the dynastic caliphates: the umayyads and the reforms 151al-Œajjaj, who no doubt provided historians with rich material, mostly
adverse, had invariably, though consistently, been criticised by his-
torians. In some cases the material provided about him becomes a
source of a peculiar mixture of entertainment and bitterness, though
it is still cited for condemnation. For example, to dissuade new con-
verts from what he saw as false pretence of conversion, al-Œajjaj,
oddly enough, is reported to have charged the new converts both
Jizyah and Zakàh!, (ibid.).
Kharàj
Kharàj was a significant source of state finance. It was the tax
imposed on the agricultural land that was left in the hands of the
non-Muslim keepers on Islamic conquest. We recall from chapter
three that a debate had arisen between the Muslim warriors and the
second caliph Umar over the allocation of the conquered land to
them as spoils of war. We recall that while the warriors demanded
that the land should be distributed to them as Ghanìmah, after deduct-
ing one-fifth, Khùmsto the state, the second caliph was in favour of
keeping the ownership of the land in the hands of the state. The
actual keepers of the land were its existing owners, but the owner-
ship was that of the state, leaving the keepers to pay a Kharàj tax
on the land according to its cultivability, “I impose Kharàj on them
for the land they hold and levy a Jizyah on their persons” (Abù-
Yùsuf ).
Kharàj land should not be confused with sawàfì land or Zakàh
land. Kharàj land was the land that was left in the hands of its orig-
inal non-Muslim owners at the time of Islamic conquest for the pay-
ment of kharàj. Sawàfìland was the land whose original non-Muslim
owners had deserted, or died without leaving an heir, at the time
of conquest, and as a result, the land was put under the direct admin-
istration of the state. Zakàh land was the land owned by Muslims,
which was mainly in the Arabian Peninsula prior to Islamic con-
quests. The lands took their names from the tax or revenue gener-
ated from them. Kharàj land was the land on which Kharàj was
imposed, Zakàh land was the land on which Zakàh was levied and
sawàfìland was the land from which profit was generated. To the
state, the revenue from each type of land was categorized accord-
ingly: Kharàj, Zakàh and Sawàfìrevenues (Abù-Yùsuf ).
Initially Kharàj land, which was especially surveyed to determine
various tax parameters, was taxed at a proportional rate that depended