Fighting the Ahl e Kitaab -- Al-Taubah 9: 29 

There is a Qura’nic ayah that states that we should fight the ahl-e-kitaab until they pay the jizya tax.  Does this mean that keep fighting them always or only in the case of when they refuse to pay a tax in the Islamic state? Also how should we view the conquering of countries during the caliph Rashidun era of Islam?  Is conquering alright?

salam,

Adnan

Reply

In my opinion, the referred verse (Al-Taubah 9: 29) is also a part of the law of punishments related to the rejection of the Messengers (Rasu’l) of God. In one of my earlier response to one of your questions, I had written:

For polytheists, the punishment of rejecting the messengers of the Almighty has always been death. Examples of this punishment may be seen in human history, in the shape of the destruction of the people of Noah, Lot, Hu’d, Sho`aib, Moses (pbut) etc. The same punishment was administered on the rejecters of Mohammad (pbuh).

On the contrary, if a non-polytheist group – like the Jews and the Christians, for instance – refuse to accept a Messenger of God, their punishment is slightly different from the polytheists. As can be seen from the referred part of my previous answer, if a polytheist group persists in rejection of a messenger of God, it is killed as a punishment for its rejection. On the other hand, if a non-polytheist group refuses to accept the call of a messenger, the life of its members can be spared if they accept political subservience and, as a symbol for such political subservience, pay Jizyah. In one of my previous responses to a question, while explaining the nature of Jiziyah, I wrote:

Jiziyah, according to the Qur’an was a part of the punishment of the non-acceptance of God’s truth, after it had become manifest through the messenger of Allah in the Arabian Peninsula (Al-Taubah 9: 29) and subsequently through the companions of the messenger for the rest of the world (Al-Baqarah 2: 143). It may be mentioned over here that this punishment was only for those who were not polytheists by belief. As far as the polytheists were concerned, their punishment for the non-acceptance of God’s truth was nothing less than death (Al-Taubah 9: 5). Thus, the Prophet (pbuh) and subsequently his companions imposed Jiziyah upon the people of the Book, and other creeds ascribing to non-polytheistic belief, which refused to accept Islam

Keeping the foregoing explanation in perspective, it should be quite clear that the referred verse of Surah Al-Taubah relates not particularly to the Ahl-e-Kitaab – the Jews and the Christians – of Arabia, who were the direct addressees of the call of the last messenger of God. The fighting prescribed against this group is a part of the punishment that this group was subjected to, due to its rejection of the Prophet (pbuh) even after the truth had become manifest upon them.

I hope this helps. In case any aspect of your question remains unanswered, please feel free in writing back to me at your own convenience.

May the Almighty guide us all to the path of His liking.

My fondest regards to you and those around you.

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