onstrated,
but in return for protection,"27"
i.e. in lieu of military service. The notion that the Muslim
came with the Qur'ăn in one hand and the sword in the other,
offering no other alternative, is utterly false and contrary
to the Bur' an itself, and the practice of Muhammad (pbuh) and
his successors."28" Those
Christians who embraced Islam did so of' their own choice and
free will "29"All the available
evidence confirms that the Christians in Syria, Al-Iraq, and
Egypt enjoyed under the first two caliphs freedom and tolerance,
both religious and civil, as they never heard of under their
former Christian masters.
1) Ibn Abd il-Hakam, Futuh Misr, ed. Charles C. Torrey (New
Haven, 1922), p.53.
2) On the identity of Al-Muqauqas see A. J. Butler, The Arab
Conquest of Egypt (Oxford, 1902), pp.508-26.
3) Ibn Abdi l-Hakam, pp. 70 f.; Baladhuri, pp. 214-15; Tabari,
i. 2588 f.
4) Amr's report to the payment of poll-tax. See Ibn Abd il-Hakam,
Futuh Misr, p. 82.
5) Arnold, The Preaching of Islam, p.102.
6) Ibn Abdi l-Hakam, p. 70; Baladhuri, pp.214-15; cf. H.
I. Bell, Greek Papyri in the British Museum, Catalogue with Texts
(London, 1910), iv, pp.xxv and 173. This source mentions trade-taxes
corresponding to land-tax.
7) Ibn Abdi l-Hakam, pp. 158-81.
8) Cf. Butler, The Arab Conquest of Egypt, pp.453-4.
9) For detailed examination of the Moslems in Egypt (Old
Testament and Semitic Studies in Memory of W.R.Harper, vol. ii,
10) Ibn Sa'd, iii, pt. I, pp. 213-14; cf. Baladhuri, p.453.
11) Ibn Sa'd, ii, pt. 2, p. 44. Cf. Tabar i, i.2482 in connexion
with Banu Taghlib. Al-Bukhari's Sahis (Bulaq, 1296), v. 128; Muslim's
Sahih (Cairo, 1331), v. 160. Cf. Muir, The Caliphate (London, 1883),
12) On Abu Bakr's renewal of the agreement see Tabari, i.
13) Cf. however, Abu Yusuf, Kitab al-Kharaj, p.41
14) Umar himself, according to a tradition preserved in Muslim's
Sahih v. 160, heard the Prophet say: Truly, I will drive out the
Jews and the Christians from the Arabian Peninsula, until I have
left none but Muslims there. Al-Bukhari's Sahis, v. 128, contains
a similar but, shorter tradition in the form of a command: Drive
out the infidels from the Arabian Peninsula.
15) Cf. Ibn Asakir, At-Ta'rikh al-KAbir (Damascus, 1329),
i. 149-50 on the supposed agreement with Damascus. For another text,
16) Arnold, The Preaching of Islam, p.59
17) Memoire sur la conquete de la Syrie, pp. 143 f.
18) Annali, iii. 957-9
19) Muir, The Caliphate, p.139, has also arrived at
the same conclusion.
20) Surah, ix.27
21) A. S. Tritton, Islam and the Protected Religions (Journal
of the Royal Asiatic Society, pt. iii (1928), 285-508), asserts,
without giving any indication of dates, that the usage of jizyah
and kharaj is not primitive. The original text of this essay
was written before the publication of A.S. Tritton's The Caliphs
and their Non-Muslim Subjects. Although this work contains much
useful material, its usefulness is somewhat diminished by a peculiar
manner of presentation in which little or no respect fo rhistorical
sequence is observed.
22) Cf. the Greek choregia and the Aramaic keragga. See the
Encyclopaedia of Islam, i, pt. 2, pp. 902-3, article Kharadji by
The W. Juynboll.
23) Baladhuri, p. 131, however, makes a clear distinction
between the two taxes as paid by non-Muslims.
24) As mentioned above Banu Taghlib did fight in the cause
of Islam and they were exempted from the payment of jizyah.
25) Futuh, p. 159, cf.p.252.
26) See the cases cited by Arnold, The Preaching of Islam,
27) Cf. TAbari, i. 2050. Cf. 2055.
28) Cf. Goldziher, Vorlesungen uber den Islam, p.25.
29) Arnold, The Preaching of Islam, pp. 51-52; cf. p.420:
'On the whole, unbelievers have enjoyed under Muhammadan rule a
measure of toleration, the like of which is not to be found in Europe
until quite modern times.
The Islamic Quarterly, London
January - April 1961