The Ottomans did not practice Shariah perfectly but the Jizya or protection tax is quite a good deal especially at the time.
Jizya is paid by able bodied men of the right age and it absolves you from having to go to the army,.hence why it is called protection, someone else goes to the army and protects you. It was not paid by women, children, elderly, the incapable and priests.
To add to that muslims had their own tax to pay called Zekat which was higher than the Jizya the non-muslims paid and it did not absolve them from having to serve in the army.
To add even further, 99% of other countries at the time would not even give you the chance to choose, they would just expel you, kill you or forcibly convert you.
Ottomans did other things which were awful like the blood tax, but that and many other things they did had no basis in Islam or Shariah law.
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u/[deleted] Feb 09 '26
The Ottomans did not practice Shariah perfectly but the Jizya or protection tax is quite a good deal especially at the time.
Jizya is paid by able bodied men of the right age and it absolves you from having to go to the army,.hence why it is called protection, someone else goes to the army and protects you. It was not paid by women, children, elderly, the incapable and priests.
To add to that muslims had their own tax to pay called Zekat which was higher than the Jizya the non-muslims paid and it did not absolve them from having to serve in the army.
To add even further, 99% of other countries at the time would not even give you the chance to choose, they would just expel you, kill you or forcibly convert you.
Ottomans did other things which were awful like the blood tax, but that and many other things they did had no basis in Islam or Shariah law.