Put quite simply, Jizyah is a tax imposed on christian and Jews living under Sharia law. There are argument for and against the Jizyah. However, the arguments for Jizyah, in my opinion are not compatible with arguments for liberty and equality in a society. I will give some reasons why;



1) Zakat; Zakat is usually a strawman argument used to say that "if muslims pay zakat to feed the poor, why shouldnt Jews/Xtains pay Jizyah". The problem with this argument is that Jizyah is not specifically meant for the poor and secondly, why not have everyone just only pay Zakat? Zakat and Jizyah are two different financial terms, one as a moral duty to feed the poor and the other to protect the rights of the non-muslim minority. Liberty and equality demand that everyone in a state should have equal rights and free to their own beliefs. Would it not be fairer if everyone paid the same taxes- everyone pays Zakat only.


2) Dividing people by religion; Another argument for the Jizyah is that non-muslims do not/did not fight in the wars against Islam and so, it is a payment for protection from the Islamic state. The problem here is that why not allow their non-muslim citizens to fight? If Jews enjoyed freedoms in the past under Sharia, why wouldnt they have fought for their liberty and freedom? Is there anyone that is sane that wouldnt want to protect his wealth and freedom that was protected by the state?

The argument for Jizyah is here

http://guidetosalvation.com/Website/jizya.htm


One additional rebuttal


Some people claim that Jizyah is lower than Zakat. Problem; you are cheating muslims by taxing them higher
Some people claim that Jizyah is higher than Zakat. Problem; you are cheating non-muslims by taxing them higher


Solution; same taxes for all

A good article on the debate

http://debate.org.uk/topics/history/xstnc-5.html