Religion of Intoleranceevils on the men: blows. pillages, outrages on women in their
husbands' presence.'
Marwa n was not alone. One of his succe ssors , al-Mansu r (754-775),
according to Michael, "raised every kind of tax on all the people in every
place, He doubled every type of tribute on Christians.'
Payment of the jizya often took place in a peculiar and demeaning cer-
emo nyin whic h the Musl im tax offi cial hit the dhimmi on the head
orback of the neck. Tritton explained, "The dhimmi has to be made to feel
heisan inferior person when he pays, he is nottobe treated with
honor. ' This ensu red that the dhimm i felt "sub dued ," as
comma nded by Qur'an 9:29. The twelfth-century Qur'anic commentator
Zamakhshari even directed that the jizya should be collected "with
belittlement andhumi liat ion, ' The thir teen th-cent ury Shaf i'i jur ist an-
Nawa wi dire cted that "the infidel who wishes to pay his poll tax must be
treated with disdain by the collector: the collector remains seated and the
infidel remains standing in front of him, his head bowed and his back bent.
The infidel personally must place the money on the scales, while the
collector holds him by the beard, and strikes him on both cheeks.""
Acco rdi ng to his tor ian Bat Ye'o r, thi s blo w as par t of the paym ent
pr oc es s "s ur vi ve d un ch an ge d th e da wn of th e tw en ti et h ce nt ur y,
being ritually performed in Arab-Muslim countries, such as Yemen and
Morocco, where the Koranic tax continuedto be extorted from the
Jews. „'
Non-Muslims often convert ed to Islam to avoid this tax: This is how
thevast Christ ian popula tions of North Afric a and the Middl e East ulti-
tely became tiny, demoralized minorities. According to the seven-
teenth-centur yEurope an travel er Jean-Baptis te Tavern ier, in Cyprus in
1651 "overfour hundred Christians had become Muhammadans because
they could. not pay theirkharaj [aland tax that was also levied on non-
Muslims, sometimes synonymous with the jizya, which is the tribute