HAZRAT OMAR FAROOQ RAA AND PROTECTION OF RIGHTS OF NON-MUSLIMS

It is a story of the days when Hazrat Omar Farooq RAA was Caliph of Muslim Ummah (nation). During those times a tax called Jazya was collected from non-Muslims living in Bait-ul-Muqadis (Jerusalem) in lieu of protection of all their rights. At one time there was a need to move the Muslim army from Bait-Ul-Muqadis to another front. Hazrat Omar Farooq said that we had taken on the responsibility of protecting the non-Muslims living in Bait-ul-Muqadis. If we remove our army now then who is going to protect them? We had taken Jazya from them for their protection but the army is direly needed in another place. He invited the non-Muslims to meet him and said that we had taken responsibility of your protection and had collected Jazya for that purpose, and that is why we had collected tax from you. Now we have to send the army elsewhere and we can not continue to protect you, so we are returning to you all the tax that we had collected from you.

Adapted from the talk "Islam and Human Rights" by Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani DB