It is understood that this was by way of a peace treaty. This does not make the jizya obligatory, because jizya is not collected by way of a peace treaty. A peace treaty is based on the consent of both parties to the agreement, whereas such consent is not required for jizya, since if they offered to pay it, the imam would be religiously obliged to accept it.

Aḥmad explicitly stated that this levy is jizya in the report of Muḥammad ibn Mūsā, who asked him about the Christians of Banū Taghlib. He replied: “The jizya is doubled for them.” Thus, he called it jizya. In the report of Ibn al-Qāsim, however, he left the designation less explicit, saying: “Wealth, livestock, and land are all treated alike, whether belonging to a minor or an adult; it is simply zakat.” Thus, he called it zakat, meaning that its ruling is like that of zakat, in that it is obligatory upon minors and adults alike.

If they enter into a treaty stipulating that they provide hospitality to Muslims who pass through their territory, this obligation is imposed upon them for three days, with no extension beyond that. This is as ʿUmar made a treaty with the Christians of Syria, requiring them to provide hospitality to Muslims who passed through their lands for three days, with the kind of food they themselves ate. They were not required to slaughter a sheep or a chicken, or to provide barley as fodder for their animals. He imposed this obligation on the inhabitants of the Sawād, but not on those of the cities.

If hospitality and the doubling of the sadaqah (alms-tax) were not stipulated for them, then no sadaqah is due from them on crops or fruit, nor are they obliged to provide hospitality to a beggar or a wayfarer. A report from Aḥmad contains wording indicating that what was stipulated for them was one day and one night. Ḥamdān ibn ʿAlī said: “I asked Aḥmad, ‘Did ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb impose one day and one night on the people of the Sawād?’ He replied, ‘Whenever we took charge of them, they would say, “shabāshabā.”’ I asked Aḥmad, ‘What does “one day and one night” mean?’ He replied, ‘They provide hospitality to them.’ I asked, ‘What do they mean by “shabāshabā”?’ Aḥmad replied, ‘In Persian, it means “night by night.”’

Abū Bakr al-Khallāl also transmitted it through his chain of transmission from al-Aḥnaf ibn Qays: “ʿUmar, may Allah be pleased with him, stipulated