrion. He said: "Paying jizya (poll tax) upon their wealth is obligatory upon them, and it is taken from them from the price of the flesh of swine or their wine; and whatever is taken from them of these things, its sin is upon their necks, and its price is lawful for the Muslims."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Muhammad ibn Muslim said: I asked him about the ahl al-dhimmah (protected non-Muslims): "What must they pay so that their blood is spared and their property is protected?" He said: "They must pay the kharaj (land tax). So if the jizyah is taken from each of them individually, we have no right to seize their land, and if the jizyah is taken from their land, we have no right to take them captive."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): حَتَّی یُعْطُوا الْجِزْیَةَ عَنْ یَدٍ وَ هُمْ صاغِرُونَ [Until they pay the jizyah out of hand while they are in a state of subjection]. The Imam (peace be upon him) may take jizyah from them beyond their capacity so that they enter Islam; otherwise how can he submit in humility while what is taken from him does not matter to him [because it is little]? [Taking jizyah beyond their capacity brings about their humility.]

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Ibn Abi Ya'fur narrates from Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) that he said: "The jizyah is not lifted from the land of jizyah, and the jizyah is exclusively for the Muhajirin, and the sadaqah (charity) is exclusively for its people whom Allah has named in His Book, and they (the people of sadaqah) have no right in the jizyah." Then he said: "How vast and expansive is justice." And he said: "If justice is established among the people, they become free of need, and the sky sends down its sustenance and the earth brings forth its blessing by the permission of Allah the Exalted."