The following report is a complimentary offering from MEMRI’s Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.

On October 3, 2015, the information office of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Damascus Province posted a five-minute video titled “[Fight Those Who Do Not Believe In Allah] Until They Give The Jizya Willingly While They Are Humbled” (from Koran 9:29). The video, posted on Archive.org and disseminated via social media, including on Twitter under the Damascus Province hashtag, deals with ISIS’s imposition of a dhimma contract and the jizya poll tax on the Christian residents of the city of Qaryatayn, Syria, which it recently conquered. The video is accompanied by footage of ISIS removing crosses from churches and destroying them, as well as video of the signing of the contract.[1]

The video opens by showing ISIS fighters entering Qaryatayn and marching through its streets. A narrator stresses that after it was “liberated” by ISIS fighters from the “the tyrant’s soldiers [i.e. the army of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad],” shari’a law had returned to the city and its Muslim residents are smiling again. The narrator says that some of the city’s Christians had chosen to convert to Islam, while others preferred signing the dhimma contract, paying the jizya tax, and living in peace and security in the Islamic Caliphate state. Images are shown of ISIS fighters throwing a cross off the roof of a church and of a church hall destroyed by ISIS.

An ISIS member then explains the group’s treatment of the city’s Christians following its takeover. He says that some Christians were taken captive, while others fled to “Diyar Al-Kuffr [the abodes of disbelief] and places controlled by Bashar the Nusairi [Alawite].”

The ISIS member says that the Christians who had been taken captive and remained in the city had four options: One, the men could be killed and the women and children could be enslaved. Two, they could be exchanged for prisoners, money, or booty. Three, they could be pardoned, provided they leave the caliphate. Four, they could sign the dhimma contract and pay the jizya. In the end, he says, “the caliph of Muslims [Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi] displayed kindness and generosity [to the Christians] and agreed to receive their jizya tax and allow them to live under caliphate rule as part of the dhimma contract.” He adds that “the leader of the Muslims” had agreed to give the Christians who fled the city an opportunity to sign the dhimma contract and to return within a month to their homes and fields.

The speaker concludes: “This is a message to all Christians in the East and West, and to the defender of the Cross – America: Convert to Islam and no harm will come to you. If you obey, you will have to pay the jizya poll tax.” The speaker mentioned comments by ISIS spokesman Abu Muhammad Al-‘Adnani, who previously said that the payment of the jizya is a thousand times smaller than the Christian investment in war against the Muslims, which is in any case destined to fail.

Below are images from the video, followed by the video itself and a full transcript:

Throwing a cross off a church roof in Qaryatayn

Destroyed church hall in Qaryatayn

Christians taken captive by ISIS in Qaryatayn

Christians who fled the city but returned after signing the Dhimma Contract

Voice of ISIS Member: “Praised be Allah, who bestowed His blessings upon His supporters, and granted them victory and the conquest of the town of Qaryatayn. Islamic law has taken over the town, and its inhabitants from among the People of the Book became submissive. Some of the town’s Christians converted to Islam, while others chose to sign the dhimma contract and pay the jizya tax. They preferred to live in peace and security under Islamic rule in the Islamic State.”

[…]

Images of ISIS taking over churches

ISIS Member: “Allah said: ‘Fight those who do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day, and who do not consider unlawful what Allah and His Messenger have made unlawful, and who do not adopt the religion of Truth from those who were given the Scripture. [Fight them] until they give the jizya willingly in submission.’

“Allah granted His monotheistic servants the conquest of the town of Qaryatayn by force. Some Christians from the town were taken captive, while others fled to the abodes of disbelief, ruled by Bashar the Nusairi and his soldiers. Since they were captured before they sought to sign the dhimma contract and pay the jizya tax, there were four options regarding them: One, for the men to be killed and the women and children to be enslaved. Two, to be exchanged [for prisoners, money, or booty]. Three, to be pardoned [provided they leave the Caliphate]. Four, to pay the jizya and live as dhimmis under the rule of the Caliphate.

“The Caliph of the Muslims displayed kindness and generosity, and agreed to accept their jizya tax, and to allow them to live under the rule of the Caliphate as part of the dhimma contract. He also gave the Christians who fled the town an opportunity to return to their homes and fields within a month from the signing of the dhimma contract.

“To conclude, this is a message to all the Christians in the East and West, and to America, the defender of the cross: Convert to Islam, and no harm will befall you. But if you refuse, you will have to pay the jizya tax. As our Sheikh Al-‘Adnani said: The payment of the jizya is a thousand times less than the Christian investment in the futile war against the Islamic State”