Through Force or Faith? — Page 205
Chapter 4 — Interaction with non-Believers 205 Kind Treatment of the Christians from Najran After the conquest of Makkah, a delegation of Christians of Najran came to the Holy Prophet s as consisting of fourteen prom- inent delegates. They had come for a religious dialogue about the veracity of Islam. In the course of discussion, time for the worship came. When they wanted to worship according to the Christian custom, the Holy Prophet let them do so. The Christians per- formed their rituals facing west while still in the mosque of the Holy Prophet s as ( Ibn Hish ā m ). This way the Holy Prophet s as set a great example of religious tolerance, for the entire world in gen- eral and for Muslims in particular, the like of which is not to be found anywhere today. The Issue of Jizya or Tax of Protection Jizya is an important topic in connection with the treatment of the People of the Book and the infidels by Muslim. Having poor understanding of this matter, many object that jizya is collected from non-Muslims whereas it is not collected from Muslims. Thereby an impression is created that Islam promotes selective treatment of its Non-Muslim citizens and reference is made to S u rah at-Taubah, 9:29. The issue of jizya seems objectionable to some but it was only a tax that was collected from the Non-Muslim subjects to run the government. Its benefit was to the tax payers indirectly because the state provided for their protection, comfort and welfare and maintained army for the protection of their life and property with this fund. If the objection is why was this tax