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Q&A: Dhimmis other than the People of the Book (Ahlul Kitaab)

The following is translated from Arabic, please refer to the original Arabic for exact meanings.

Question:
 
It came in the hadith about the Magi (magian) that ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab mentioned the Magi and said I do not know how to deal with them. ‘Abdul Rahman bin Auf said I bear witness that I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him said: "Apply to them the law applied upon the people of the Book". The scholars interpreted it as taking the head tax (jizyah) from them in return of protecting their blood, and nothing else. Is the increase that came in the hadith, which is: "without marrying their women and nor eating their slaughtered meat," is valid, or it is ijtihad and understanding of the text?

Answer:


Regarding the hadith, (Apply to them ...

There are ahadith that did not mention "without marrying their women and nor eating their slaughtered meat," and these are some of them:

- Malik ibn Ja'far reported from ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Ali from his father that ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab said I do not know how to deal with them. ‘Abdul Rahman bin Auf said I bear witness that I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him said: "Apply to them the law applied upon the people of the Book".

- Ibn Abi Shaybah reported in his Workbook from Ja'far from his father, he said: (‘Umar said while setting between the tomb and the pulpit: I do not know how to deal with the Maju who are not the people of the Book. ‘Abdul Rahman ibn Awf said I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him said: "Apply to them the law applied upon the people of the Book".)

- But Ibn Abi Shaybah said in another narration, in his Workbook, the reason of the question, which was about the head tax (jizyah) of the Magi. Thus the question was about the head tax. He said in that narration that Wakee' told us, followed by Sufyan and Malik bin Anas from Ja'far from his father that ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab consulted the people about the Magi regarding the jizyah. Abdul Rahman bin Auf said: (I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said: "Apply to them the law applied upon the people of the Book".)

This means that the subject was about taking the jizyah from the Magi. Therefore, the hadith of the Prophet, peace be upon him, was evidence to it, ie, the ruling of the jizyah regarding the Magi is the same ruling for the people of the Book, and thus it does not go beyond it to cover other matters such as the marriage and slaughtered meat.

- And this is what the Shafi'i mentioned on the subject. For al-Bayhaqi reported in the information about the Sunan and reports, he said:

Abu Bakr, Abu Zakariya, and Abu Saeed, said: Abu Abbas told us, Al-Rabee' told us, Al-Shafi'i told us, Malik told us from Ja'far ibn Muhammad from his father that ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab mentioned the Magi and said: I do not know how to deal with them. ‘Abdul Rahman bin Auf said I bear witness that I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him said: "Apply to them the law applied upon the people of the Book." Al-Shafi'i said in our account from Abu Said: If that was confirmed, then it is related to taking of the jizyah, and not regarding the marrying of their women and eating of their slaughtered meat.

This is regarding the ahadith that did not mention "without marrying their women and nor eating their slaughtered meat"...

However, there are ahadith that mentioned this explicitly:

Ibn Abi Shaybah reported in his Workbook from al-Hasan ibn Muhammad "that the Prophet, peace be upon him, wrote to the Magi, the people of Hajar inviting them to Islam; so whoever of them became Muslim it would be accepted of him; but whoever did not become Muslim a jizyah is imposed upon him, without marrying their women and nor eating their slaughtered meat».

Al- Haythami mentioned similar to this hadith in his book (the desired objective of the researcher- Bughyat ul-Baahith) about the extras that came in Musnad of Al-Harith; he said Abdul Aziz ibn Aban told us, seconded by Sufian from Qays ibn Muslim from al-Hasan ibn Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib, he said: "The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, wrote to the Magi, the people of Hajar inviting them to Islam; so whoever of them became  Muslim it would be accepted of him; but whoever did not become Muslim a jizyah is imposed upon him, without marrying their women and nor eating their slaughtered meat".

1st Rabee' II 1432

03/06/2011

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