after his death; otherwise Abū ʿUbaydah was the one who had first brought the jizya, and ʿUmar used to place him ahead of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf and others—something well known among the Companions.

ʿUmar at first hesitated to levy the jizya on the Magians, for the Quran contains no explicit ruling about them, whereas it does contain a clear text concerning the People of the Book. From this point the matter became unclear for many scholars:

• Some of them said: because they were mentioned specifically, this proves that it is not to be taken (1) from anyone else. They then became perplexed regarding the Magians, as has been noted, and they said: the Prophet ﷺ did not collect it from the Arab polytheists; rather, he commanded that they be fought until they testify, “There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.” The Prophet ﷺ passed away with no polytheist remaining in the land of the Arabs.

• The majority of scholars, however, held that there is no distinction between the Magians and the rest of the polytheists; indeed, they are worse than the others, as mentioned earlier. Therefore, if it is taken from them, then from