27. What is jizya?

Jizya was only a temporary kind of punitive tax levied upon a group of Arabs who had rebelled at the time of the Prophet of Islam. Despite their pact of allegiance to the Prophet of Islam, this group of Arabs had joined hands with the antagonists against the Prophet and his Companions.

After jizya was abrogated, only the practice of Kharaj (land-tax) remained applicable to all (Muslims and non-Muslims) alike. The practice of collecting jizya by Muslim rulers in later times from the non-Muslim minority has no grounds in Islam.