Section: On the Breach of Covenant by Dhimmis and Treaty-Holders

If the imam enters into a covenant with the people of a town or a fortress and they later violate that covenant—refusing to pay what is due from them of the poll-tax (jizya) and the like, and declining to submit to the rule of Islam—while no injustice has been done to them and the imam has not acted unfairly toward them, it becomes incumbent upon the Muslims to march against them and fight alongside their imam. If battle ensues and the Muslims prevail, the same rulings that apply in enemy territory (dār al-ḥarb) are applied to them without distinction.

Some jurists have said that they, along with their women and children, become fayʾ (public booty) and that no khums (one-fifth share) is taken from them. Should they emerge by stealth as highwaymen, blocking the roads, they are treated like Muslim brigands, provided they have not withheld the poll-tax, even