The Muslim Brotherhood has started implementing a tax on the nearly 15,000 Coptic Christians in Egypt’s Dalga Village, the Washington Times reports.
Those that do not convert to Islam will be forced to pay the tax, or will be killed.
The tax, known as a “jizya,” is a direct reference to a verse in the Quran that states, “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] until they give the jizya willingly while they are humbled” (9:29).
And it’s not just happening in Egypt. It’s happening in surrounding areas, too.
The Christian Science Monitor gives a few examples of the way the tax is being implemented. The news outlet wrote on Sunday that a photo shop owner in Baghdad was given three choices: convert to Islam, pay the $70,000 jizya tax, or get killed along with his family.
He fled to Jordan with his wife.
Another man from Mosul, Iraq recalled a phone call he received telling him to pay the jizya, or he or his son would die. He, too, fled to Jordan, the Christian Science Monitor reports.
The Times reports that as many as 40 Christian families have fled the Dalga village since the tax was enforced. Many people who have not been able to pay the tax have been attacked.