Abd al-Ghanī al-Nāblusī's Fatwā Regarding the Financial Obligation's for Dhimmīs: Critical Edition and Analysis

Abd al-Ghanī al-Nāblusī (v. 1143/1731) is a scholar who has a deep grasp of fiqh as in many sciences. Among the works that have been transferred to the present day from this Islamic jurist who has the jurisprudence competence, there are also journals containing his fatwās. al-Nāblusī's fatwā, which constitutes the subject of this study, is included in the copies that are available in various manuscript libraries in written form. In this study, the critical edition of this fatwā with a small volume of treatises was also made. al-Nāblusī gave this fatwā upon the question of some Muslims living in Jerusalem in the year 1114 (1702). After the questioners told al-Nāblusī that the conqueror of Jerusalem had made non-Muslims living in this city liable to make payments in cash or in kind to some Muslims at certain intervals and that they also had made these payments since then, they asked whether it was halal for Muslims to receive the cash and goods under the name of “？awā？id” given by non-Muslims. Furthermore, they also asked him to answer the question of whether the qadi (Muslim judge) had an authority to preclude the successors of the people determined by the conqueror and to make others right holder. al-Nāblusī is a scholar who lived in Damascus between the end of the 17th century and the first part of the 18th century. The period during which he lived corresponds to a period during which the balances were disturbed, and accordingly unfair practices also increased in the Ottoman Empire which was the dominant state of that period. This situation was also manifested in the taxation system, and during this period, the national subjects were unlawfully held liable for many additional taxes and payments. The sources addressing the Ottoman Empire's taxation system divided the taxes collected from national subjects into two main sections: religious taxes and civil taxes. While no tax was imposed apart from religious taxes in the Ottoman Empire during the early period, there was a need to impose additional taxes after a certain period. The imposition of these kinds of taxes, which are expressed as civil taxes, relies on the judgment of permissibility given by Islamic jurists regarding the fact that the state can also impose taxes apart from religious taxes in case of need. Although no tax was imposed apart from religious taxes during the early period of Islamic history since the opportunities of Bayt al-mal (treasury of Islamic State) were sufficient, the opportunities of Bayt al-mal began to be insufficient over time in the states founded by Muslims, therefore,