The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, sent me to Yemen and instructed me to collect from every adult male one dinar, or its equivalent in Ma‘āfirī cloth (1).

Thus, the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, instructed him to collect one dinar from every adult male, without distinguishing between the wealthy, the poor, and those of moderate means. This indicates that it is not obligatory upon children; likewise, it is not obligatory upon women. Rather, it is collected only from free, sane, adult men.

A group held that every wealthy person must pay four dinars, every person of moderate means two dinars, and every poor person one dinar. This is the view of the proponents of legal reasoning.

“And the Jews say, ‘Ezra is the son of Allah,’ while the Christians say, ‘The Messiah is the son of Allah.’ These are merely their words from their mouths, imitating the words of those who disbelieved before them. May Allah destroy them! How deluded they are!” (30)

Regarding His saying, exalted is He: “And the Jews say, ‘Ezra is the son of Allah,’ while the Christians say, ‘The Messiah is the son of Allah,’” Sa‘id ibn Jubayr and Ikrimah narrated from Ibn Abbas that a group of Jews—Salam ibn Mishkam, al-Nu‘man ibn Awfa, Shas ibn Qays, and Malik ibn al-Sayf—came to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and said, “How can we follow you when you have abandoned our direction of prayer and do not maintain that Ezra is the son of Allah?” Thereupon Allah, mighty and majestic, revealed: “And the Jews say, ‘Ezra is the son of Allah.’” (2)

Asim, al-Kisa’i, and Ya‘qub recited “Uzayrun” with nunation, while the others recited it without nunation, because it is a foreign name and resembles a diminutive form. Those who recited it with nunation said: it is a light name, and therefore it may be fully declined, even though it is foreign—like Noah, Hud, and Lot. Abu Ubayd preferred the reading with nunation and said: this is not a name attributed to his father; rather, it is like saying, “Zayd, the son of the emir,” or, “Zayd, the son of our sister.” Thus, Ezra is the subject, and what follows it is its predicate.

Ubayd ibn Umayr said: “Only one Jewish man made this statement, whose name was Phinehas ibn Azura.” (3)