benefit of Islamism: if they received it, they were to enjoy the
same rights as the Muslims; if not, they were asked whether
they would pay the land and capitation taxes; and if they
refused to do this, they were attacked by the- sword. The
conditions; however, varied for different nations. It was a
general rule that they should pay double the toll, I e. five per
cent.; that the rich should pay forty-eight dirhems a year capitation
tax; the middling class twenty-four dirhems-; and the
poor! (working men) twelve dirhems: women, children, and
persons unable to work, paid nothing.1
But Omar ben Abd-el-Aziz went so far as to calculate what
a man could in a year gain by working, and what he could
subsist upon, and he. claimed all the rest, amounting to four
or five dinars a year. The- capitation tax was- called Jizyafa
and sometimes Kharaj-ar-rowos.
The principal revenue, from the dzemmis was the land tax,
which was sometimes so much increased as to be half the produce
of the land. The technical term for all the-taxes from
the people under protection, and the tribute from enemies not
brought under subjection by force of arms, was Fay.
The khaliph commenced with the Sowad or cultivated ’Irak-,,
which is 125 farsangs long, and 80 broad; the square measure
is, therefore, 10,000 farsangs: each farsang is equal in
length to 12,000 cubits2 of those which,are called Morsdah,3,
or to 9,000 Hashemite cubits, and a; square farsang is equal- to
22,500 jeribs,4 so that 10,000 square farsangs give 225,000,000
jeribs. For regulating the- land tax, 75,000,000 jeribs were
deducted in consideration of the mountains,1 rivers, towns, &c.,
therefore 150,000,000 jeribs remained, half of which, according
to Mas’udi, were cultivated, and the other half left for
pasturage, &c.
1 The capitation tax ceased as soon as they became Muslims.
Ibn Khordadbeh states, that 25 such farsangs make a degree. Koehler, in
his preface to Abu-l-fedd’s Syria,, takes 18-f- farsangs to a degree.-
Such a.cubit is ecjual lo 144 grains of barley placed side bv side,-according
to Ibn Khordadbeh and Rev. S. Lee’s Ibn Batuta, p. 34, note.
4 Jerib is the name of a measure of land, and the corn which such land produces
in the first instance is stated to be equal to 60 sds square. Kefaya, commentary
on the Hedaya.
From the Sowad were taken, as land, tax, two-fifths of the
produce of wheat and barley, if the field was watered naturally;
three-tenths of the produce of wheat and barley, if the field was
artificially watered by means.of wheels, or Kanats ; one-third of
the produce of dates and grapes.; and one-third of the growth
of gardens; also one-fourth of the spring-harvest. This was
given partly in kind, and partly in money. It seems that it
was ascertained, in the survey, of Omar, how much ground
there was for barley, palms, &c., in the Sowad ; because under
Kobad, only the general regulation was made, that 1 dirhem
should be paid for each of these 150,000,000 jeribs: The further
divisions were probably left to the inhabitants, as is done in
India. But Omar settled distinctly, that for every jerib of field:
(if the above parts were not given in kind) there should be:
delivered 1 kafiz of the produce and 1 dirhem in money, whether
the field had been ploughed or left in pasture. Besides this,
there were to be paid, for 1 jerib of grapes, 10 dirhems; according
to another tradition; 8 dirhems; for 1 jerib of sugar, 6 dirhems;
1 jerib of wheat, 4 dirhems; ] jerib of barley, 2 dirhems;
1 jerib of sesame, 5 dirhems; 1 jerib of cotton, 5 dirhems.; 1
jerib of spring-harvest, 3 dirhems.1
According to the price of corn, at that time, we shall find
that 56 lbs. of wheat cost 1 dirhem, the price of two-fifths of
a jerib having, been fixed at 5 dirhems, or Is. 1 Qd. nearly, after
deducting 64 lbs. (1 kafiz) from 768 lbs. (the produce of one.
jerib).
This will allow a correct estimate to be made of the money
value at that period. Moreover, it is to be remarked, that the
dirhems of the time of Omar had a value equivalent to 1 dirhem
and ‘1 \ daniks ;2 in the time of Harun-al-Bashid they had the
weight of 1 mithkal,3 and were no doubt Persian money. No,
tax was paid for forage, nor for any of those products which1
are perishable, such as melons, dates, cucumbers, &c., whilst
from all those which can be preserved, as. corn, nuts, almonds^
linseed, oil, &c., the kheraj was to be delivered; but according
to some doctors, only when the quantity of corn exceeded that
1 Abd Yusuf, in his Letter to Harun-al-Rashid, fol. 23, recto.
a Six daniks make a dirhem. 8 One mithkal is equal to l£ dirhem.