'The Expedition for the survey of the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, carried on by order of the British government, in the years 1835, 1836, and 1837; preceded by geographical and historical notices of the regions situated between the rivers Nile and Indus. In four volumes. With fourteen maps and charts, and embellished with ninety-seven plates, besides numerous wood-cuts. Volume the first.' [‎254] (319/905)

254
TAXES LEVIED ON CHRISTIANS, ETC. [CHAP. XL
Taxes paid by benefit of Islamism : if they received it, they were to enjoy the
the Rayah. 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 capi
tation 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 hy 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 Jizyah
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 pro
duce 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.
Super fide 8 of The khaliph commenced with the Sowad or cultivated 'Irak,
which is 125 farsangs long, and 80 broad; the square mea
sure is, therefore, 10,000 farsangs: each farsang is equal in
length to 12,000 cubits 2 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, rivers, towns, &c.,
therefore 150,000,000 jeribs remained, half of which, accord
ing to Mas udi, were cultivated, and the other half left for
pasturage, &c.
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 18f farsangs to a degree.
3 Such a cubit is equal to 144 grains of barley placed side by side, accord
ing to Ibn Khordadbeh and Rev. S. Lee's Ibn Batuta, p. 34, note.
Jerib is the name of a measure of land, and the corn which such land pro
duces in the first instance is stated to be equal to 60 sds square. Kefaya, com
mentary on the Hedaya.