The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c18.10

c18.10

Curiously enough, the earlier chronicles omit all mention of the imposition of *jaziah* on the conquered Hindus⁵. This need not, however, mean that the poll- *Jaziah.* tax was not levied, but there seem good reasons to believe that the term *jaziah* was not used exclusively in the sense of a capitation tax as is understood to day or was interpreted by later writers¹. The earliest use of the tax in this sense was by Firoz Khalji who admits his having imposed it on the Hindus²; in actual practice, it does not always seem to have been enforced in all its essential details. A significant instance comes, from the reign of Firoz Tughluq who in a boastful manner records his services to Islam and the Shariah, in, among other acts, realising the *jaziah* from the Brahmins who had hitherto been exempted from this tax³. He also talks of his having abolished the *jaziah* on those who embraced Islam as a mark of special favour, which would suggest that even Muslim converts before him were required to pay this tax⁴.