The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 2) — Page 710
CH. 9 AT-TAUBAH is the plural of which is derived from which means, he was or became small or little in body or in years or in estimation or in rank or dignity (Lane). which is the active participle from signifies, one who agrees, and is satisfied, to occupy or remain in a subordinate position (Mufradāt). Commentary: War with idolaters having been dealt with in previous verses, fighting with the People of the Book is introduced with this verse. The verse refers to those People of the Book who lived in Arabia. Like the idolaters of that country, they too had been actively hostile to Islam and had tried to exterminate it. Muslims were, therefore, ordered to fight them unless they agreed to live as their loyal and peaceful subjects. The Jizyah, referred to in the verse, was the tax which such non-Muslims had to pay as free subjects of the Muslim State in return for the protection they enjoyed under it. Islam has ordained that in Arabia, the birthplace of Islam and its headquarters, only the People of the Book, and not idolaters, could live as subjects by paying the Jizyah, while outside Arabia all non-Muslims could live under a Muslim government on payment of this tax. Arabia, being the cradle and centre of Islam and, as it were, the citadel thereof, was to be kept free from idolaters. It should also be noted that as against Jizyah which was imposed on non-Muslims, the tax imposed on Muslims is called Zakāh which is a PT. 10 heavier tax than Jizyah, and Muslims, in addition to this tax, had to perform military service which was very hard in those days and from which non- Muslims were exempt. Thus the latter in a way fared better, for they had to pay a lighter tax and were also free from military service. The expression (with their own hand) is used here in a figurative sense, signifying (1) that Jizyah should not be forcibly taken from the People of the Book but that they should pay it with their own hand, i. e. they should agree to pay it willingly and should acknowledge the superior power of the Muslims; or (2) that they should pay it out of hand, i. e. in ready money and not in the form of deferred payment; or (3) that they should pay it considering it as a favour from Muslims, the word, w (hand) also meaning a favour. The word (acknowledge their subjection) is used here to express the subordinate political status of non- Muslims, i. e. they were to occupy the position of subjects in relation to Muslims. As regards the social relations of Muslims with the dhimmis, as non-Muslim subjects of the Muslim State were called, these may be judged from the fact that the Holy Prophet himself used to stand up in reverence when the bier of a non-Muslim happened to pass by him (Dāwūd, ch. on Janā'iz), and 'Alī, the Fourth Caliph, bore on his own shoulders the bier of a Christian who happened to die in the time of his Caliphate. 1150