@Fhassan
Or instead of getting into the whole complicated mess of Jizya and Zakat why not everyone pay the same taxes and be the same citizen of the country.
Your judgement is somewhat clouded and you have not understood why I deemed it necessary to elaborate the concept of Jizya.
Let me break it down for you:
- The Taliban claim to represent Islam, and are in desperate need of funds.
- The best way for them to raise funds from non-Muslims in the guise of Islam is "Jizya".
If they are successful, there is no doubt that they could generate a large amount of revenue in this way whilst still maintaining an aura of “Islam” in the eyes of ignoramuses and those who wish to believe that the Taliban are a true manifestation of Islam for whatever reason…
Anybody who is fooled into thinking that this is an application of Islam is an Ignoramus for two primary reasons:
- In reality, a true application of Jizya would not generate funds that the Taliban demand.
- More importantly, non-Muslims in Pakistan are not eligible to pay Jizya to begin with.
Why make things complicated by bringing religous laws into the political sphere clearly where they don't belong!!!
The whole concent of Jizya tax and Zakah tax is sound fair enough but for crying out loud why make things complicated based on religion? How much more complicated do you want things to be? Everyone just pays the same dam tax. Problem solved.
That may work in a secular state, and that is how it is in Pakistan today too.
However – what about a state where the majority of the people are Muslim? If the Muslims of this state want shariah, and if a true manifestation of shariah is implemented there, then the will of the people must be met. Let’s not compromise democracy for your staunch secularism.
You cannot force your secular ideals onto other people. in this case – religion really does belong.
The Muslims will HAVE TO PAY zakah as it is part of their faith. Moreover, the Muslims will have to fight for this state if the case calls for it.
In this instance, it would be foolish to ask non-Muslims living under Islamic rule to fight for the Islamic state too. This is where Jizya comes in, it’s a tax paid by all adult males who do not wish to fight for the state. They can forfeit the tax if they take up arms.
Jizya was implemented throughout Islamic history with great success, over a span of 1000 years. There have been instances where non-Muslims happily paid jizya, forfeit Jizya by fighting alongside Muslims, and in once case the non-Muslims decided to give to charity instead of Jizya, which the caliph accepted.
It’s really not that complicated. Islamic taxation is really very simple. Allot simpler than the taxes we have to pay today!
There are two facts in life – death and taxes.
In an Islamic state, the taxes are tailored to meet the requirements of all the faiths living under it’s jurisdiction.