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Volume :8 Issue : 30 1988
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Taxes (Jizya and Kharaj) in Egypt in the First Century of Hijra (in Arabic)
Auther : Falih Hussain
The Poll-tax is the main topic of this essay because opinions differ about it. The land-tax has been touched upon just to explain its nature.
It begins with a discussion of Greek terms for both taxes. As Greek was used in documents of the firt century A.H.
This study shows that the Islamic Jizya is different in concept and application from the Greek Andrismos poll-tax. Besides, there is no mention of the Poll-tax in the Greek papyri for the period proceeding the Arab Conquest of Egypt.
Thus we can afirm that the Jizya is an Islamic tax mentioned in the Qur’an and imposed by the prophet.
The Greek term, Andrismos, was used to indicate the Jizya, for Greek was the language of (financial) adminstration. Kharaj was the tax imposed by Omar B. Al-Khattab on conquered lands in line with his policy of considering those lands waqf for the Umma and leaving them with their owners.
Finally, this study shows that the practices through Greek, coptic and Arabic Papyri throw much light on local influences.