and Ibn Rushd and others state that the scholars are unanimously agreed that jizya is imposed on the People of the Scripture and on the Magians.
- The reason the Magians are classed with the People of the Scripture is the present ḥadith, as well as the report transmitted by al-Shāfiʿī in which the Prophet ﷺ said: “Treat them according to the same practice applied to the People of the Scripture.”
Scholarly disagreement
The scholars differed concerning those other than the People of the Scripture and the Magians: is jizya taken from them or not?
• Imām Aḥmad held that it is taken only from the People of the Scripture and from the Magians.
• The majority of scholars maintained that it is permissible to conclude truces with all unbelievers and to collect jizya from them; this view was adopted by Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn and by Ibn al-Qayyim.
The Shaykh said: “Once you understand the Sunnah, it becomes clear that the Prophet ﷺ made no distinction between Arabs and others, that levying the jizya was a manifest, well-known practice, and that he assigned no special religious ruling to the Arabs.”
Note
Shaykh ʿAbd Allāh Ābā Buṭayn explained the difference between a muʿāhad, a mustaʾman, and a dhimmī: the muʿāhad is a non-Muslim upon whom a formal covenant has been concluded; the mustaʾman is one of them who enters our territory under a guarantee of safety; the dhimmī is the one who takes up permanent residence in the lands of Islam in return for paying the jizya. In brief, the difference between the muʿāhad and the mustaʾman on the one hand, and the dhimmī on the other, is that the first two have not settled in the abode of Islam, whereas the dhimmī has established residence among us through the jizya. And Allah knows best.