with no partner; His is the dominion and His is the praise, and He has power over all things,’ ten times is like one who has freed four descendants of Ishmael.”

Also in the two Sahīh collections, Abū Hurayrah reports:

“A female captive from Hawāzin was with Āishah, and he said, ‘Free her, for she is a descendant of Ishmael.’”

Most of the women and children whom the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, enslaved were Arabs. A full account of this would be lengthy. However, when Umar ibn al-Khattāb saw the abundance of non-Arab captives and that people no longer needed to enslave Arabs, he considered that they should free the Arabs. This was a matter of the ruler’s counsel and directives in the public interest, not a ruling of Islamic law binding upon everyone. Some therefore adopted what they understood Umar’s words to mean.

Likewise, some assumed that jizyah (the poll tax) could not be collected from Arab polytheists, although it could be collected from other polytheists. The majority of scholars, however, hold that no distinction is made between Arabs and others. Among them, some permit its collection from every polytheist, while others collect it only from the People of the Book and the Magians. This is because the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, did not collect jizyah from Arab polytheists, but did collect it from the Magians and the People of the Book.

Those who say, “It may be collected from any disbeliever,” argue: “When the verse concerning jizyah was revealed