Re: More news from the cartoon front

In article <dskt83$4s2$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
nancyl@xxxxxxxxx (Nancy Lebovitz) wrote:

In article <ddfr-4AA68A.01295311022006@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
David Friedman <ddfr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I think that may be an accurate description of the spread through Arabia
at the very beginning. But the expansion into Byzantine territory
didn't, I think, involve forced conversion--Christians were free to
remain Christians, with some restrictions and a special tax. That wasn't

What were the restrictions and how high was the tax?

The restrictions varied from time to time and place to place. There was
a fictitious agreement, the convenant of Umar--apparently not actually
due to the real Umar, the second Caliph--that had a list sometimes
followed.

My memory is that under that list Christians could keep their churches
but couldn't build new ones, and couldn't try to convert Muslims. I'm
afraid I don't remember the rest of the terms, but I expect you could
google for it.

As to the amount, the Wikipedia has:

"There was no amount permanently fixed for it, though the payment
usually depended on wealth: the Kitab al-Kharaj of Abu Yusuf sets the
amounts at 48 dirhams for the richest (e.g. moneychangers), 24 for those
of moderate wealth, and 12 for craftsmen and manual laborers. Females,
children, the poor, and hermits were exempt from it. The disabled and
elderly were exempt unless they were independently wealthy, as were
mendicant monks?those living in productive monasteries had to pay. "

A dirham was, roughly, a silver penny.

It's worth noting that dhimmi did not have to pay the Zakat, the alms
tax which Muslims had to pay.

From the Wikipedia on that:

" * Zakât on self (zakât fitr or fitrah) is a per head payment
equivalent to cost of around 2.25 kilograms of the main food of the
region (this may be wheat, dates or rice, depending on the place) paid
during the month of Ramadan by the head of a family for himself and his
dependents to the zakât collector (amil).

* Zakât on wealth (zakât mal) comprises all the other types of
zakât, such as on business, on savings, on income, on crops, on
livestock, on gold, on minerals, on hidden treasures unearthed, etc."

It would be interesting to figure out how the amounts of the two taxes
compared.

--
www.daviddfriedman.com
daviddfriedman.blogspot.com/
.

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