The Quran

Preface

قاتِلُوا الَّذينَ لا يُؤمِنونَ بِاللَّهِ وَلا بِاليَومِ الآخِرِ وَلا يُحَرِّمونَ ما حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ وَرَسولُهُ وَلا يَدينونَ دينَ الحَقِّ مِنَ الَّذينَ أوتُوا الكِتابَ حَتّىٰ يُعطُوا الجِزيَةَ عَن يَدٍ وَهُم صاغِرونَ

Yusuf Ali

Fight those who believe not in God nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by God and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizyah¹ with willing submission,² and feel themselves subdued.

Jizyah: the root meaning is compensation. The derived meaning, which became the technical meaning, was a poll tax levied from those who did not accept Islam, but were willing to live under the protection of Islam, and were thus tacitly willing to submit to its ideals being enforced in the Muslim State. There was no amount permanently fixed for it, and in any case it was merely symbolical-an acknowledgment that those whose religion was tolerated would in their turn not interfere with the preaching and progress of Islam. Imām Shafi' suggests one dinar per year, which would be the Arabian gold dinar of the Muslim States, equivalent in value to about half a sovereign, or about 5 or 7 rupees. See n. 410 to 3:75. The tax varied in amount, and there were exemptions for the poor, for females and children (according to Abū Ḥanīfah), for slaves, and for monks and hermits. Being a tax on able-bodied males of military age, it was in a sense a commutation for military service. But see the next note.
'An Yadin (literally, from the hand) has been variously interpreted. The hand being the symbol of power and authority, I accept the interpretation “in token of willing submission.” The Jizyah was thus partly symbolic and partly a commutation for military service, but as the amount was insignificant and the exemptions numerous, its symbolic character predominated. See the last note.