and if it is a third kind of payment, he has a greater right to it as well. Once the Muslims become numerous, neither humiliation nor jizyah remains; the humiliation and jizyah associated with it belonged to earlier times. Similarly, if the non-Muslim under Muslim protection who holds the land embraces Islam, it remains in his possession and he continues paying its kharāj, while his personal jizyah—the poll tax—is waived. How, then, can the two situations be treated as equivalent? If the land may remain in his possession after he embraces Islam, what prevents him from transferring it to another Muslim, with or without compensation? A Muslim is under no circumstances subject to humiliation. If the impediment were that this payment constituted humiliation, it could not coexist with Islam, just as the poll tax cannot.

Nor may it be argued: “It is like slavery: Islam prevents its initial imposition but does not prevent its continuation.” For we imposed slavery upon them against their will; we did not enter into an exchange with them for it. The poll tax is similar: we do not allow them to remain in Muslim territory without paying it. It is thus a form of servitude, since it is imposed without the consent of the person subjected to it. Kharāj, however, becomes binding only with the consent and choice of the person undertaking to pay it. If he did not accept the land from us, we would not hand it over to him.

It is exactly like the orchard- and crop-sharing arrangements which the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, concluded with the people of Khaybar. There, the payment was a share of the crop; here, it is a specified, known amount. There, payment becomes due only if they cultivate the land; here, it becomes due when they are able to cultivate it. A parallel case is that of a cultivator under a crop-sharing arrangement engaging someone else for less than the share to which he himself is entitled. For an investment manager may entrust the capital to another under a profit-sharing arrangement. This, however, requires the owner’s permission, because the entitled party has been specifically designated.