Page:Baladhuri-Hitti1916.djvu/301

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The Christians of the banu-Taghlib
285

Taghlib showed such tenacity and asked permission to emigrate. ʿUmair asked ʿUmar's advice on this matter. ʿUmar wrote back ordering him to double on all their pasturing cattle[1] and land the amount of ṣadaḳah ordinarily taken from Moslems; and if they should refuse to pay that, he ought to war with them until he annihilates them or they accept Islâm. They accepted to pay a double ṣadaḳah[2] saying, "So long as it is not the tax of the 'uncircumcized,' we shall pay it and retain our faith."[3]

The terms with the banu-Taghlib. ʿAmr an-Nâḳid from Dâʾûd ibn-Kurdûs:—After having crossed the Euphrates and decided to leave for the land of the Greeks, the banu-Taghlib made terms with ʿUmar ibn-al-Khaṭṭâb, agreeing not to immerse [baptize] a child or compel him to accept their faith, and to pay a double ṣadaḳah. Dâʾûd ibn-Kurdûs used to repeat that they had no claim to security [dhimmah], because they used immersion in their ritual—referring to baptism.

Only they pay double ṣadaḳah. Al-Ḥusain ibn-al-Aswad from az-Zuhri:—None of the "people of the Book" pay ṣadaḳah on their cattle except the Christian banu-Taghlib or—he perhaps said—the Christian Arabs, whose whole possessions consist of cattle. These pay twice what the Moslems pay.

Zurʿah intercedes in their behalf. Saʿîd ibn-Sulaimân Saʿdawaih from Zurʿah ibn-an-Nuʿmân:—The latter interceded with ʿUmar in favor of the Christians of the banu-Taghlib, saying, "They are Arabs too proud to pay the poll-tax, and are possessors of tillable land and cattle." ʿUmar had decided to take tax from them and they became dispersed in the whole country. At last, ʿUmar made terms

  1. Cf. Yûsuf, p. 68.
  2. Cf. ibn-Anas, al-Mudauwanah-l-Kubra, vol. ii, p. 42.
  3. MFO, vol. iii. pp. 159, 162.