turned into pasture by ‘Umar and, on the owners’ protest, made over to them. Both Makkah and Rabdhah were at one time at war with the Muslims and on this account Bukhārī speaks of them as dār al-ḥarb. Dār al-Islām is evidently a place where the laws of Islām prevail and which is under a Muslim ruler. The use of dār al-ḥarb in the sense of a place actually at war with the Muslims, is unobjectionable. But the jurists apply the word to all states and countries which are not dār al-Islām or under the Muslim rule, though they may not be at war with the Muslims, and thus look upon a Muslim state as being always in a state of war with the whole of the non-Muslim world. This position is not only inconsistent with the very basic principles of Islām but actually it has never been accepted by any Muslim state that has ever existed in the world. The difficulty has been met by some jurists by bringing a third class, called dār al-ṣulḥ or dār al-‘ahd, or a country which has an agreement with the Muslims. But even this does not exhaust the whole world. Many of the laws relating to war are based on this fictitious division of the world, for which there is not the least authority either in the Holy Qur’ān or in Ḥadīth.

Jizyah

The word jizyah is explained as meaning the tax that is taken from the free non-Muslim subjects of a Muslim government, whereby they ratify the compact that ensures them protection, or a tax that is paid by the owner of land, being derived from jazā which means he gave satisfaction or he compensated him for a certain thing, or for what he had done (LL.). In the Holy Qur’ān, jizyah is spoken of only in one place, and there in connection with wars with the people of the Book: “Fight those who believe not in Allāh … out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the jizyah in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection” (9:29). The Holy Prophet made treaties subject to the condition of payment of jizyah with the Magians of Bahrain (Bu. 58:1), with Ukaidar, the Christian chief of Dūmah (AD. 19:29; IH), with the Christian ruler of Ayla (IJ-H. III, p. 146), with the Jews of Jarbā’ and Adhruḥ11 (ibid.), and with the Christians of Najrān (IS. T. I-ii, p. 35). But in all these cases, the jizyah was a tribute paid by the state and not a poll-tax. Bukhārī opens his book of jizyah with