110 chapter three
of monetary distribution was different from that of Abù-Bakr. While
Abù-Bakr did not differentiate among Muslims in allotting spoils of
war, as they were all given equally, Umar discriminated in allotting
stipends depending upon the precedence of the person in embrac-
ing Islam. In defending his approach, Umar argued that he would
not make the one who fought against the Prophet equal, in terms
of distribution, to the one who fought on his side (Abù-Ubaid). To
Abù-Bakr, however, the precedence in accepting the new faith was
entirely in the hands of God and He would reward for it, but the
distribution of the spoils was a worldly matter in which equity was
far better than any discrimination. Hence there were two contrast-
ing approaches by the two caliphs: Abù-Bakr who was the first man
or amongst the first three men to have embraced Islam refused to
consider the principle of precedence in Islam as a basis of distribu-
tion, while Umar, who came to Islam six years after its emergence,
refused to consider otherwise. Their devotion to Islam was, never-
theless, beyond doubt.
Tax Structure
Five types of taxes existed at the time of Umar’s reign: Kharàj, Ushùr,
Zakàh, Jizyah and Khums. The first two taxes were introduced by
Umar while the other three were already established in the Sharì"ah.
As stated above, Kharàj tax was introduced by Umar to replace
the system of distributing conquered land among Muslim warriors.
With the approval of Umar’s proposal in the general debate, Kharàj
became the first tax to be introduced to the Islamic tax system out-
side those which were stipulated in the Qur"àn and the Sunnah. The
new tax had the following characteristics:
(1) It was imposed on land not on individuals. This implied that the
tax was not affected, increasingly or decreasingly, by the num-
ber of people living on the land. By contrast, Jizyah, or poll tax,
was imposed on individuals.
(2) The base of tax was the cultivable land. This would encourage
the tax payer to maximize the productivity of land, as unculti-
vated land would still be treated as being cultivated as long as
it was cultivable.
(3) The tax rate was a proportional rate though it varied depend-
ing on the degree of the fertility of land, the market value of the
produce and the difficulty of irrigation.