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Guide to Understanding Islam

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Extorting Money from Other Religions

Does Islam require people of other faiths to pay money to support the Muslim religion?

Absolutely.  Muhammad very clearly established that people of other religions have to pay a poll tax, called the jizya, to Muslims.  The money not only funds the spread of the Islamic faith (often by military campaign), but it is intended to remind those of other religions that they have been subjugated by Islam and exist in third-class status (behind Muslim women).

Qur'an (9:29) - "Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, 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."

From the Hadith:

Muslim (19:4294) - There are many places in the hadith where Muhammad tells his followers to demand the jizya of non-believers.  Here he lays down the rule that it is to be extorted by force: "If they refuse to accept Islam, demand from them the Jizya. If they agree to pay, accept it from them and hold off your hands. If they refuse to pay the tax, seek Allah's help and fight them"

Ishaq 956 & 962 - "He who withholds the Jizya is an enemy of Allah and His apostle."

Additional Notes:

Muhammad established the practice of funding Islam through extortion from non-believers late in his life.  In 630, the prophet of Islam first marched an army into Christian lands in what came to be known as the "Battle of Tabuk."  In fact, there was no battle because there was no army arrayed against him.  The residents were taken by surprise.  Some were killed, and the survivors were forced to pay "protection" money to Muhammad.  (Clearly abrogating the previous rule of "no compulsion in religion" that today's Muslims are so fond of repeating).

This lucrative extortion was practiced down through the centuries and was a part of the brutal Ottoman rule over Christians, Jews and others.  The Serbs of Europe were particularly hard hit and often had to hand over their children to satisfy the collector.  The children were then converted to Islam and trained as Jihad warriors for use in foreign campaigns (the so-called Janissaries). 

In India, well into the 17th century, Muslim tax collectors would take the wives and children of impoverished Hindus and sell them into slavery to satisfy the Jizya requirement.  The only way for many to avoid losing their families was to convert to Islam.  This tremendous discrimination is how Islam made inroads into populations that wanted nothing to do with it.  

Technically, there is no such thing in Islam as an innocent non-Muslim, which makes those ballyhooed condemnations of "terror against innocent people" even more useless.  There is a basis for protecting the "People of the Book" (originally Jews and Christians, but later extended to Hindus when Muslim leaders realized that killing them was not as profitable as taxing them).   These would be those who place themselves completely under the rule of Muslims, relinquishing all rights and agreeing to finance the Muslim expansion.  Unfortunately, even this has not been enough to spare religious minorities from extreme persecution and massacre.

Traditionally the collection of the jizya occurs at a ceremony that is designed to emphasize the subordinate status of the non-Muslim, where the subject is often struck in a humiliating fashion.  M.A. Khan recounts that some Islamic clerics encouraged tax collectors to spit into the mouths of Hindu dhimmis during the process.  He also quotes the popular Sufi teacher, Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi:

"The honor of Islam lies in insulting the unbelief and the unbelievers (kafirs).  One who respects kafirs dishonors Muslims...  The real purpose of levying the Jizya on them is to humiliate them... [and] they remain terrified and trembling."  Islamic Jihad

Islamic purists, such as Hamas and the Taliban, wish to reinstate the jizya.

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